Psychicians (a Hyllis family story #5)

by Laurence Dahners

  Daussie grinned back at her, “Yeah, yeah.”

  As Daussie stepped across the hall to check on Kazy, Vyrda turned to Eva, “Your kids are amazing. I hope you know how fortunate you are.” She shook her head, “When Tarc comes over to help me in the cancer clinic, it only takes him about twenty minutes to go through someone from head to toe, wiping out all the new cancer mets that’ve gotten big enough for us to find.” She snorted, “It takes me a couple of hours to do as much. If I wasn’t so desperate to be doing some good of my own, I’d just let him do them all.”

  Eva looked out the window as she gave a little nod, “He truly is gifted. I just wish he were more interested.”

  ~~~

  Daussie opened the door to the clinic room and peered in. Kazy was sitting at the head end of the gurney so she could be close to her patient. Seeing Daussie, Kazy slowly leaned back. Her hands, which had merely been resting on Ms. Ulrich’s head, began massaging the woman’s scalp so she’d wake up feeling Kazy rubbing her head.

  Which she’d been doing when Ulrich fell asleep.

  Daussie whispered, “Got something for you to see next door. You want me to sit with her while she finishes waking up?”

  Ms. Ulrich’s eyes opened. With a little jolt of delight, Daussie saw the woman’s eyes looked peaceful.

  Daussie had seen Ulrich briefly when she came in. Then her eyes had looked haunted. The woman’s mother was downstairs with Ulrich’s six-week-old daughter. The grandmother had practically dragged Ulrich in here after she’d found the woman, knife in hand, slashing at her wrists.

  Daussie’d seen some people down in the dumps, but hadn’t encountered anyone truly depressed before Ulrich. Certainly, not anyone depressed enough to try to take their own lives. Daussie hadn’t even heard of “post-partum depression,” the diagnosis Eva’d immediately rendered. Another thing to read about, she thought as Kazy slipped past her and Daussie sat down to take the woman’s hand.

  Kazy leaned down next to Daussie’s ear and whispered, “Be sure to ask her how she feels and make a note before she leaves.”

  “Yes, Doctor,” Daussie whispered back with a little grin. She looked back at the woman. Ulrich’s gaze appeared to be gaining focus.

  Noticing some blood in the bandage on Ulrich’s wrist, she sent in her ghirit. The stitches Daussie’d put in were still intact.

  She looked back up at Ulrich, “How’re you feeling?”

  Ulrich smiled, “Good!” She got a puzzled look, “What happened? I was… I remember being… dreadfully sad. I was actually trying to kill myself.” She looked down at her wrist and saw the bandage, “What’d you do?”

  Daussie glanced down at it herself, “Put some stitches in the cut. It’s kind of like sewing up a tear in your clothing.”

  “Oh, okay. But what I was asking, is…” she shook her head as if bewildered, “what’d you do so I’m not… sad anymore?”

  “Do you remember drifting off to sleep with Kazy rubbing your head?”

  “I remember someone was rubbing my head. Then I fell asleep, but someone was still rubbing my head when I woke back up.”

  “That was Kazy. She’s really good at relaxing people and making them feel better.”

  “By massaging their scalps?”

  Daussie shrugged, “She also talks to them while they’re asleep.”

  “Can I sit up?”

  Daussie nodded.

  Ulrich sat up, then gingerly reached up and touched her own head. “This is amazing. I’ve got a friend who’s been sad since her baby died last spring. Can you guys help her?”

  “We can try.”

  “I’ll try to get her to come in,” Ulrich said. She got an uncomfortable look, “What do I owe you for…?” She waved at her head and her wrist.

  Daussie gave her a little nod, “Whatever you think it’s worth.”

  The woman’s eyes widened, “Oh! That’s hard. You might’ve saved my life. Which would be worth a lot. But, maybe I’ll feel bad again tomorrow—then it wouldn’t be worth much.”

  Daussie shrugged, “You could pay a little today, and more when you’re sure you’re okay. If you start feeling worse again, you’re welcome to come back for another treatment, all covered by the same payment.” She took a breath and slowly let it out, “We don’t know what you can afford, that’s why we say to pay what it’s worth to you. We trust you to do what’s right.”

  Ulrich actually grinned, “I think that’s sneaky. Those of us who’re honest probably pay more than we would if you set a price we’d complain about.”

  Daussie tilted her head, “Don’t pay more than you can afford.”

  The woman felt fruitlessly for her purse, “Evidently I don’t have any money right now. Can I bring it all back later?”

