Читать книгу Clover: A Dr. Galen Novel - R. A. Comunale M.D. - Страница 9

Sarah Knowlton had just unpacked her things when the dorm room swung open and a pretty young woman loaded down with tote bags and a huge suitcase on wheels breezed in.

“Hi, are you my roommate?”

“I am if you got room 603,” Sarah responded.

The other girl dropped all the bags at once and extended a hand.

“Judy Hicks.”

“Sarah Knowlton.”

They liked each other instantly.

“Are your parents doctors, Sarah?”

“Mom and Dad were killed in the World Trade Center attack when I was just a baby. But Grandma Sandy’s an MD. She and Grandpa Josh raised me. They were missionaries. I grew up in Kenya. What about you?”

“Mom was a school teacher and Dad sold life insurance in Canton, Ohio, where I’m from.”

Sarah caught the past tense in the response.

“What happened?”

Judy hesitated.

“They ... they were all killed; Mom, Dad, my little brother Dave and my sister Cathy. A drunk driver ... the day after I got my med-school acceptance letter.”

“Oh Judy, that’s horrible. So you’re...?”

“I’m the only one left now.”

She said it quietly, almost matter-of-factly.

She’s got a lot going on beneath the surface.

“I hope you don’t mind, I went ahead and picked my bunk and dresser.”

“Of course not,” Judy said.

She started unpacking, silently for a few moments, until Sarah started talking about her experiences in Kenya.

“You know how arguments were settled? The guys would carry this club with a ball-like swelling on the end. If they didn’t like someone they’d bash their brains in. It’s called rungee.”

“I could’ve used something like that with a few of the guys I’ve dated.”

“I didn’t need a club. I had a pet cheetah. It almost took the you-know-whats off this one guy when it thought he was getting fresh. I swear his voice sounded an octave higher for weeks.”

That did it. Soon the new roomies were engaged in the typical, non-stop gab fest that only females can sustain.

“Let’s get out of here. We’ll be spending enough time cooped up once school starts.”

They changed into shorts and tops, two young lionesses ready to prowl the savanna that was the dorm complex. With those eyes, faces and forms they had no trouble stopping traffic, so to speak, and both were accustomed to it.

They ended up in the central lounge. That’s where she spotted him again, standing by the entrance with another newcomer.

Let me guess—his roommate?

Both young men wore light khakis and torso-conforming tee shirts. Both were good looking but one stood out.

What was his name? Antonio Hidalgo!

Sarah noticed Judy looking at the other one and nudged her.

“Why do you suppose they’re holding up the door post?”

They both giggled as they moved in for the kill, smiling broadly.

“Yo, spaghetti-sauce boy. You eaten yet?”

Tonio batted his eyelids in his own practiced move.

“Sarah, hey, I’ve been trying to call you. We’re all going out to dinner with my folks and your grandma.”

She slowly patted the pockets in her top and shorts. Tonio’s eyes reflexively widened.

“Tsk, I must have left the phone in my room. Mind if I use yours?”

Before he could answer she snatched his out of his pants pocket, smiling as she keyed in the number.

“Hi, Grandma. We’re all here. Where we going?”

She licked her lips and gazed directly into Tonio’s eyes.

Meanwhile, JP was being mesmerized by Judy Hicks’s long auburn hair and hazel eyes.

What’s that on her top, a tennis emblem? Yowzah!

JP nudged Tonio.

“Oh ... uh ... yeah, this is my roommate, Julius Petrie. Call him JP.”

Sarah shook his hand and pushed Judy forward.

“This is my roommate, Judy Hicks.”

The RV named Wilma pulled up to the dorm entrance, and Edison spotted the four young people laughing and talking a mile a minute. He turned around to Galen and Sandy.

“I would say Tonio and Sarah have adapted rather well.”

They all stared wistfully at the scene of youthful exuberance; each of them sighed.Four young adults crowded into the back of Edison’s RV and Tonio began a rapid-fire introduction. And by the time they had finished the first course at the little restaurant that bragged about its pancake menu, everyone knew everyone else’s name. The four oldsters had learned that Judy Hicks was from Ohio and interested in rehabilitation medicine. They found out that Sarah expressed an interest in cardiology, and JP would be pursuing forensics.

Galen had listened quietly but intently when Sarah asked Tonio what specialty he wanted.

“I want to be like Tio Galen.”

The old man’s heart skipped a beat.

“Tonio, I thought you wanted to…”

“Yes, Tio, that too—aerospace medicine.”

