Grace Falls

by H. P. Munro

  “Great. No hot water. Fantastic,” she shivered, trying to wash her body with the least amount of contact with the water as possible.

  ***

  Lou was sitting behind the counter of Ruby’s Coffee Shop her mind focused on a ‘killer game’ of Sudoku, while Alex was in the kitchen preparing pastries. The bell above the door jangled indicating a customer and Lou reluctantly laid the puzzle down, her eyes still hovering on it before looking up at the waiting patron. She smiled at Maddie.

  “Hey Doc, what can I getcha?” she asked.

  “Hi, can I have a regular skinny Americano with an extra shot, to go, please?”

  Lou looked at her in confusion. “I’m sorry what?” she asked, her face relaxed as her hands started to flap in excitement. “You just ordered coffee like they do on TV!” she gushed. “Ohmygod,” she looked up at the ceiling as she tried to decipher Maddie’s order. “Okay we do coffee black or white and where you gotta go, you just got here?” she asked.

  Opening her mouth to speak Maddie shook her head, “White coffee is fine, and I have an appointment that I need to get to.”

  Nodding Lou frowned, “Okay, white coffee I can do and oh.” She started towards the kitchen, turning back towards Maddie, “Wait here.” She ran into the kitchen, ignoring a bemused Alex who was kneading dough and rummaged around in the cupboards. Finally locating what she was looking for she held it aloft with a triumphant look on her face.

  “Where you going with that?” Alex asked curiously.

  “Doc wants coffee to go,” Lou responded slipping out of the kitchen.

  Alex snorted and put down the dough she had in her hands and walked to the kitchen door wiping her hands on a towel; she pushed the door open slightly but was unable to see past Lou who was busy pouring Maddie’s coffee. When the younger woman moved Alex could see the doctor standing at the shop’s window looking out into the street.

  “Tada,” Lou announced and Maddie spun round, her face mouth falling open at the orange tippy cup in Lou’s hand.

  “Whaa?” she uttered pointing at the child’s cup.

  Lou shrugged placing the plastic cup onto the counter, “I can’t give you a cup to go, so this here is the next best thing. It was Jessica’s.”

  Alex stuffed the towel into her mouth to stop her laughter being heard by the two women, who were looking at each other; one with pride at her problem solving abilities, the other with complete horror at the resultant solution.

  “Fine,” Maddie rolled her eyes; her lips pulled into a petulant pout. “How much?”

  “Ummmm,” Lou turned back towards the kitchen unsure how much to charge for a tippy cup of coffee. She caught Alex standing in the doorway a towel in her mouth waving her hands. “On the house,” Lou smiled turning back to face Maddie.

  The doctor picked the cup up by the handle and nodded a thank you to Lou.

  “Have a nice day,” Lou shouted as Maddie opened the door, getting a half smile in response.

  The door to the shop had barely closed when Lou heard an explosion of laughter behind her coming from the kitchen.

  “What?” she asked shrugging.

  ***

  Maddie stood at the door of the clinic, a clipboard and her tippy cup of coffee in one hand and a pen in the other, she checked the items being carried into the building off the list.

  “You Doctor Marinelli?”

  Maddie looked up from the list towards the voice, having to lower her eyes until she reached the small black woman standing in front of her.

  “Yes I am,” Maddie smiled warmly. Before she could enquire who she was speaking with, she realized the small woman was looking her up and down.

  “Mmmmmmm,” she hummed apparently done assessing Maddie. “McNeil inside?” the woman asked with a look of disinterest on her face as she brushed past Maddie and entered the clinic.

  Maddie watched as the woman disappeared into the building. “Just go right in,” she said to no one, shifting the contents of her hands so she could take a drink of coffee.

  Ten minutes later after everything had been removed from the delivery van Maddie entered the building. She headed towards the sound of laughter coming from one of the examination rooms and hovered uncertainly in the doorway.

  “Ah Doctor Marinelli, this is Marion Mack. Known as Mack to one and all and your nurse. Mack was my nurse for nearly twelve years she knows every ailment this town has,” McNeil smiled between the two women.

