Sick Days w/ Atticus Finch

Part 4

Once I had left the Finch home, I headed to Doctor Reynolds's only to be sent to the store to pick up a few things. The things seemed to be household items that Doctor Reynolds had forgotten. I didn't mind the errand as it gave me something to do other than sit around. Not many people got sick or hurt in Maycomb it seemed. Therefore, my days were boring.

I entered the store, a little place with only a few things. I hoped that walking up and down the aisles a few times would kill some time. I walked around the whole store a few times, even though I found the few items I needed quickly. It was about midday when I found myself back at the office and I still had about 5 hours left before I could leave. I was sitting at a desk flipping through some anatomy books when the doctor called to me.

I looked up at him with hopeful eyes. He smiled. "Bored yet?"

"Incredibly."

"Well, I think you'll be glad to hear about something." I raised my eyebrows. He continued, " There's a house down the road from the Finch's; it's where the Radley's live. It seems Nathan's gotten a bad wound but doesn't want to leave his brother home alone. Feel like taking a look?"

I grinned from ear to ear, grabbed my bag of supplies and ran out the door as quickly as possible. Finally, something had happened. I wasn't glad someone got hurt, obviously, just glad I could do something. I sped to the Radley house, ready to work, but just as I was about to arrive, Scout, Jem, and Dill ran in front of me, making me stop in my tracks.

I grimaced, upset that they had come between me and a job. Scout smiled at me. She asked, "Well surely you ain't headed into the Radley's are ya?" I nodded then tried to step around her, but Jem got in my way. "Now miss,  I can't let you do that."

"Why not?"

"They like their privacy."

"And I like my job, so if you don't mind, please let me do it."

"But I-"

Jem was cut off by a male voice, "Go home boy, I called her." A man that looked older than Atticus and had a grouchy expression plastered on his face looked at Jem menacingly. I smiled at him as the kids ran behind me. Scout tried to pull on my dress to keep me from going but I pulled free and shewed the kids away. They went running back to the Finch home, but they watched us from afar, saying things to each other I couldn't hear.

I said, "Hi, you must be Nathan Radley, pleasure to meet you. I've come to see about your wound." He nodded, leading me to the front porch of his house. He sat on a porch swing and said, "Go inside ma'am. He's waiting in there."

"Who's waiting? I'm here for you right?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I called for my brother. He's inside."

I nodded. I walked inside, skeptical but prepared to do my job. The house was lit with candles and lamps. It was clean and organized, but when I looked down, I saw a trail of blood spatters leading to the kitchen. I followed them and found a man standing over the sink and running water over his hand. The strong smell of iron filled the room.

I knocked on the door frame to announce I was there and the man jumped, spinning around. He held a towel over his hand. His eyes were filled with tears. He was tall and inhumanly pale. His hair was wispy and blonde and his eyes were sunken in like his cheeks. He looked malnourished. I said, "Hello. I'm y/n. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just here to look at your wound. May I?"

I held out my hand, asking him to come to me. He nodded and slowly made his way closer to me. He towered over me, but the way he acted made him seem small and meek. I smiled kindly at him as I asked, "May I take this towel off?" He nodded. I slowly took it off and he winced as I did so. I said, "I'm sorry. It's almost off." When the towel was completely off I saw a cut that was not deep enough for stitches but also not shallow enough to heal on its own.

I said, "Alright, everything is fine. I'm just going to clean this and bandage it up." He nodded, a tear falling down his face. I said, "Don't worry, I'll be done in a flash." He nodded again, sniffling a bit. I did exactly what I said. He cried a bit as I cleaned and bandaged his wound, but when it was done, he smiled at me. He hugged me and walked me to the door. Clearly he didn't want to come out, so I nodded at him and waved a goodbye as I walked out the door.

Nathan was still sitting in the swing. I handed him some bandages and said, " I need you to clean and re-wrap his wound every day. That should be all. Have a nice day." He nodded at me as I walked off. They were a very quiet family it seemed, not partial to chitchatting for sure. I liked it; it was easier to work that way. As I passed by, I looked at the Finch's porch and saw Atticus sitting on a porch swing reading.

I waved at him and smiled. He put his book down and said, "It seems you made it out of the Radley house just fine." I nodded and said, "Why wouldn't I have?" He smiled. "No reason. Just rumors. If you would care to join me up here, I could tell you." I shook my head. " I don't like gossip. Thank you though." He smiled a bit more. " I was hoping you'd say that. Still, come join me would me?"