3:30 P.M. Today I helped my Kathleen, maybe saved her from an unpleasant experience. She is so pretty, Mother. Even with a towel wrapped around her head she is the only woman I’ve ever seen that compares with you. I could believe that you have come back in her body, except she is independent, like the women of today, but not as bad as some. Mother, you would be shocked to know that some try to be like men, working at men’s jobs and wearing trousers. I’ve not seenrher in trousers but a time or two, and I didn’t like it.
The man from Eddie’s station went into her house today. He is the one that made her so angry that she pulled out of the 66 station and ran over the curb. I get extremely angry when I think about him going into her house uninvited and refusing to leave. He will not bother her again.
The room I’m fixing for her is coming along. I’m determined that she have every comfort, and I’m grateful that I’m handy with a saw and a hammer. I’ve had to take boards from other parts of the house and I work only at night, so it will be a while. But no hurry. I know where she is, and I know that she is mine. Even if she goes back to that cowboy, she is still mine.
He closed his notebook and settled down to watch. He liked to think of himself as the Guardian. He was good at watching and guarding. Today, however, he had something else on his mind. He had to plot carefully his next move, one that in no way could be connected with him 01 with Kathleen. Nuding took great pride in the fact that he planned things very precisely. His cunning mind sorted through several scenarios and finally settled on one.
Now all he had to do was wait until the right time.
Chapter Nine
Dr. Perry came to the reception-room door and motioned to Pete to join him in his office.
“Is Johnny coming?” Jude asked after the door closed behind the two men. “As Isabel’s next of kin, he’s the one I should talk to. Lord, she’s got a mean mouth. She was a brat when she was young, and she’s worse now. Mrs. Cole and Theresa shouldn’t have to put up with her. But they’re doing what needs to be done despite her calling them and me every foul name in the book.”
“She’s got an advanced case of syphilis.” Pete’s diagnosis brought a nod from his brother. “I’ve seen it in the islands.”
“I hope Johnny has been careful. The disease is most commonly transmitted by sexual contact, however transmission can occur through infected blood or an open wound. Isabel has a number of eruptions on her skin. Syphilis also damages the brain, bones, eyes … places not so obvious. It can be treated successfully with penicillin unless there has been extensive damage to the nervous system.” The office door opened. Jude said, “Come in, Johnny.”
“My wife is with me.”
Jude stood. “Do you want to ask her to come in?”
“I did, but she said she’d wait. I want her to meet Pete. Has Isabel been causing trouble?”
“She has the honor of being the most unpleasant patient I’ve ever had.” Jude sank back down in the chair, grateful to be off his aching leg. “I’ve been telling Pete that Isabel has an advanced case of syphilis for one thing.”
“I suspected that. What else?”
“Several other things to be exact. I can’t say absolutely, until I can X-ray, but I’m reasonably certain that she has breast cancer. It’s lumpy, it’s draining, and I believe it has spread to the lymph glands. I wanted to X-ray, but she put up such a fuss, I didn’t press the matter further for now.”
Johnny shook his head. “If that’s the case, what can we do?”
“Keep her as comfortable as possible during the time she has left. She also has an erratic heartbeat, which is not unusual under the circumstances, and it’s possible her kidneys are failing.”
“Then … it’s a matter of time. Is that what you’re saying?”
“It’s my opinion that it’s too late for treatment.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“The logical place for her is here. Large doses of morphine will be needed soon.”
“I’ll pay for it somehow.”
“Don’t worry about that now. Hope that my nurses will put up with her and not quit on me.”
“She’s a hard one,” Pete said. “She told Jude in front of the nurses that he didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.”
Johnny shook his head again. “She’s gone downhill fast this past week.”
“She has a number of open skin lesions. Syphilis can be transmitted through infected blood or open wounds.”
“I knew about that. This morning I put the towels and the bedding she used in the boiling pot. Sherm is watching them for me. Her clothes are in a pile on the bedroom floor.”