  “Of course. Do you feel up to going downstairs to see your mother and daughter?”

  “Oh! Yes! My baby!” Ulrich said, as if torn between embarrassment at forgetting the child and excitement at seeing her again.

  As they exited the room, they encountered Kazy, Eva, and Vyrda. Ulrich gave them a pleasant wave and cheerfully said, “Thank you,” but then hurried down the stairs.

  Daussie glanced at Kazy, “Did you see the bacteria?”

  Kazy nodded, watching Ulrich’s retreating back, “How’s she doing?”

  “She says she’s doing great and seems to be in a good mood.” Daussie shook her head, “From what I’ve read, it seems like what you did for her is a lot more effective than the ancients’ medicines were. Maybe… maybe they didn’t have all the answers after all.” She glanced at Eva, “I’ll hand Ms. Ulrich off to her mother and bring up the next patient?”

  Eva nodded.

  Daussie ran down the stairs after Ulrich, catching up to her just as she entered the dining room. Ulrich’s mother stood up, holding the granddaughter, worry written all over her face. The worry seemed to melt away, presumably just from seeing the smile on her daughter’s face. Daussie reached her and said, “We put a few stitches in the wrist wound. You can take the bandage off tomorrow but keep it clean and dry for a week. We also did a special treatment for her sadness. It seems to be working so far, but bring her back if her mood gets sad again.”

  The woman handed the baby to her daughter and threw her arms around Daussie, “Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

  Daussie thought This hug mostly belongs to Kazy. She said, “We’re very happy she seems to be better. Do remember to bring her back if it doesn’t last. Also, we can take the stitches out in about ten days if you don’t feel up to doing it yourself.”

  The woman pushed Daussie back out to arm’s length, tears running down her face.

  Daussie spent a little more time with the Ulrichs, then asked Farlin which patients had been waiting longest. He pointed, and she turned, seeing Mr. Geller and his granddaughter Rachel. Geller hadn’t noticed her because of his blindness. His granddaughter did not look happy to be there.

  Daussie walked over. Reluctant to speak to the angry-looking granddaughter, she put some pep in her voice and said, “Mr. Geller! I’m Daussie Hyllis, I was with my mother Eva Hyllis when we visited your home. I’m so glad to see you again.”

  Geller’s elderly face creased with a big smile, “It’s good to hear you again. Someday soon I hope to say ‘it’s good to see you’ in return. Can your mother see me now?”

  “Yes. If you’ll stand, I’ll give you my arm so I can lead you up the stairs.”

  Geller stood. Daussie caught his hand with her elbow. As they went up the stairs, he said conspiratorially, “We’ve brought you some gifts. After the wonderful things you brought us when you visited, I rattled the cages at the chemistry to be able to bring commensurate gifts.” He shrugged, “What we came up with wasn’t as wonderful as what you brought us, but I think you’ll like it nonetheless.”

  Daussie glanced at Rachel, wondering what the gifts might be, but Ms. Geller’s face was closed. To the old man, she said, “Anything that might help us make the lives of
our patients better… will be very welcome.”

  When they got to the clinic room, Eva was excited to see Geller. In private she’d told Daussie she feared Geller’s granddaughter would keep him from coming for treatment. Excitedly, she asked him, “Did the magnifying glass help your reading?”

  He nodded and spoke cheerfully, “Yes, it improved my reading from dismal to merely terrible. You have no idea how anxious I am to try your cataract treatment.”

  Daussie saw Eva glance at Rachel then turn back to the old man. “We do hope we can do you some good, but you must understand we haven’t tried this on anyone else. It may not work.”

  Rachel snorted.

  Geller turned his blind countenance toward the sound of his granddaughter’s voice, “Rachel,” he said warningly, “you promised you’d be polite!”

  She rolled her eyes, “I didn’t say anything.”

  Geller turned back toward Eva with a little grin, “Please forgive her. Her parents were entirely too tolerant and completely failed to teach her any manners. And don’t worry about whether it might not work. I’m completely blind in my right eye, so you can’t possibly make it any worse.” He looked questioningly at Eva, “I’m hoping you can try your cataract cure on that eye, rather than the one that still has a tiny bit of vision. Is there any chance it’ll work in an eye that’s completely blind?”

  Eva said, “According to the ancients’ books it’ll work even if the eye’s been blind for years.”

