“Dr. Barnes, how nice
to see you again, it’s been too long,” Miss James remarked as I hung up my
coat. “Residency been busy?”
“You have no idea,
Nurse. I wish people would only get sick between the hours of 8:30 and 5. It’s so
inconvenient when someone decides to have an MI at midnight. Personally, I wish
my only night work was here at the Night Clinic.”
I leaned over to give
her a kiss, but she turned her head away. I guess two months was too long a
time to let pass without seeing, or calling, her. This could be a long shift, I thought, but one never knows what may
transpire to bring people back together.
“Anyone waiting?” I
inquired, hoping I could break down her icy veneer.
“High fever and a rash
in two and vomiting in three. Room one needs to be cleaned. It seems the day
shift never went to kindergarten and left One a bit messy.”
I picked up the chart
outside room two. Owen Martin, thirty two, no previous medical problems, fever
for three days, up to 103, and generalized rash. Here we go.
“Good evening, Mr. Martin, what brings you in here today?”
I started my doctor banter.
“Bus,” he answered
tersely.
It’s
going to be one of those nights.
“I’m sorry,” I started
over. “I mean, what’s the problem you’re having.”
“What’s the problem, doctor?
Just look at me; you can see the problem.”
“That is quite a rash,
no question. When did it start and where did you first notice it?”
“I first noticed it in
the bathroom about a week ago.”
I raised an eyebrow at
his response and then rephrased my question. “Where on your body did you first
notice the rash?”
“Oh, sorry, doctor. It
was on my stomach. It just spread each day and then I noticed the fever and
some aching in my joints.”
“Been hiking in the
woods recently; any bug bites?”
“I was hunting a couple
of weeks ago. Didn’t manage to kill anything, though, except about a case of
beer.”
Lyme disease popped
into my head. “Did you get bitten by a tick? Let me check you. Go ahead and get
undressed, here’s a gown for you. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
I left Mr. Martin and
went to room three. Sixty years old…hypertension…vomiting today, nothing
much. Probably a stomach bug. I noticed
Miss James looking a bit frazzled as I opened the door.
“It’s going to be a
busy night. There are about ten people in the waiting room already.”
I
better pick it up.
“Good evening, Mr.
Sanchez, what is the problem…”
I quickly dispatched
him with a script for phenergan and follow up at the County Clinic in a few
days and then went back to search for a tick.
“I’m back,” I announced
as I returned to room two. You said the rash started on your stomach?”
That’s right, doctor,”
Mr. Martin answered.
I started my search on
his abdomen without any luck, moved to his groin and perineum, up and down,
everywhere, but the nasty bug eluded me and my magnifying glass.
“What are you looking
for, doctor?” my patient queried.
“A bug, a tick to be
exact.”
“Oh,” he answered and
then he became quiet. After another minute he spoke up. “I did find a little
spider, maybe it was a tick, in my belly button. I killed it.”
“Let me look at your
belly button,” I requested.
I pulled the skin apart
to open it up and got up close and magnified the area. There was a tiny black
speck that I pulled out. This could be
part of a tick. I didn’t see anything else.
“Mr. Martin, I suspect
you have Lyme disease. Here is a prescription for antibiotics, one pill twice a
day. It shouldn’t be very expensive. Take it to the pharmacy over on sixteenth.
It should only be four dollars. Here is a sample to get you started. And, this
is the number for the Infectious Disease Clinic at the hospital. See them
within the next week or so. Don’t forget to take the antibiotics and, here’s
another script for your aching and itching. Any questions?”
“I’m not going to die,
am I, Dr. Barnes? I always heard about Lyme disease and…”
“We caught it early,
Owen. Just take the medication and keep your appointment and you should b fine.”
He shook my hand,
clutching the prescriptions tightly in his other fist.
“Thanks, Dr. Barnes. I’ll
call you if I don’t get better.”
“Go to the clinic if
you don’t get better, but be sure to go.”
He left and I went out
into the hall. All the rooms had charts on the door and I peeked out into the
waiting room and saw about twenty more people seated. No one looked terribly
ill until I saw her. She was a little girl sitting by herself in the corner,
next to a fake potted plant. She sat with her hands across her knees,
fidgeting.
Miss James came out of
exam room one.
“Nurse,” I formally
requested, “there’s a little girl sitting by herself in the corner out there.
Please bring her back next. Thank you.”
“Of course, Dr. Barnes.”
I picked up the chart
to room four. “Splinter in hand.”
