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Ket swallowed. She felt her cheeks flush. She’d always been a favorite of Dr. Bjelland, but she was now discovering how it felt when the keen blade of his sarcasm slashed out. She had seen others demolished, cut off at the knees practically, when this had happened, but she had never found herself under the knife.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “It won’t happen again, Dr. Bjelland.”
“I should hope not!” Bjelland glared at her for a moment, and for a moment she was afraid he was about to deliver another harsh word. But instead, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Jared’s gentle touch on her arm; it lasted but a moment, just long enough to signal his silent support.
“I’m not sure I heard your question that clearly, either, Dr. Bjelland.” Jared’s voice was confident and steady, despite the senior doctor’s intimidating manner that had the other interns shaking in their boots. “There were some orderlies passing with a cleaning cart. It was quite noisy on this end of the room.”
Dr. Bjelland cast him a doubtful look, but Ket noticed that Jared’s gaze did not waver. She’d been so lost in thought herself, she honestly couldn’t say now if a cleaning cart had passed or not.
“A cleaning cart, eh?” Dr. Bjelland shook his head. He wouldn’t give in so easily. Not to an intern. “I thought she was perhaps considering what color of lipstick she might wear on her date tonight.”
“She don’t date,” Denny Ray countered.
The exchange drew a burst of nervous laughter from the group. All except Jared, Ket noticed. She felt her cheeks glow even redder, though she didn’t think it possible. She knew Dr. Bjelland was looking at her again, but didn’t dare meet his gaze.
“She doesn’t date? Well, that’s good. The rest of the young women around her are all chasing men fulltime. This hospital is just a happy hunting ground for them.”
Ketura hoped the discussion of her social life would end there, but she wasn’t going to be that fortunate, she realized. Bjelland looked back at the boy saying, “So, she doesn’t date. How do you know?”
“She told me.”
“I see. Well, you two must be pretty close friends for her to speak so intimately to you. Is that right?”
“Sure, she comes to see me all the time when she’s off-duty.”
Dr. Bjelland turned his head and did not speak for a moment. Ket, however, knew him well and saw the approval in his steady eyes, but he only said, “Very commendable. Well, I guess that’s all for you this morning. Maybe I’ll come back and visit you myself on my off time. Will that be all right?”
“Sure, Doc.” Denny Ray nodded cheerfully. “I bet I can beat you at checkers.”
“I bet you can’t. We’ll see.”
The procession filed out and as Ket left, she glanced at Denny Ray. He winked at her, and whispered, “Come and see me!”
Ket mouthed the words, “I will,” and left.
Ketura was walking down the corridor, headed for the nurses’ station when she heard Dr. Bjelland call out to her.
“Just a minute, Nurse Lindsey!”
She turned, took a steadying breath and waited for him to catch up. What now? she wondered with dread.
“I guess I was a bit hard on you back there in Denny Ray’s room,” he admitted gruffly.
“It’s all right, Doctor. I was woolgathering. It won’t happen again.”
Bjelland stared at her. “You’ve always been my favorite new nurse. Maybe I haven’t told you.”
Ket’s lips curled upward. “No, you haven’t exactly overburdened me with compliments. That’s not your way, though.”
“No, it isn’t.” He hesitated then ran both hands through his shock of gray hair. “I’m worried about that boy Denny Ray.”
“What’s your real opinion?”
After listening carefully to a rather pessimistic report from Bjelland, Ket’s heart sank. “You think it’s that serious, then? He doesn’t have any chance at all?”
“Of course he’s got a chance. You believe in miracles, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do.”
Dr. Bjelland was himself an outspoken Christian, one of the few on the staff. “I do, too,” he said. “We’re going to do all we can. You, and I, and everybody else, but in the end I’m trusting God to do a work in this boy. We’ll pray about that, won’t we?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right, on your way.”
When she reached the nursing station, Ket found Maggie and Debbie waiting. “Did he take your head off, honey?” Debbie grinned.
“No, not at all.”
Maggie was staring at Ket. “What’s wrong with you? You’re supposed to be the most dedicated brain around here, and you’re walking around like you’re in a dense fog.”
“I don’t know,” Ket said defensively. “Just thinking.”
“You can’t kid us.” Debbie grinned impishly. “You’ve been in a daze all morning. I believe you’ve met somebody and won’t tell. Come on now. Who is it?”
“I had the same feeling. Come on now, Ket. Tell,” Maggie said.
The young women stared at her and Ket didn’t know what to say. They were a close-knit group and two of the best friends Ket had in the world. Did she dare admit the thoughts that had been distracting her today?
Maggie suddenly lifted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Well, there he goes. Look at him. Is he a cutie or what?”
