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The Nurse
"Ugh, here comes another one." Mary groaned. Dabbing at the kid's bloody face, trying to avoid getting smacked by the kid's fists fighting the imaginary foe. 'There's always at least one of those smart ass newsies that comes in here beaten to a bloody pulp, and talkin' big.' She thought looking down at the kid in disgust. "Heya doll did I get 'em?" the kid asked. Grinning around a fat lip and broken nose, he looked about sixteen or seventeen. Dirty, smelly and utterly uneducated. 'I wish these kids would get put into an orphanage or at least find a decent job.' She thought a little remorse blooming in her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't like the kids it was just that they were all in such a desperate situation. "Fine kid, you got 'em, but next time pick on a smaller scab. Now shut up, will ya? So I can fix your face." Mary muttered trying to quiet the young boy. He finally did fall into a fitful sleep. Mary stayed with him for a while, or at least till the doctor came. "So Mary what do we have here ? Another victim of the streets a New York." The doctor asked as he bent down to examine the boy. "Yes sir." "He's doin' pretty well, doctor. I don't know how you deal with this every day doctor Lewis." She asked looking up at the kindly looking man. Dr. Lewis was always the one who dealt with the kids that came into the hospital. He was the only doctor, who actually had the patience to help the poor kids. 'Maybe someday I'll be able to help people as he does.' She thought hopefully, seeing visions of herself kindly tending the sick. "Mary?" he asked interrupting her train of thought. "Yes." "I would like you to sit with this boy until tomorrow. I'm sure his friends will be in soon. These boys always have friends that come in sooner or later. This will be a good lesson in what it takes to be a good nurse." He said looking down at the young woman. 'She has the making of the best if only she would leave her prejudices behind, well maybe meeting some of the local unfortunates will get her to open her eyes.' Dr. Lewis thought hopefully as he turned his back on the astonished nurse. A slight grin appeared on his worn face as he walked out of the small room. "I guess it's just you and me kid." Mary said remorsefully as the door shut. 'A night of quiet will do me good I suppose.' She decided, trying to be cheerful about the situation. Her nice quiet evening didn't last very long, four boys came bursting into the room. They were a ragged bunch, all of them too thin and most had a bruise or two, reminders of their last fight. "BUMLETS!!!" the oldest one cried rushing to the bed, startling the poor kid out of what little rest he'd had. He was wearing clothes that were worn and ragged, the only thing that seemed young about the boy was the 'Santa Fe Jim' comic book sticking out of his back pocket. The other three hung back, not wanting to disturb the boy too much. "Jack, how ya doin'?" "Fine. Can't say da same fer you though. So uh, who was it, dat goyls brudder or her fadder?" the boy asked, he looked close to tears. Mary sat unnoticed in the back by the window, she had always thought that those kids never cared about anyone, this scene shed some new light on the kids lives. "It weren't neither of dem. It was da DeLancys, Jack day were waiting fer me in the alley by the hospital. Who's there wid ya?" the boy asked almost as an afterthought. "Race, Blink an' Spot, we was worried 'bout ya's." Jack replied. With that the three others stepped into the light. One was blond with a patch over one eye, the other looked like he was from Italy dark hair and skin, the last boy was by far the cleanest one. He was tall and thin with big blue eyes that seemed far to old for such a child. "We came wid Jack ta make shoya dat they're treatin' ya okay in dis joint." the boy with the old eyes said softly. The other two murmured assent with what the boy said. "Excuse me gentlemen, but your friend here needs his rest so I'm afraid you'll have to leave. Why don't you come back in the morning I'm sure he will be ready to leave by then." Mary said politely, startling the boys who had thought they were alone. She got four very surprised looks. Especially from the boy that had spoken first. "Youes da noyse?" the boy with the comic asked pointedly. "Yes I am, I was asked to stay with your friend here till tomorrow." Mary said looking into his eyes. "Oh is he dat bad?" the Italian boy asked. "No boys your friend's going to be just fine, but your going to have to leave!" Mary said growing agitated with the constant questioning. "Da nurse is right, boys. You gonna come and git me outta dis joint tomorra, right?" he said looking at the four earnest faces. "Yeah we'll be heya, nurse you take care a our boy heya." Jack said on his way out. The other three followed him shutting the door as quietly as possible. *** The Bumlets was lying quietly in bed looking up at the ceiling, the only sound in the room was his shallow breathing. He wanted to talk to the nurse, but he was kind afraid of her. She looked like she thought that being in the room looking after him was a waste of time. 'Well it's gonna be a long night if I don't talk ta her.' He thought decidedly. "Me friends only wanted ta make shoya I was okay, ya didn't need ta chase 'em away like dat." He said quietly, looking at her proud face. Daring her to say something. 