#5e
Grown men with nasty, disagreeable dispositions should not aggravate the nurse that pulls the tape.
Nurse Phoebe thought of herself as a very calm and helpful nurse. She allowed that there were two ways of handling patients. Her way, and their way. Her way was the easy way, and their way was the hard way. She always let them choose.
One thing about Bruce, he wasn't afraid to test her and she always played fair. The tape could come off fast, or slow, hair by agonizing hair. It was the same with the drain tube, it could be pulled fast or centimeter by hurtful centimeter, the bath, and any other function that needed to be cared for; there was always the choice.
When Phoebe went for her supper, Bruce cried, begged and pleaded with Tricia to fire the woman and hire someone with compassion and gentle hands.
"She's the only one that would care for you Bruce, the rest of them refused. You have a reputation." Tricia said gently and then went home to laugh. She was married to the man and didn't want to care for him either. Nothing had been settled between them, and Bruce ignored the problem like it never existed. But it did.
So nurse Phoebe stayed and Bruce learned to be a compliant and reasonable patient. Occasionally he had an outburst, but then a cold water bath with ice cold hands normally cured what ailed him.
Julie with her purple face had been a shock to Bruce, but he was getting used to it. Bruce did more fretting and brooding about the cancer than he let Tricia know about. Mark and Clora had visited with him, Clora telling him his cancer was the same as the kids had.
Clora and Mark had examined all the clan, and for the time being, they were free. The three of them were discussing the situation when Phoebe happened to listen in. "It's got to be the water, the air or the ground. Too much diversity to be anything else."
Clora happened to agree, but the other two were holding out for some exotic cause, and they hoo hoo'd the nurse.
Phoebe thought Bruce was getting a little free and frisky with his opinions, and she arched her eyebrow at him, warning him to tone it down. Bruce with Mark as a back up, totally disregarded Phoebe and paid later. Phoebe was very fair, she always evened things up.
The person that suffered the most was Tricia. She worked double and sometimes triple shifts to pay for Bruce's care and operation. Then she had to listen to him whine about her neglecting him. The three years that Bruce had been in the Army, there had never been a paycheck, and Tricia and Julie lived and saved on her salary.
The way Bruce had taken the joy out of Tricia's feeling of being pregnant, slowly faded when she didn't have to deal with her husband 24/7. Sometimes, Phoebe would catch Trish looking at Bruce with such sad eyes that it made the nurse want to smack the arrogant doctor. Trish had raging morning sickness, and usually it lasted all day. She absolutely would not take anything, and she lost weight.
If Bruce started to sharpen his teeth on Trish, she usually would get up and walk away, until the one night she had come off a double that had been extensively exhausting. There had been a fire in a slum apartment and the burned people screamed and died in the ER until Trish was shattered inside.
Something had triggered Bruce into a nasty mood and Trish walked in his room and he let loose. Trish looked at him with dull, hurting eyes, removed her wedding ring put it on the tray and walked out. It took Bruce six seconds to recover with a nasty string of invectives and Trish couldn't hear them. She was gone.
Trish packed her clothes and Julie's and they drove out at dusk. Bruce had been at the table when Tricia's old Yugo sputtered out, so he was aware she had left. He had a cold eye set to his jaw and no one said a word.
Trish rented a room close to the hospital and she and Julie moved in with what few things Trish took. Julie and her purple face went to the hospital daycare when Trish worked, and Trish applied for jobs out of the area. Trish kept close track of the biopsy's done on Bruce's cancer, and there had been no conclusions.
When the job offer from West Virginia came in, Trish took it. She finished on a Friday night, she and Julie loaded up and were in the Bluefield area to start work on Monday morning. During her mid morning break, Trish gathered her courage and called Clora.
Clora took the information, wished her friend well and never told that she had been in contact with Trish. Trish hadn't asked how Bruce was, she knew he would be OK, there with her friends.
Phoebe had come to work the next morning after Trish left, with the tale of the apartment fire and how terrible it had been for the doctors working on the patients. If Bruce had a flicker of remorse, it didn't show.
As soon as possible, he fired Phoebe and went to the cabin to find Tricia had taken her clothes and Julies, and left the rest. Bruce still had her wedding ring and he dropped it in his sock drawer and went to work as soon as he was able.
He intended to get into the hospital records and find out where Tricia had gone. Tricia had told the records department that there was a domestic problem and her forwarding information was not to be released.
It took a couple of months before Trish stopped jumping at every bump in the dark and the quick movement over her shoulder. When she relaxed, the morning sickness went away and Tricia started to glow with impending motherhood.