Ket lifted her glance and the other two followed suit. They watched as Jared Pierce walked by dressed in hospital greens.
“What was he like when you were in school with him, Ket?” Debbie asked.
“Well, he used to play baseball. I used to watch him play when we were in high school. He was an all-American at the University of Texas. I saw him play once on that team, too. When Texas won the national championship. He was a wonderful athlete.”
The young women watched as the tall intern moved on down the hall. “He’s been dating Miss Texas,” Ket remarked.
“You mean Lisa Glenn!” Debbie exclaimed. “She’s beautiful!”
“Yes, everybody says she’ll be Miss America this year,” Maggie replied. She grinned suddenly and her eyes crinkled with amusement. “I think I’ll take him away from her.”
“You won’t do that,” Debbie replied. “He’d be crazy to turn her down.” She snapped her fingers as if thinking of something new. “Did you know she’s coming to the hospital this afternoon?” She tucked her hair under her snow-white cap, adding, “It’s part of her duties as Miss Texas, I think. They do charitable things like that.”
There was no time for more talk, for their duties called. Ket worked hard until two o’clock that afternoon when she took a break by visiting Denny Ray. He brightened up immediately when she entered the room, and said, “Have you got time to play a game of checkers?”
“Sure, but you better watch out. I feel mean this afternoon. Not giving anything away!”
However, Ket did give something away, for she managed to lose four games in a row and took great pleasure in watching Denny Ray’s delight as he won.
“I guess I’m losing my touch,” she said. “I’ll have to figure out some better strategy.”
Denny Ray grinned, his freckles standing out against his pale face. He looked thin and at times there was pain in his eyes as well as fear. “That’s all right, Ket,” he said. “I don’t mind winning.” He put the checkers carefully on the board for another game, then asked, “Where did you get a name like Ketura?”
“It comes from the Bible. Ketura was the second wife of Abraham.”
“I bet the kids made fun of you when you were little.”
“They still do.” Ketura smiled. “However, there’s one advantage. When somebody says, ‘Hey, Ketura!’ there’s no question which Ketura they mean. Why, I think—”
She broke off abruptly for the doors had swung open. She rose quickly from the bed and moved over against the wall, for it seemed the room had suddenly become very crowded.
“Well, what is your name, little fellow?” a sugary voice inquired.
Ket had seen the Miss Texas contest on television and had been shocked at how Lisa had changed. She had been pretty enough in high school, but now she was fully mature—blond with green eyes and shaped as a Miss Texas ought to be, tall but with a curvy figure. She walked over to the bed and spoke in a honeyed voice, “My, aren’t you a nice young man! I hope you’re getting well from whatever’s wrong with you.”
Ket’s eyes shot to Denny Ray’s face. The young boy showed very little, but there was a flash of disdain in his eyes that Ket did not miss. “I’m fine,” he said. “How are you?”
“Why, I’m just fine. Aren’t you a perfect, little gentleman?”
Ket looked over to see a photographer, a short, round man with bushy black hair who at once began taking shots from every angle. The room seemed to explode with the flashes of light and Ket noticed that Lisa Glenn managed to turn her best side and a brilliant smile at the camera for every shot. Ket saw Jared Pierce standing in the doorway. He had not noticed her, she realized. Then the beauty queen began talking in a loud, rather artificially high voice—the type that some used with sick people when they know nothing else to do.
Suddenly Ket’s eyes met his and he nodded briefly. She returned the nod and then she heard Lisa say, “Is there anything at all I can do for you, sweetie?”
Suddenly Denny Ray flashed a glimpse at Ket. A peculiar expression crossed his face and she knew he was up to something. “Sure,” he said quickly. “Sit down and play a game of checkers with me.”
Dismay swept across Lisa’s flawless features. “Why, I’d—I’d love to, honey, but I have to go see some other patients. You know how it is?”
“Yeah, I know how it is,” Denny Ray said evenly.
Ket turned her glance away from Lisa’s bright smile to see a frown on the face of Dr. Jared Pierce. He must know how phony she is, Ket thought. But she had no time to think more, for the party prepared to head out for the next photographic appointment.
“Hello, Lisa,” Ket said quietly.
“Why—Ket, it’s you!” Lisa at once came over and hugged Ket, keeping her best side to the photographer. “Why, you haven’t changed a bit! But what in the world are you doing here?”
“I’m on the nursing staff.”
“Isn’t that wonderful!” Lisa turned to wag a finger at Jared. “You didn’t tell me Ket was working here.”
“Guess I forgot.”
“Well, shame on you for that, Jared Pierce! Why Ketura and I were pals in school, weren’t we, Ket?” Ket was glad that Lisa did not wait for an answer from her, for the two of them had never been friends in any sense of the word. “Well, now, we’ll have to get together, won’t we? I’ll call you.”
