Show THE FICTION ION THE DOCTORS DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY HOUDA Y i CORNER By Ralph Blanchard HE FRIENDS of James Keenan THE often wondered why he should always spend his vacation in so dull and obscure a place as the sleepy little ittle mountain community of Booneville I 11 It t Minute was one of a 3 Fiction mountain hundred towns small In the western part of North Carolina Surely they reasoned a person who was accustomed accustomed accustomed ac ac- ac- ac to the many attractions of a city could never be content with a place that consisted of one main street and a square dance every Saturday night For a surgeon there was little hope lope of a future In such a place It t was more than merely a love for or the mountains that James felt for or this community for had it been only this he could have found a thousand places more near the city and his hospital One night he was sitting in his room reading when there was a knock at the door He put the book down and asked Who Is it Doctor let me in in The voice seemed breathless and frightened Please I must see you He went to the door and opened It A girl entered the room She was young not more than twenty Black hair stuck out from under the red kerchief and her plaid shirt had come out of the dungarees She looked tired Here sit down James sug sug- I dont don't have time She leaned back against the wall You must come with me Now wait a minute The girl looked up at Keenan and bit her lip Dr Johnson is sick o t fey y calIm Im not scared now that youre you're coming she answered and cant can't come Youre You're the only doctor left In these parts Well tell me what's wrong Its Paw Hes He's deaU deathly y sick Youve You've got to come with me James saw for the first time that she was really frightened He ran to his closet for the small black case that never left his side Lets go he told the girl IN N a moment they were in his car speeding along mountain roads On a straight stretch James turned and looked at the girl For Fora a moment he thought he had made madea a mistake He would have sworn that this was not the same girl that had entered his room only minutes before She looked straight ahead but her kerchief had fallen around her neck and now her soft black hair streamed down and framed her face untouched by the modern modem devices of ot simulated beau beau- ty Her features were tense and drawn however Are you all right James asked her She turned and looked up at him a smile forming on her lips Im not scared now that youre you're coming she answered When they finally reached the small mountain cabin they found her father just as she had left him There was another child but no mother to greet the doctor and girl girt The little boy was sitting in a chair watching his father when they en en- After it was over James assured the girl that her father would be beall beall beall all right He walked out onto the porch and sa sat t down In one of the flimsy rocking rocking rocking rock rock- ing chairs The moonlight was bright and he could make out the mountain ridge Behind him he ho heard the door open He didn't turn The girl walked around the chair and leaned up against the railing She had pushed her plaid shirt back Into her dungarees and brushed her hair She looked out over the valley and breathed deeply The doctor looked at her Until now he had never looked at a woman except as a patient Something Something Something Some Some- thing Inside James seemed to melt and he saw once again his childhood childhood childhood child child- hood that he had bad so strongly tried to forget He saw his mother rockIng rocking rocking rock- rock Ing peacefully back and forth on ona a little mountain porch He smelled his fathers father's clay pipe and the fragrant aroma that seemed to follow him wherever he went He saw himself going to school in the city and then he saw himself not able to stay away from the mountains coming back year after year Suddenly he realized the battle to ata stay away didn't matter any more |