  “Nice to meet you,” Maddie said knowing from experience that having a good relationship with a nurse could mean the difference between an easy or really hard experience. “It will be good working with you.”

  “Hmm,” Mack replied noncommittally. “I’m just pleased I don’t have to do the commute to St Anton.” She thrust a large cell phone towards Maddie who accepted it with a curious look.

  “What’s this?” Maddie asked inspecting the ancient looking phone.

  “Think on it like the bat phone…when that rings Gotham needs you,” Mack answered. Her eyes narrowed and lips puckered, “If it rings, it’s me on the other end an’ you better come running.” She swept out of room intent on getting the clinic back in order.

  Timothy let out a nervous chuckle, “She’s a pussy cat really.” He changed the subject quickly when he saw Maddie’s raised eyebrow in response as she sat down on the examination table beside him, “So I spoke to the chief over at St Anton. Though you’ve not done a family medicine residency, they’re going to allow you to practice under their insurance thanks to the ER hours you’ve clocked up. They called Atlanta General this morning and spoke to the Chief of Staff there. However, we appreciate that this isn’t your area of expertise, so I will be available for consultancy if you need it and you can call St Anton’s and speak to any doc there as well. This time of year it’s mostly allergies.” He gave her a supportive smile and patted her leg as he stood up and left the room.

  Maddie looked somewhat relieved at hearing that as, after her proclamation during the night, panic had set in that she’d got herself in over her head and it had been mounting throughout the morning. Timothy poked his head back round the corner of the door.

  “Oh and snake bites,” he added smiling, before disappearing again as Maddie flopped back onto the examination table groaning.

  “You planning on laying there all day?” Mack’s voice came from the doorway. “’cause there’s a waiting room full of people.”

  “What?” Maddie exclaimed. “Jesus, word goes fast around here.”

  “They’re here to give you a test drive, buckle up Doctor Marinelli,” Mack half smiled. “An’ lose the tippy cup,” she remarked as Maddie stood up.

  The doctor looked down at the plastic cup still in her hand and rolled her eyes. She walked round to take a seat behind the desk and opened a drawer, letting the cup fall into it before slamming it closed with a flourish. She plastered a welcoming smile on her face ready to meet her first patient of the day.

  “Okay, who’s first?” she called.

  ***

  Letting her head fall onto the desk Maddie exhaled, when Grace Falls decides to test drive a doctor they do not hold back. She’d had a steady stream of patients all day and was proud that she had only had to call for consults on a couple of occasions. Her brain was frazzled though after trawling through her memory banks for seldom-used information throughout the day.

  “Good night Doctor Marinelli,” Mack called from the hallway, switching off the lights in the other rooms as she went.

  “Goodnight Mack,” she shouted. “Have a lovely evening. See you tomorrow.”

  “So you’re coming back then?”

  Maddie lifted her head from the desk at sound of a different voice from the one she had expected.

  Alex smiled pushing herself off from the doorframe where she had taken a moment to watch the exhausted doctor. She walked forward and placed a silver travel mug in front of Maddie on the desk.

  “One skinny Americano with an extra shot, to go,”
she smiled.

  “But I really preferred the tippy cup,” Maddie gestured lifting the orange plastic cup from her open drawer. She took a sip from the silver mug and groaned with pleasure. “I could get used to finishing work like this,” she smiled. “The coffee I mean,” her eyes twinkled as Alex flushed slightly recalling their conversation from the morning.

  Alex coughed and let her eyes wander around the room. “I wondered whether you wanted to come over for dinner tonight. It’s Matt’s night with Jessica and I wanted to thank you properly for what you did,” she said starting to move back towards the door. “And apologize if we in some way prompted you to give up your vacation for this,” she added leaning nonchalantly on the balance beam scales beside the door.

  “Spending the night in a steamy bathroom with you and Jessica was in part responsible for my decision,” Maddie said tidying her desk and standing up, missing Alex’s less than graceful slide as she placed too much pressure on the balance scales at Maddie’s mention of steamy bathrooms. “I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to her. So no thank you or apology is necessary, however dinner sounds divine,” Maddie continued, suddenly aware of how hungry she was.

