The Surgeon and his Lady

Chapter VII

"Take human excrement from sick people and dump it just outside the door?" I heard my sister demand and I rolled my eyes a little. "Sorry, Mrs Mitchells. She's new." I explained to her as I began feeling her stomach. Marie pulled out a stethoscope so that I could hear the fetal heart rate which was normal. "Fetus sounds wonderful, good heart rhythm." I tell her as I feel her stomach clench similar to a contraction.

"Might I have a feel of your cervix?" I ask Mrs Mitchells as I wash my hands in a basin that Marie prepared. I used soap and water before I placed a fresh sheet over her legs. I pushed up her skirt and helped her pull down her underwear. I carefully insert one finger. "Marie, please note that the cervix is still intact, however, I would like to have daily visits to maintain this." I tell Marie who diligently writes this all down.

Mr Mitchells took his wife out the door, both happy that they were having a healthy baby. Finally a healthy baby. I wave to them as I finally hear my sister again. "This place is horrendous." She complains as though the other people in the hospital seem completely oblivious to it. As though I don't come in here once weekly and get this place sparkling. "Oh, you noticed? It is much nicer than when I implemented my cleaning regime a few months ago." 

I inform her looking about as I smile at Hetti. She was the nurse I put in charge of cleaning, just as she was in charge as Nurse Unit Manager and she did splendidly. "Has no one here heard of cleanliness?" Belle demanded and I let out a loud laugh. It echoed through the large ward and when I opened my eyes, I wiped away some tears from them. 

"Have you read the literature coming out about hygiene?" She demanded me, shoving the bedpan into me, thus putting the contents all over my dress. That was it! The bedpan clattered against the floor, the ward going completely silent. Not a titter from a nurse, not a cough from a patient. "I'm sorry my cleaning schedule isn't good enough for you princess, but see, we're a little too busy here to get much reading done." 

I snap at her, my hands delicately picking up the bedpan. I took a jug of water and poured it into the bedpan, watching it slowly pull up the urine and faeces staining the bottom. I selected a clean cloth, stained from its job of cleaning bedpans. "Oh, then you are killing your patients. This lot would be safer living in a pig pen!" She continued on her tirade as I opened a window and poured the contents of the bedpan out of it. 

Once the pan was empty, I added more water and then added vinegar to the pan. Vinegar killed almost anything and it smelt better when I added lavender to it. I could feel the anxiety of everyone around me. I slammed down the bedpan before I grabbed her by her collar and dragged her away from the patients. "The first task of any doctor is not to panic their patients." I hiss at her. 

Jack joined the two of us quickly and quietly, hoping probably to prevent me from committing sororicide. "Now, I agree with you, sister. The ward is less than savoury but that is how Prof likes it. Took me months to even get him to use vinegar to kill the bacteria." I inform her as I hold up my hands to her which she had no choice but to take a sniff of. She frowns and then brings my hand closer to her nose.

"Vinegar and lavender." She whispers and I nod as she scoffs. Then she shoves my hands away as Jack takes one of my hands and sniffs it too. "The professor's a giant windy pop in an overcoat." She states as Jack continues to weirdly sniff my hand. I slowly took back my hand from Jack who was listening to us. "We do agree on something." Jack says and it was at this moment that Belle had decided she had had it.

"I refuse to work in there." Belle states and she thinks that because she's the governor's daughter, she has the high ground. But she quickly learned that neither Jack nor I gave a shit. And I had the most brilliant idea. "Fine." I say, catching both Belle and Jack off guard. "Thank you for the honor of your visit. Or, you can grab a mop and begin the monthly deep clean." I give her an ultimatum before I handed her the monthly cleaning schedule.

She glares as me before she opens it and nods. "Fabulous, I'll tell Hetti that she doesn't have to worry about organizing the deep clean." I tell the two before giving Belle a slightly harsh pat on the cheek. "Hetti! My love, Belle will need some mops and all your nurses for the deep clean." I tell Hetti as a nurse begin to lead Belle towards where we kept the supplies for the monthly and weekly cleans.

"Oh, and Hetti, I'll go talk to the laundry staff to disregard whatever Belle asks them to do. They already do such a great job." I promise her as she smiles a little. As I begin to make my way towards the laundry. We passed Belle and Isla. "Sister Isla, make sure you get Belle a nurse uniform. Would hate to ruin her riding outfit." I tell Isla and she nods. I would make sure to pick up a new uniform for myself when I got to the laundry.

Once I had delivered the news to the laundry that it was fine to disregard whatever Belle and picked up a clean uniform, I headed back up to the ward. The laundry had sent me back with some clean sheets to hang out too. I sent out thoughts and prayers to the poor nurses who now had to deal with my sister. When I came back, there was not a nurse in sight, but Jack was there. I wave at him before I venture out into the heat and fresh air. 

I could see some of the laundry ladies scrubbing away not too far from the laundry lines. I had taken the long way round to see if Belle was putting the poor nurses to work yet. She hadn't but I was about to find out. The minute I reached the steps back up to the ward, I could hear Belle. "Scrub every inch! Every surface!" Belle bellows from her position on the floor. She was scrubbing at it as though it owed her money.

Some of the nurses were doing the daily bed changes while others were just doing whatever Belle told them to prevent yelling. "Open up those windows. Let in some actual air." Belle says to Hetti and I begin to start opening up some of the windows, just like I would on a deep clean day. But Hetti intervenes, even after she glances over at me. "We are forbidden to do that ma'am for fear of contagion and God's wrath." She explains to Belle. 

But Belle didn't budge. She even insisted that we burn perfectly good sheets. "I'll take them, Het." I say to Hetti, picking up the basket. I watched Belle look up at someone before she scowls and gets back to work. I walked out the door and back towards the laundry room. But the didn't have enough people so I was happy to get in and do some scrubbing. I filled one of the large tubs I managed to drag over to the washing line with water and vinegar solution.

As I began to clean, Belle made her way out for some fresh air. She didn't even look at me, thinking me a common nurse. "All that scrubbing has left you a hole in your dress." Jack's familiar voice filled my ears. I glanced back at him but he was addressing my sister. I scowled a little and got back to scrubbing the bloody sheets. They were becoming quite salvageable, but they would need a second clean once they were dry. 

I heard Jack sigh as I began to hang out the first newly cleaned sheet. When I returned to scrubbing, I positioned myself so that I could see the two. "You know, your sister and I are aware of medical discoveries overseas, it's just our head surgeon is not." Jack informs her as he looks over at me and I nod absentmindedly as water splashes up all over my nurse's uniform. Bell looks over at me, almost looking shocked she didn't notice me.

"Blood and gore, to him, it's like a badge of honor." Jack explains, trying to make her understand. "And you're happy to go along with it even if it's killing your patients?" Belle questions. Jack glances over at me and sighs. I know when he sees me, he sees all the women who come to me for help because no one can understand. This place, keeping it sanitary, was my way of memorializing the dead.

"He will turn everything you have done back to the way it was because that is so much more than the weekly and monthly cleans that (y/n) got him to agree to." Jack tells her as I begin to hang up more washing. Belle adds that for a few days, more people in our hospital might survive a little longer. I wave them goodbye now that I had all the washing done and went to get back into my casual clothing. 

I stared at myself in the mirror for a little, pondering deeply. My long (h/c) hair was much different to my sisters deep red and chocolate brown locks. I was paler than either of them too. My eyes were slightly more doe eyed and the corners had always been curled up, making me look as though I was smiling, even when I wasn't. My figure was only managed by the corset I always wore and I looked wonderfully fabulous in pants. But I didn't look like my sisters, which mad me question.

Was I really the Govenor's daughter?