Tamsyn had questions, many of them, but the woman rushed away toward a room at the other end of the hall where there was loud shouting. At a loss, she debated what to do next and then Dr. Ortenbe stepped out of the room next door to Drake’s and she pounced on him. “Just the man I want to see.”
“You shouldn’t be up here,” he said in a tired voice.
“Came to see Drake but the nurse told me he was taken away. Where was he flown to and why?”
Glancing up and down the corridor, the doctor took her by the elbow and drew her into an alcove. “The government flew all of them out, all my flu patients, a day and a half ago. We’re not supposed to talk about it so keep this quiet, all right?”
Nodding, Tamsyn asked, “How was he doing?”
“Not good, none of them were. Hopefully the government doctors have medications to help that aren’t available to us out here in the hinterlands yet. Now go home and don’t worry. You did all you could for Drake.”
The finality of the comment dismayed her. “How can I check up on him?”
“You can’t. The government has an embargo on all details about the flu and these patients. I guess there were a few cases with highly unusual symptoms and of course the media wants to go wild and sensationalize what really is a localized outbreak of a virus. No one wants a panic, not here and not in the cities. It’s all under control,” he said, sounding as if he was parroting what someone else had told him. “Now go home and don’t worry. I’ve got work to do. Don’t come back, unless you’re sick of course.” He patted her arm and walked away.
In a daze, trying to make sense of what she’d been told, Tamsyn took the gravlift to the lobby level and walked outside to her truck.
When she got to the ranch she told Rasty and the other two what had happened to Drake and they were as astonished as she was. Rubbing his chin, Rasty said, “What are we going to do about the roundup next week? Can’t manage it when we’re a man short.”
“We’ll have to postpone it,” she said unhappily. “The herd can graze where they are for a while longer. If Drake doesn’t recover soon I’ll have to hire a new person, at least temporarily.”
“Hard to find anyone with the right experience,” her foreman said. “I guess we can train them if there’s no other choice.”
“Yeah,” she agreed but with a sinking sensation in her gut. Was having a trainee ranch hand worse than not having anyone? And could she even find a person with the desire to work on an isolated ranch? Her guys had been with her for a long time and were Rosewater born and bred. “Well, if you know anyone who might be interested, feel free to mention the position to them. The way the doc was talking I’m not holding my breath for Drake to be here before the snow flies.”
Clemt cleared his throat. “I’m leaving now. I’ve got a hot date tonight with the new teacher. You said I could have the rest of the afternoon off, remember, boss?”
She did remember and actually she was pleased to have something as normal as a first date going on right now, in the midst of all the stress and worry over Drake being sick and whisked away by the colonial government. Life goes on, she reminded herself. “Sure, wouldn’t want you to be late. Don’t forget to bring her flowers.”
Clemt blushed and the other two men laughed and started teasing him about the pretty schoolteacher as Tamsyn went up the stairs and into the house. She took a shower and washed away her frustrations with the way the day had gone, after which she forced herself to go to the office to plow through necessary paperwork. As a rule the planetary news didn’t interest her but she was curious to know where the cattle prices were trending right now so she put on the business comcast and let it play while she checked invoices, paid bills and did her spreadsheets. Glancing up her attention was caught by the news crawl at the bottom of the holo.
Government officials reiterated today there’s no need for concern about the cases of what’s being called “Western Flu.” Work is proceeding on developing an effective immunization and cases have been isolated to a few remote locales.
“Why don’t I feel more reassured?” she asked the empty room. “Maybe because we’re one of those remote locations and one of my guys has disappeared into some government hospital in an unknown place?” But if she lived in one of the big cities she’d be unconcerned about the flu out in the territories, which would be less stressful for sure. Maybe the one and only time she envied the city dwellers.
Tamsyn eyed her queue of invoices with distaste and resumed her loathed accounting activities.
* * *
In the morning she heard Clemt’s big truck coming up the driveway early, as she was standing next to her bedroom window braiding her hair. Glancing at the clock in surprise, she wondered why he’d come home so soon. He’d taken today off to spend with the woman as part of their date. Maybe the evening hadn’t gone well.
She heard Rasty outside, asking Clemt that very question, in cruder terms.
“Nah, she’s a firecracker in bed,” Clemt replied with pride. “Even bit me, see? I made her come so many times-”
Spare me the gory details. Tamsyn hastily moved into her private bathroom, where she couldn’t hear any more. It was her day to do breakfast so she went downstairs to the kitchen and found Rasty, Clemt and Piers sitting over cups of synthcaff, waiting for her to cook and apparently still hashing over what interfered with Clemt’s plans for his lengthy date. The men shut up abruptly when she came in, which she appreciated. “You’re back early,” she said to Clemt as she picked up the mug of steaming synthcaff Rasty had made for her, fixed the way she liked it.
“She wasn’t feeling well,” he said. “Told me she was going home to let her mother baby her through it rather than be sick here in Rosewater by herself. I took her to the transit line and saw her off.”
“If she’s sick, should she be traveling?” Tamsyn asked.
“She said she was kinda achy and maybe a little fever, nothing too bad. School’s been closed though so she has the week off,” he explained. “She took a couple of pills and perked up. We’ll go out again when she’s back in Rosewater because we had…uh, fun. Chemistry. Yeah.” He looked relieved to have come up with a socially acceptable term for Tamsyn’s benefit.
“School’s closed?” Tamsyn paused in stirring the pancake batter to stare at him, heedless of her dripping spoon.
“Yeah, evidently there was trouble with a couple of kids acting up in the classroom, fighting and biting—one even bit her when she got between them—and Dr. Ortenbe recommended giving the kids a break. He said everyone was stressed out over Maira being attacked by the feral cat at Founders Day and then getting sick. Sheriff Davis said there was an advisory from the authorities in the capital stating any town with flu cases could shut down school temporarily if they wanted to, so the school board voted and agreed with the doc.”
“You mean Mrs. Fafield said they could do it,” Tamsyn corrected him with a wry grin. “You know damn well the board wouldn’t dare close school for any extra days if she wasn’t in agreement.”
