Free Staff Nurse in the Tyrol by Elizabeth Houghton Page B

will do.”
    She scarcely had time to see Michael tip the contents of the drum out onto her sterile tray before he was picking up a scalpel from the small bundle of instruments. It had been the right drum after all.
    “Swab it, Sonia! Again! I must see what I’m doing. Now the dilators. There—that’s done it.”
    She could hear the tension go out of Michael’s voice as the child gasped, and then that terrible panting sound eased as air was at last able to reach its lungs. The dusky hue began to fade from the childish face and normal color came back gradually.
    “Tracheotomy tube ... small one. That one will do nicely.” Michael eased the metal tube into place and began to adjust the tapes that would hold it in place. "Lift his head ... that’s it. Now the dressing.” He stepped back and mopped the perspiration from his forehead. “Whew! That was a close one! Not the sort of emergency that I’d recommend for a hot day. I ran all the way.”
    Sonia found herself trembling a little now that the immediate emergency was over. What would she have done if she hadn’t found that drum? She shuddered.
    “What’s the matter, Sonia?” Michael smiled at her.
    She didn’t want to tell him. After all, she had managed. Nothing had gone wrong. But somehow it was impossible to keep silent. With anyone else she might have made some excuse.
    He listened quietly, his eyes never leaving her face, but there was something about his attitude that made her blood pound in her ears.
    “You have no business taking a job at this hospital until you know enough of the language to deal with anything that happens. It’s absolutely criminal and shouldn’t be allowed. I wonder if the Herr Direktor realizes just how little German you know. If you had any respect for your profession or even for the patients here, you’d take the next plane home. A hospital is no place for silly little fools with romantic ideas instead of sense stuffing their brains!”
    Sonia stood still, too stricken to move or to cry out in protest at first. Then she tried. “But Michael, I did manage...”
    “This time, yes, but how can you be sure that you will next time? You can’t count on luck every time! This is medicine, not a lottery! We’re dealing in human lives and sentimental, romantic twaddle has no place here. Either you go to the Herr Direktor and tell him you’re sorry but you’ve changed your mind, or I will.”

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
    Neither Sonia nor Michael had heard the door open, and Stefan’s quiet voice broke into the silence that had followed Michael’s angry words.
    “But, Michael, would it not be as well if we teach Sonia German? She is not stupid, and surely it would be kinder when she has come so far to help...”
    The pause that followed Stefan’s little speech seemed to go on endlessly. Sonia did not dare look at Michael for fear he would misinterpret her glance. Would he agree or would he smash her brave plans before they had begun?
    Finally Michael shrugged his shoulders. “If you’re prepared to take the responsibility, Stefan. I, for one, am not. But I’m willing to wait another week before going to the Herr Direktor, on one condition...”
    “That condition ... what is it?”
    Stefan didn’t raise his voice, but Sonia was aware of the silent struggle going on between the two men and of Michael’s resentment at being asked to take back his words.
    Michael went toward the door. “That Sister Therese understands that Sonia is not fit to be left in charge of the ward alone.”
    Stefan put out a hand to detain him. “That is not a kind nor fair thing to say. It is not like you, Michael, to be so unreasonable ... and Sonia, she is from your own country, is she not?”
    Michael turned back and looked at them both with a sort of cold anger. “That is precisely why I’m taking this stand. If Sonia weren’t English, I wouldn’t mind. Is that too difficult for you to understand, Stefan?”
    The other man shook his head a little