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Karen woke up at 7:30, feeling fully rested. She toasted some bread and made coffee.
She was halfway through her breakfast when she heard a knock on her door. She opened the door and found a young, African American woman standing there with a big smile and a bowl.
“Hello, you must be Dr. Johnston. I’m Emille Goudet. I’m a representative of the parish and I also teach 5th grade science in Brickwater County Elementary School.” she said, extending her hand and Karen reciprocated.
“Oh it’s very nice to meet you Emille, you can call me Karen. Would you like to come in?” and Karen opened the for her.
“We were supposed to be here waiting for you, but I live over by Cameron, and it’s about 45 minutes’ drive from here. We decided to come back in the morning, but Father Roger couldn’t come, there was some trouble in Cameron you see.”
“Oh, that’s fine. We got here past midnight already. I had no idea it was going to be such a long ride and I was exhausted, all I could do was sleep.”
“Well, I welcome you to Vignon, and I brought you some tuna casserole. I could show you around later on if you like. When do you think you’ll be able to start in the clinic Miss Karen?”
“Oh, in fact, I could start after lunch once I make a full inventory of what you have here. I brought a few supplies but they won’t last long for a whole parish, so I think I’ll start with that.” Karen said with a smile.
“Well, since it’s Saturday I can definitely help you with that. But I think you should take a walk around first, you know, see Vignon before you start. It’d help you get a feel of the town.”
“That’d be great. Thanks a lot.” So Karen finished her breakfast and they took a walk around the town. Emille showed her the little market and the small shops around the square. People were very friendly and kind, everyone was smiling, but the poverty was evident. The streets were full of potholes and the houses were all rundown, there weren’t many people in town.
“This place fell apart when the Plantation closed 25 years ago. There were no jobs and all people could do was farm what little land there was to farm, there’s hardly a market. There’s no high school around here, they have to go to the next county for school and most people here just can’t afford sending out their kids and pay for room and board for them too. Father Roger had a tough job, but people keep faith around here. They didn’t have much of anything, but they always had God. It’s a good thing Gage came when he did though. He really helped the people. Why, we couldn’t have made that clinic you’re staying in if it wasn’t for him.”
“Oh, you had a benefactor? I thought that was the state’s program?”
“No, the state didn’t do that; it was Mr. Fortier who paid for everything. He worked on it and had a few hands to help him. He wanted to give back to the community he said. He was a big time lawyer a few years go, but he came back here and started all sorts of stuff. He was the one who had the elementary school built for Brickwater. He fixed up the Church and now he got us a doctor. He’s a good man.”
“He sounds like a great man. I would love to meet him someday and thank him for building my new home.” Karen said with a smile, but Emille paused and looked at her questioningly.
“What do you mean you want to meet him someday? Girl, you already met him.”
“What? I don’t recall. I only met that stern looking man who brought me here yesterday and that man was like a brick wall. He never spoke a word to me, he was very trying.”
“Oh Dr. Johnston, that was Gage Fortier. He’s the only one around here with a four wheel drive and the time to spare to go and fetch you. You should get to know him; he’s actually a very kind and godly man. Every rich girl from Shreveport to New Orleans all had a crush on him before he flung himself out here, he’s quite the catch.”
The Man’s Impregnable Wall...
During the first few weeks in the little clinic, Karen grew to love the town and its people. Like Emille said, they were poor, but they had God in their lives, which gave them hope and a reason to smile. Many of the children were malnourished, and some older people who worked the farms would get a bit sick, but it was all very manageable, although they were already running low on vitamins. There was a bit of drinking in the Town, but never to an extent where anyone got seriously hurt, but Karen knew her work would come in the winter months, when infections were most common and people’s immunity was not as strong. What occupied Karen the most was teaching Ava, Emille’s sixteen year old niece, the basic tasks of a nurse. Ava was a sophomore, but she stayed over in Vignon for the weekends and Karen had resolved to teach her all she could about nursing.