'She is kinda pretty, in a stuck up sorta way.' He thought looking at her young face. "I didn't chase them away, I told them that it was time to go so you could get some rest. Now go to sleep, so we can let ya outta here in the morning" She said defensively, digging through her small satchel for a book to read. Finally she came up with Little Women her father had given her on graduation from nursing school. He said that there were some very valuable lessons to be learned from that book. At the time Mary had thought it was a waste of time until she had started working at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, it was then she realized her mother had been right. "I liked dat book. It was really nice ta read instead of da bloody headlines dat I is always shoutin' in da streets." The boy said out of nowhere. He was lying quietly in the bed his upper body propped up against the pillows. "I thought that I told you to get some sleep, kid." Mary said shocked. The boy though young had a maturity that his fellows seemed to lack. "I can't sleep and I wanted someone ta talk ta 'bout some things dat been troublin' me in me life. Oh an by da way my names Bumlets." He said looking her dead in the eye. 'I hope she decides ta talk ta me.' He thought trying to keep a calm appearance. "Okay, I guess the company would be good, my name's Mary Parker." She said, relaxing a little. Despite his ragged appearance, Bumlets seemed like a nice boy. "Nice ta meet ya Mary, do ya like ta read or is it just somthin' fer ya ta pass night like dis one wid?" he asked politely, taking in her measure. 'Now dat she is loosenin' up a bit I think we may have a somethin' in common.' Bumlets thought, a little smile appearing on his sunkissed features. "Well I didn't really like to read, but then I started working here an I started gettin' into to it a lot. It really helps to pass the nights around here, how did you get inta readin' ? I thought that the newsies just read the papes they sell on the street." Mary said. 'I hope he doesn't get offended by that.' Mary realized after the words left her lips. "Well yer right, most of me friends do, but the guy that owns da Lodgin' House owns a whole bunch a books an' well I git sick a lot so da foist time dat I was really sick he gave me a book ta read, it was swell. So evea since den I been hooked. Reading helps me escape da reality of tha life dat I lead." Bumlets told her, it was the first time he ad ever really been honest about the way he felt about living on the streets. 'I think that maybe she can undastand me betta den Jack an da odders, they all think that life is one big adventua. I don't.' "Although I don't use reading in the same way, I think that's swell that ya can look at it that way. By the way how'd ya get the name Bumlets?" Mary asked innocently. Looking at the thin pale boy sitting in the bed before her. 'Probably the first time in months he's been in a comfortable bed. It's no wonder he is always sick' she reflected sympathetically. "Well me parents had 'bout ten er so kids an they decided ta get rid a few I was just one a da ones dat happened ta get left on the steps of da Lodgin' House." He paused trying to remember that long ago time. "My mudder said I was too sickly ta live, so me fadder put me out, I think I was 'bout six er so, Kloppmen an Skittery an Jack came out when they hoid me cryin' cause I was wet an very hungry. He said I looked like a bum, an Jack goes ' naw he looks like half a bum, so how's 'bout we's call him Bumlet.' An when they took up ta room that was what Jack introduced me as, an Skittery never could get it right so he was always callin' me Bumlets, an the name just kinda stuck. Dis one olda kid, I think his name was Crash cause he always looked like had crashed inta a wall, he always called me whitey cause I was sick so much, but dat name neva stuck, but I always thought it was funny cause he ended up in da orphanage cause he got sick more den me." Bumlets said, grinning at the memory of Crash getting hauled away by the bulls, his screams changing dramatically in tone, from high to low. Mary was grinning too. 'Boy has she got a real pretty smile.' He thought, but then again all girls were pretty when they smiled, or so he had decided. "I like that story, maybe you should save up your money and start writing stories about the newsies and your lives." Mary said her aloof nature melting away with the humorous tale. 