  “Well, I’m ready,” Geller said cheerfully. Then he said, “Wait! I’m so excited about my eye, I forgot we brought gifts.” He held out his hand toward his granddaughter and she handed him a bag. He fished around in the bag and pulled out a small vial. Holding it up he said, “Safranin O.”

  “Oh my goodness!” Eva squeaked in delight. “We’ll be able to do real gram stains.”

  Rachel lifted a doubtful eyebrow and asked, “You do know that once you’ve stained your bacteria, they’ll still be far too small to see, don’t you?”

  Eva leaned closer to Rachel and grinned, then lifted her eyebrows and whispered, “We have a microscope. We’ve already seen bacteria using the crystal violet stain you gave us. The safranin O’s going to let us differentiate some of the major groups.”

  Rachel’s eyes had widened, but Eva’s eyes were already turning back to the old man.

  Geller said, “Don’t get too excited. Safranin O’s not something we’ve made before, though we did have a description of its synthesis. If this batch doesn’t work, let us know and we’ll try again.” He reached back into his bag and pulled out a substantial jar, “We also brought you some of the collagen powder you requested.”

  “Oh!” Eva said, bringing her hands to her face in consternation. “It has to be sterile for us to use it. If you thought you could make it, I meant to talk to you about how it might be collected and prepared to keep it germ-free.”

  He reached out and gently felt for her forearm. Finding it, he squeezed and said, “First the bone dust sat in an acid bath while it demineralized. Then it went through several bio-toxic organic solvents trying to dissolve antigens. Finally, it sat in alcohol for a day before we evaporated the alcohol in a vacuum to leave the final product. I’m pretty sure any germs died a horrible death.”

  Uncharacteristically, Eva giggled. “I’m sure you’re right. Thank you.”

  He said, “We have one more gift.” His hand dipped back into the bag. This time it came out holding a wrapped rectangular package. Daussie realized must be a book. Presumably, a book that fell into the intersection between chemistry and medicine.

  As Eva excitedly unwrapped it, Geller said, “We’d like this one back when you’ve made your own copy. It’s on the chemistry of pharmacologic compounds. Many of them we wouldn’t know how to synthesize, but we could certainly produce some of them. The thing is, the book’s only about their chemistry. It doesn’t detail their uses so we haven’t known whether the compounds would be useful, what diseases might be treated with them, or how they might be administered. If you have books that answer those questions, we’d ask that we be allowed to make copies of them.”

  Eva was trembling as she set the book aside and leaned in to give Geller a quick hug. “Between your family and mine, we’re going to help so many people.” She wiped at an eye, “Are you ready to have us try to do something about your cataract?”

  He nodded. Daussie thought he looked nervous, despite his apparent resolve.

  Eva insisted Rachel wait downstairs. She said, “We may be forming a partnership, but it’s not yet strong enough for us to share all our secrets.”

  Rachel left the room. Eva shepherded Geller over and had him lie down on the gurney.

  Daussie went into the alcove and selected a clear fragment of glass she’d already used to make a number of successful lenses. When she stepped back around into the main part of the clinic room Eva was sitting by Geller’s head, massaging it and whispering quietly to him. Vyrda and Kazy stood nearby as if transfixed by what was about to be attempted. Somehow, the fact that everyone else’s nerves were on edge calmed Daussie’s.

  Eva looked up at Daussie and nodded. Daussie saw that Geller’s face had relaxed. She approached and set the piece of glass on Geller’s forehead. As she started to lean in, Eva said, “When we talked about this before, we talked about putting in a lens that was a little less convex than what you remove—because the refractive index of glass is higher than that of human lens tissue.”

  Daussie nodded.

  “But, I’ve been thinking about how he was using a convex lens to help him read before he developed cataracts.”

  Daussie nodded again.

  “So, that means he was probably farsighted since he needed convex lenses to see things that were close. I think you should put in a lens exactly the same shape as what you take out. Then it’ll act a little bit like a reading lens and his eye won’t go through the physical disturbance of having you put in a lens shaped differently than what you take out.”