Ava was an avid student and Karen liked her very much. She and Emille also grew to become fast friends, with Emille coming over in the afternoons and they’d have a quick chat.
Although Karen would never admit it, she found herself thinking more and more about Gage Fortier, the man who drove by the clinic every morning to head off into town and hardly ever spared her a glance. Emille told her they were fixing up houses that were in the worst shape. Again, Emille would regale her with stories of the great kindnesses of Mr. Fortier. Why is he acting so strangely toward me? Karen almost felt like Gage Fortier was trying to evade her, though she didn’t think he had a special reason to come to the clinic anyway.
The door to the clinic opened slowly as Karen was showing Ava how to bandage a broken wrist. An old wizened woman came in.
“I’m here for my checkup, new doctor.” the old woman announced to the room it seemed.
“Granny Mae, I thought you said you weren’t coming.” Ava said as she scrambled up and ran to her grandmother.
“I said I was busy, and now I ain’t. That’s why I came child. Now doctor, just check if I still got all my parts working properly.”
Karen got up and smiled at the old woman. “Call me Karen granny, come over by the table here and I’ll take good care of you.”
15 minutes later, Karen was telling Granny Mae her findings.
“You’re heart’s beating as if it were an 18 year old’s, your blood pressure is normal, and your lungs are powerful to say the least. You’re quite the healthy specimen granny.” Karen said as she put the blood pressure cuff back in the bag. “I can give you some vitamins and I would recommend adding some calcium in your diet, but there’s not much more I can do for you.”
“Well, that’s all dandy then Doctor. Mind if I sit here a while, Gage’ll be coming to pick me up later. He’s taking me home later. Such a sweet man…why if I was 50 years younger Id…”
“Granny, don’t say those things in front of Dr. Johnston! This is so embarrassing.”
“Oh hush child. The Doctor knows what I’m talking about. Right Dr. Johnston?”
“Please granny, call me Karen, and no, I don’t know what you’re talking about as I’ve never been formally introduced to Gage Fortier. He seems a bit off, but I know he’s done great things, but I haven’t exchanged more than a few words with him.”
“Oh, Gage is a man with a lot of heart, but he keeps it hidden. He’s gotten hurt before Karen, and it’s hard to get up from that. It’s been 3 years, but I can see the boy’s still hurting.”
These words felt like cold water on Karen’s head; they reminded her of Brent, of those six years. That’s odd, Karen thought, I haven’t thought of Brent in the past weeks at all. She tried to conjure up an image of Brent Blake, the man she had loved for six years, but Brent’s cold blue eyes and blonde hair were replaced with brown piercing eyes and dark hair. What is wrong with you Karen, you hardly know him. But she couldn’t it, the image that came to mind was Gage Fortier, the sullen man who was somehow an angel and a brick wall at the same time.
A few hours later, there was another knock on the door. Ava went to open it and there was Gage, looking stern and hardly making eye contact with Karen.
“Let’s go granny Mae. It’ll be getting dark soon.”
“Gage Fortier, did you hit your head
while working on that house? Or did you suffer some trauma of the mind?”
“No of course not granny, why would you say that?”
“Because it seems to me you’ve forgotten your manners! Isn’t it true that we’ve been waiting for a doctor to come here and help the town? That we built this place for her and YOU bought the supplies?”
“Yes ma’am that’s true.”
“Then why you being rude, boy? We been praying for a doctor to come and God answered our prayers, but you ain’t thankful boy. The sweet doctor’s been telling me about how rude you’ve been and I’d be very much obliged if you would introduce yourself to her like a proper gentleman.”
By then, both Ava and Gage were red in the face. Ava went to granny and started pulling her to the door, but granny wouldn’t budge. Karen could see Gage was having an internal struggle of some sort, his lips were pursed and he turned to her slowly.
