Debbie Kaufman - The Doctor's Mission

Her bearers reached again for her arms and pulled. “Is someone shot? Please, I’m a doctor, I must help.”

The younger man shook his head vigorously saying, “No savvy. Nana Pastor say Mammy Doctor must be protected.” His pressure on her arm increased.

Part of her longed to give in and seek cover in the surrounding jungle. The tree sheltering Clara looked so appealing. Her oath as a doctor won out.

She pulled her arm free and took advantage of her small stature to duck around him, striding quickly. The excited chattering and his at-heel position confirmed he hadn’t given up his quest to stop her. Fortunately she kept her immediate supplies in the pack she carried. She doubted she could have convinced any of these men to get it for her.

Ignoring the dread weighing down her stomach, Mary forged ahead. If William was injured, or even another man, she had to help, not cower in fear.

Sheer shock at her charge forward paralyzed the remaining porters still on the trail. A heavy sigh behind her told her that her shadow was still attached. She passed several more armed men, some with spears, before the jungle fell back and opened. She scented the wood smoke before she saw the tendrils reaching upward. Smoke escaped at random intervals throughout the yellow undulations of dried grass roofs.

They had arrived at a village. If the rifle shot was any indication, an unfriendly one.

Looking down the hill to the spot where the path widened at the village edge, Mary saw William. Hannabo was on one side and another porter, Jabo maybe, stood on the other. She stopped where she was to take in the scene. No one lay on the ground or clutched a wound. Who or what had been shot?

All of her dramatic worries and it was just a serious discussion with a group of natives. No one was at war here.

All of them were deferring to the one native in a worn black bowler hat and bright red loincloth standing with his arms folded across his chest, a chest hung with some type of decorative necklace. Must be the chief.

Whoever he was, she knew the moment he became aware of her. He put out a bony finger and pointed. Was he pointing at her? All conversation ceased.

William turned to see what Bowler Hat was pointing to, and if there had been any doubt in her mind she was the object of attention, the glare from William removed it.

Bowler Hat began to speak. Mary wasn’t close enough to hear anything. By the frequency of gestures, there was a debate or perhaps a trade. She knew that trading was one way a missionary made inroads into a tribe’s favor.

The conversation ended abruptly. Bowler Hat’s arms were back in place across his chest. William and Hannabo turned and headed toward the caravan. Hannabo looked on stolidly, but William’s face morphed from blank and emotionless to raw fury.

When he drew near, his voice came out as a low hiss. “I told you to stay put. Turn around and follow behind me.”

“I beg your pardon. I…”

“If you don’t want to be that old man’s newest wife, you’ll do as I say and you’ll do it right now.”

Chapter Four

William tried to ignore the sputtering sound behind him. Amazing what it took to make that woman speechless. Now if he could figure out how to get her to follow his instructions.

She didn’t stay speechless for long. “What do you mean I could end up as that old man’s wife? I assure you…”

The villagers out of sight, he wheeled around to give Dr. O’Hara the dressing down she deserved. Except he misjudged how closely she was following and ended up with her walking right into him, knocking her pith helmet off her head and sending her backward. He caught her before she tilted to the ground.

A hundred and ten pounds of warm femininity snapped back into his arms. Soft skin and womanly curves seared his bare arms. He loosed his grip and stepped back.

“Thank you, Pastor Mayweather. I’m not normally so clumsy. My apologies.” Mary bent over to retrieve her helmet.

“If by following me too closely you mean you didn’t stay put where you were told to, then you certainly do owe me an apology. Me and this entire company.”

“What?”

“Can you not follow simple instructions? I distinctly told you to wait where I left you.” His temple pulsed and throbbed. This healer would be the death of him yet.

“I heard a shot. What in the world did I do that was so wrong? I came to see if someone was injured.”

“No one was injured. Negotiations for passing through the village got a little difficult. Jabo overreacted when directly challenged by one of the warriors. He fired into the air.”

“I had no way of knowing that. Someone might have been injured. I only came to see if my skills were needed.”

She meant well, but William couldn’t find it in him to absolve her actions. Not considering. “Well, while you were busy seeing, you were seen before we’d negotiated simple pass through the village. It would have saved us hours on the trail. Now we’re expected to stay the night. By Nana Bolo no less.”

“Nana Bolo? Is that the older man in the bowler hat? The one you said wanted me to be his wife?”

“That would be the one.”

“Well, tell him I said no. Politely, of course.”

William blew out an impatient breath. “For an intelligent woman, you don’t know much about the way things work here.”

“A quick indoctrination in France before you climb on a freighter hardly covers everything. And excuse me if I don’t know the customs of the Liberian bush. I’ve been a little busy lately. France. The Great War. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”

“The war affected us all. It took me months to get passage back here from leave in the States with transport at such risk.”

“Right. Try actually serving in the war instead of staying home in some cushy church job. Then we’ll compare notes.”

“Cushy church job… .” He snorted at the idea a compassionate leave qualified as cushy. Then the rest of what she said hit him. “Wait… You served in the war in France? How? The Army didn’t recruit women.”

“I already went over this with the Jansens at dinner, something you would know if you’d had the manners to join us. The Red Cross did the recruiting and the Army used us despite their public objections to enlisting female physicians.”

William felt the proverbial rug go flying out from under his feet. All of his assumptions…could he be wrong about her? The image of his delicate Alice on her deathbed tamped that idea down without hesitation. “Nevertheless, your knowledge and experience don’t extend into this battlefield. And make no mistake, it is a battlefield. A battlefield for men’s souls.”

“I am aware, Pastor Mayweather. But I intend to deal with men’s and women’s bodies much more than their souls. I’ll leave the cure for eternal damnation to you.”

Vehemence blew through Mary’s words, and William was hard put to understand. But they’d gone too far off track and he needed to deal with the situation at hand. “A good mission station is one where everyone works together toward the salvation of the heathen. However, we have to first get through the night alive in this village.”

Considering his plans for her quick removal from the mission, he wasn’t sure why he bothered with the lecture on teamwork. The only thing of real importance now was surviving the situation she’d created.

William crossed his arms and gave Mary his most serious look. “So you, Doctor O’Hara, must do exactly as I tell you tonight so you do not find yourself married or get us all killed. Nana Bolo will not accept your refusal. He thinks of women as property, and property does not make its own choices.”

Mary’s brow knit into a frown and her mouth opened in a small “oh.” The look didn’t last. What looked like fumes of outrage bubbled to the surface. “Well, you can set him straight on that right now. I am no man’s property.”