Pew(31)

All right, Hilda said. Well. Thank you all for coming out this afternoon. It’s just so nice to see all your faces. And thank you to Kitty and Butch for hosting us in their beautiful home. And to all the ladies who helped put the refreshments together.
A breeze of claps swept through. Hilda nodded and looked around and smiled, then looked at me, her smile bending a little.
So I was just going to tell everyone what happened, though Harold said a little of it—anyway, I just wanted to tell you what happened on Sunday, so everyone has their stories straight and we can figure out what to do.
When we got to our pew on Sunday, we found this young person sleeping there and I didn’t know what to do—honestly, it frightened me a little, the situation did, but Steven was calm about it—
A good man, your husband, Steven Bonner, Harold said, a very good man.
Thank you. So—Steven thought we should just sit there as usual and wait for Pew to wake up and then we’d take them out for lunch with the boys. So we did that, and Steven and I decided that we could let, um, Pew stay at our house for a little while, because our son Jack—
An extraordinary young man, Harold said. I had him in Scouts three years in a row and he is truly a fine, strong young man.
Thank you. Well—Jack had been setting up his own room in the attic, so we moved him back down to his brothers’ room and let Pew stay up there. The Reverend, he came over for supper that night and he was the one who came up with Pew’s name. Well … our boys took Pew in like another member of the family, they really did. Which made it sad when my husband caught Pew trying to sneak out one night. After all that we were trying to do and everything. I’ll admit that I was suspicious after that, and, well, it was the next day that Pew refused to be examined at Monroe Medical—
Yes, tell us about what happened at Monroe, Harold said.
Well, I drove Pew out there early on Wednesday morning, but when they told Pew it was time to do the examination, well, each time they came back to the room to start the examination, Pew hadn’t put on the paper gown like the doctor had asked.
So, Harold interrupted, you drove Pew all the way out to Monroe Medical and an examination didn’t even happen?
That’s right.
And it didn’t happen because Pew wouldn’t undress?
Yes, that’s right.
And what was it that made you think that Pew needed to be examined?
Well, for one, we just wanted to make sure Pew was healthy. We don’t know where she—or he—had been, you know, or whether … or whether their nutrition had been all right, things like that. Mainly we wanted to do that for Pew’s sake, of course, because who knows how long it had been since Pew had been to a doctor. And also we wanted to make sure Pew didn’t have anything that might be … contagious or something.
Like taking a stray in to the vet, Harold said, to get their shots.
Oh, I suppose so, Hilda said. I hadn’t thought of it exactly like that, but I guess so.
In the middle of the room Dr. Winslow stood up and Hilda shut her mouth.
Buddy, Harold said, would you like to say something?
Yes, well, I’d just like to clear up one little item here. Part of the reason we couldn’t complete the examination—that is, in addition to Pew’s refusal to cooperate—was that we were incredibly short-staffed, and all of the equipment we use for an uncooperative patient was in use elsewhere in the facility. It was a particularly busy morning—as is usually the case the week before the festival as people tend to have more heart attacks and accidents and such around this time of year—but we’re also badly in need of some new equipment and supplies, and our budget requests have gone unanswered for so long that Betty has been thinking about doing a fund-raiser—maybe a cakewalk or a raffle. I’d just like to point out that otherwise our success rate at Monroe Medical is really tremendous—and I’m proud of my whole team of nurses, remarkable girls—so I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about us. We do very good work.
Excellent, yes, Harold said.
Absolutely the best work, the best rehabilitation and trauma care in the whole state, probably the whole country, Hilda said.
A few people began to applaud, then everyone joined, cheering and clapping until they seemed to grow tired.
Speaking of fund-raisers, now, that’s an idea, ain’t it? That we could do some kind of fund-raiser for Pew to get the right services or help?
Oh, that’s a good one, Kitty said.
I have an idea, a person in the front row said. Why can’t we have Dr. Winslow try to do an examination again? It seems to me that it’s an issue of the security and safety of our community—ain’t it?
A small voice came from the back of the room, somewhere within the crowd, from a face I couldn’t see. But what if—if Pew, that is, what if Pew won’t get undressed again? I’m just very concerned …
The voice went soft and pale.
All right now, Harold shouted, just speak up if you will.
Well, the pale voice said, I’m just concerned that … well … It seems like Pew should have the right to—
Well, of course no one likes going to the doctor, a louder voice shouted. But we all have to go from time to time. We all have to cooperate, you know.
That’s not quite what I mean, the pale voice said. I just think, well, I don’t want Pew to be in a situation where someone is forcing them—against their will. It makes me uncomfortable to think—
Yes, Harold said, I think we all understand that there are a lot of things about this whole situation that make people uncomfortable. And that’s why we’re having this meeting. To decide, as a community, how to proceed with the maximum amount of people comfortable with what is going on.