by Mabel Maney
Suddenly the squeak of rubber-soled nurse's shoes on shiny linoleum woke Cherry from her daydream.
"Sleeping on the job, Nurse Aimless?" Nurse Marstad asked, her arched eyebrows framing steely gray eyes. Cherry was too afraid to answer. She shook so hard the pills on her tray rattled.
"Well, Nurse?" Nurse Marstad asked, tapping her pencil against the little black book she held in her hand. Everyone knew Nurse Marstad kept a record of every infraction and referred to the book when deciding upon promotions and salary increases. Cherry had worked and prayed all year for a promotion from probation nurse to permanent staff, and so far her record was spotless. But today she had been caught off her guard twice. Surely Nurse Marstad wouldn't be so cruel as to blemish her record over these slight transgressions? Or would she?
Cherry looked at the stern nurse through teary eyes. Nurse Marstad was scribbling furiously in her book. Hadn't her mother warned her to get her head out of the clouds before something terrible happened? "Oh, why didn't I listen to mother?" Cherry groaned to herself. "And on the eve of my big vacation!"
Cherry took a few deep calming breaths and got down to the business of nursing, under the austere gaze of Nurse Marstad. She was relieved to see that her first patient was Miss Lillian Bee, a quiet elderly woman suffering from a strange sleeping sickness. Cherry took a deep breath and began preparing Miss Bee's injection. She blushed as she readied the syringe. Nurse Marstad's attention made her nervous, and she clumsily dropped the needle. She hastily pre pared a fresh injection, hoping the head nurse hadn't noticed.
But she had noticed and was making another notation in her black book. Cherry blushed a deep crimson, her red cheeks highlighting her fair coloring and sparkling green eyes. She bit her ruby lips as she prepared a sterile needle. Giving injections was difficult for her, as she hated to cause the slightest bit of pain to any living creature, even if it was for their own good.
Just as she was moistening a cotton pad with antiseptic, a voice called for Nurse Marstad over the intercom. With a brusk "Carry on, nurse," Nurse Marstad left the ward. Cherry breathed a deep sigh of relief.
With Nurse Marstad gone, Cherry competently injected Miss Bee, plumped her pillow and gave her a relaxing shoulder rub. She was glad the head nurse had been called away. Cherry was an efficient and kind nurse, as her patients would willingly testify, but there was something about Nurse Marstad that always unnerved her!
She finished soothing Miss Bee, and moved to her next patient. It was Lana, the amnesia victim. Although there was nothing physically wrong with Lana, Cherry was sorely tempted to massage her, too. Tonight her patient seemed unusually sad. She was sitting on the edge of her narrow hospital cot, clutching her book, with a faraway look in her eyes. It took her a moment to realize Cherry was at her side.
"I bet she's upset because it's been two whole days and we haven't made any progress on her case," Cherry guessed, vowing to double her efforts to identify Lana. Perhaps there was something she'd overlooked, she thought, surveying Lana with keen eyes.
"Perhaps there's a clue in the book?" Cherry wondered. She remembered that Nurse Marstad had admitted Lana to the ward. "She's so thorough, she surely would have checked," Cherry realized.
Suddenly an idea came to her. "Lana must be marriedshe's wearing a gold band. I wonder if anyone has looked inside her ring. If it's engraved, it will be our first clue. I must see that ring!"
"Oh, what a pretty ring," Cherry remarked, trying to keep her tone casual.
"Like it?" Lana asked, polishing it on her hospital-issue cotton smock. Somehow even the cotton gown looked like a couture dress on lovely Lana. "My honey gave it to me," she said, looking wistful. Much to Cherry's delight, Lana seemed genuinely interested in showing off her ring.
"Oh, your hands are so tiny! I bet that ring wouldn't fit on my pinkie!" Cherry exclaimed, hoping to get her hands on it.
It worked. Lana took off her ring and handed it to Cherry. "Try it on; I bet your hands aren't as big as you think."
Cherry slipped the ring on her finger, then took it off. She pretended to admire its smooth surface as she looked for an inscription. She found what she was looking for.
