Micah's Ordeal, page 7
“Okay. Get dressed. I’ll let you go back to light duty as long as you promise to let me know of any new symptoms.”
“Promise,” Jake said although he doubted he’d develop any problems. “Where are my dogs?”
“Sasha came earlier to take them out for awhile.”
“Good.” Jake gathered his things and hurried over to the animal hospital. Merilee was at the desk in reception, and the benches were filled with people and animals.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Merilee greeted him. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” Jake assured her. “Give me a couple minutes to check in.” He walked into the back to find no one around. His dogs came flying out of his office to greet him eagerly. He got down on one knee to give them all a good hug. And he apologized to Belle again. When they’d stopped wiggling and bumping against him, he called them to follow as he checked things over.
The exam rooms were empty, and all of the doors open to the hallway. He heard voices and went down to the classroom. His students were there, and Kenneth was arguing with Clyde about something. “What’s the problem?” he asked as he entered.
Garden walked over with a happy grin to squeeze his arm. “Glad to see you up and about.”
Sasha came over to stand by him followed by Jumbo. Jake got the feeling that his students were taking sides.
“There’s a waiting room full of patients,” Jake said pointedly.
“Exactly,” Kenneth snapped. “We don’t need a lesson when there is real work to be done.” He was glaring at Clyde.
“Who’s on large animals this week?” Jake asked. Hands went up. “Please inventory the stock and feed and make sure we’ve got what we need to get through for a week or so. We’ll need to put together an order also. Are the injured livestock in the quiet rooms?”
“Not all of them,” Truck said.
“Can you do that first? I’ll come take a look as soon as I get the waiting room sorted out.”
“Look—” Clyde began.
“I don’t think we need you today, Clyde,” Jake said with a forced smile. “Thanks for pitching in, though.”
“No, you need—”
Jumbo interrupted this time. “You should go.”
Belle, Jinx and Dusty growled softly.
Clyde frowned at them before stomping out the door. He paused. “You’ll hear about this.”
As threats went, it sounded pretty lame to Jake. “Everyone on small animals come with me please.” He tried taking a different approach by having the students examine the animals and tell him what they thought should be done. He listened and made changes when necessary, but he got the sense that the students were feeling good about the new system. When the waiting room emptied out, he took a moment to check his office. Merilee left him coffee and a breakfast sandwich that he wolfed down with appreciation. Then he went down to check on the large animals.
Garden had taken lead on that and had everything under control. Jake inspected the livestock one by one listening to the students report the issues and treatment they had chosen. He was very proud at the work they’d done even though there had been a few missteps. With careful questioning, he got them round to the correct diagnosis and treatment. By their responses, he knew it was a better lesson than simply telling them what to do. He waited to examine Smoke last. She wasn’t looking good.
“We’ve been worried about her,” Garden said.
“She doesn’t like being alone,” Jake said. He could feel her trauma of a terrifying night, the long journey in the cold and being around strangers. She was in pain and still frightened. He knew she needed a companion. “Can you bring Balthazar in?”
While Garden when to get the other Gray Courser, Jake checked her wounds. Sasha had done an adequate job, but he was a bit more thorough. He cleaned the wounds gently and slathered them with salve. “Is that better?” he asked as he scratched her forehead.
She perked up considerably when Balthazar arrived.
“She’s looking better,” Garden said.
“She’s on the mend,” Jake agreed. He stopped Garden from leaving. “What was that argument about?”
Garden made a face. “Clyde said one of us stole important papers out of your office. Seemed a little fishy to me. How would he know something was missing if he hadn’t been poking around? I asked him what they were, and he said it wasn’t any of my business.”
“I don’t understand what he wants,” Jake grumbled.
“Did something go missing?”
“I hid my journal,” Jake said. He didn’t know if he should say that Belle actually did it.
“Good,” Garden said angrily. “Don’t like that man. And I don’t like the way he tends to animals.”
“There aren’t any secrets in there,” Jake said quickly. “Anything I discover, I send up to High Meadow right away, so it’s all recorded. I just didn’t like him going through my things.”
“I don’t trust him,” Garden said.
Then Jumbo came to ask about a cat with a bad tooth, and Jake was back into the swirl of the day.
When it got a little quieter in the afternoon, he went back through all the papers that Clyde had scattered across the desk. Mostly they were invoices for feed, medicine and general supplies. He filed them back where they belonged. Freckles and Silky came in for a little attention. He wondered where they’d gotten to. It felt good to sit down for a few minutes to give the cats their scratches and make sure that they were all right.
Garden burst in. “They say we need to prepare for flooding.”
Jake stood. “Is the snow melting?” He felt badly disconnected since he hadn’t even looked outside once since last night. He needed to find a window.
“Raining pretty hard,” Garden reported as they hurried down the hall.