“Burn them.”
“She’s not going to want to stay here. You may have to tie her down.”
Jude answered a knock on his inner door. When it opened, Dale Cole stood there with a worried look on her face.
“Doctor, Miss Henry is swearing a blue streak and calling for someone named Pete.”
“Has she been given a sedative?”
“Not yet. We’ll have to restrain her to do it.”
“I’ll go see if I can calm her down.” Pete went to the door where Dale waited and followed her down the hall.
“She refuses to give us any information about herself,” Dale said. “Perhaps you can help us fill in a few blanks.”
“I doubt it. This morning is the first time I’ve seen her in sixteen years.”
Dale stopped and looked up at him with a puzzled frown. “Sixteen years? The way she talks…well, never mind.”
“Yeah. I’ve been in the navy sixteen years.”
“Oh, then it was before … that.”
“What’a you mean … before that? Before that, I knew the little twit for about three or four months. She’s a distant cousin…of sorts.”
“Interesting.” Dale started walking again.
“What has she been telling you?”
“Not much about herself. She says plenty about Dr. Perry and Johnny Henry and about you. I was sure you’d be wearing a halo.”
Pete chuckled, and Dale smiled into his eyes. “Wait until I tell her she’s got to stay here. She’ll be singing another tune. Nurse,” Pete put his hand on her arm to stop her before she went into Isabel’s room. Dale tensed and looked up at him. “Don’t let anything she says get to you. She can’t help being what she is; and if the truth were known, she’s scared spitless.”
“Don’t be concerned, Mr. Perry. I’ve been cussed at, called every unflattering name that can be thought of, even spat upon and knocked off my feet. This poor, sick, miserable woman cannot do more than that.” Dale’s voice quivered. She hoped that this rough, but kind man would never know the humiliation that she had described had been at the hands of her own husband.
Pete looked at Dale with a new respect. “You’ve got guts, ma’am. It’s a shame that people you try to help are mean to you. I’d like to blame Isabel’s meanness on damage to her brain, but she’s always been meaner than all get out.”
“We need to give her a sedative. Nurse Frank doesn’t want to strap her down.”
“Let’s see if I can charm her into being nice. I used to be pretty good at it, but I’m a bit out of practice at the present time.”
Pete’s attempt to put a smile on Dale’s face succeeded. She even laughed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. His face was soft with charm his eyes moved over her warmly. Dale felt suddenly young and almost…giddy. She felt free enough to say the first thing that came to her mind.
“Then come on, Romeo. Do your stuff.” The hand that rested lightly on her back was comforting as he ushered her into Isabel’s room.
Sitting on the side of the bed, Isabel squealed at the sight of Pete.
“Get me outta here, Pete. You promised we’d go…honky-tonkin’.”
“I promised to take you if the doctor said you could go. He wants you to stay here a while for treatment.”
“I’m not stayin’ in this shithole, and that’s that!” she
yelled, and flung the hospital gown aside until it barely covered her crotch.
“Stay in the bed, Miss Henry,” Dale said firmly, and hurried to the bed.
“Don’t touch me, you snotty bitch. I don’t have to … stay here if I don’t want to. And I told you my name is Perry. Perry. Can’t you get that through your dumb head? My name is Perry, just like Pete’s, just … like that bastard who calls himself a doctor. Shit fire! I knew him when his pecker was the size of a peanut. Ain’t much bigger now if ya was to—“
“That’s enough!” Pete’s voice was so loud it thundered in the small room. “Goddammit! Get back in that bed! Call yourself any damn thing you want to, but your legal name is Henry. Keep that foul mouth shut, too, Isabel. You straighten up and let these folks take care of you, or I’ll see that you’re put in the asylum where you belong.”
“Asylum? You can’t. I won’t go,” she shouted.
“You won’t have anything to say about it. You’ve got syphilis, did you know that?” When she didn’t answer, he said, “That’s what I thought. You knew you had syphilis. It drives people so crazy they end up in an asylum.”
