The Quintland Sisters(23)

The Captain was hot on her heels, demanding in her stern, clipped French that Mme. Dionne must remove her shoes and follow the hygiene processes. Doctor’s orders. Then Constable James stepped in—he’s the shorter one, with the big ears—and asked to speak privately to Nurse de Kiriline, which meant it fell to me to try and coax Mme. Dionne to go and remove her coat and shoes, wash her hands, put on a gown, and all the rest of it. These days she’s as large and stubborn as a tractor and wears this horrible frown. I looked at her yesterday and thought, My goodness, if she frowns any more deeply, the sides of her mouth are actually going to meet up on the underside of her chin.

Mr. James told me later that the Dionnes had arrived with trunks and suitcases. Four of them! They told the Captain that they and the other children were moving in to our hospital and nursery. Where did they presume they were going to sleep? With us, in the nurses’ dormitory? I said that to Nurse Clouthier, only joking, of course, and she burst into tears.

Happily, before things could get any more wild, Dr. Dafoe arrived and sent one of the constables to fetch Grandpapa Dionne, who of course is one of the official guardians—at least for now. He managed to talk some sense into his son, and they eventually dragged their trunks back to the truck and drove them the hundred yards back to their own home.

I’m not without empathy for the Dionnes. They must feel completely fed up with the government and doctors telling them what they can and cannot do. But the fact remains, the girls are still very young and we can’t know whether their immune systems are hardy. I truly believe we are doing the right thing by the Dionne family, but to hear them shout and curse at us, you’d think we were devils from the darkest corner of hell. In fact, Mme. Dionne may have used precisely those words on Monday.

It doesn’t end there, however. That very night, and again yesterday, there’ve been strange noises at night. Nurse Garnier heard something first, of course, and came to wake me, the poor thing trembling like she’d seen a ghost. But we’ve all heard it now: knocking and tapping at the doors and windows at two, three, and four in the morning. Nurse Garnier is scared absolutely rigid. Yesterday I spotted a paring knife in the pocket of her uniform when we sat down to breakfast, so I confronted her about it. She can’t be having kitchen knives jangling around in her pocket when she’s lifting Annette out of her crib or changing Em’s diaper. The upshot is, we’ve learned that a third constable will be coming from Callander tonight so that there will be one man at the front door and another at the back at all times, with the third watchman patrolling the grounds. They are also going to extend the perimeter fence by another two feet. It seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? Three burly men to “guard” five babies, four nurses, and two housekeepers. But I do think we will all sleep easier tonight.

Now, on that note, are you excited to be coming out for the week? I hope I haven’t frightened you off.

Lots of love,

Ivy

Dafoe Hospital and Nursery

Callander, ON





March 27, 1935 (North Bay Nugget)



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DR. A. R. DAFOE, OLIVA DIONNE APPOINTED QUINTET GUARDIANS

TORONTO, Ontario—The Dionne Bill received the assent of His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor today, a special visit being made to the Legislature in order to give final enactment to the measure.

David A. Croll, Ontario Minister of Public Welfare, is made a special guardian of the babies and the bill gives him power to appoint active guardians. These, he has announced, will be Oliva Dionne, father of the famous girls, and Dr. A. R. Dafoe, their physician.

Control of the babies’ persons and finances is vested in the minister, and he must approve all contracts regarding the babies. Contracts previously not approved are rendered null and void.

The bill makes the quintuplets “special wards of His Majesty the King” until they reach the age of 18.

Used with permission.





March 30, 1935

Back at St. Joe’s for the last six weeks of my program. I can’t wait to be finished. I’ll work at the Dafoe Hospital and Nursery for as long as they’ll have me! Dr. Dafoe confirmed yesterday that I will have a place on staff as soon as I’m finished, replacing Nurse Clouthier.

What an extraordinary week to have spent at the nursery. The weekend was relatively quiet. We didn’t see a whisker of the Dionnes, not even for Mass on Sunday, which is unheard of with Madame, who Ivy says insists on sitting with the babies when Father Routhier comes by the nursery each Sunday morning. This meant we had the girls to ourselves, bright-eyed and full of smiles. And Em started crawling while I was there! She is the last to do so. On Saturday morning in the playroom, with me sitting on the floor a few feet away from her, she pulled herself up onto her hands and knees. After swaying there for a bit, she fixed me with a very serious expression, then started toward me. Her face when she’d made it that short distance broke out into a huge smile, and she crumpled herself headfirst onto my lap. It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.

Then, Wednesday morning, the news we’d been waiting for. The guardianship of the quintuplets has been formally extended by seventeen years, wards of the crown until their eighteenth birthday, with four appointed guardians, including Dr. Dafoe, and M. Dionne, who will be replacing his father. I can’t help but think of the senior M. Dionne as a more measured and fair representative, but effective immediately, M. Dionne junior will have a one-quarter say. He has no allies among the others, however. He and the doctor are scarcely speaking these days, despite the fact that the doctor’s only concern is the fragile health of the babies. The other two men are the welfare minister Mr. Croll, and Mr. Valin, a francophone judge from North Bay.