3 The Merits of Medicine
The first real lesson of the day was that New York was very big for a man on foot After a couple of miles, while still finding himself in the same residential neighborhood, he got lucky and got a ride in the back of a wagon. The closer they got to the city itself, the more cars there were, the more shops, and people on the street. Everything was new and wonderful. He wasn’t even really paying attention to where the wagon was going, just soaking in all the splendidly new world of New York.
Without hardly knowing how he’d gotten there, he found himself at the docks. Having never actually been to the ocean, he fairly leaped out of the back of the wagon. The air smelled heavier somehow, unknown things layering over other things, mixed in with soot, sweat, and cigarette smoke. At the edge of the pier, he could look down at dark churling water, a slow movement to it, almost like the Earth herself was breathing. New York was full of things that Kansas barely dreamt of.
Seemingly the only person who wasn’t working, he strolled in front of warehouses, places of manufacture, various groups of men moving through the workflow that men who work with their hands do. It was fascinating!
He bought a hotdog and a glass of lemonade. There was no reason for it to taste entirely differently than those from home, but it did. It was unbearably delicious and he considered that he might need to be mindful of his waistline. Just as he put the last bit in his mouth, he felt very determined. He would walk every street in New York until he found Gael. He would spend every free day looking for him until he found him.
Then a man screamed in Irish, well, it wasn’t so much the scream, as the words that came after. It was an entirely different context than when Gael had said them, but he knew them nonetheless, as long as he didn’t have to say them as he’d quickly found his tongue was not Irish shaped. Moving with a very quick step, he returned the glass to the hotdog seller and went in the direction of the Irish cursing.
What he found was certainly not Gael, but a group of men built more like Atlas than Apollo. One man sat to the side, face pale, shoulder clearly dislocated. That would be a problem to solve. The activity was mostly around a very large crate that had fallen on the leg of another man, which was much more problematic as the edge of the crate went all the way to the cobblestone path beneath him. The other men were about to lift the crate, so Jack ran. “No! Wait!”
They looked at him, quickly decided he wasn’t the supervisor and went back to what they were doing. Jack tried his best to repeat some of the words Gael had said, not even knowing what they meant, but following them up with, “Wait! Please.”
“What you want, English?” One of the closer men said, dark hair and a ruddy face, a nose broken enough times to give it a lightening shape.
“Doctor,” Jack said. He pointed at his chest, “Dr. Walker.” He bent over and touched a finger tip in a splatter of blood, then mimicked lifting the box, shook his bloody fingertip at them, then spread his hands apart, “Blood!”
Lightening nose shrugged and scowled.
Jack pulled his belt off, showing it to them, before working his way in and using it as a tourniquet on the man’s leg. The man was unconscious, which was probably a blessing. Jack tightened it as much as he could and made a raising motion. The crate lifted.
Lips pressed thin, Jack gently touched the leg. “Ice. Is there any ice?”
One of the other men nodded and ran off. Jack checked the man’s pulse, opened and looked at one eye, which was rolled so far back there was nothing, but white.
A little girl ran up then, maybe ten, but somehow looking more adult than Jack thought he’d ever been. She knelt by the unconscious man, her hand on his cheek as she silently prayed.
“Do you speak English,” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Will Papa be okay?”
“Good Lord willing, I hope so. Will you please ask these men if there is a blanket to wrap him in? We need to keep his leg chilled, but wrap him in a blanket around his shoulders. He needs to go to the hospital.”
She repeated that just as the man who went for ice came back, axe still in hand. He had a cotton bag of ice chunks.
“Very good,” Jack said.
Another man had a couple of blankets and a wagon was already arriving. Jack helped roll the man and use one of the blankets as a stretcher. The other wrapped around him. The ice went around the damaged shin, to slow the bleeding that was bound to continue over the bumpy road.
As soon as that was resolved, he moved to the man with the dislocated shoulder. “I’m Dr. Walker,” he said as he approached. “I’d like to examine your shoulder.”
“How much money?” The man said, dark eyes looking up at Jack with unnerving desperation.
“None. I am just fortunate to be here to help.”
Those dark distrustful eyes narrowed. “Later?”
“No charge, free. May I help with your shoulder?”
The man gave a curt nod.
“Thank you.” Jack very gently examined the shoulder by touch. “It is dislocated. This may hurt just a bit, but I am going to put it back in place for you. Will that be alright?”
“Probably better than hitting a wall,” the man growled.
“Very well.” Just like he’d done it a hundred times, Jack took hold of the man’s shoulder, with a sharp and precise roll and jerk, he had it back in place with barely more than a grunt from the man. “There you are. Are you in pain elsewhere?”
Rolling his shoulder gingerly, he said, “I am well. Thank you. I want to pay you. I am Ian.”
“That’s very kind,” Jack said, “I am looking for a gentleman, Gael McNeil?”
There was a snort of abruptly swallowed laughter behind him. Ian stood up, held out his hand to Jack.
Which Jack was happy to shake. “It’s nice to meet you Ian.”
“Your boy, about this tall, blue eyes, yellow curls almost like a girl?”
Nodding, Jack said, “Yes. Do you know where I can find him?”
“Yeah,” Ian said. “Jake! Get a wagon, take Dr. Walker to Alfred’s.”
“Yes, sir,” the teenage boy said, running to do as he was told.
“If you listen to me, you don’t go in there. It’s dangerous,” then with a disgusted curl of lip, “Unclean.”
“Thank you so much, Ian. I work at the hospital, most days. If you ever need any medical help, please don’t hesitate.” And just like that, Jack was off to Alfred’s.