“That other doctor told me to rest. I don’t have … be here to do that.”
“You’re lying, Isabel. If you went to a doctor, he would have put you in the hospital. Now listen to me. I won’t put up with you mistreating the people who are trying to help you.”
“You ain’t my next of kin. Johnny is.” She was lying down, but still defiant.
“Johnny has washed his hands of you. He turned you over to me. I’m a hard-ass, Isabel. While I was in the navy I whipped hundreds of whining kids into shape. Some of them worse than you, if that’s possible.”
“I thought … you liked me.”
“I like the side of you that’s nice and reasonable. I don’t like a foul-mouthed, stubborn woman who hasn’t got sense enough to take care of herself.”
“I’ve been doin’ it all my life.”
“You’ve made a hell of a mess of it, too.”
“I don’t like … her!” Isabel’s hate-filled eyes moved over to Dale. “She don’t like me. She thinks she’s better’n me. She thinks she’so goddamn smart prancin’ around in that white dress with that shitty cap on her head. She’s a fat—”
“—Shut up!” Pete shouted. “You’re rotten, Isabel.”
“Maybe, but I ain’t never had no trouble gettin’ a man. Ask her how many she’s had.”
Pete stood by the bed and looked down at the wasted body of the girl he’d known so long ago. The only feelings he had for her were revulsion and pity.
“I don’t think Jude can help you here,” he said quietly. “Your brains are already scrambled.” He headed for the door. “I’ll tell him to call the asylum—”
“Pete! Nooooo—Please! I don’t want to go there.”
“It seems we have no choice, Isabel.”
“I’ll do what they want. I promise,” she said in a rush, tears filling her eyes.
“Yeah? As soon as I turn my back you’ll be talkin’ nasty to the folks who are trying to help you.”
“I won’t. I swear I won’t.”
“All right. Prove it. They need to give you a shot.”
“What for? Does Jude want to put me out so he can cut off my breast or a foot or screw me?”
“Dammit, Isabel! The shot is for pain.”
“I don’t hurt nowhere. I could dance all night, if that son of a bitch—”
“Dammit, you forgot already.”
“Will you stay a while, Pete? I won’t say a word if you’ll stay. I don’t like bein’ here by myself. They won’t even let me have a cigarette.”
“I’ll stay if you’ll behave.”
“I will. Sit down … please—”
“I need to go out for a minute, but I’ll be back.”
“When?” She raised up in the bed.
“I’ll be back before you can count to a hundred.”
“Are you goin’ out with her?” Isabel’s feverish eyes went to Dale.
Pete leaned down and murmured. “Not unless she’s going with me to the head.” He followed Dale out and closed the door. They moved a short way down the hall. “Damn! She’s worse than I thought I’ll go in with you when you give her the shot.”
“I’ll not be doing it. Nurse Frank will. I’ll tell her to get it ready.”
“I’m sorry she’s given you such a bad time. The last time I saw her she was a pretty young girl of fourteen. She had a mean mouth then, but nothing like now. Will the shot put her out?”
“For about six hours. I don’t understand why she isn’t in terrible pain.”
“She may be, but too stubborn to admit it.”
“You did a fine job in there. That’s a kind of charm I’ve not seen used before.” Dale’s eyes smiled up at him.
“Oh, I’ve got other kinds of charm I drag out and use once in a while.”
“Is her name Perry or Henry? I need it for the records.”
“Her legal name is Henry. Her mother was married to Ed Henry when she was born. She took her mother’s name later because Ed wasn’t her natural father.”
“Do you know the date of her birth?”
“No.”
“Maybe I can get the information from her brother.”
“Pee … te! Pee … te!“
Pete quirked a brow and glanced toward the room. “I guess she’s counted to a hundred.”
“Pete, dammit, you said you’d come back. Pee … te.” Isabel’s voice could be heard up and down the hall.