  Recovering her composure, Alex grinned and turned into the hall of the medical clinic, “Remember that whatever I cook, the black bits are the best.”

  ***

  “So how was your first day?” Alex asked as they walked through the town towards their homes.

  Maddie let out a long breath. “Busy, yup, busy would describe it,” she gave Alex a tired smile.

  Alex laughed, “And I bet you quite eventful! Let’s see, day one you will have had Mrs Hayes, who’s never had a sick day in her life but would have sat there almost daring you to find something wrong with her.” She looked at Maddie who looked back in astonishment, Alex took the look as confirmation and chuckled before continuing with her assessment of Maddie’s day. “And you would have had old man Jackson in with his huge testicle,” she raised an eyebrow towards the doctor.

  “Okay how?” Maddie started to ask, and then stopped concerned about patient confidentiality. She laughed and shook her head in surprise at the accuracy of Alex’s predictions.

  “Don’t worry you didn’t give anything away. No secrets in Grace Falls remember. Mrs Hayes has been goading doctors for years into finding something wrong with her, the old bird is stronger than an ox and, as far as I know, has never even had a cold. Old man Jackson, well every male in his family has one huge testicle and between you and me, I am not convinced that some of the females don’t either. For the record I have never seen any generation of Jackson testicle. I’m just going on hearsay plus my grandma was Mack before Mack was Mack,” Alex smiled.

  Maddie nodded slowly. “She was the town nurse?” she asked cautiously, hoping she’d followed Alex correctly.

  “There’s entire generations in Grace Falls where the first hands to touch them when they came into this world were my grandma’s. She used to take great pleasure in giving Matt and Peter a cuff round the ear telling them that her hands were the first to hold them and she’d be the first to smack ’em if they got out of line,” Alex smiled thinking about the small formidable woman who was systematically adored by everyone in the town. She paused thinking about who else might appear in Maddie’s surgery, a scowl appearing on her face as a face popped into her mind. “If Virginia Grace comes in don’t take anything that she says personally, the woman is a first class bitch and has been ever since I’ve known her, I don’t blame Charlotte for getting the hell out of here. If Virginia was my mother you wouldn’t see me for dust. Grandma used to take great joy in taking her down a peg or two, I think there was probably more than one occasion where she gave Virginia a laxative just ’cause ‘that woman don’t seem to think her shit smells the same as the rest of us’.” Alex said mimicking her grandmother’s strong accent.

  “Duly noted,” Maddie grinned. “I will have laxatives at the ready.”

  “Oh has Emmet Day been in yet?” Alex asked excitedly.

  Wracking her brain Maddie tried to place the name; slowly she shook her head unable to recall the name from the countless people she had seen.

  “He’ll be in tomorrow he lives farther out of town so getting in isn’t always easy for him. Emmet’s a hypochondriac. He got given a book a few years back of illness and ailments, he’s working his way through it,” Alex screwed her face up in thought. “I think we’re up to e.”

  Before Maddie could respond, the doctor’s attention was caught by a swishing sound behind them. She turned and her jaw went slack as Sam moved towards them, his feet attached to long skis with wheels along the bottom, his arms pumping the poles in his hands furiously against the concrete to aid his propulsion.

  “Hey Sam,” Alex waved cheerily at the mechanic.

  “Alex, Doc. How’s it goin’?” Sam yelled as he spun past them.

  “Good,” Alex yelled at his back, she cupped her hands against her mouth. “Looking good Sam,” she shouted. The man held up one pole in response without looking back.

  Maddie looked between Alex and the departing Sam unable to decide where to begin with her questions about what she had just seen. Eventually, she pointed in the direction where Sam had skated, “What was that?”

  Alex looked at the doctor and then towards where she was pointing. “Sam? He’s training, he wants to get into the Olympic cross-country skiing squad,” Alex answered, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  Still looking into the now empty distance Maddie frowned, “Do you get much snow here?”

  Grinning Alex shook her head, “Nope, never even seen a single flake here. He’s not got a hope in hell but he loves trying, last year it was the luge.”

