Nina had been home so Delia had gone over there. Dr. Brown and Ephram had gotten to the Harper household within five minutes. Irv met them at the door and ushered them in. Being in too bit of a hurry to notice any of the interesting elements of the rather large house Dr. Brown and Ephram walked immediately to where Edna was kneeling on the ground at the bottom of the stairs. When they got closer they both saw that she was kneeling over Jig who was laying still on the floor. Ephram started running over to them and Dr. Brown matched his pace. Dr. Brown got to Jig first and told Ephram to stay a few feet back. Ephram didn't like the command but he followed it. Irv walked up beside him and placed a hand of Ephram's shoulder.
"I asked her to get me something from the upstairs closet, on her way down she just, collapsed," Edna told Dr. Brown. He nodded. Dr. Brown gently turned Jig onto her back. She had a small cut on her forehead but didn't look like she had felt it. He looked at her eyes first, then her mouth, ears, and nose. He listened to her heart and then placed the back of his hand on her forehead. He reached into his satchel and pulled out some ammonium carbonate. He placed it in front of Jig's nose and she awoke with a gasp. Edna squeezed her hand a little tighter and Ephram took a step closer to get a better look at her. Dr. Brown smiled as she looked up at him with confused eyes.
"Are you okay? Does anything hurt?" he asked her. Jig blinked a little and looked around her.
"My right arm, a little," she answered weakly. Dr. Brown looked her arm over to discover a few minor bruises. Nothing serious. He then turned to Irv.
"Let's get her to her room," Dr. Brown said. Irv walked over and together they got Jig to her feet, each with an arm under her shoulders. Edna led them down a hallway and into a room. Slowly they got there and placed Jig on her bed. Dr. Brown sat at her side and took her temperature. He looked at the results and frowned.
"What is it Doc?" Irv asked her. Dr. Brown turned to Jig to tell her what was wrong with her, she was conscious but looked too out of it to understand what he'd tell her. So he turned to Edna and Irv.
"Jig is suffering from a very high fever. It's not dangerously high and not hospital worthy, but I suggest keeping her home for at least a week. Give her plenty of liquids, vitamin C, the normal stuff. If her temperature gets any worse or if she faints again, don't hesitate to call me. Keep her away from stairs and probably out of the kitchen would be a good move. Mostly just keep her in bed," Dr. Brown told them. Edna nodded.
"I remember that much," Edna said nodding. Dr. Brown smiled at Jig, stood up, and walked out of the room. Irv and Edna followed him.
Edna sighed and fell onto the couch. Irv sat down next to her and rubbed her shoulders with his hands. Dr. Brown sat down across from them. Edna was rubbing her face with her hand before she calmed down.
"It's been so long since I've been around kids for extended lengths of time… I only see kids when they're sick! Not when they're getting sick!" Edna said distressfully.
"It's not your fault, Edna," Irv told her.
"I should have seen her getting sick!"
"I don't think she knew, Edna," Dr. Brown told her, "I recieved Jig's files from her doctor in Los Angeles yesterday. With the exception of a few breaks and scrapes, he never saw her. I don't think Jig's ever been sick before. Her immune system isn't used to being attacked like this, not to mention the cold."
"I know! That's why I should have been on the look out! I was a nurse for-" Edna yelled more at herself than anyone else. Jig had been there two weeks and has already fallen down a flight of stairs.
"You treated battle injuries Edna, a fever is different," Irv reminded her. Edna sighed angrily again and looked at Dr. Brown.
"I guess I won't be into work tomorrow…" Edna told him and he nodded in understanding.
"Oh no! We all know Dr. Brown can't survive there without you Edna, and it'd be good for you to get your mind off of her for awhile. I'll stay home with her, George can drive the bus just as well as I can," Irv told her. Edna nodded and smiled.
"Maybe you're right," she told him.
"Maybe, but not about that 'I can't survive without her' bit," Dr. Brown said and they all chuckled slightly.
Jig had rolled over onto her side and was already half asleep. Ephram watched her for a few moments making sure it was a good sleep and not fainting again. He walked around her room, looking at everything. On her dresser were the average mirror, combs, brushes, plus a picture of a pretty looking woman in a Popsicle stick frame. On another dresser she had more curious items. There were two American flags folded into triangles and set in wooden boxes with one side as a piece of glass. By the wall next to that dresser, was a banjo propped up on a stand. He plucked a string of it gently and smiled at the sound it made. He then turned around and looked at the opposite wall. He jumped a little in surprise. The entire wall was covered in pictures of people smiling. Smiling enough to show their teeth. It was a collage of cut of pictures from photographs, magazines, postcards. He walked toward it and looked at them all. They weren't just people smiling, they were men smiling. Each picture was of a man smiling wide enough to show his teeth.
"Creepy, huh?" he heard Jig ask him weakly. He turned around to see her hugging her pillow and looking at him, smiling wearily. He took a few steps closer to her bed.
