by Eric Flint
Ann reached into her suitcase-sized purse for the paper and pen she carried everywhere with her. "I'll take notes so we don't miss anything at our next meeting."
3
They had all had to send for or buy warmer clothes before they got back from Jena as the weather had changed considerably over the last two months. The trip back had been cool, rainy and generally uncomfortable. Beulah wanted nothing more than her bed and some willow bark tea. They had been able to distill the active ingredient for the equivalent of aspirin from the birch bark into a pill form since it worked better in pill form than the willow bark but she usually drank the tea. The heat from the mug was a double benefit for her hands.
She had sent James, Balthazar and Starr a long letter a few days ago catching them up so she didn't have to meet with anyone tonight. Tomorrow was slated as a settle-in day, so she was planning to take things easy. The group from Jena wanted to get started right away. Beulah thought they needed at least a day or two to get accustomed to Grantville. She hoped the trip had taken some of the starch out of them. It certainly had taken the starch out of her. It had also given her more time than she needed to think on the last few months and what lay ahead. The changing leaves on the trip back had just seemed to emphasize the running-out-of-time message playing in her head.
Veit's arrival in Jena a week after the supper meeting had had several consequences. As she had feared, he'd spread his view of Grantville's medical capabilities far and wide. Beulah and the others had been approached by Jena natives for all sorts of medical needs. Most of them, they couldn't meet. Some of those could be fixed in Grantville. When they had explained that they didn't have the equipment they needed, a considerable number had shown up at the Grantville hospital. It hadn't been a flood exactly, but it had strained resources and personnel who were already stretched thin. The doctors in Jena saw their patients look to Grantville, not them, for help. It was a double-edged sword. Some of those who went to Grantville were helped. They brought back stories of relieved pain or even cures over the last two months. Others weren't helped and no one in Jena had enough of a background to understand exactly why one particular patient could be helped but not another.
She and Mary Pat had had to do a lot of explaining. The Jenaites just wanted answers while she and Mary Pat wanted to put things in a larger context. So the answers the Jenaites got didn't really make sense to them because they didn't always want to listen the underlying reasons and what nurses called critical thinking that went into the processes of assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation.
They hadn't been too eager to share their medicines when Beulah and Mary Pat ran out, either. The doctors had seen that Mary Pat and Beulah could help with some things in Jena without sending the patients to Grantville. It had kept the wounds from the episode with Veit fresh in everyone's mind.
Beulah and Mary Pat had hoped to establish a better relationship between themselves and the doctors and students at Jena. There had been a little progress but the things that helped them make progress sometimes hurt rather than helped.
That was true for more than the med school and the town. The rest of the university was watching all that happened very closely. So closely, in fact, that they had sent along several university delegates. The dean of theology was one, as were representatives from the law and arts schools. She was grateful the other two deans hadn't come. The arts school dean made her dizzy hopping from topic to topic and the law school dean had a permanent scowl etched on his face. Beulah thought their goals were to find out as much as they could about the knowledge in their areas that might be affected by Grantville know-how before they were confronted with it more directly. She had to admire their being proactive and wanting to learn. She just wished they were coming after the med school delegation left. The Grantville library wasn't too well organized yet and there wasn't a lot of space for people to go looking around. The other schools would also be watching how the med school faculty and students were treated. That put the med school faculty and staff under a microscope instead of letting then just deal with the Grantville people. Beulah felt for them. It wasn't an easy position to be in.
Werner and his entire faculty had come, which was what they had planned at the beginning more or less. The entire student body had also come. Since there were only about thirty students, and as Werner pointed out, the students couldn't do much with the faculty gone, that had made sense. Given the extra time, they had even found space for everyone. But more people trekking to Grantville meant more time was needed to get everything organized. Which had put them further behind schedule. Ann had been a godsend although the frequent changes in plans as one more person (and usually their family) just had to be added had kind of gotten to her. At least it had given all the Jenaites time to work on their English. One of the few nice surprises on the trip to Jena was that all the med school faculty and some of the students had been practicing English for some months before they got there, so they actually spoke it pretty well.
Beulah stared at all the horses, carts and wagons disgorging people and baggage into the cold night air. We looked like an old-time wagon train headed west, she thought tiredly. It was a toss up whether she was going to brave the crowd of people or just wait till everything settled down. Mary Pat had met up with Rodney and his girlfriend Pris then headed to the hospital to drop off her emergency bag for restocking and to check in with the army officer on duty. Beulah hoped to already be asleep in her own bed by the time Mary Pat got home. Rodney had told Beulah someone was coming to help with her bags, but he hadn't been sure who was coming.
The Grantvillers who were taking in some of the Jenaites were moving among them, trying to figure out whom they were supposed to meet and take home. The smarter ones were holding signs but in the gaslight and the confusion, it wasn't easy to make out what was written on the signs. The ones going to the town's only hotel were in a group and those people had ridden up together so they and their bags could be rounded up all at once. It still took time and was noisy. Fritz was standing right beside her before she heard him call her name.