"From G.A. to C.M. with love, 5-2-49" read the inscription in tiny cursive writing. For some reason, the thought of Lana being married upset her. What kind of man would this woman marry? She could see why any man would want to marry Lana, for she was not only pretty, she was charming, friendly and witty as well.
"Why, if I were a man, I'd marry her," Cherry thought, blushing furiously at the idea. She realized Lana was looking at her with a penetrating gaze that made Cherry feel all flustered.
"Why, it's as if she can read my mind," Cherry thought, feeling a flush race up her cheeks. She hurriedly handed back the ring and gave Lana a little paper cup containing two pink pills.
"Thank you for showing me your lovely ring," she said. "Perhaps when I finish dispensing medication we can have a little talk and maybe you'll remember something about your husband," Cherry said.
Lana laughed merrily at this suggestion, squeezed Cherry's hand, and said she'd be delighted to have a nice chat.
"I have a feeling I'll really get somewhere tonight," Cherry thought happily as she went about her tasks. "I'm sure in no time at all Lana will be home, safe and sound!"
She hummed happily as she resumed her rounds, and her cheerful mood seemed to lift the spirits of her patients. In addition to giving out pills, Cherry always took a moment at each woman's bedside to ask about her progress. She became so engrossed in one patient's tale that it was almost an hour before she finished.
When she returned to Lana's bedside, she was surprised to see a nun sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Why, Sister, I didn't see you come in!" Cherry exclaimed. The nun pulled her veil closer around her face and said nothing.
Cherry wasn't accustomed to seeing nuns visiting during the night shift, and if the truth be known, the quiet creatures in head-to-toe black always made her a little nervous. The nun spoke to Lana in a low, hushed voice; Cherry could tell she wanted privacy. But Lana seemed to welcome the intrusion, and cheerfully called Cherry to her side.
"Nurse Aimless, I have that book you loaned me," Lana said, reaching under her pillow. She held out the book she had been guarding so carefully the last few days, and smiled. There was a queer animated tone in her voice, one Cherry hadn't heard before. She seemed like an actress playing a part.
"You were right-it's a great book! Especially chapter fifteen. Oh, boy, I laughed so hard I cried!" Lana continued merrily.
Cherry stumbled for an answer. She hadn't loaned this book to Lana. Was she playing a trick, Cherry wondered, or was her amnesia getting worse? Cherry decided the best thing to do was to play along, and took the book from Lana.
"Thank you for returning it so promptly," Cherry said. "There are others waiting to read it. I'm glad you enjoyed it."
Something was very queer here. "I'd better contact Dr. Spreck immediately!" Cherry thought.
But before she had a chance to telephone the doctor, she heard a shout.
"Nurse! Nurse!" came a muffled cry from outside the ward. Why, it sounded like someone was calling for help! Cherry raced out of the room and in the direction of the shouts, but by the time she reached the end of the long corridor, all was quiet. Strangely quiet. A priest sat calmly at the duty nurse's desk, reading a tattered magazine. He smiled at Cherry as she caught her breath.
"Goodness, my child, where's the fire? You don't want to break a leg and end up a patient at your own hospital, do you?" he chuckled in an affable manner.
"I though I heard a cry for help!" she exclaimed.
"Nonsense, I didn't hear a thing," the priest responded.
"But, but," Cherry stammered, her rosy cheeks flushed, her heart beating a mile a minute.
"But what, dear?" he asked, squinting at Cherry through thick black-framed glasses.
Cherry looked around the quiet room. Obviously, nothing had happe
ned. Feeling foolish, she blushed some more. "I've got to get more sleep; now I'm hearing things!" she said to no one in particular, for the priest had gone back to his magazine, and the corridor was deserted.
Cherry strode briskly back to the ward, knowing she had broken a strict hospital rule against leaving patients unattended. She pushed open the double doors to the ward and looked around. She was relieved to see her patients all tucked quietly in their beds.
Except for Lana, who was nowhere to be seen!
"Where is Lana?" Cherry asked, trying to control the alarm in her voice. But most of her patients were already fast asleep.
She looked at Lana's bed. The half-eaten pork chop and glass of milk abandoned on the pink cafeteria tray looked so forlorn. What had happened to Lana?
"I've failed in my duty as a nurse," Cherry thought. Nurses were forbidden to leave their wards at the understaffed city hospital, and that went double for the psychiatric ward.