"Why would you do that?" he asked her. She reached her arm over to the table by her bed. He got to the picture frame before her arm did. The picture frame was eight by ten but the picture in it looked like it'd fit in a wallet. The picture was of a handsome man, dressed in an army uniform, smiling wide enough to show his teeth.
"That's him, that's my dad. It's the only picture I have of him," she explained. He narrowed his eyes and looked behind him back at the wall, and then back at her.
"Ever since I was little, men who showed their teeth when they smiled made me feel safer. It comforted me," she said half asleep. Ephram set the picture frame back down, making sure the picture was facing her bed. He opened his mouth to say something to her but she was already asleep. He smiled and sat down on the floor, and leaned himself against the bed.
"Ephram?" Dr. Brown asked walking into Jig's room. He saw Jig fast asleep and saw what looked like the top of Ephram's head on the other side of the bed. Silently he walked around and saw his son propped up against the side of the bed. Ephram's head was bent over and his eyes were closed. He was asleep. Dr. Brown smiled and walked back toward the door. He flipped the lights off and closed the door.
Dr. Brown carried Delia into the house with a little difficulty. Closing the door behind him was easier than opening it. It was eleven o'clock so his nine-year-old daughter was asleep in his arms. At the sound of the door closing she stirred a little.
"Where's Ephram?" she asked her dad from that land just between awareness and unawareness.
"He's taking care of Jig," Dr. Brown answered her.
"How's Jig?" she asked as he carried her into her room.
"She's going to be fine," he said setting her down on her bed. She was asleep as soon as her head touched the pillows. On the table by her bed he found a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. He smiled and turned off the lights on another sleeping child.
It was pitch black outside the next time Ephram woke up. There was a thin stream of light flowing into the room though so he turned around and saw Irv peeking in. Irv saw that Ephram was awake and motioned him to come over to the door. Ephram got up quietly so not to awake the sleeping Jig and walked over to Irv. On his way to the door Ephram glanced at the clock. It was nine o'clock in the morning; there was no way it should be so dark outside.
"There's a big snow storm coming and I have to go into town and get some things. Edna's already gone to work so can you watch Jig until I get back? I shouldn't be more than an hour," Irv asked him in a whisper. Ephram nodded and Irv smiled pleased, and left.
Amy sat on her living room couch, reading. Normally there wasn't anything to draw her attention away from Jane Austen but today there was something to worry her. Due to the on coming snowstorm all of the schools had been closed. She was happy for the day off but when she called Ephram's house to talk about it this morning, there was no answer. Dr. Brown might have gone into work but Ephram and Delia should be home. She called three times and there was never an answer. She knew she probably had no reason to be worried, but it still nagged at her a little.
Needing a little reassuring Amy called her grandmother's to see if she was home or not. Irv would be home, that was for certain. Amy dialed and waited a few rings before someone picked up.
"Hi, Grandma?" she asked with a smile. The smile didn't matter to whoever was on the other end, but she had been trained to smile when she greeted a person. It was a stupid little thing she picked up meeting so many people as the town doctor's daughter. She didn't think she could say 'hello' and frown if she wanted to.
"Amy?" was the reply from a rather non-Edna, non-Irv voice. Amy's eyes widened in surprise.
"Ephram? Wha- what are you doing at my grandmother's?" she asked, making sure she had dialed the right number.
"I'm taking care of Jig," he told her getting over the shock of talking to her on the phone at such an unexpected time and place.
"What do you mean 'taking care of Jig?' Is she alright?" Amy asked worriedly.
"She's just got a fever. I'm here making sure she doesn't attempt to master the stairs again," he explained and paused, "she'll be fine Amy, don't worry."
Amy smiled not so much at the news as the tone in which Ephram reassured her. She needed so much reassuring nowadays it was ridiculous. But Ephram had a good way of doing it.
"Tell her I called, okay?"
"Uh, yea, sure, when she wakes up…"
"Hey where's Irv?" Amy asked him.
"He got snowed in at Milton's Hardware Store about an hour ago. Jig is going to scream the moment she looks outside, I know it," Ephram said and smiled when he heard Amy's laughter.
"Grandma's at the clinic already?"
"Yea, her and my dad. Delia's staying with a neighbor."
"Nina right?"
"Uh, yea."
"Yea. My dad didn't go into work today, neither did my mom."
"Hm, the entire family locked up together for a couple of days. Good luck," he wished her. She sighed.
"I know, it's going to be Hell."
"Hey, just remember, be strong. Colin would want that," Ephram told her. They both fell kind of silent after that. Ephram was wondering why he had even said. He guessed he figured that the only way to make the impact of the importance of it, was to give it Colin's backing. He heard the teakettle whistling and said goodbye to Amy to answer the call. Amy set the phone back in the cradle and went back to reading Jane Austen. Her main worries were gone for the moment. He was safe.