I opened the door and
greeted Mr. Billroth. “Good evening, Mr…”
I went through my usual
spiel, but my thoughts kept drifting back to that little girl. Something about
her demeanor was unsettling. I quickly removed the splinter from Mr. Billroth
and sent him on his way. I ignored the patients who had been waiting in rooms
one and two and went to three and the little girl.
Her chart was blank, no
name, age or anything.
“Hello,” I said gently.
‘I’m Dr. Barnes. Can you tell me your name?”
She looked at me with
her big brown eyes, but just sat there, clutching a raggedy doll to her chest. She
couldn’t have been more than five years old. Long, curly brown hair fell around
her shoulders and she was neatly dressed in a blue dress and pink tennis shoes.
She didn’t have any of the grime I’d come to expect on “street orphans” which
made me think that she had a home somewhere and she was probably lost or had
just run away.
“I promise no one will
hurt you.”
Miss James came in
behind me.
“We just want to know
who you are and where your parents are.”
“Daddy’s at the
hospital. Mommy was there, but they took her away and now she’s in the garden. I
saw her there today and I wanted to be with her, but she told me I had to
leave.”
Miss James knelt beside
the little girl.
“What’s your name,
honey?” she asked while she slowly stroked her hair. The girl didn’t answer.
“Can you tell me your
doll’s name?” I asked. “I’m sure she’s scared, too.”
The girl held up the
doll, which looked worn and dirty.
“This is Peaches. Mommy
gave her to me before she got sick and had to go to the hospital.”
“Can you tell me your
name?” Miss James asked again. “If Peaches gets lost, I’ll know who you are and
be able to bring her to you.”
“Jewel,” she answered. “My
name is Jewel and I’m five years old. Please, I want to go back to the garden
and be with Mommy.”
I took Miss James aside
for a moment.
“Do you know of any
garden near here? All I’ve ever seen is garbage and dirt and more garbage.”
She shook her head and
went back to Jewel.
“Can you tell me about
the garden?” she asked.
“It was wonderful, so
beautiful and smelled so sweet and fresh. I saw Mommy there. I wanted to go
with her, but I couldn’t.”
“Where is the garden? I
asked.
“It wasn’t far from
here. Mommy was at the hospital. She’s had to go there a lot. I was there with
Daddy, but then they took Mommy away. I couldn’t stand it so I ran away to find
her. And I did find her; in the garden.”
“Can you tell me about
the garden, Jewel?”
“There were beautiful
flowers and birds and even a lion. There was a river which sparkled in the sun and
Mommy was sitting in the middle of it and she didn’t look sick at all. She
looked happy and pretty and I wanted to go with her. I tried to run to her, but
she told me I had to wait. Someday we would be together again, she said. Then she
went away again and then I couldn’t find the garden anymore. But, I was
standing right outside your door after Mommy left. Every other place looked
dark and dirty, but it was light here, so I came inside. Please, can’t you go
with me to find the garden again?”
I looked at Jewel and
then at Miss James, but didn’t say anything. Finally, I told Jewel to wait in
the exam room while Miss James and I talked about what to do.
“It’s obvious what’s
happened. Her mother must have been sick and died at a hospital. When she
learned that her mother had been taken away she ran away to find her and
imagined her to be in a beautiful garden. Probably a pretty healthy defense
mechanism for the little girl. I think that our task is to figure out which
hospital her mother was in, which will help us find her father so we can get
her home. Why don’t you start calling the hospitals and I’ll take care of the
other patients.”
“Sounds like a
reasonable plan, Dr. Barnes. I’ll keep Jewel with me,” Miss James replied.
We went to separate
ends of the clinic. Miss James was in the back office while I saw a stream of
patients with, luckily, minor complaints. Headaches, backaches, foot aches,
neck aches, sore throats, sore ears, sore eyes they all came and went. It was
four am when I finally had the clinic cleared out and I could check on Jewel
and Miss James.
“Any luck?” I asked.
Jewel was sitting on
the floor drawing, while Miss James was scribbling something on the pad.
“Mercy Hospital,
Saucedo, you’ll contact her father. OK, but can you give me his contact
information, thanks,” she finished her phone conversation and turned towards
me. “Her name is Jewel Saucedo, she just turned five years old and her mother,
Mary, just passed away. She had been battling ovarian cancer for a couple of
years.”
“Do we know where the
father is?”
“His cell phone is
906-100-1000. They called him while I was on the phone with them and he’s on
his way here.”
“Good, good. At least I
managed to clear out all those patients. I’m glad none of them were terribly sick,”
I commented, then I turned towards Jewel. “Jewel, your dad is on his way…Jewel…JEW-EL.”
