The Heart Remembers (13 page)

Rudy let out a groan as he opened his mouth. Dr. Dane looked in and studied what he saw closely. “Rudy, your upper gums are swollen on the right side, and they’re oozing pus. It looks like the second molar is the problem. I’d say it’s abscessed. But it
could
be the first molar.” He raised the forceps toward Rudy’s mouth. “I’m going to tap on the second molar with the forceps. If it
is
the second molar, it’s going to hurt. Would you rather I anesthetize you first?”

Rudy shook his head. “Naw. Go ahead and tap on it. I can take it.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. Go ahead.”

Dr. Dane tapped on the second molar with the forceps.

Rudy jerked, howled, sprang out of the chair, and jumped up and down, while holding a hand to his jaw. Dane looked at Tharyn, who simply shook her head.

When Rudy settled down, Dr. Dane said, “It’s the second molar, all right. You sure you want it pulled?”

The big husky man still held his hand to his jaw. “Yeah. I want it pulled.”

“All right. Sit back down. But I strongly suggest that I use an anesthetic first.”

Rudy plopped onto the chair, shaking his head vehemently. “No! If it got out that I allowed you to use anesthetic, the guys at the mine would never let me live it down. I can’t be thought of as a sissy!”

Dr. Dane sighed. “Rudy, I understand this virile, rugged, masculine stuff. I used to live as a teenage orphan on the streets of New York City, so I know about your need to protect your he-man image. But this tooth is terribly infected. The infection goes all the way into the bone. I don’t think you have any idea just how painful this extraction is going to be. And when I get the tooth out, I’ll need to suture the wound in order to minimize the danger of more infection. If it were me, no matter what … I’d take all the anesthetic I could get.”

Rudy shook his head again. “Doc, in my lifetime, I’ve had a lot of serious injuries. Why, one time about five years ago, I had to set my own broken leg. This here tooth pullin’ can’t be as bad as that. Go ahead and yank it out.”

Dr. Dane sighed. “Well, Rudy, it sounds like you know what pain is all about, but a minute ago when I tapped on that second molar, you hollered like a wild man. When I pull it, it’s going to hurt a hundred times as bad. You’d better let me use the anesthetic.”

Rudy shook his big head. “No, sir! I’m not givin’ those guys at the mine any excuse to call me a sissy. As sure as anything, if I let you give me somethin’ to ease the pain, they’d find it out. I’d never in this lifetime live it down.”

“Tharyn and I would never tell anybody.”

The crusty miner shook his head again. “It’d still get out somehow. Let’s get on with it. I’m ready when you are.”

“Okay. Go over there to the wash basin and wash your face real good. I don’t want any coal dust getting in your mouth.”

Rudy left the chair and did as the doctor had said. When that was done, the lack of a dental chair was overcome by the use of two straight-backed wooden chairs, one behind the other.

Tharyn stood by, ready to help if needed, as her husband placed Rudy on the first chair, then stood just behind him to the right, placing his left foot on the seat of the second chair.

“All right, Rudy,” said the doctor, “lay your head back on my knee.”

When this was done, Dr. Dane put his left arm around the patient’s head and grasped his chin with his left hand. “This will give me leverage so I can hold your head still, leaving my right hand and arm free to handle the forceps.”

“Makes sense,” Rudy grunted.

“I’ll give you one more chance to let me administer anesthetic.”

“No means no, Doc.”

Tharyn moved to where Rudy could see her. “Mr. Louden, my husband is only trying to save you some suffering.”

“I understand, ma’am, but I can’t let anybody ever think I’m a sissy. Do it, Doc.”

Dr. Dane looked once again at the swollen gums. “Okay, Rudy. Brace yourself.”

He pressed the tip of the forceps into Rudy’s mouth and got a grip on the tooth. He gave a forceful yank, but the forceps slipped off, causing a powerful stab of pain.

Rudy stiffened as he ejected a wild scream, grabbed the doctor’s left arm, then still screaming, fell on the floor. He rolled back and forth, holding his jaw and emitting loud groans and grunts.