"Frau MacDonald, are you all right?" he asked in concern.
"I'm just tired, Fritz. It was a long trip."
"I asked to come carry your bags home for you tonight. I thought you would have many and it is some distance to your home. I shall find your bags and help you get home with them if you would like."
"That would be wonderful. I wasn't sure how I was going to get my things out of this mob."
Fritz dove into the crowd and found the bags with Beulah's name on them. "I also wanted to thank you for recommending me to the nurses' aide courses. I am enjoying my new work very much." He set off with Beulah toward her home. They walked quietly for a while, Beulah letting her thoughts settle and Fritz apparently gathering his nerve.
"I have heard that the classes in Jena will start in a few months, that you and the others will be picking the first students soon."
"The reason I wanted you to get started in the nurse's aide courses so quickly is because I wanted to see how you did and if you liked the work. I hope to be able to recommend you for the first class. I don't know what the outcome will be and I can't promise anything. But I think you'd make a fine nurse or doctor, Fritz."
"Thank you, Frau MacDonald. I would like that. I had heard that things did not go smoothly in Jena. I was afraid that there would be no school or that there would be no chance for me there."
"We're working it out but it hasn't been easy. We have some of what we need pulled together. All of us want this merger to work out." She wished she could give him the reassurance he was looking for but this was the best she could do. They were farther behind than she liked. "Thanks for carrying the bags for me. You saved me a major hassle. I'll see you again soon."
4
"Come in, James." Beulah stepped back to let him in the kitchen door the next morning. He had his hands full with breakfast. "Thanks for bringing breakfast. We didn't have time to shop last night and the cupboards are
pretty bare."
"I see Mary Pat has your favorite beverage at the ready." James nodded a good morning to Mary Pat, who was starting to pour mugs of coffee. She'd been ready to go off to work but Beulah had insisted she take the day to catch up on what was happening in Grantville. At least it got her to rest a bit. She was wound too tightly, and had been for too long, especially the last few months. This wasn't exactly time off but it was the best Beulah could do.
Mary Pat glanced up and gave a casual wave. "Morning, James. Thanks for breakfast."
"Fritz came by and walked me home last night. He mentioned some talk in town about the med school merger. What have you heard?" Beulah asked.
"Jeez, Beulah, let a man put down breakfast and get a cup of coffee first. See if I bring you breakfast again." To Beulah, his smile had a bit of an edge to it. Stalling.
"All right, all right. I'll quit pushing."
"For now, anyway," Mary Pat laughed, while she helped him off-load breakfast. "Let's get some food before she gets going again. Once she's had a cup of coffee, we're in trouble."
"How was the trip home, Buelah?"
"Cold, wet, bumpy and long. Okay. Get it over with." In response to his questioning look, Beulah explained. "You're giving me your clinician look. Assessing my movement, general appearance, yada, yada. I'm a seventy-three-year old woman who is tired, sore and aggravated. Otherwise, I'm fine."
He turned to Mary Pat. "She always this grouchy in the mornings?"
"Just lately. It's been a pretty rough few months." Mary Pat seemed to take his comment more seriously than he had intended. Now it was her turn to get the clinician look. Beulah didn't think he liked what he saw.
"I gathered that from the letters you both sent back. You sketched out the broad picture. How about you fill me in some more? We have a few days before all of us are officially supposed to get together but in a town this small, we may run into each other sooner. I'll pass whatever you think is important on to Starr and Balthazar later today. Then you two can get some well-deserved rest."
"I'll leave you two to it. I think I'll go get some groceries. Rodney can fill me in on how things are going in town and points beyond." Mary Pat grabbed a slice of heavy dark bread and headed for the door, carefully avoiding his stare. "Thanks for breakfast. See you in a bit."
James turned slowly back to Beulah. "You want to tell me what just happened?"
"I think she thought it was confession time. Irish Catholic, you know. Very good at the guilt thing."
"Ah. Not exactly enlightening. I take it she felt she had something to confess? From that look, you feeling the need for confession, too?"
"I'm a Methodist, remember? No confession but I do have a few things to catch you up on. Mary Pat first because it's all of a piece really." Beulah took a fortifying sip of coffee. She'd been good and had the medicinal tea first but it didn't seem to work quite as well of late except to help turn her stomach into a vat of acid. And the tea didn't even taste like coffee. "I'm old enough to remember how women were treated in nursing and medicine even comparatively recently where we're from."
He nodded in understanding. "So am I. Mary Pat isn't. I take it she took issue with their attitudes."
"Yeah. She thought showing them the error of their ways would be enough, that once they saw the evidence that she was every bit as good if not better than they were in the healing arts, they'd get it and that would be that. Sometimes that strategy actually works, but it isn't without its drawbacks and it usually takes more than two months. The thing is, Mary Pat knew that. She knew better but it was like she couldn't stop doing it. She was going to make them see. Whatever was going through her mind, I don't think it was just about Jena or the merger."
