No Distance Too Far (38 page)

After catching up on her chart work, she saw two patients, and since there were no others, she turned the sign over and told Thelma she would be back after a while. She needed a change of scenery.

THE NEXT TWO weeks passed in a blur, with Astrid running the surgery and Elizabeth gaining strength, but with none of the vigor they had hoped. While she could walk downstairs, she couldn’t climb the stairs without assistance. Morning and afternoon naps taken on the porch were necessary, but what concerned Astrid the most was Elizabeth’s lack of interest in their patients and the possible hospital. As she marked off each day on the calendar, her date to leave seemed to leap off the page. How could she possibly leave? How could she not? And Joshua had not once come by to see her for a walk or to go for a soda either. But then, she herself hadn’t realized it for several days. She knew he was working long hours but still . . . Where was her mind and heart? What was God trying to tell her?

“What am I going to do, Mor?” she asked one afternoon when she and her mother were sitting on the porch watching Emmy and Inga playing in the puddles left from the rain that had passed over an hour or so earlier. The air smelled freshly washed, a fragrance like no other. The lilacs bent their blossom heads toward the ground, weighted by the water, yet wafting their fragrance with the abandon of the sun sending rays to every corner. The girls giggling, the birds chorusing their joy in the rain, and the cat purring in her lap sang of home and summer. Home here in Blessing, North Dakota, not some city or village on the dark continent of Africa.

Tears leaked from her eyes as drops fell from the eaves of the house, but the water from the roof flowed into the rain barrel, and her tears only made her cheeks wet.

“I hate to see you in such misery.” Ingeborg took her daughter’s hand across the small space between the two rockers.

“But I gave my word.” A sniff accompanied the words.

“God will let you know.”

“You keep saying that.”

“I trust Him. That is all there is to it. I know He will take care of this for you.”

“Gamma, Gamma,” Inga called. “Come puddle with us.”

Ingeborg started to say no, but instead leaned over and untied her shoes. “Take your shoes off. We are going to puddle.”

Astrid brushed the tears away, shaking her head. “Puddling it is.” The two hiked their skirts, drawing the back of the skirts between their legs and tucking them into the waistbands in front to keep them out of the way. Before long they were muddy to their knees, the girls muddied all over, and their laughter rose to tickle the happy leaves of the trees.

Just rejoice,
she reminded herself.
You know you can trust Him.
Just trust!

29

A
strid and Thorliff met the visitors at the train late in the afternoon.

“Welcome to Blessing,” Astrid said as their guests stepped down onto the platform. “This is my brother Thorliff, and he will see to your baggage.” She introduced the three visitors and led them to the boardinghouse beyond the other end of the station.

“You are indeed out in the country,” Dr. Morganstein commented, her arm locked through Astrid’s. “Smell this air.” She inhaled and then again. “This is marvelous.” Her heels tapped on the wooden walk that had been constructed the year before.

Astrid hid a chuckle. The doctor certainly looked different in traveling clothes rather than her usual full body apron. And by the grip on her arm, the woman did not feel as confident in her walking as she used to. Astrid wondered how old her mentor really was, as age suddenly seemed to be catching up with her.

“I will get to see Benny while I’m here, won’t I? And dear Elizabeth, besides at the meeting? How is she?”

“Yes to Benny, and we’ll see that you have time to visit with Elizabeth too.” They climbed the three steps to the boardinghouse, Mr. Josephson and Mr. Abramson talking with Thorliff all the way.

“Welcome to Blessing,” Sophie said, greeting them at the door. “I am Sophie Wiste, Astrid’s cousin.”

After the introductions Sophie led them down the hall on the first floor and opened the second door. “I put you here, Dr. Morganstein, and the next two rooms are for you two gentlemen.”

“Thank you for this. I won’t have to climb those stairs. The ones at the hospital are getting to be more than I can handle, so we are putting elevators in this summer. That will make life easier on everyone.”

Astrid thought of her races up the stairs when she was on call. “That will indeed help. And a good suggestion for our building here.”

“If you would like, you could have supper served in your room. You also have your own necessary.” Sophie showed her the bathroom, this being the only room in the building to have its own bathroom.

“Thank you. That will be most helpful. Can we also have a couple more chairs and a table to work at?”

“Yes. I will have them brought in.”

“I will leave you now,” Astrid said. “If you would like to visit Elizabeth tonight, Thorliff will come for you.”

“I had thought to do that, but I will see her in the morning before our first meeting. Right now, I just want to sit down without the floor rocking and freshen up. What time will supper be served?”

“Whenever you like.” Sophie nodded and backed toward the door. “If you need anything else, there is a bellpull by the bed. Breakfast starts in the dining room at six thirty for our work crew. For others, any time up until ten o’clock. Thank you for coming.”

Sophie and Astrid left the room at the same time.

“Whew, am I glad that is over.” Sophie pretended to wipe perspiration from her brow.

“Why is that?” Astrid asked, staring at her cousin. “You’re not afraid of anybody.”

“But this is
the
Dr. Morganstein. How many stories have I heard you and Elizabeth tell about her? How much of an influence could her goodwill be on this town? I felt like I was greeting royalty—all but the curtsy.”

Astrid chuckled. “You were a gracious hostess.” She skipped a beat but kept her hands from clapping. “Think what a difference it will make in Blessing if we have a hospital.”

“I filled out all those questions, remember? I have as good an idea as anyone. This will bring more guests to the boardinghouse, both during construction time and when fully operational. Where else would people stay? I am thinking of offering a special rate for people who come because of the hospital.”