I was shouting because
our little Jewel was gone. We called everywhere in the clinic, but she didn’t answer.
Only her drawing remained, a picture of
green trees, colorful birds and a woman with long dark hair. Jewel’s Garden. I
was starting to feel a bit frantic, first because a little girl was out alone
in the night in what could be a dangerous part of town and second because her
father was on his way and expecting to find his little girl safe at the clinic.
“Call the police and
her father and tell them what’s going on. Close the Clinic for the rest of the
night. I’m going out to find her. You wait here in case she comes back.”
I raced out into the
night, shouting her name, “JEWEL, JEW-EL.”
I went from street to
street. I saw police cars role by several times and stopped and talked to two
of the officers. No luck so far.
If
anything should happen to her…
But I couldn’t think
anymore about that.
It was beginning to get
lighter as I was becoming more discouraged. But, then I saw something unusual,
extraordinary, wonderful. At first I thought it was the sunrise, but it was to
the west and was too bright. A light shining in the distance. I ran towards it
and when I saw it I froze.
There, across the wide boulevard
was Jewel’s garden. In the middle of dark gray buildings, piles of unclaimed
garbage, rats, winos and urban blight was the most beautiful garden I had ever
seen. Lush green trees and plants, vibrant, bright flowers, birds with feathers
of every color singing and calling; the most splendid beauty filled my eyes. I
heard the rush of a swift river and then I saw them, sitting on the far side of
the river, mother and daughter, Mary and Jewel, laughing together, happy, more
than happy, joyful.
I started to cross the
wide street and Jewel looked up at me and waved. As I stepped out in the street
I heard the shrill wail of a car horn and stepped back as an eighteen wheeler
rolled past. When I looked up, Mary, Jewel and the garden were gone. All that
remained was Jewel’s worn, torn doll. I picked it up and trudged slowly across
the street.
I knew I would never find them again, but I
also knew that little Jewel was where she belonged. I started to walk back to
the clinic, slowly at first, but then I began to run. I was out of breath when
I finally made it back, barely noticing the flashing lights as I went inside.
“MISS JAMES. MISS
JAMES,” I shouted as I walked past the waiting room.
“I’m here,” she
answered softly. Her eyes were filled with tears.
Before she could speak,
I blurted out, “I saw, her, Jewel and her mother. And Jewel’s garden. And they
were so happy, so peaceful…”
“SHE’S DEAD, JEWEL’S
DEAD,” and Miss James broke down crying.
I held my assistant tightly
and stroked her hair, not knowing what to say or do. At the same time her words
didn’t surprise me. I suppose I already knew the truth, but after seeing her
and her mother and their garden, I couldn’t feel sad. I left Miss James and
went to speak to the police and a very distraught father.
“She was hit by a bus
crossing Elm. Happened about an hour and half ago. The bus driver said he honked
and tried to stop, but…”
“Is this her father?” I
inquired. There was a man of about thirty, eyes bloodshot and sunken, weariness
and anguish radiated from the center of his being.
“Leon Saucedo,” he
whispered.
“May I speak to you in
private?” I requested. He nodded his head.
I took him into one of
the exam rooms and told him my story. I hoped it would provide a tiny amount of
solace. He thanked me and went away, carrying Jewel’s ragged doll.
I filled in all the
details for the police and they went away. Finally, we were alone. Only Miss
James and I remained in the clinic. The next shift would be arriving in less
than an hour. I went back to her and sat down on the floor next to her. She was
crying, deep sobs and wails. I handed her a towel and then told her.
“You know, what Jewel
told us, about the garden, was true. I saw it. It was all she said and more. It
was like a glimpse into Heaven here on earth. And when you told me she was
dead, I already knew it, But, I couldn’t, can’t, feel sad, after seeing her in that place. As a
matter of fact, I wished I could be with them. More than anything I wanted to
be with them. I started to cross the street, and I felt such joy, but I had to
stop when a truck came by and then it was too late. I suppose it wasn’t my time,
wasn’t meant to be. I don’t know if it’s all good or bad, but I do know one
thing. Among all the memorable and extraordinary days and nights I’ve lived as
a doctor, in the hospital or here at the clinic, this is the most memorable and
amazing of them all.”
Her cries stopped and
she stared at me.
“Dr. Barnes, I don’t
know what I would do without you. It’s never boring with you around; you most
definitely brighten up my mundane life.”
She put her arm around
me and gave me a light kiss on the cheek as we waited for our shift to end.