“Kind of nice being wanted, isn’t, it?” Dale was surprised at how easy it was to tease with him.
“Careful, nurse, I might not go back in there.”
“Please, please, don’t do that to me.” Dale let out a grunt of laughter. Her jaw hurt so bad she could hardly open her mouth.
Pete was reluctant to end the conversation. He kept trying to see if Dale wore a wedding band, but her fingers were wrapped around the chart she held.
“I’ll tell Nurse Frank to bring the sedative.”
Pete ignored the calls from Isabel and lingered a minute to watch Dale walk down the hall. If a man held her, he’d know he had a real woman in his arms and not a bag full of bones. She’s nice, too, and got plenty of horse sense. Dale passed out of sight, and there was nothing for him to do but go back into Isabel’s room and try to quiet her.
Dale could feel Pete’s eyes on her and wished that she were young again. When she married Harry, she had been slim and pretty and trying to finish her nurse’s training. Her family had been dirt-poor and pleased that a man with a good job was interested in her. Over the years she had put on weight. Harry reminded her constantly of it and of her poor background. Now she felt … big and ugly. Pete Perry probably had known plenty òf young, slim girls and was thinking that she looked like a fat cow waddling down the hallway. She didn’t know why that mattered to her, but it did.
“Let’s go sit in the car. Jude said he would send Pete out,” Johnny said to Kathleen when he returned to the reception room. He took her elbow to help her stand up. “Better put that scarf back on. It’s windy.” He anchored his hat on his head.
Kathleen didn’t speak until they were in the car and she had pulled the thin, flowered scarf from her head.
“You look tired.”
“I am. I’ve been sleeping on a canvas cot in the barn and worrying that Isabel was going to burn my house down.”
His dark eyes soberly searched her face. If she could believe what she saw in his eyes, it was loneliness. Without thinking about it, she reached for his hand.
“Did Dr. Perry tell you what was wrong with Isabel?”
“There’s a lot wrong with her. She has syphilis and breast cancer.”
“Can he help her?”
“She’s too far gone. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“No. I don’t want you in the same room with her. You�
�ve never heard a mouth as dirty as hers. Jude said that syphilis damages the brain. Hers must have been damaged long ago. She’s always been mean.
“I remember one time Henry Ann and I were trying to chop weeds so we’d get a cotton crop. When we made Isabel help us, she deliberately chopped out a half a row of cotton plants. She laughed because she had outsmarted us. I wanted to slap her.”
“Did you?”
“No. After that she went down to Mud Creek to stay with the Perrys.”
“I heard the nurses talking. Isabel isn’t a very good patient.”
“That’s an understatement. Jude said he’d never had one as bad. Pete thought he might be able to calm her down. She offered to go to bed with him if he would take her honky-tonking.”
“But … she’s got— You mean she would—?”
“You don’t know Isabel. I wonder how many men she has infected.”
“Oh, Johnny.” Kathleen hugged his hand to her. “I’m not sorry that I never met her, but I still feel sympathy for her. She’s all alone and dying.”
“It’s her own fault. I’ll pay to keep her here. That’s my only obligation to her.”
“Will you call Henry Ann? She’s her sister, too.”
“I thought I would. She can decide whether she wants to come. Isabel won’t thank her for it.”
“Regardless, her kin should be with her. You all had the same mother—”
“You still don’t get it do you?” Johnny pulled his hand from hers. “Isabel and I are the unwanted results of a horde of men who slept with Dorene. Her blood was so tainted from years of incest that whoring was the logical thing for her to do. She saw absolutely nothing wrong with it. And Isabel is just like Dorene, a whore because she wants to be.”
“Henry Ann—”
“If I’ve got any decent blood in my body,” he continued angrily and turned his head to look out the car window, “I have to thank that Indian who paid Dorene to let him screw her.” After a minute or two he turned back and took Kathleen’s hand, looked at it intently, and plucked at her fingers. “I never intended to get started on that subject. I’m sorry.”
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