Forceps in hand, Dr. Dane dropped to his knees and tried to hold the big man still. He was able to force his mouth open and
almost got a grip on the tooth with the forceps, but Rudy was sixty pounds heavier than the doctor, and he could not hold him still.

“Rudy!” Dr. Dane said sharply. “Hold still! Let me get a grip on that tooth and pull it before this gets worse!”

The big man paid him no mind as he cried out in pain and thrashed about on the floor.

Dane looked up at Tharyn, and above the yelling and moaning of his patient, said, “Go out on the street and find me two of the strongest men you can! It’s going to take a lot of brawn to hold this man down! The adrenalin pumping through his body right now is making him as strong as a bull!”

Tharyn was wringing her hands. “Okay, honey. I’ll be right back.” With that, she bolted toward the door that led to the office.

When Dr. Dane let go of his patient and stood up, Rudy stopped thrashing, swallowed hard, and looked up at him, his face beet red.

The doctor said in a firm tone, “Rudy, stay right where you are. You want some anesthetic now?”

Rudy shook his head.

“You still want me to pull the tooth?”

Rudy nodded, biting his lips.

“All right. Then calm yourself. My wife has gone out on the street to get some help. I can’t hold you down and pull the tooth at the same time. When the forceps slipped, they did some damage to the tooth. So it’s going to hurt even worse when I clamp the forceps on it this time. You dead sure you don’t want anesthetic?”

“Dead sure. I may scream and holler, Doc, but don’t pay no attention to me. Just do what you have to do.”

The sound of the front door of the office opening and closing met the ears of both men, followed by the sound of three pair of footsteps.

Dr. Dane looked into the miner’s eyes and said, “Sounds like reinforcements are coming.”

NINE
 

T
he door opened, and both Dr. Dane Logan and Rudy Louden saw Tharyn enter the room with two rugged men behind her. Each one had a badge on his chest.

Marshal Jake Merrell and Deputy Len Kurtz looked past Tharyn as she led them to the spot where her husband stood over the thick-bodied miner, who was sitting on the floor.

Tharyn set her gaze on her husband “These two were just passing by on the boardwalk when I stepped out the door. Will they do?”

Dane grinned. “Yes, they’ll do.”

As they drew up, the marshal looked down at Rudy with a frown. “I understand you came in here to get a tooth pulled, but you’re puttin’ up a fight when Dr. Logan tries to pull it.”

Rudy cleared his throat nervously. “Well, it’s just that he’s givin’ me a lot of pain when he tries to pull it.”

Len Kurtz gave the miner a puzzled look. “You mean even with the anesthetic, it still hurts so bad you can’t take it?”

“Well, I—uh—didn’t let him give me no anesthetic.”

Jake Merrell chuckled. “Oh, sure. It’s that weird thing among you miners. You boys have more fear that somebody will call you a sissy than you have of any physical pain. So I guess
you’re still not going to let Dr. Logan give you a pain killer?”

Rudy gave him a slanted grin. “That’s right.”

“But being afraid that somebody will call you a sissy isn’t sissified, eh?”

Rudy scowled at him, then looked up at the doctor. “Let’s get this over with. You want me to stay on the floor?”

“I do. Marshal, Deputy, I need you to get down here and hold Rudy down.”

Both lawmen dropped to their knees beside the miner.

Dr. Dane knelt down at Rudy’s head and looked at the lawmen. “Len, I need you to sit on Rudy’s legs and hold them flat on the floor. And Marshal, I need you to hold both of Rudy’s wrists above his head and pin them to the floor. Stretch his arms straight out and don’t let him move them.”

The marshal took hold of Rudy’s wrists and drew them all the way above his head. “Got him, Doc.”

Len sat on the miner’s stocky legs between the knees and ankles. “Got him, Doc.”

Tharyn put a hand over her mouth and smiled.

Dr. Dane looked at Rudy. “Ready?”

“Yep.”

The doctor put one knee on Rudy’s chest and said, “Open your mouth and close your eyes.”

The miner did as commanded. Dr. Dane pushed the tip of the forceps into Rudy’s mouth and got a good hold on the abscessed second molar. He set his jaw and gave a hard yank. This time, the tooth came out.

