The Black Bag
Chapter 10
It was only a few months after our return that Marilyn delivered a baby girl. They named her Aileen Louise. It seemed that in no time at all she was running around chasing her brothers.
Russ was growing and his personality was developing. Ever since he first picked up that black medical bag of Doc's, he wanted to know more and more about our friend. He would handle the instruments that the bag contained with what almost amounted to a reverence. He would stand and look at that shingle over our fireplace with wonder on his face.
He must have been about twelve years old when Matt came home from the office one Friday night. He was soaking wet from a fierce storm that had moved in. I didn't think he had been well when he left the house the day before. Many people were now driving these new motorcars, but Matt was reluctant to part with his horses. That trip he had at least taken the wagon otherwise I don't think he would have made it home.
He was feverish and having chills. I sat him in front of the fire and helped him out of his wet clothes then warmed a blanket for him to wrap up in.
I watched as Russ sat down beside his father, and reached his small fingers around Matt's wrist. I had seen that movement before, many times, but years ago. Matt told me later that it was almost as if Doc's fingers were there, gentle but firm at the same time.
Russ looked at me.
"Ma, I think I need to go get Dr. Kevin," he said with all seriousness on his face.
"You can't ride that far now. The storm is set in and it's getting dark."
"I have to do it, I'll be fine."
There was a confidence in his manner, just like his father, but something else was there, knowledge that I had no idea he had.
"What is it Russ?"
He took my hand in his and directed it to Matt's wrist.
"Just feel – that isn't how it should be."
Before I could stop him, he was off out to the barn and saddling the horse that Matt had got for him when he was about four years old.
"Please be careful Russ."
"Don't worry, I have the best horse around, he'll see I'm fine."
I returned to Matt. Now he had developed chills again and even though he was so close to the fire he complained of being cold. I managed to get him to the bed and layered several blankets over him to try to keep him warm and get the shaking to stop.
I figured it would be at least three hours before Russ and Kevin returned. Matt became quite delirious as his fever rose.
Kitty, Kitty, he kept calling in a slurred, hoarse voice.
"I'm here Matt."
"I don't feel so good, get Doc."
"Doc's not with us," I say trying to soothe his burning forehead with a cool cloth. "Kevin is on his way. Just try to lie still."
A little while later he was shivering again and once more I wrapped the blankets back around him.
I kept looking at the clock on the wall in the kitchen. Maybe they would be back soon.
It was past midnight before I heard them return. Kevin had never been that much of a horseman, and a year or so ago had got himself one of these motor cars to drive around in. The roads were also a lot better than the cart tracks they used to be. He could make the trip out here now in under and hour. Russ must have left his horse in town, because he was riding alongside Kevin.
They both came running into the house, the worst of the storm had passed by now.
Kevin still had those two medical bags – but now Russ was carrying one of them. Somehow it looked natural in his hands.
"What's been going on Kitty?"
I try to explain the sequence of events as Kevin starts to check my husband over. It is not easy because Matt is tossing all over the place, trying to push Kevin's hands away.
"Has he ever had anything like this before?"
"I think one time, many years ago in Dodge. Doc said it was the Ague or something like that. I remember he treated him with some medicine, quinine I think it was, it made him real sick, but Doc kept making him take it. I know he was pretty much under the weather for a good while afterwards".
Kevin gets out his stethoscope and listens to Matt's chest.
My cowboy is still restless, muttering something about Doc.
Kevin takes his second bag from Russ and opens it up. He selects two of the vials and draws their contents into syringes.
"I'm going to give him a similar medicine, Kitty, but now I have it as a liquid I can inject, that way he shouldn't get sick from it. I'll also give him something to help calm him down a bit."
Russ seems to know how to help and gets the tourniquet from the bag and hands it over. I am surprised by the strength and understanding he shows as he holds Matt's arm still while Kevin slowly injects the two drugs into a vein.
My husband begins to calm down and seems to be resting a little more peacefully.
I stood watching the Doctor and his self appointed assistant. Once again Kevin gets his stethoscope out and listens to Matt's chest. Russ can hardly contain himself and finally Kevin lets him put the instrument in his ears and listen. To begin with Kevin guides his hand, quietly telling him what to listen for. I notice that my son holds the instrument just as Doc would have done. Instinctively he seems to know what he's doing.
Kevin finally sits back and says that indeed the boy was right – Matt's heart was not beating as it should, but the murmur he still had from all those years ago –which Matt had finally told me about - was unchanged and he thought the present problems were caused by the high fever.
It was not long till dawn now so Kevin stayed. Matt's condition improved gradually and by morning the worst of the fever and chills were over. Although he was told to stay in the bed for the next few days, we all knew he wouldn't.
A week later Matt and Russ took the buggy into town to collect the boy's horse.
On the way back, Matt saw that Russ was holding a small cloth bag. They were both riding in the wagon with the boy's horse tied behind. Eventually Russ starts to talk.
"Pops, would you and Ma be very disappointed if I didn't become a Marshal like you?"
"What makes you think that I ever expected you to follow in my footsteps, Russ? Haven't you noticed that I've always made a point of calling you by your name instead of son? My reason for that is that you are your own person and you must make your own life, not necessarily follow the one I took. All I or your mother could ask is that whatever you decide to do, you do it to the best of your ability, and it goes without saying that you stay on the right side of the law. I hate to say it but I think she would be very happy if you decided not to be a lawman."
There was silence again for a while, and then the boy starts to talk again.