She sighed. "Part of the problem is that I agree with her about most of it. For all I've tried to be politically correct and culturally tolerant, we've come from a time that has been through history that has disproven or otherwise challenged some of this time period's views that were driving us nuts. Especially their views about women. I'm not a feminazi but I won't be less than I am just because it threatens notions I find ridiculous anyway."
"We are all products of our time and culture, just as they are of theirs. Being aware of that is fine. So is trying not to come across as arrogant know-it-alls. That doesn't mean we're all going to agree with their views. We can't even agree about plenty of things among ourselves."
"She saw me as not being very supportive when I tried to talk to her about modifying her approach or about being sensitive to their side of things. She was frustrated with them for not listening to reason and not seeing what, in her opinion, was right in front of their faces. She got madder. They got their backs up even more. Vicious cycle. I didn't exactly help matters. I know you sent me along as the mature member of our little party, but I certainly had my own moments."
"I'm almost afraid to ask. What moments?"
She slumped a little in her chair. "They quoted Galen to me one too many times and they did it at the same time that they were pulling a nicely subtle you're a woman we don't expect you to be able to comprehend this crap. Galen was just plain wrong about a lot of things and I, ah, took exception. I brought up the fact that in ancient Greece, most of the healing deities were women. I brought up Hygeia and Panacea and pointed out that their precious Galen spoke highly of women physicians like Margereta, who was an army surgeon, or Origenia, a physician, and even extolled the virtues of some of her treatments."
James started snickering.
"I'm glad you find it so amusing," she said quellingly. "They didn't. These are very devout men, James. I respect that. I may not park my butt in a pew each and every week, but I take my beliefs pretty seriously. I'd talked to Balthazar a bit but evidently not enough. With a daughter like Rebecca, his viewpoint isn't exactly typical, although he does know what those attitudes are.
"If I'd asked the right questions and paid more attention to what is going on right here in Grantville, I might have been better prepared for this. I haven't spent a lot of time with our new German citizens, certainly not enough to realize how deeply their attitude toward women in general and women as healers in particular goes. They truly don't believe women can learn this sort of material, much less teach it. Their beliefs aren't just about academics or medical practice. They're founded in beliefs about the basis of their society and the roles of men and women in their daily lives.
"I'm afraid that by sending women as the medical delegates, we made a serious error. We've been here two years, I should have been more aware of the culture here but I've been somewhat isolated by working in the hospital so much and mainly with other Grantville professionals. Most of the Germans I've met have been as patients, family of patients or casually in town and on 'my' turf."
"I kind of expected something like this," James told her. "I had the advantage of talking with some of the people here, including Balthazar, who were born in this time. It's been enlightening. Whether or not it was a mistake to send a mostly female delegation or not remains to be seen. It's certainly got the issue out in the open. What did Machiavelli say about a leader figuring out all the cruelties necessary and getting them out of the way all at once?"
"Medicine by Machiavelli now, is it? You're really hanging out with the wrong crowd, James." She shook her head in mock rebuke, clearly grateful for his support and for him lightening the mood a bit. "I don't know what the long term consequences will be. We have to face them but right now, we need to get through the short term without making things worse."
"I agree. After we realized what some of the problems were, we had a group of up-timer and down-timer health care people get together to brainstorm solutions and try to identify any other tripwires we might face. We've been giving inservices based on their recommendations to all the staff. The members of our ad hoc committee have also been trying to prep the rest of the town."
"And how are they taking it?
"It varies. Some are unsurprised by the attitudes and just plan to work
around it or think that it doesn't really affect us here in Grantville. That's rather shortsighted, given that the USE is lots bigger than just Grantville. Others have a milder version of Mary Pat's reaction. There are a few people who have been problems."
"Let me guess. Mara and her little band of twits," Beulah said acidly.
"Um hum. She's been quietly stirring up some of the staff, exaggerating the cultural and academic differences in our positions and goals. Most people know enough to ignore her but she's smart enough and good enough that she is making headway. Everyone here is a bit tense. On the up side, some of the tension is that most of us want this to work and want to get off on a good foot with our guests. Most of our people will be on their best behavior."
"Thanks, that is good news. So, Machiavelli-in-training, is that why we don't have an official meeting for another few days?"
"We're going to show them around a little first. We thought that might make a number of points without having to rub anybody's nose in it. Then, when we get to the official meet and greet and the hospital tour, two days from now, things might have loosened up a bit. Each of the host families or some other designated tour guide will be showing them around town tomorrow. Today is a rest, unpack and get to know your hosts day."
"Sounds good. Fill me in on any of your other plans and then tell me the story with Rebecca and her group? Have you heard anything from Julie and Andrew yet? Are Melissa and the others okay? From what little we've heard in Jena, it sounds like things are heating up."
5
Mary Pat slid the groceries onto the kitchen counter early that afternoon. Diving for the nearest exit this morning meant that she hadn't taken either the cloth bags she used or Beulah's little two-wheeled pulley cart to the store. No "paper or plastic" at the grocery in 1633. She'd stopped by Rodney's place to borrow his bags rather than come back and face Beulah and James. Cowardly retreat wasn't her style, but this morning she'd just had it.