Rudy bucked like a wild horse, screaming and yelling, but the two lawmen held him down. After two or three minutes, he finally went quiet and looked up at the doctor, who was standing over him with the bloody tooth between two fingers.

Dr. Dane bent over, holding the tooth so Rudy could get a good look at it, and said, “You’ll need to get up on the table now,
so I can stitch up the hole the tooth left and get the bleeding stopped. None of us here will let on to your pals at the mine how much you screamed and hollered.”

Rudy’s beefy features turned crimson as the lawmen helped him get on the table, and Tharyn placed a pillow under his head as he lay down.

The doctor went to work, and within fifteen minutes, the hole had been stitched.

“Okay, Rudy,” said the doctor, laying needle and thread aside, “all done. I’ll need to see you in a week to take the stitches out.”

Rudy sat up and put a hand to the swollen jaw. “I guess it’ll take a few days for the swelling to go down.”

“Mm-hmm.”

The miner slipped off the table and stood up. “How much do I owe you, Doctor?”

“My fee is three dollars.”

Dr. Dane, Tharyn, and the lawmen made their way to the office, where Rudy gladly paid Tharyn the three dollars. He thanked Marshal Merrell and Deputy Kurtz for helping Dr. Logan, then holding his jaw, he stalked proudly out of the office.

Dr. Dane wiped a palm over his face. “Boy, am I glad that’s over!”

The lawmen burst into laughter, and Dr. Dane and Tharyn quickly joined them.

When the laughter subsided, Dr. Dane picked up two of the three dollar bills Tharyn had laid on top of the desk, and handed one to each lawman. “You gentlemen deserve your share.”

They had another good laugh, then the lawmen both said how glad they were that the peace treaty signing at Fort Junction went well. Merrell reminded the doctor that he and Len wanted him to come by the marshal’s office soon and tell them every detail of the story. Dr. Dane assured them it would be soon, then the lawmen left.

Dr. Dane glanced at the clock on the wall behind Tharyn’s desk and said, “Well, Mrs. Logan, let’s lock the door, clean up here, and go home.” He noted the single dollar bill that still lay on top of the desk. “You can put that dollar in your purse if you want.”

“Well, Dr. Logan, Marshal Merrell and his deputy earned what you gave them, but I didn’t do anything.”

“But you were there to help me if I needed it.”

“But—”

Dane picked up the dollar bill and placed it in her hand. “No arguments, ma’am. Put the money in your purse.”

That evening while Dane and Tharyn were eating supper in the kitchen of their beautiful two-story house, Tharyn said, “Honey, as far as I know, you haven’t told anyone except Marshal Merrell and his deputy about Chief Tando signing the peace treaty. Have you told anyone else?”

Dane shrugged. “No.”

“Why?”

“Sweetheart, if it comes from me, people will think I’m wanting glory for my part in it. Before we left the fort, General Dayton said he was going to see that the whole story got to every newspaper in Colorado and Wyoming. Everybody in town will hear about it when the
Rocky Mountain News
shows up with the story in it. I figure it’ll be in the
News
by tomorrow, or at least by Friday. I’d rather the people of this town learn about it that way.”

Tharyn took a sip of coffee from her cup and nodded. “Okay, Dr. Humble Logan, I agree. It will be best if the people of Central City learn about it from the newspaper. Maybe you should at least have told Mayor Anderson.”

Dane pondered her words for a moment, then said, “You may be right about that. Mike really ought to know ahead of time. If it
isn’t in tomorrow’s paper, I’ll make it a point to go to his office and tell him the story.”

“Good. And darling, I want to say once more how proud I am that you were the one the Lord used to bring about the change in Chief Tando.”

Dane smiled at her comment, then said, “Chief Tando invited me to come back to his village any time I could. I’m definitely going to make time to do that. I’d like to talk to him about the Lord, and because of the way he feels toward me, he just might listen.”

Tharyn’s eyes lit up. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re right! I think he would listen to you. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could lead him to Jesus? He could very well be instrumental in bringing many of his people to salvation.”