Excerpt
“Come sit down, Tyne.” Millie spoke from her recliner
chair in the living room. “You’ve been running around
all day after everyone, not the least me. I’m afraid I’m making a lot of
work by coming here.”
Tyne paused beside her aunt’s chair and placed a bottle of pain
relievers on a small table close to the older woman’s hand. “Nonsense,
Auntie, you are not making a lot of work for me. And whatever extra
I need to do for you is a joy.” She smiled as she picked up the half
empty water glass from the table. “Anyway, you’re a much better
patient than many I’ve had over the years.”
Millie snorted. “Like Arthur Tournquist for example?”
Tyne chuckled, remembering the irascible patient she had met
during her third year in training at the Holy Cross. “Yes, especially
Arthur, bless his big heart. But not all of my difficult patients became
dear friends like Arthur.”
She started to turn away with the water glass, but Millie put a
hand on her arm. “The water is fine, dear girl, just leave it. It won’t
hurt me to drink tepid water with my pills.
“Now, come sit and talk a while – or would you like to go somewhere
quiet to read?”
Tyne put the glass on the table and sat in the loveseat across from
Millie. “Did you say somewhere quiet? In this house? Actually, this is
the quietest room in the house because I gave strict orders it’s out of
bounds while you’re sitting up.”
Manolis Aligizakis 