“But what you have done is extraordinary,” Mel said, grabbing her hand.
“Good luck with that,” Cam said. “So Mel—how are you getting by now? With the patients?”
“Right now, I send a lot of them to Grace Valley and sometimes either June Hudson or John Stone will spend a half day up here, taking patients,” Mel said.
“This is a helluva nice place to live,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s gorgeous. But a person has to make a living. What are you doing here, besides offering condolences?”
“Aw, Paul and Vanni had a sick baby while they were in Grants Pass and Paul offered me a day on the river as payment for my services. Problem is, I didn’t tell them I was coming, so I’m not going to hold him to it. I thought I’d see how you’re doing and make a house call.”
“I heard about Mattie’s croup,” she said.
“Fortunately, he did well on antibiotics, snapped right out of it. Any chance I could get a tour of your clinic?” he asked.
“You bet. It’s a pretty functional little place,” Mel said with a touch of pride. She stood up. “Right this way, Doctor.” The first thing she did was open the refrigerator and show him that they kept as much blood and plasma on hand as food, something he seemed to get a kick out of. Shelby returned to her paperwork in the kitchen while Mel showed Cameron the exam room and the treatment room. In Doc’s old office there were some boxes stacked in the corner. “Personal items of Doc’s,” she said. “I’m sending that stuff back to his college library. Come on upstairs.”
She showed him the only hospital room in town, the roomy bathroom and Doc’s old bedroom, completely vacant and freshly painted. “Doc’s furniture was almost as old as he was,” she said. “I gave it away and will buy new. If we don’t get a doctor, it’ll make a decent place for me to sleep when we have a delivery here.”
“Nice little operation,” Cameron said. “But how do you make ends meet?”
“Oh, it’s not too hard for me. Jack has income—he’s retired military and the bar won’t make us rich, but it brings in money. I have savings and no longer draw a salary. The clinic is mine now, thanks to Doc’s generosity in his trust. It’s free and clear. The uninsured patients are almost always able to cover the cost of lab work, X-rays and drugs, and then we get a twenty-dollar bill here and there. Patients on subsistence—welfare or Medicaid—their fees are paid. People around here are very grateful and they do their best—there’s often cash in the Christmas card. The most important thing is we never lose money. And all the equipment is paid for. In fact, once Jack had the bar open, he gave Doc almost all his meals. Jack does that—the forest-fire fighters, the police, the game warden or rangers, Jack serves them for free when they’ve been working here. The sheriff’s deputy and his boys drop by for a gratis meal now and then. We have a highway patrolman who visits. Anyone who serves the needs of the town gets served by Jack and Preacher.”
Cameron laughed and shook his head. “How can they afford to do that?”
Mel grinned. “When the patients bring in produce as patient fees, it goes straight to Preacher’s kitchen where we eat it later. The people in town don’t just bring stuff when they’re sick—they bring what they can spare continually, sort of like keeping us on retainer. A bushel of apples, several quarts of berries, huge sack of tomatoes, bushel of green beans… Preacher bakes and cans and freezes and loves every second of it. A big patient fee could be as much as a half calf. Or a few months of cream. And besides, Jack has everything he needs, Cameron.” Then she got a little more serious. “The first night I landed in this town, I saw Jack as the owner of a bar and restaurant. It didn’t take me long to learn he’s so much more than that. He does a little of everything, from car and truck repair to building. He never goes for supplies without checking with a half-dozen little old ladies or postpartum mothers to see what they need. And if I’m delivering a baby—Jack is up all night, in case I need something. I hate that he hunts, but when he hunts, we enjoy some of the best venison dishes you can imagine. And most of the fish served in the bar, he and Preacher and maybe even Mike catch in the river. It all evens out.” She shrugged. “This is a very simple place, Cameron. Sometimes if feels more like a commune than a town. But Jack… Ask anyone— Jack is at the center of this town, taking care of the people here.”