'I would have given my eye teeth to be there when that kid was hauled off.' She thought grinning at the imagined sight. "all right, I told my life's story now it's your turn." He said leaning forward a little in anticipation. He hated to admit it but he was a little curious about the woman and her past. *** "My life's pretty boring compared to yours. I grew up in Maine went to nursing school, I was trying to follow my fathers footsteps." She said laughing at the impossibility of it. "When I was little I wanted to be a doctor just like my dad, and when I was about fifteen my parents sat me down and had a long talk about how impossible it was for me to become a doctor. My father suggested that I become a nurse or a missionary, if I really wanted to do good. My mom was really pissed about that, she wanted me to become a wealthy socialite like she had always been. I even had several young men lining up at my door with marriage proposals and the like by the time I was seventeen. I think it was after a particularly bad meeting with one of those young rich boys, that I made my decision to become a nurse. My mother was furious, and my dad for all his posturing was I think really very proud. He paid my way through and got the position that I wanted. My mom cried for three days and she still doesn't write to me, but I suppose that's the price I've had ta pay for this." She finished gesturing around the room. What she didn't tell him was how the other girls called her Miss Snooty and other things of that nature. She was always very haughty and cold to the other girls never dating any men or telling tales about the girls on the next floor. 'Doctor Lewis is the only one who has been nice to me this who time.' Mary thought, wondering why she ever decided to follow this career in the first place. 'Maybe I ought to just go home and tell mom she was right.' She was seriously thinking about going home to her friends and family even thought it would mean facing her father. "Dat's a pity. But maybe youse outta consida bein' a little more friendly to da people dat ya woik wid." He said. 'I hope dat I don't make 'er mad but it's da truth. If she weren't such a snob I think she could be a great nurse.' Bumlets decided echoing Dr. Lewis's thoughts. "How did you know that?" she asked shocked that he had known she was having a difficult time at the hospital. "A good guess by yer attitude an I hoid da odder nurses talkin' 'bout ya when they thought I was asleep." He said grinning sheepishly at her shocked face. He had always had the ability to give good guesses at things like that, and from what this girl had said it was almost a given that things like that would happen to her. "I suppose your right, but the girls my age here all behave like their heads are filled with air." Mary said in justification for her actions. For the first time that night Bumlets lost his easy going manner and was very serious with her. "Well then no wonda ya havin' such a hard time of it goyl. I'll but a months pay dat when I was wheeled in heya youse thought dat I was some stupid uneducated doity kid wid a foul mouth, and a brain tha size of a dog's." He said. Mary was too shocked at the way he put how she had looked on him to reply. "An right up till I told ya I liked yer book you thought that a me." He said pushing on despite her slaked mouth look. "The goyls ya woik wid ain't really so different from you but ya gotta give dem a chance Mary or youse is gonna lead a very unhappy life. I kinda see why the doc put ya in heya wid me, it was ta teach ya ta look beyond appearances." He said apparently exhausted by his little speech. 'I hope dat she undastands now why she is so unhappy wid her life an herself.' Bumlets had a good temper and was renowned for it in the newsie community, for the first and only time in his life did he loose his temper and it was with this woman. "Your right again Bumlets, I'm glad that ya told me and for your sake I'm going to try and look." Mary said at last gaining her powers of speech. "Dat's da foist step, but who am I to know yer heart. I guess I should tell my name is actually William Ferry. You're da only person I've ever lost me tempa wid so I guess yer da only person dat's gonna know me name." He said falling back on the pillows with his eyes closed, leaving Mary to think about what he had said. 'How could anyone so young be so smart.' She though in amazement. "Bumlets, Bumlets get up." She said shaking him gently. "What, I'm up." "What do you say to this. How about after you get outta here I stop by the Lodging House once a month and check up on all the boys?" Mary said. "I think that'll be good, most a dem boys ain't neva been ta da doc unless they is dyin' or close." Bumlets said grinning at her. "Now let me go back ta sleep will ya so I can get outta heya in da mornin'." he said already falling asleep. Mary sat in the window seat content to read her book, and think about the night. The night passed quickly after that, Bumlets and Mary both slept more than either will ever admit and in the morning when his friends came to pick him up Mary was very nice and told Bumlets that she would be at the house in about a month. As she was walking back into the nurses lounge she saw Deloras, Lynn, and Avis. 'I guess it's time to make amends.' She thought as she began to form a tenuous conversation with the three girls, the found they had a lot in common. *** EPILOGUE Mary did keep her promise to Bumlets and brought some of the nurses with her to the Lodging House. This became one of the first fee clincs in New York. Every time she went she brought him some paper and a pencil so he could write his stories, when he got ill or it rained. Unfortunately in the following winter Bumlets got very sick, the cause of his illness was unknown. He died a short while after Christmas. Mary came everyday during that time to visit her first friend and best friend. She still has the stories he wrote in a drawer and every winter on Christmas day she reads them to her two children William and Lisa, in memory of Bumlets. |
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