Jake took a detour to the far side of the arena that faced the river. The Watch was just starting to set up there, and only half of their rooms were open. He found an unlocked door and dashed inside. The pounding rain made it hard to see any distance. There were still huge snow drifts between the arena and the river, but a layer of water was building up.
“I think we need to cut some channels in the snow. The ground here is higher than the river, and it should drain away, but the snow is stopping it.”
“I think there are some farm plows in storage,” Garden asked.
“Good idea. We’ll need some of the Silvers.”
“They’re tired from working last night,” Garden warned.
“I’ll go talk to them,” Jake said. But before he could move one of the big diggers went past. The snow was slushy enough that the heavy tires of the machine sloshed through breaking a path. It drove right for the river.
“That should take care of it,” Garden said with a chuckle.
“Then I guess we can leave them to it,” Jake said with relief.
Chapter 19
Willow spent the day assessing damage. The rain eased off after lunch, but the forecast called for more storms over the next few days. All of the houses that had collapsed had been judged unsafe and marked. She was relieved that there had been no occupants when they came down. There were still too many people in town who didn’t trust their new rules and regulations. Maybe this would help convince some of them that her people really were trying to help. Being under the Washburns’ erratic and brutal regime made the locals secretive and fearful. Some were too damaged to even try to think for themselves. She’d thought that the human spirit would spring back when the repression was removed, but sometimes the bruising was too deep. This healing was going to take a good deal longer.
There had been a few losses of livestock and several more reported missing, but for the most part all the farmers had managed to get their animals under cover. She’d call that a win since many of those farmers were very new at raising animals.
Raymond called a council meeting which surprised her. Her councilors were getting much more involved, and that was a good thing. Somehow, she’d managed to collect a few that were springing back despite the odds.
“We need better warning,” was the first thing that David said as they gathered in the meeting room. “I almost lost my goats in that snow.”
“Agreed,” Margo said. “I’ve got a lobby full of people who don’t have any heat.”
“We’ll need our own weather station for that,” Willow explained. “That means bringing in someone who has that kind of training, the equipment, a dedicated space.”
“Why can’t we send someone from here for training?” Margo asked.
“We can,” Willow said. “Do you have someone in mind?” She was curious who Margo might consider scientifically inclined. Since most of the locals were illiterate, it was a steep learning curve. She didn’t doubt that they would be smart enough, but a lack of education and a life of struggling for survival under a despot was a hard starting point.
“I’ve got a neighbor who’s good with that sort of thing,” David said. “He’d make a good candidate.”
“I know a couple of people,” Margo added. “How many do we need?”
Willow tried to put aside her objections and think of the staff at the weather station in High Meadow. “If we want to staff it constantly, we need at least three people.” She wouldn’t go into the equipment required. She didn’t know if she’d be able to get her hands on one of the new satellite monitors. Angus had managed to launch a pair of weather satellites, and it had been a game changer on forecasting. Usually.
“Then we should send more than that in case they aren’t right for it,” Margo said thoughtfully.
After a bit more discussion, Raymond volunteered to oversee it all. Willow was very pleased to have that not dumped on her plate. And it thrilled her to see he council wading in to do the real work of running the town.
“Now I want to know what happens next time it snows,” Margo said.
Willow explained that they had two snowplows, and the streets would be cleared, but sidewalks were up to the homeowners.
“Why didn’t that happen this time?” Raymond asked.
Willow shrugged a little guiltily. It wasn’t her fault that the forecast was wrong, but some people would blame her anyway. “We were caught off guard. I didn’t expect it to be this bad.”
Celeste raised her hand to speak. She was often silent and thoughtful throughout an entire meeting before offering a peculiar solution that often worked for the best. “I think that you have too much to do,” she said in her soft voice. “Someone else should be in charge of deciding when it’s time to call out the plows.”
“I agree,” David said. “No offense, Willow, but we can all see how much you’re trying to juggle. I think it should be up to Everett.”
“I was surprised that he didn’t,” Margo said.
“He was out with me trying to find Micah,” Willow admitted. That started some contrite mumbling.
“But he didn’t get the mountain lion,” Raymond said dismissively.
“I heard he was in a bad way,” David said.
“He’ll heal, but it’ll take time,” Willow said. She appreciated that they were thinking things through this way, but worried that Everett was too busy to take this on also. “I think Everett might need some help with that.”
“Would this be a paying job?” Margo asked.
Willow thought of her vanishing budget. “It should be. And it might be time to start taxing people.”
“What does that mean?” Raymond demanded.
“The town charges everybody for the upkeep of the streets and for the Watch and some other things,” Willow explained.
“We didn’t ask for the Watch,” Raymond said sharply. She could feel his immediate defensive response.
Margo raised a hand as if to stop him. “But we do need them from time to time. What does this tax cost? Who collects it?”
“That’s something we would need to figure out,” Willow said and saw them relax. “We can put it on the agenda for another meeting. I’ll need to figure out the costs we need to cover and draw up a budget.” But those words made them tense up again.