“Hello Dr. Johnston. I’m Gage Fortier, I’d like to sincerely welcome you to Vignon. I’d like to ask for your forgiveness if I was being rude earlier, I don’t know what came over me,” and he held out his hand. Karen took it reluctantly but the moment their hands touched, she felt a jolt, it was electric. She noticed how his hands were calloused, the hands of a worker, and she felt a wave of tenderness for this kind man who would try and change a town in his little ways.
“It’s alright Mr. Fortier. You must have been tired and all. I completely understand,” Karen said with a sweet smile that seemed to take Gage Fortier aback.
“I’ll see you around Dr. Johnston,” and he and Granny Mae left, leaving a swooning Ava and a blushing Karen.
An Opened Door...
It was a few days later that Karen saw Gage again, but it was in completely different circumstances. Ava was in school so Karen was alone in the clinic, cleaning up the consultation table after having just checked on some women who were in their 2nd trimester.
“Doctor! Please! We need your help!” the men shouted outside her door.
Karen ran outside and saw a young black man who Emille called Luke waving from across the street, there were other men coming, carrying Gage Fortier, who’s hand was bleeding and was looking quite pale.
“How did this happen?” Karen asked the young man.
“It was the saw. My hand slipped and he got cut.”
“Bring him inside, I need to see the wound. Why are they carrying him? Are his feet injured as well?”
Karen saw Luke blush. “No Doctor Johnston, just his hand. He...he fainted miss, when he saw the blood.”
“Oh, just bring him inside.”
The men brought Gage inside and after looking at the wound, Karen had to make them leave the room. Gage looked stricken.
“It’s not that deep, and I don’t think there’ll be any permanent damage, but I will be giving you something to prevent infection. But you will need some stitches Mr. Fortier.”
“I… I don’t like seeing blood Dr. Johnston. And call me Gage, Mr. Fortier was my father.”
“I gathered as much Gage. You can call me Karen. I have to clean up the wound before I close it, get ready, this will sting a little.” She proceeded to wash his wound with antiseptic, Gage looked away, fearing the wound more than the pain.
“I’d think that you’d be used to these injuries. But you were a lawyer once right?”
“Yes, I was. It’s was that fast-paced life that led me the wrong way. I was…Ooowww….” he said, flinching as she cleaned the wound with gauze and iodine. Karen only smiled. “As I was saying, I lost track of the important things, so I came home.”
“You used to live here?”
“Yes, Granny Mae raised me. My mother and father were…they were busy people,” he said, taking a big gulp of air as his eyes locked on the surgical needle.
“Woah… umm…could you just…” he stammered, turning pale.
“This won’t hurt much. I’ll be injecting you with some anesthesia so you won’t feel a thing. You might want to close your eyes,” Karen said then, with a hint of a smile. She nearly laughed when she saw him close his eyes tight like a fearful child. I like this side of him better, she thought as she stuck the needle cleanly through the skin of his hand. “You were saying something about Granny Mae?”
“Yeah… ow, ow. Granny Mae raised me, that is, until they sent me to boarding school. My family moved out while I was at school and I haven’t been back until a few years ago. Wait… wait… that’s a huge needle!” then he turned his head as she took out the surgical sutures.
“Why did you decide to come back Gage? Emille tells me you were doing very well for yourself.”
“Yes I was. But what was it all for? I had money, but I felt empty. I felt like God spoke to me and I felt like I had to come back. And I did.”
“You’ve managed to do so much though.”
“Well, I owe a lot to the people here. When father cut his losses and left, it never felt right to me.”
Oh why hadn’t she put it together before? Gage’s family must have owned the old plantation, that’s why he had roots here and was so close to everyone. Karen felt a small tinge of regret as she finished up the last stitch and bandaged the wound, she was enjoying herself in his company. Surprisingly.
“Well, you’re done, remember not to move it too much, and I‘ll give you some pills for the pain, but you should be good as new I no time.”
“Wow, well thanks doc… I… thanks,” he said as he got up awkwardly and turned to leave. “I was thinking,” he said abruptly as he turned to her again, “maybe you’d like to have dinner?”
Karen blushed slightly, “Yes. I’d love to.