"Where is Lana?" she repeated.
"She left with that nun," a sleepy patient yawned.
Cherry was relieved to find that Lana hadn't wandered away on her own. "Maybe they went to chapel," she mused aloud.
"Who went to chapel?" a stern voice from behind her demanded to know. Cherry whirled around and found herself face to face with Head Nurse Margaret Marstad. And she was not smiling!
"What's all the commotion in here?" she asked, hands on her shapely hips.
"When Cherry left the ward Lana went away with a nun," the patient repeated. "Come to think of it, she was an awfully tall nun," she added helpfully.
As soon as she heard this, Nurse Marstad strode briskly to the telephone at the end of the room and called security.
When she returned, Cherry tried to explain why she had left the ward, but before she could open her mouth, Nurse Marstad spotted the book in Cherry's hand.
"What's this, nurse?" she asked, crisply. In all the excitement, Cherry had forgotten about the book. She quickly explained about Lana's mix-up. "I fear her amnesia is worse, and now she's disappeared!"
Nurse Marstad glanced furtively at the book, cleared her throat, and looked Cherry straight in the eye. "I loaned her the book, Nurse Aimless. She simply forgot which nurse gave it to her," she said in a convincing tone. "There's no need to mention it to security when they arrive; they have enough to deal with. You will report to my office as soon as your replacement gets here." The head nurse took the book from Cherry and left.
Cherry was so confused. She was sure Lana had arrived with the book. "But Nurse Marstad would never lie about a thing like that. Oh, I must have imagined the book belonged to Lana the same way I imagined hearing a call for help!"
Cherry swallowed hard, fighting back tears. She knew she had made a major blunder which could threaten her chances of joining the staff permanently. "Why, I'll surely be fired if I admit to Nurse Marstad that I'm hearing things!"
Nurse Mildred Middy arrived a few minutes later to replace the despondent nurse. Cherry was relieved to see someone she knew, and it took all her willpower to keep from breaking down at the sight of her chum. The two had been fast friends since their first day at General Hospital, and they shared the same devotion to nursing and dread of Head Nurse Margaret Marstad.
"Don't let Marstad scare you, Cherry. Why, everyone knows you're one of the best nurses here," comforted Mildred. "We won't let her fire you. She just can't!"
Suddenly, the loudspeaker interrupted Nurse Middy's soothing consolations. "Nurse Aimless, report to my office immediately," Nurse Marstad's voice barked over the intercom.
Cherry said good-bye to her chum and to her patients, expressing the hope that she would see them soon. As she waited for the elevator that would take her to the third floor and the head nurse's office, she thought of the years of dreaming and hard work that had brought her this far. Could it be that it was all about to end?
* * *
CHAPTER 2
* * *
An Important Assignment
Cherry faced Nurse Marstad with a heavy heart. She tried to explain what had happened, but the harder she tried, the more muddled everything got, until finally she burst into tears.
"Oh, I'm so ashamed!" she cried, covering her face with her hands. Nurse Marstad pulled a lavender handkerchief from her pocket and gave it to the tearful girl.
"Blow your nose, nurse," Nurse Marstad commanded with a gentleness in her voice that Cherry hadn't heard before. Cherry hastily wiped her tear-stained face, took out her compact, brushed her shiny nose with a light dusting of powder and put on a hint of pink lipstick.
"Feeling better?" Nurse Marstad wanted to know. Cherry just nodded, too afraid to trust her voice.
Nurse Marstad took a seat behind her stately oak desk, which was piled high with paperwork and medical journals. She motioned for Cherry to take a seat in one of the turquoise naugahyde chairs facing the desk. Cherry squirmed in the slippery chair. Just a year ago, she had sat in this very spot, convincing Nurse Marstad that she was probation nurse material. And now she feared she had made a tragic blunder!
"I feel so awful that Lana is missing!" Cherry cried. "It's all my fault; I should never have left the ward. It's just that when I heard a call for help, I ran out without thinking, but no one was there. Well, no one except this priest and, well, I would just hate myself if anything happened to Lana because of me." Cherry's voice trailed off.
