The Hesitant Hero Read Online Free PDF Page B

to talk.
    She had had dinner the previous evening with some close friends of hers, Jack and Irene Henderson. Jack was one of the other medical students who worked at the same hospital, and the family went to the same church as Jolie did.
    “You should have seen little Barbara in her high chair,” Jolie told him. “Irene put some peas on a plate in front of her, and she picked them up one at a time and dropped them on the floor. And then when she got tired of that game, she poked her finger into the ones that were still on her plate and squished them.” She laughed. “I love children. You never know what they’re going to do next!”
    She went on to tell him about a mother who had brought her child into the emergency room that day, very upset that he had swallowed a penny. “I told the mother that the coin wouldn’t hurt the child, and she said, ‘But it’s a very valuablepenny. It’s part of my collection.’ Here I was working myself up thinking she was worried about the child, and she only wanted the penny.”
    “Do you get many like that? People who don’t really need a doctor?”
    “Not too many. Although we sometimes get some pretty grim cases there.”
    “Some people die, I suppose.”
    “Yes, that does happen. People hesitate to seek medical care until it’s too late, and they die before we can help them.”
    “I don’t think I’d like to be a doctor. It sounds like a pretty depressing business.”
    “Oh, not always.” She took a sip of her soup. “It feels pretty good when you help someone.”
    “How long have you wanted to be a doctor?”
    “Since I was a little girl, I think. Of course I never had any idea I could. We were very poor. There was no money for school, but my mother and I both worked hard and got me through college. My grades were good so I got into medical school. It’s been a struggle, though.”
    As he listened to her, he felt a twinge of guilt. He had no hard luck stories to tell her, for his life had been much easier. He had two good parents, a fine brother, and a sister he was very proud of. Even though his parents didn’t approve of his choice of profession and wondered if he would be able to make a living with his art, they made it possible for him to study in New York. He felt a twinge of guilt at how lightly he had taken their sacrifices.
    He poured some more steak sauce onto his meat. “Did you say your father is sick? That’s why you came to New York?”
    “Yes. He’s in the last stages of lung cancer.” There was a slight tremor in her voice. She picked up her coffee cup and took a quick sip. When she put the cup down, she shook her head. “He was exposed to gas in the war, and his lungs were never strong after that. To top it off, he persisted in smoking, which I’m sure didn’t help anything.”
    “What’s your dad’s name?”
    “Dennis Franklin.”
    “His last name’s not the same as yours?”
    “No.” She sipped her coffee again. “He never married my mother.”
    “Oh, I see.”
    “He’s not a very strong man, Tyler. He always took the easy way out, from what Mother said. I think he loved her, but he couldn’t face up to taking a foreign bride home and making a living for her.”
    Tyler digested that slowly and then he met her eyes. “Was it hard for you to come to the U.S. and take care of a man who . . .”
    He wasn’t sure how to finish his sentence, but Jolie managed a smile. “Who’s done me a disservice? It was at first, but my mother is a wonderful woman. She married before I was born, so I was given her husband’s last name—Vernay. Of course, I grew up believing he was my father. My mother didn’t have any contact with my real father for years, and then two years ago we got a letter from him, telling us about his illness. She decided it was time to tell me who my real father was. It was a hard decision to come here, but I don’t regret it now.”
    “I don’t think I could have done that.”
    Jolie did not answer, and her