“What’s the forecast now?” David asked, changing the topic.
“Storms for the next few days.”
David muttered something about wet goats. “I need to talk to Jake. Are we done for now?”
She waited for another problem to surface, but everyone seemed content to end the meeting. Willow went back to her office with numbers banging around her brain. She was surprised to find Ernst waiting for her. He was dressed in foul weather gear and his hair was dripping wet.
“Problem?”
“I wanted to let you know that the storm drains are all clear.”
“That’s a relief.”
“The power grid is fluctuating. I think we need to replace a substantial portion of the solar collectors.”
Willow sighed. “I don’t think we have anything left in the budget to cover that.”
“Make a collection,” he suggested. “Charge the people who will benefit from it. They have been getting free services for some time now.”
“I’ve barely gotten them used to using money. I hate to start taxing them now.”
Ernst shook his head. “You can’t let people assume that everything is free. They will take no responsibility for the upkeep. Worse, they won’t understand what it entails. They have lights and heat and stoves to cook their food magically provided by the electrical fairy. When the fairy breaks, they don’t know how to fix it.”
Willow knew that wasn’t true for a portion of the townspeople. But there were many that were painfully ignorant of how things worked. It was just another symptom of the autocratic regime of the Washburns. When people aren’t allowed to make decisions for themselves, they often stop trying to figure things out. The Washburns had hard and fast rules. The residents followed the rules, did the work they were assigned and got paid in housing and food. Anyone who didn’t comply either starved or left. But she understood Ernst’s point. She needed to start educating her citizens. “I don’t know how to fix the electric,” Willow admitted.
“That’s why you have me,” Ernst said. “But at least you know the system. How the power is generated and distributed.”
“Maybe we need to start more apprenticeship programs,” Willow suggested.
“Excellent. You can never have enough plumbers, electricians and carpenters. And those workers will have the wages to tax.”
Willow forced a smile. “Maybe not quite yet.”
Ernst departed leaving a trail of water behind him. Willow added the power grid to the next council meeting. Then turned her attention back to the sea of numbers she was trying to navigate.
Chapter 20
Jane did her rounds feeling very proud of her students. The snowstorm had been a minor disaster, but they’d responded very well. It gave them a lesson in what could happen. None of them had panicked or vanished when it got chaotic. And best of all, they had a wide range of issues to deal with from muscle strain to broken bones. Lisa had been able to heal almost all of the frostbite cases. Even Micah’s frozen toes were healing. There were a few that she was keeping an eye on. They had been bad, but she thought that all of them would eventually recover. She hated doing amputations but would if there was no other option.
They had lost two people to heart attacks from shoveling snow, and one who had fallen in a drift and died of exposure. She took every loss to heart but knew those were not ones that she could have prevented. That also gave her a teaching moment, but a much harder one. Explaining deaths to the loved ones was always a difficult task.
Dapple trotted along beside her as she checked on the patients. She’d heard from Mitch and that had brightened her day. He’d passed his exam as she knew he would, and he and Connor would be home today. She couldn’t wait. He was such a good friend now that she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
Lisa met with her for their daily update. They discussed the patients still at the hospital and planned some visits for follow-ups. “I’m worried about Bear,” Lisa said.
“You think she’s late,” Jane said. She felt the same concerns. She’d counted the days a couple of times and was sure Bear was past due.
“She’s in pain.”
“Do you think we should ask Willow about the baby?” Jane asked.
Lisa tipped her head to the side in thought. “I can feel the baby. It’s healthy enough, I think. But it feels as if...”
Jane felt a chill of concern. “What?”
“Well, this is going to sound wrong, but I feel like the baby is draining her.”
“That’s normal. The baby will draw on the mother as it grows.”
Lisa frowned. “It feels different somehow. I think she needs to give birth soon.”
“I’d like to avoid doing a caesarian if we can,” Jane said. She preferred to avoid surgery at all costs. Medicines and techniques were getting better, but it was still a developing science.
“How long do we wait?”
“I think if we keep a careful watch,” Jane said but before she could finish her thought, one of the med-students called for her.
“Bear’s in labor!”
“That’s a problem solved,” Jane said with a grin.
They took Bear into the birthing room. Jane assigned a couple of med-students to help Micah into a chair by the bed.
“Do something!” Bear snapped. “It’s time!”
“We are doing something,” Jane said as she helped her undress. But things went downhill from there. The contractions were too hard, and the dilation wasn’t happening. Bear was weakening with every painful wave. Jane looked to Lisa. “What can you sense?”
“I think the baby is weakening,” she said.
“What does that mean?” Micah asked in alarm.
Jane gritted her teeth. She’d felt it coming. She was going to have to to surgery. “It means we do a caesarean.”
Bear panicked. “No. You said I wouldn’t need that.”
“I said I hoped it wouldn’t come to that,” Jane corrected. She had warned Bear that because of her age and the size of the baby things might get tricky.