"You remember when you brought that black bag home after you went to Dodge when Doctor Adams died?
"Yes I remember."
"When I got that black bag out of the wagon and carried it into the house, it kinda felt right to me, almost as if it was telling me something." He pauses and opens the cloth bag he is holding. He pulls out a stethoscope, one I recognize from many years before.
"Where did you get that?"
"Dr. Kevin gave it to me."
I am not sure what to say. There is silence again for a few minutes, and then Russ takes a big breath and starts to explain.
"Pops, I want to go to school to study medicine. I want to be like Dr. Adams and Dr. Kevin. I remember Doctor Adams that Christmas he came to stay with us. I was just a kid then, but there was something about him that I wanted to be like. Is it all right Pops?"
I smiled to myself, how could our son think this would be a disappointment to us. Somehow Doc must have had something to do with it. "Its more than all right Russ. Your mother and I would be so proud if you turned out to be like Doc."
Later that night Matt told me of his conversation.
"Do you think he means it?"
"Oh yes, he is very sure of what he is doing."
Some days later I watch as Russ gets the old black bag down from the shelf where we keep it. He opens it up and puts the stethoscope inside. As he turns around he sees me standing there. "Its back where it belongs now." he says, "Don't worry Ma, I'll take care of it."
The following weekend, Kevin brings his family over to spend the day. Matt takes him off to the barn to talk and asks him about the stethoscope.
"It arrived on my desk at the college several months before Doc passed away. There was a note in his handwriting with it. It said I was to look after it, and that one day I would know who to pass it on to."
"What about Liam? – I though he wanted to study medicine."
"He does but he's not like Russ. Liam is more at home with test tubes and microscopes. He wants to continue my research into pharmaceuticals. It is a rapidly growing science and I think great things will happen in the next decade or so."
"And Brian?" I ask
"I think he's more likely to take after you Matt," he laughs. "Already he is interested in the law. Aileen of course is too young to even think about such things. No Matt, I have put it in the right hands. I have to admit that for a long time now Russ has been begging me to teach him things. He has a hunger to learn. He didn't want me to tell you in case you were disappointed. Of course I knew you wouldn't be, but it had to be his decision to talk to you."
From that point on, Russ was always bringing home medical books that Kevin leant to him. I am not sure how he managed to understand them, but somehow he did. Kevin told us that Russ became more persistent about knowing how we all became friends, and eventually he had to tell him the story of the knife, and then about how Matt rode out to rescue him and another man from being hostages after the train was held up. In another year or so he outgrew the school near home that he had been going to and begged to go to the one in Baltimore where Liam was.
After that it wasn't long until both the boys got accepted into the medical college. Brian was still interested in studying law, but it would be another year or so until he was ready to leave home. He would often come out to the ranch to visit and ride one of the horses or go fishing with Matt. He would sit and discuss various points of law with my husband all night if we let him.
After their first year in college the two boys decided they wanted to make the trip to Dodge City. They wanted to see the place that had played such a pivotal part in their parent's and hence their own lives. They had saved their money and one morning Matt – who had now also succumbed to one of those new motorcars, drove them to the train depot in Baltimore. Things were a lot different now. Trains were faster, sometimes reaching speeds of thirty or even forty miles an hour.
They were gone for almost two weeks but when they returned they had so many stories to tell. They had travelled through the prairie, seen some of the old western towns and finally in Dodge they had found the Long Branch saloon. Of course Hannah was no longer there, and the name of the current proprietor was unfamiliar to us. The place where Doc's office had been was still there, but Dr. Hollister had found new premises on the ground level, and he himself had a younger partner now. They found the outline on the wall at the bottom of the stairs where Doc's shingle had hung for all those years. They had rented horses and ridden out to the bend in the Arkansas River where Matt and Doc used to fish. Doc's grave marker was not there any more, but Russ was convinced that he was standing in the right place. They said the Marshal's office was still there and they had looked in through the windows. There was someone else running it now. Newly had moved on.
With the aid of the money Doc had left, we managed to finance Russ's way through medical college. He and Liam graduated at the same time, both being around 25 years of age by then.
Russ had formed an attachment with Aileen, Kevin and Marilyn's daughter, and finally they decided to get married during his final year in college. What a wonderful arrangement, now our families where forever joined.
About this time Matt decided to retire, there was a new Attorney General, but Matt's old boss was so impressed with the job he had done over the years that he recommended they keep him on in a consulting capacity – that meant he could still keep that badge.
Matt had built us a smaller house on the property, and Russ and Aileen moved into the old place that we had all once lived in. Russ wanted to keep the old shingle hanging over the fireplace and the Black Bag, that means so much to him, still sits on the shelf Matt built for it many years ago. The young couple gave us another joy, two beautiful grandchildren. Russ built himself a practice on the outskirts of Baltimore. He took a delight in caring for the poorer people of the area, and often, unlike the doctors that worked in the city, his patients were unable to pay him. He was a caring man, a good physician and by all accounts would have made Doc proud.
Liam followed his father into research and Brian went off to study law. He wanted to get into politics and try to right some of the wrongs he saw in society.
Of course we got to see a lot of Kevin and Marilyn, sharing grandchildren with our old friends was a delight.
As Matt and I sat on the small porch in front of our little house one night we reminisced about the strange path life had taken us on. As the air got colder he took my hand and led me inside. Wherever that path had led us over the years, one thing was still certain, the feel of his body next to mine would never loose its thrill.
End