“That would be nice,” Ket said quietly, noting that Lisa didn’t ask for her phone number. She watched as the small group was led out of the room by Lisa, then moved back over to stand beside Denny Ray. Ket smiled. “Well, you met a beauty queen. What did you think?”
“Boy, I feel sorry for the guy who gets stuck with her!”
Surprise swept across Ket’s face. “Why do you say that?”
“Because she’s a phony, that’s why! She smiles with her teeth but not her eyes, and she talks too loud. And she called me honey and sweetie when she doesn’t even know me.”
“I think she meant well, Denny Ray.”
“Sure, I guess so—but she’s a phony for all of that.”
Ket was amazed at the insight of the young man. She knew that his sickness had made him study people more carefully than most boys his age. “Well, I’ve got to go to work. Tell you what. Why don’t I bring you a video tomorrow, and you and I will watch it.”
“Good, I’m tired of these dumb cartoon shows. See if you can find an adventure story or something exciting.”
Ket laughed. “I think I can handle that. I like a story with plenty of action, too.”
She left the room then, and as she passed down the hall she heard the rather metallic laughter of Miss Texas drifting from an open doorway. She glanced in the room and saw the scene was being repeated. Only this time the patient was an elderly woman who was staring with shock at the beautiful, young girl who was telling her she was going to be fine.
“She’s not going to be fine,” Ket muttered between gritted teeth, “and it’s not going to do any good for you to sweep in here telling people things like that.” She was surprised at the strength of her emotion but then put it out of her mind as much as possible and went about her duties.
For the next four days Ket continued to feel an inner assurance that she was going to be married. She could not get the words or feelings out of her head. She dreamed about it, but still she found it almost impossible to believe.
“I’m becoming a basket case!” she muttered one morning when she had lain awake for hours thinking about the Scripture and how ridiculous it might be for her God to be taking time to speak to her. “I just can’t believe it’s happening.”
Still it went on, and more and more she began to be open to the concept that perhaps God was telling her something. “I’ve got to be very careful though. It would be so easy to make a big mistake,” she cautioned herself. And she prayed for guidance and discernment. Prayer would keep her on the right path.
Chapter Four
The June sky was without a cloud, and the sun was hot as Ket cast her bait into the midst of a thick growth of water lilies. She let it lie there for ten seconds, counting slowly, then lifted her rod abruptly giving the plug a twitch. Instantly there was a thrashing in the lily pads and the line tightened, bringing the casting rod down level. Ket jerked the tip of the rod upward, sinking the hook and yelling at the top of her lungs, “I’ve got him, Dad! I’ve got him!”
“Hey, watch out! You’re going to turn the boat over!” Roger Lindsey sat in the front of the bass boat and laughed aloud as he watched Ket fight to pull the fish out of the lily pads.
“You’ll never get him in. He’s going to get hung up,” he said. He watched as she skillfully worked the fish, and thought, She’s a better fisherman than I am. Better than most men. Aloud, he said, “I never saw anybody get so excited over a little thing like a fish. One of these days you’re going to jump right out of the boat and haul yourself over to a bass, hand over hand.”
Ket did not answer for, as always, she had a mild form of insanity when she got a fish hooked, especially a large fellow like this one. It seemed the whole world disappeared, and all she knew was the tug of the fish on her line, the splashing of the water and the fish’s mad attempt to escape.
“He’s a whale, Dad!” Ket yelled. “May be a record!”
Roger watched with amusement and pride as Ket worked the fish close to the boat, then reached out quickly, grabbed the landing net and slipped it under the fish. When she lifted it out of the water, he whistled, “Say, that is a big fish! He might go eight or nine pounds!”
Ket looked down to see that her hands were trembling. “Look at that! I’m not going to make much of a nurse if I get all shaky over a little thing like a fish.” She reached in and got the fish by the underjaw and lifted him out. Her father came quickly with the scales and hooked it into the fish’s jaw, then waited until he stopped thrashing. “Eight and three quarter pounds! That’s a fine bass! Be good for supper tonight.”
“No, I’m going to have him mounted. We can get some fish at the supermarket.”
“He would make a nice trophy. Look at those colors!” Roger said admiringly. The two carefully put the fish into a wire basket and lowered him so that he would live as long as possible.
“Let’s go home,” Ket said. “Anything after this would be an anticlimax.”
“Suits me. Time we get by Ed’s house and let him start on your fish. It’ll be getting late anyhow.”
The two got their gear stowed and Ket moved to the driver’s seat. She started the powerful engine and soon the boat was skimming across Runaway Bay.
