Free Guardian Nurse by Joyce Dingwell

‘sh’, ‘th’. She was so elated that she was not surprised that it showed in her.
    Going down the hall, Burn West stopped her, but it was a different arrest from that other time. And a different West.
    ‘Where are you getting those stars from?’ he asked.
    ‘Stars?’
    ‘Eyes. Smile — all over you, in you.’
    ‘It’s Jason. He’s just reacting in the way an educationist dreams. Of course I have an advantage in a smart little fellow, but it still makes me feel good.’
    ‘He has the advantage of a smart teacher, and that makes me feel good.’
    ‘Thank you. I think you can send for those lessons soon.’
    ‘Better than that, I’ll get them. I’m going up to Sydney this week. Tell me how far you’ve gone with the sonno, France.’
    She told him a little breathlessly, and enjoyed the pleased surprise in his eyes.
    ‘A pity to slow down the process for a day,’ he regretted, ‘but I had a call from Doctor Muir. He wants to take a few progress plates of the lad.’
    ‘I’ll take him—’ She stopped herself in time, remembering how she was not to take Jason out in the car by herself.
    If he heard the slip he did not betray it. ‘We’ll go tomorrow. From what Muir says it will be an all-day job.’
    Jason, acquainted of his outing the next day, objected angrily. The process of further X-rays did not worry him—Frances suspected the poor little boy was past any medical nervousness — but the absence from lessons was an annoyance.
    ‘I’ll never read !’ he despaired.
    They left after breakfast in Burn’s big estate wagon, Frances sitting beside Jason and carrying on the letter game by pointing out things and suggesting the letter for them, sheep, pony, fence. Sometimes she gave a wrong letter and Jason corrected her triumphantly. He was in quite a good mood when they came into Mirramunna.
    They went straight to the hospital, and Scott wasted no time on the first set of plates. ‘Of course,’ he explained, ‘I’m not going for any detail, the plaster must come right off for that, but just a general trend.’
    Frances, who was sharply aware that Scott was looking for any possible changes in the bones, any instance of septic disease as well as the leg’s general progress, was relieved when Scott’s face did not tighten ... how well she remembered that significant tightening of his face in the hospital ... as he looked at the first plates. It was decided that he do more in the afternoon, that meanwhile they all have lunch together.
    Matron wanted to serve it in the hospital; she had been very effusive to Burn , and Frances suspected he was a valued patron. However, Burn West said that as it was an occasion they would go to the hotel.
    Frances hesitated, feeling a closed room would be no joy for Jason, and Scott at once suggested the ice-cream parlour again.—She saw Burn ’s brows lift at that ‘again’.
    ‘They serve a decent grill,’ said the doctor, ‘and the boy can have a soda with his lunch.’
    Because of the tight look in Burn , Frances diplomatically came out with the best suggestion, or at least Jason voted it so. A picnic in the park. Yes, there actually was a small Mirramunna park by the river, replete with old-fashioned band rotunda, tables and benches and a great many flying gnats.
    ‘N — ’ said the eager scholar about gnats.
    ‘It sounds like that,’ agreed Frances, ‘only it’s a funny word, it has a g in front of it.’
    The men had gone over to get the picnic wherewithal, but when they came back it was with a party—cold beer for the adults, lemonade for Jason. Chicken salad. The chocolate cake beloved by children.
    After the meal Frances took the little boy to the river’s edge to launch a few bark boats and Scott and Burn sat back talking together.
    There were more plates in the afternoon, then tea in the hospital and home again, but on this occasion before the dark hour that Frances had arrived that other evening. As they passed Uplands Frances glanced at