Trish and Julie took many walks around town, and friendly people got used to the fading purple on the little girl's face.
Toby and Rennie had a beautiful daughter. The child of obvious mixed heritage was strikingly beautiful. There were two little boys with noses out of joint, and they declared they were going to live with Grandma. Rennie had more work to do, so she waved them good bye and told TJ to come home when he finished college.
It wasn't exactly the way TJ intended for his grand exit to happen, and Milo and Ben snickered all day, remembering the time they ran away in the winter. It was a good, satisfying remembrance and Phoebe laughed and told about her boys who had done the same thing.
Robert healed and he spent time working in the garden, hoeing weeds and planting when it was time. Milo had good eyesight back, although it never matched what he had before. Gary healed and got a job with a trailer company moving and setting up mobile homes in the strengthening economy.
Ben was the only vet with a problem that hadn't been solved. Bruce was researching artificial shoulder sockets, and he and Ben chose the one they felt to be the best. The surgery was scheduled for two weeks and Ben had high hopes for the use of his arm.
Tess improved daily, walking, then jogging and then trotting and finally running the pasture track. She and Ben often ran together, encouraging and helping one another. The hole in her back healed slowly and Mark never did find the extra ingredient that had been injected into the pain killer.
Privately, he suspected either Chilly or Vic, in a sick twisted revenge on Teresa's death, but of course there was no proof. That Ben had so quickly taken his affection to Tess, was the motivation.
The day that TJ and Barry announced they had come to live with Grandma and Grandpa, Barry lasted until bedtime and then his quivering lower lip and eyes swimming in tears, had Grandpa walking the little tyke over to his house.
TJ was very comfortable at Clora's. he snuggled in the rocking chair with her and when no one was looking, he patted her front, and Clora would stop his hand. It was one such display that Clora stopped and her hand was close to TJ abdomen. She had a reaction, and went to waylay Bruce when he got home.
Bruce was eating supper and Clora lugged TJ in and put him on the table. "Bruce, what is in the front of a person right about here?" and Clora pointed to a spot on TJ.
"Colon, bladder, kidneys, the excetra," he replied, "why?"
"Where are the adrenal glands located?"
"On top of the kidneys. Oh," Bruce took a hard look at TJ and rubbed his chin. "Humm, very possible. I didn't ask about them, because I assumed he had been tested for Cushings. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll trade working on TJ for information about Trish." Bruce was calm, but he missed his wife and thought it was about time she came home.
Clora looked at him, picked up TJ and walked out of the kitchen.
"Doctor Bruce, you might as well figure out you shit a ring around yourself and stomped in it." Lemmie was standing at the sink. "Trish was a lot nicer than me. I'd a 'gotta a gun and blasted yer worthless hide. Ain't nobody lower than a wife abuser."
"Abuser," Bruce roared, "Never, I never hit Trish or Julie. You've gone crazy."
"You hittem with words Bruce, jest as sharp and cutting as a whip; ya know sumthin? Bruises fade and bones heal, but them words play over and over in your mind and yer never shut of'em. Yer a proud and stubborn man an if it was yer intention to run her off, ya did a good job. She ain't never called in 'n let people know where she is." Lemmie told him.
"Is that true," Bruce looked startled. "I figured she would call and Clora wasn't telling."
"Bruce ya gotta be the stupidest man on earth. Ya got a pregnant wife that worked two and three shifts at a time to pay yer bills, and all she wanted was fer ya to be happy with her. You figured you were miserable, and never paid no attention to her. That ain't a smart man fer sure. Have you ever thought about anyone else but yerself? Meybe ya deserve what ya got after all."
"What do you mean she worked two and three shifts in a row?" Bruce was trying to put two and two together.
"Ya dumb ass, how do you think yer bills got paid? By the fairys?"
"I make a good salary, there should have been plenty of money." Bruce protested.
"All the time you was in the Army she never got no money, no money when you was here working, how do you suppose she paid rent an bought groceries?" Lemmie was steamed.
"Tricia never said anything, how was I supposed to know?" Bruce protested again.
"I tole you, yer a dumb jerk. You talk at her, not to her, and don't listen like a husband should. The night she walked out of here, Tricia had pulled two shifts on account of thet terrible apartment fire. She was shattered and coming apart at the seams. Babies died in that fire, Babies died! 'n the Docs couldn't sav'em. "N what did you do Mr. high and mighty Dr. Bruce, did ya give her any comfort, no ya horses ass, you whined and moaned and complained until she couldn't take any more. Thet's wife abuse, pure 'n simple."
Bruce didn't feel like eating any more. He got up and walked down to his room. He had a lot to think about.