Free Ozark Nurse by Fern Shepard

Sweetie-pie?"
    Nora threw off her coat and went to the sink to cope with a stack of mixing bowls and pans. Ethel was a wonderful cook, but it never occurred to her to clean the silverware and soiled dishes as she went along.
    "First, I doubt that you have a slipped disc," she said. "If you had, you'd be groaning with pain; not dreaming about a summer of fun on the lake."
    She grabbed a dish towel, wiped several bowls and stacked them in place in the closet. "And second, if you have one, I doubt that a lot of sun would snap it back into place. I happen to be a nurse, Jerry dear. I've assisted in quite a few spinal operations. But I never happened to hear of the sun, all by its little self, correcting that problem."
    "The sun," stated Jerry solemnly, drinking more water, "is the great life giver! It can work miracles. You nurses and docs do your small bit, of course. But without the sun, you wouldn't even be here. Ever stop to think of that?"
    Laughing, she hung up the towel, splashed water over her hands and announced that she was going to have a shower before dinner. "If I handed over my savings to buy you a boat, I wouldn't have any more. And suppose I needed my five hundred dollars for an emergency?"
    "But it's only for a loan, honey. I'd pay you back."
    "When?"
    "Some day."
    She shook her head firmly. "Nope."
    "You're a miser," he said, shaking his head as if in sorrow. "It's hard to believe of a gal so young, so beautiful, so sweet, so pleasing to the eye. But nevertheless it's true. You love money for its own sake. That's bad. It's anti-social, too. Hasn't anyone ever told you that the haves should divvy up with the have-nots?"
    "Yup."
    "What are you saving it for, by the way? Your old age?"
    "Nope." She gave his shoulder a teasing thump with her fist. "Your old age, Jerry. Considering the way you operate, somebody will have to worry about you in your old age." A deep sigh. "And one buck will get you ten that that somebody will be little old me."
     

Chapter 9
    Nora felt so much better about her own personal affairs that it was easy to kid and joke with Jerry about the loan he wanted. Actually, she was deeply attached to her charming and very lovable adoptive brother. Jerry's whole trouble was that he was still a fun-loving, sports-loving, grown-up kid who had never learned to accept responsibility. Knowing this, she was able to take him as he was without becoming seriously irritated, except when she was bothered and out of sorts because things weren't going right with Paul.
    Running upstairs, she was amazed at her sudden light-heartedness. "Nora dear, I'm sorry if I spoke sharply to you this morning."
    Caroline emerged from her room, across the hall from Nora's. She had been trying to sleep off one of her nervous headaches. "I worry so about Jerry. I know he expects too much from you. And I want you to know I don't mean anything by it when I say things I shouldn't."
    "Forget it." Nora gave her mother a quick, impulsive hug.
    "You're a good girl, Nora."
    "I like you, too." They smiled at each other, and Nora went on into her room, still wondering why, all of a sudden, everything in her small world seemed to have been set to rights.
    Was it because Paul had promised to come over tonight, to take her for a drive so that he could have her alone?
    As she stepped out of her uniform, Ethel called up to say Carol was coming over for dinner. That would delay things. They wouldn't be eating before six-thirty.
    Good.
    That would give Nora plenty of time to shower and dress right now, and if Paul came before she finished eating, she would be ready to dash out and join him.
    As if food mattered, anyway!
    She sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, one shoe off, one on. Dreamily she pictured the evening ahead. They would not drive far, because of Paul's bad shoulder; maybe just to the edge of town where there was a lovely, shaded spot, their favorite spot for talking things over.
    She kicked off the second shoe, pattered into the