  “Apart from the lack of ice, you don’t have any hills,” Maddie said slowly. “At least I haven’t seen any.”

  “Nope,” Alex laughed. “We don’t which is why he switched to skiing. Last year after his sister Erin told him ‘no damn way’ he persuaded Matt to tow him from his truck, all was going well until Matt braked and the luge and Sam didn’t. He shot under the truck, but then the rope ran out so the luge stopped but Sam didn’t. Doc McNeil was picking grit out his back and ass for weeks and Erin chewed his and Matt’s butts off for about the same time.” She caught Maddie’s incredulous look, “Don’t worry for the most part we’re a sane bunch.”

  They stopped as they reached the point in the road where they would separate to go to their respective homes. “I’ll just grab a quick shower, hot water depending and come over if that’s okay?” Maddie asked.

  “If you’ve no hot water come over, you can shower at mine.” There was a brief pause before Alex hastily added, “It’s only fair since I’m the reason why you don’t have any.”

  “Thanks, I’ll see you in a bit,” Maddie smiled and headed towards the Anderson house partly hoping that the hot water hadn’t replenished as the more time she spent around Alex, the more time she wanted.

  Ten minutes later and Maddie stood at the back door of Alex’s home, twisting the bag she held in her hand, which contained a change of clothes, a towel, Mack’s brick of a cell phone and her wash bag. Alex opened the door and looked at the doctor still dressed as she had left her.

  “No water?”

  “No water,” Maddie confirmed.

  Alex let the door open fully to allow Maddie to enter, she showed her up to the bathroom and left her to shower, returning back downstairs to try and concentrate on not chopping a digit off in preparing dinner while trying not to think about the hot woman naked in her shower upstairs.

  Maddie stepped out of the shower and dried quickly, desperate not to waste any time when she could be downstairs talking with Alex, watching her smile and hearing the delicious sound of her laughter. She checked herself in the mirror, running a hand through her damp locks to fluff them up. “Relax Maddie, she’s not interested,” she said quietly to her reflection.

  Entering the kitchen, where Alex
was adding chopped peppers to a wok, Maddie took a moment to take in the warm inviting room; she smiled at Jessica’s drawings pinned to the fridge.

  “Oh hey,” Alex smiled turning to face Maddie. “I have white or red I wasn’t sure what you’d prefer,” she wiped her hands on the cloth tucked into the pocket of her jeans and held up the two bottles of wine.

  “Red please, but a small glass, in case I get called,” Maddie smiled slipping onto a stool at the breakfast bar. “Can I help?”

  “Nope, burning is all under control thanks,” Alex replied pouring a small glass of wine and handing it across. “I am sorry that your vacation is now being spent looking at the moles and bunions of Grace Falls,” she flashed Maddie a sympathetic smile before turning back to stir the contents of the wok. “Nothing fancy just chicken and vegetable,” she called over her shoulder.

  “Sounds perfect,” Maddie responded, sipping her wine and feeling completely relaxed and at home. She looked around the room her eyes stopping on a town sign with the population number on it, “Did you steal that?”

  Alex turned round to look to where Maddie was pointing. “Oh that, no. It’s tradition here, when you give birth they give you a copy of the town sign with the population increased by one. That’s Jessica’s,” she finished returning her attention to the cooker.

  Maddie spun round on the chair to focus her attention on Alex, “It must have been difficult, Jessica being so premature.”

  “God, this town! Who told you? What else do you know?” Alex replied, her tone harsher than she intended.

  “No-one. Nothing. Jessica said that Doctor McNeil called her two pounds of stubborn so I assumed. I’m sorry,” Maddie said quickly.

  Closing her eyes Alex exhaled. “No it’s me, I’m sorry,” she shook her head. “This place can be terrible for gossip and with the situation between Matt, me and Jessica we get our fair share,” she switched off the gas ring and tipped the food onto two plates. “It was hard, yes,” she looked at the ceiling and shook her head shaking the memory of that time from her mind. “Mack and Timothy are the only reason that she’s still here,” she handed over a plate and placed her own down on the breakfast bar, then turned to collect cutlery from the drawer.