excerpt
She was giving her dad his twice daily massage, a treatment she
had undertaken shortly after arriving home from Calgary. She knew
it helped because already he was able to walk around the bedroom
with the aid of only one cane. His right hand had strengthened to the
point where he was able to grasp her hand quite firmly.
“What do you think about having a hospital in Emblem now, Dad?
Have you accepted it?” she asked as she bent over his arm.
“I’ve always accepted it. I’ve said so in my editorials more than
once.”
Tyne raised her head to look at him. She could see that he was
deadly serious. “I don’t remember that,” she said quietly.
“No? Well, you haven’t been here to read the Echo, have you?”
Tyne shook her head from side to side. “No, that’s true, but I
thought your earlier editorials ….”
“My earlier editorials stated that I opposed the voluntary system
of financing, as first proposed,” Jeff Milligan said emphatically. “I did
not oppose a hospital financed by taxation. Furthermore, the Echo
publicized the project, and it was because of that publicity that the
by-law passed.”
“Yes, Dad, I see,” Tyne said meekly, pulling his shirt sleeve down
over his arm. But she did not see at all. She knew this was just more
of her dad’s bombast. When the hospital opened he would want to
be front and centre, so now that it was to be a reality, he had no
choice but to come onside.
“Okay, squeeze,” Tyne said, as she placed her hand into her dad’s
right one. “Good, your grip is getting stronger all the time.”
She saw his brief smile. “It’s the good care. No man ever had a better
nurse.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat, stood up and turned around
to tidy the bedside table.
“What do you hear from Cam?” Jeff asked. “Is he coming to see
you?”
“He’s hoping to get some days off before Christmas, probably in a
couple of weeks or so. Of course, he’ll be on duty over the holidays.”
“Right. Well, he’s welcome any time. I told Arthur that, when I
talked to him the other night.”
I’m sure you did, Dad. But she said nothing. She bent to pick up an
armload of used bed linen, and started towards the door.
Libros Libertad 