“Leave it to Sophie, always the businesswoman. You’ll be at the community meeting tomorrow night?”

“Of course. As will Garth and anyone else who has any dreams for Blessing. Between a manufacturing plant and a hospital—”

“Don’t forget the people who want to help Kaaren with an addition to the deaf school.”

“You are right.” Sophie stopped at her desk. “This whole thing gives me chills.”

“Why?”

“It’s so much. There are going to be a lot of people moving here, first to help build and then to work in the buildings. And to think it all started with the farming and your mother’s cheese house.”

Astrid thought about that on the walk back to Thorliff’s house.
If I go to Africa, I will miss all of this.
The thought weighted her feet as she climbed the stairs to her room.

Wishing she could go home and talk with her mother and father again, Astrid spent the night in her room at Thorliff’s house and woke along with the birds at dawn. She and Thorliff had gone through all the papers, answering the myriad questions the committee posed to those they knew wanted to be included in the decision. The town meeting was scheduled for that night. She dressed quickly and headed for the kitchen to help Thelma prepare the noon meal, at least as much as they could so early. When Elizabeth rang for breakfast, Astrid took the tray up.

“Here you go. Do you need help dressing too?”

“I do. And with my hair. I’m as nervous as I was when I first met the woman. Here she is in my town, and I couldn’t even meet her train.”

“Well, at least you get to come to the meetings.” Astrid arranged the tray across Elizabeth’s knees. “While you eat, I’ll go change clothes so at least one of us is ready.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Nope. That’s why there’s extra food on your tray. You didn’t think I expected you to eat all of that?”

“I never know about you. Thorliff left for his office to work on the newspaper. Heavens, what if the edition went out late due to impending business?”

Astrid shook her head as she exited the room. If Dr. Morgan-stein asked about Elizabeth’s mental attitude, how would she answer? Grumpy, critical, impatient with those around her, tending toward self-pity? Indicators that she still was not well? Then she reminded herself that grief and weakness sometimes did strange things to the patient.

By the time the guests started arriving for the morning meeting, Elizabeth was seated at the dining room table in a comfortable chair with a footstool at the side.

“Don’t get up, Doctor,” Dr. Morganstein said when she entered the room. Taking the chair next to her former student, the elder doctor studied her. “I’m sorry things happened this way,” she said softly, holding Elizabeth’s hand. “Now you need to regain your strength.

Are you being unruly, or are you a good patient?”

“Are you asking me or Astrid?” Elizabeth asked.

“I was afraid of that. Doctors are rarely good patients. But I am sure we are all in agreement that you need to regain your strength.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I know that, and I want to do what is best, but losing Roald like that was far worse than I thought possible.”

“You named the baby, then?” At her nod, Dr. Morganstein leaned closer and gave her a hug. “That was very wise.”

“But now I might never have another chance.” Tears brimmed, and Elizabeth ducked her head to hide her sorrow.

“That is true, and not trying again would be very wise. But you could adopt another child or more. Besides, with all the lives you will save with your medical gifts, your life will be full and a blessing to untold people.”

Astrid watched the two, partially hearing what was being said but keeping the others visiting so the two could talk without interruption. When Thorliff stood to call the meeting together, she caught his eye and shook her head, nodding toward the two doctors.

“I thought perhaps you would like a tour of our surgery before we started the meeting. I know Astrid, er, Dr. Bjorklund, would be glad to show you around. In the meantime I will help bring in the coffee, and I think I smell cinnamon rolls.”

The two men followed Astrid, asking questions and nodding approval at her information.

“You really do need an operating theater, don’t you?” Mr. –Abramson commented. “You have accomplished a great deal with minimum resources.”

“Thank you.” She showed them the pharmacopeia, where they compounded many of the medications they sold. “We combine many natural remedies with the more modern drugs, so we have the best of both worlds.”

“You will need a department in the hospital for this and someone trained to compound.”

“I thought we would look for someone when the hospital is nearing completion. Perhaps there will be an intern from Chicago who could be this person.”

“Perhaps so. Dr. Morganstein has been talking of expanding the training for students who want to study medicines more than medical procedures.”

At Thorliff’s beckoning, Astrid steered them back to the dining room, where Thelma was pouring coffee and passing the cinnamon rolls. She glanced at Elizabeth to see how she was and received a firm nod. As soon as everyone was seated around the table and served, Thorliff called the meeting to order.

Astrid sat next to her mother, who took her hand under cover of the table and tapped “God is good” into her palm. Astrid nodded and glanced across the table to see Pastor Solberg next to Mr. Geddick. Lars and Kaaren sat at the foot of the table with Thorliff at the head. Mr. Valders sat next to Thorliff, already taking notes.

“Dr. Morganstein would like to say a few words at this point.” Thorliff nodded to her and sat down.

She rose and smiled around the group. “First of all, thank you all for coming. I know you have many other things you could be doing this morning. I want you to know that proceeding with our plans is part of my dearest dream. My hospital in Chicago is, of course, first and most important to me. But it has outgrown its space. In order to expand, we need to move it, try to buy more land around where we are now, move a part of our services, or start a new hospital. We could do that in Chicago, but I believe an extended hospital will serve us—and all of you—well. Together we can serve two areas, expand our teaching facility, and even add new departments, like your pharmacy. Perhaps even venture into research fields regarding women’s and children’s health. I know I am looking at a huge picture, but if we do this in smaller pieces, we can bring that picture, that dream, into reality. Both Dr. Bjorklunds left an imprint on our medical school, and it gives me great satisfaction to work further with them both.”