"I'm worried about Lana, too," Nurse Marstad admitted. "But I have reason to hope she'll soon be back where she belongs."
"I'll do anything to make this right," Cherry cried. "I won't go to San Francisco-I'll stay here and find Lana myself. I'm a pretty good detective; why, just tonight I found three clues as to her true identity!"
Nurse Marstad looked interested at the revelation of this information. "Really? What did you uncover?" she asked.
"I know that she's married, and her initials are C.M. And she must be Catholic; why else would she get a visit from a nun?"
"You're very observant, Cherry. That's a fine quality in a nurse." Nurse Marstad pulled her black book from her uniform pocket. Cherry bit her lip. Once she counted all the mistakes Cherry had made that day, she'd surely fire her!
"Let's see," Marstad said, flipping through the pages. "A-Aarnes ... ah, here you are. Aimless, Cherry. Hired July 5, 1958, with highest recommendations from Nurse Shirley Stern, Stencer Nursing School, Clearwater Falls, Idaho."
Cherry was surprised to hear a good review from her old teacher. From the way she had always singled her out in class, Cherry had assumed Nurse Stern hadn't liked her one bit.
Nurse Marstad continued. "My reports indicate you are a thoughtful and efficient nurse. I was pleased tonight to see the nice manner in which you handled Miss Bee. All your patients give you high marks." Nurse Marstad closed her book. "Now, I hate to see a good nurse lost because of one blunder. You shouldn't have left the ward, Cherry, and my guess is that you'll never make that mistake again."
Cherry shook her head. "Never," she said solemnly. "I'll do anything to keep my job," Cherry added earnestly.
"Of course you'll keep your job." Nurse Marstad seemed amused.
"You mean you're not going to fire me? I can stay?" Cherry squeaked, her voice cracking with emotion.
"The other nurses would have my head if I let our most popular nurse go!" Nurse Marstad replied.
Cherry blushed. She had had no idea she was so well-liked. She just did her best to work hard, be cheerful and keep her uniform clean and starched.
The head nurse looked sternly at Cherry. "I know I'm hard on you nurses, but this is a difficult job. Our patients really need us; this isn't a fancy private hospital for spoiled rich people."
"That's why I'm here," Cherry said solemnly. Nurse Marstad nodded. Cherry's dedication was apparent to all who worked with her.
"I meant what I said about canceling vacation plans to stay here and find Lana," Cherry repeated earnestly. "You saw how many clues I dug up tonight. I know I can do it! First I
'll find Lana and then I'll find out who she is!"
Nurse Marstad shook her head. "While your dedication is laudable, we here at General Hospital don't believe in working our nurses to the bone. I really think you should take that vacation, Cherry. Besides, weren't you also going home to Idaho? Won't your mother be awfully disappointed?"
Cherry was amazed that Nurse Marstad knew so much about her plans. "I didn't tell her I was coming. I wanted it to be a surprise," Cherry said. "I'm sure I can find Lana. I'd feel so much better knowing that I didn't leave you in a jam."
Nurse Marstad looked thoughtful. "Actually, Cherry, you could do me a really big favor. I need to get a package to a friend of mine in Oregon-and soon. Are you staying long in Idaho?" When Cherry replied that she intended to visit her family for no more than a day on her way to San Francisco, Nurse Marstad continued.
"Since you're going in that direction, you could drop it off. It would just be a few miles out of your way. It's very important, and there aren't many people I'd trust with it. But I know I can count on you, Cherry."
"Even though I seem to be imagining things?" Cherry fretted.
Nurse Marstad laughed. "You're just overworked, Cherry. Why, you're a splendid probation nurse!"
That was high praise coming from the strict head nurse, Cherry thought. Her bosom swelled with pride. "Why, I'd be honored to deliver a package for you, Nurse Marstad. What is it?"
Nurse Marstad seemed flustered by Cherry's inquiry. She quickly regained her composure and answered, in a casual manner, "Oh, it's a special experimental medication, and it's very fragile. You'd need to watch it along the way; don't leave it in your car unattended. Take it with you wherever you go. It's very rare. When you get to Oregon, deliver it right to my friend's front door; hand it to her personally. I'll get a map to you before you leave in the morning," she said. "Are you willing to do it?"