Galen turned toward JP and Judy.

“Are your folks here? Think they’d want to join us for breakfast?”

The awkward silence tipped him off.

“I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”

“Uh ... no, Dr. Galen. It’s just…”

Tonio jumped in.

“Tio let me show you the dessert case. I think I saw one of your favorites over there, banana cream pie.”

“He’ll kill for banana cream, kid,” Edison interjected.

Galen understood.

“Sure, show me, Tonio. Excuse us a minute.”

He got up slowly and turned in the direction Tonio had pointed. Tonio stood up and followed him.

“Spill it, Tonio.”

“Tio,” he whispered, “I just needed to tell you about JP and Judy.”

He did, and Galen’s face darkened. He left Tonio and headed for the men’s room. By then Edison was approaching.

“Well, how’s the pie look?”

Edison saw Tonio’s expression and kept on to follow his friend. When he walked into the restroom he saw Galen, fists clenched, staring into the mirror above the sink.

“What’s the matter, big brother?”

“That girl’s whole family died just before she was to start school here. The boy’s father disowned him. Why, Edison, why?”

“I don’t know.”

Galen pounded his fist on the sink.

“That poor girl has no one now.”

His voice dropped to a whisper.

“Just like Leni and Cathy and all the others.”

He turned to Edison and looked more deeply into his eyes than he had ever done before.

“Don’t you die on me, Edison! Don’t you and Nancy die on me! Let me go first.”

Edison looked back at him for a moment. Then he put his arm on Galen’s shoulder.

“Come on, big guy, we’ll blame this on your prostate. We geezers have that privilege now.”

“Thanks, old friend.”

“Who ya callin’ old, Methuselah? You’re older than I am.”

They walked out together.

Back at the table the mood soon lightened again.

“Do you know how long it’s been since this geezer here graduated...”

He caught himself.

“Uh ... Sarah … you realize your grandmother was only a child when she graduated?”

“Nice try, Edison,” Sandy quipped as Galen patted her hand.

“Doogie Howser’s kid sister, this one.”

The four youngsters stared in ignorance.

“It was a TV program from the 1980,” Sandy explained. “Sarah, don’t you remember the programs we used to get by satellite when we worked at Tenwick Hospital? We had just left Nairobi.”

“No, Grandma, don’t you remember? My pet cheetah ate the unit.”

“The cheetah must have been a critic,” Edison quipped.

“That’s cheating, Edison.”

The dinner consumed, the check paid by Galen, and the initial connections made, everyone headed outside toward Wilma. JP whispered to Tonio.

“Are they always like this?”

Tonio nodded.

“Sooner or later Tia Nancy has to make them behave, but it’s all in fun. One would die to save the other. In fact they almost did just that a few weeks ago. Both would lay down their lives for Tia Nancy. And despite Tio Eddie’s goofy looks, he’s really a world-class electronics expert. But Tia Nancy is the real brains. Time and again we’ve seen her rescuing them from social gaffes.”

Edison drove the lot of them back to the dorm. After the hugs and goodbyes and nice-meeting-yous, Galen took JP and Judy by their arms and pulled them aside. He spoke in an unusually gentle manner.

“I want you both to know that Edison, Nancy, Sandy and I would be happy to help you in any way we can. If you ever need anything, even if it’s just an ear to listen, call us, okay?”

Then he turned to Sarah.

“If Tonio misbehaves I want you to call me, understand?”

“But I want Tony to misbehave.”

With that, he knew. She was a keeper. He also saw the bonding between JP and Judy. As he walked to Sandy’s side, Sarah looked knowingly at him and her grandmother.

“You two behave yourselves now.”

The two octogenarians blushed. Nancy and Edison snickered.

As he headed to the door, Tonio called back.

“Oh, Tio Galen, I’m in 213 Bear Hall!”

“I guess the cub doesn’t stray too far, does he?” Edison said. “Wonder what Baloo would say?”

“Who’s Baloo?” Sandy asked.

“Come with us back to Safehaven and I’ll tell you,” Galen answered. “Better yet, I’ll introduce you to him.”

“I see. And I suppose you’ll want to show me your etchings, too?”

The three left Richmond for Pennsylvania early the next morning. Sandy would have to take care of some business but promised to meet them at Safehaven in a few days.

“Hell, I’ve got nothing better to do,” she told Galen. “Sounds like fun.”

With that she reached up, pulled Galen’s head down, and kissed him on the cheek.