Tom had rented a
room in his classmate Ted's house while he was in college. Louisa
was Ted's sister. She was just a kid back then. He had to admit
she wasn't a kid anymore. The fellows all teased him because Louisa
would follow him around and moon over him. It was embarrassing then
and he was really embarrassed now.
Tom had fallen in
love with Julie McMillan when he first saw her pounding a bully on
the playground because he was picking on a kid much younger and
smaller than he was. Julie didn't seem to return the feelings then
or all through high school.
Tom was determined
to be a doctor and spent most of his time learning all he could from
Doc. Since Julie had joined the practice, she was always pleasant
but a bit aloof. Tom was mortified when he learned that Louisa would
be living in Mrs. Wharton's boarding house just two doors down from
his family home.
Louisa was very
efficient in the office and Julie had no complaints about her work
but she was none too happy with the way she acted with Tom. She had
gotten in the habit of waiting for Tom to leave his house in the
morning and stepping out of the boarding house at the same time so
they could walk to work together. She arranged for Julie to take all
the late appointments freeing Tom up to walk her home. Louisa made
up her mind she was going to marry Tom Campbell when was 12 years
old. She knew he was planning to return to Camden Corners after he
graduated from medical school. She figured she would be just the
right age for marriage at that time and was so happy her Aunt Martha
just happened to live in Camden Corners. She knew it was fate when
Aunt Martha told her Mary McMillan was looking for someone to take
over for her while she was on vacation.
Louisa was getting
very frustrated. She had done everything she could think of to make
Tom fall in love with her. She knew she was very pretty and had a
lovely figure. She had her choice of any number of fellows back
home. Tom was kind to her but there was no spark.
One day she noticed
that Tom was looking at Julie with longing in his eyes and she
immediately knew what the problem was and her name was Julie.
Somehow, some way she would have to make sure he got over those silly
feelings. Louisa began her vendetta that very afternoon. Julie had
written a prescription for nausea medication for Joey Barber after he
had eaten too many green apples. Louisa knew enough about medication
to know that if she just changed one or two letters, Joey would be
given something to make him just a little bit sicker. She would
purposely write down the wrong messages for Julie or tell Julie she
had time to go to lunch and then her next patient would show up and
be left in the waiting room for an hour.
Tom was beginning
to be suspicious of Louisa. Ever since she started working in the
office mistakes were being made and the fault always seemed to point
to Julie. Then the call came in from Mr. Flanagan. His son had
fallen off a ladder and wasn't moving. Louisa said she would send
Julie there right away but didn't even attempt to contact her. Tom
happened to be taking a walk by the fish hatchery and noticed the
commotion. He examined Terry Flanagan and determined he'd had the
wind knocked out of him and would be just fine after a short rest.
Mr. Flanagan said he had spoken to Louisa and she was sending Julie
but Julie never arrived. Tom confronted Louisa. She tried to tell
him she had given Julie the message. As it turned out, Julie was
seeing the Henderson family at their home.. Each one of their six
children had come down with the chicken pox that morning. Julie had
been there for several hours and wasn't upstairs sleeping as Louisa
said she was. Tom wanted an explanation and Louisa admitted she
wanted Julie out of the picture so Tom would notice her. Tom was
normally a very calm and easy going man but his friends and neighbors
were being jeopardized by Louisa's foolish behavior.
“You are fired
and you are lucky I'm not calling the sheriff to have you arrested
for impersonating a human being. Julie McMillan is a fine doctor
and the woman I love and have always loved now get out.”
Julie walked into
the office just at that moment and was speechless but not for long.
She opened her purse and handed Louisa her pay and stood next to the
man she had loved for as long as she could remember. Louisa made a
quick exit and while Julie and Tom were kissing and laughing and
kissing some more, she was on her way to pack her bags to get out of
town.
Martha
Wharton hated to admit it but she was glad to see her niece go.
Louisa Andrews was a very annoying young lady.
No comments:
Post a Comment