  ~~~

  As Daussie leaned her head down next to Geller’s, Eva noticed Geller’s eyes were closed. She had an incongruous moment when she started to reach up and pull his eyelid open so Daussie could see what she was doing. She blinked and had to remind herself, despite all the years she’d been doing this kind of thing herself, that Daussie didn’t need to see Geller’s eye with her own eyes to be able to do what she was about to do.

  Daussie hovered over Geller for a moment. Eva’s ghirit detected a tiny tremor in Geller’s eye, then Daussie stood back up.

  “What’s wrong?” Eva whispered, wondering why she felt the need to speak quietly.

  “Nothing,” Daussie said. She shrugged, “It’s done.”

  Damn! Eva thought, thinking how sometimes the most profound events seemed so… unexceptional. She sent her ghirit back in, then leaned closer for better detail. With her head almost touching Geller’s, she could tell the difference between the lens capsule and its new glass interior. The glass was cooler—having just come from outside the body. But it also just “felt” different to her ghirit.

  Geller’s eyes fluttered and Eva realized she hadn’t been concentrating on keeping him asleep. Then she realized she didn’t need to keep him asleep any longer. Leaning back, she thought, I’ll bet we could do this on someone who was awake. It probably doesn’t cause any pain!

  Geller’s eyes trembled half open, then flew wide. Eva’s initial reaction was that he was having pain, but then he cried, “I can see!”

  Eva’s heart thumped with excitement.

  Vyrda excitedly asked, “Shall I go get Rachel?”

  Before Eva could demur, Daussie said, “Wait. We need to check his vision. I’ll get our testing lenses.” She headed for the alcove where they were kept.

  Voice quavery with excitement, Geller said, “Can I sit up?”

  “Sure,” Eva heard herself say. As soon as the man was sitting, Eva pointed to the chart on the far wall, “We need to see how well you c
an see. Can you read the letters there? Start with the big letters at the top and read your way down.”

  Geller read them without difficulty until he got down to the same line Eva struggled with. Maybe he’s a little bit nearsighted like I am? she thought.

  However, when they tested him it turned out he was still a little farsighted. When they put their +2 convex lens in front of his eye, his smallest letter line was the same one the best of them had been able to read so far. At first, Eva was surprised because those among them who were farsighted had always been able to read small lines on the wall chart—they only had trouble with reading things close to them. Then she realized it was because he couldn’t focus his lens closer like farsighted people with natural lenses could.

  As expected, he couldn’t focus on things that were close to him. He’d need some even more plus lenses to be able to read.

  Tentatively, she said, “Would you like us to try adjusting your correction? We might be able to make it so you can see perfectly at a distance. You’d still need glasses to read.”

  He gave her a questioning look, “What would you do? Put some different drops in my eye or something?”

  Eva bit her lip, “I’m afraid I still can’t explain. To you, it should seem the same as what we just did. You’d feel sleepy, then wake up and it’d be done.”

  He frowned, “How long was I asleep?”

  “A couple of minutes.”

  He shook his head, “What you’ve already done, it’s a… gods be damned miracle! I… I don’t want to tempt fate. Just being able to see at all is such a wonder. Maybe once I’m sure I can keep what you’ve already given me… Maybe then I’ll get greedy enough to have you try to make what you’ve already given me a little bit better.”

  “Okay,” Eva said. “Just a minute. Daussie’ll get you a reading lens and then you can go home.”

  Daussie stepped into the alcove. A minute later she came back with a three-centimeter reading lens for him.