The Quintland Sisters(28)
“My birthmark,” I blurted out. “Will my brother or sister have it too?”
He simply sat there blinking, his small hands clasped primly in his lap. Then he gave me his most reassuring professional smile—broader even than the one in the dental cream advert. “Birthmarks are random, my dear, and very rare. It is highly unlikely that your little brother or sister will have one.”
I’m relieved, of course. I’m glad this baby likely won’t be bullied, or pitied, or passed over as I have been. But I also thought: How nice it would be to have someone else in the world who looks a little bit as strange as me.
August 22, 1935
WE HAD TORRENTIAL rain today, so Dr. Dafoe suggested I accept a ride with Mr. Cartwright, who brought the stones this morning, rather than walk into Callander for my day off. Father was in the front yard weeding the borders when we turned onto my street, and he straightened up as the truck approached. When he saw Mr. Cartwright at the wheel, Father’s face broke into a smile—something we don’t see too often in our house. It turns out he and Mr. Cartwright used to be quite friendly when we first moved to Callander. At that time, Mr. Cartwright had an office beside the post office. They stood chatting together long after I’d gone in to see Mother. Father told me later that Mr. Cartwright is an educated man—he used to be a bookkeeper to most of the bigger businesses in the region before they went under. Father thinks he sold what he could when the economy started downward, using the money to buy his truck.
“Neil Cartwright used to tell some very funny stories about some of the richest fools in this part of Ontario,” Father said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose reflectively. “Quite a change of pace, hauling pebbles for superstitious tourists. These are strange times.”
The funny thing is, on the short drive to town, Mr. Cartwright had been telling me about his son Lewis, who was doing some other errands today—they typically work together. He said Lewis studied to be a high school teacher, but there are no jobs for teachers these days, particularly with so many students dropping out before their senior year. It seems almost no one’s life ends up taking the shape first imagined for it.
August 30, 1935 (Toronto Star)
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EXHIBITION NEWS: DIONNE QUINTUPLETS
TORONTO, Ontario—”Aren’t they darling.” That’s the byword around the St. Lawrence Starch Co. booth in the Pure Food building at the Canadian National Exhibition, referring of course to the world-famous Dionne quintuplets. A huge photograph of these babies measuring approximately 8 feet long and 4 feet high is on view showing a close-up of the kiddies that outrivals anything ever shown before.
The St. Lawrence Starch Co. is certainly proud of the fact that Bee Hive Golden Corn Syrup was used in the first feeding of the Dionnes, and rightly so as this product is certainly one of the greatest energy builders that is on the market today. This delicious corn syrup is not only good for babies but for adults and growing children as well.
Used with permission.
September 27, 1935
Miss Emma Trimpany Dafoe Hospital and Nursery Callander, ON
Dear Nurse Trimpany, Thank you for your note. I’m sorry it has taken me some months to reply. I haven’t quite felt up to it. Please understand that it pained me to leave as abruptly as I did. At some point in the future I may be in a position to explain myself in full, but that is not the case now. Suffice it to say that I believe my number one priority at the Dafoe Hospital and Nursery was the health and well-being of the quintuplets, but my second, perhaps equally important priority is the health and well-being of my staff. It is my belief that the escalating confrontation between everyone vying for the babies has become so volatile as to be unsustainable. I am greatly concerned by the tactics that M. Dionne appears to be prepared to use in his mission to regain full custody of the quintuplets and by the lengths Dr. Dafoe will go to to stop this. Indeed, my own interactions with Dr. Dafoe have become such that I have taken my concerns to the other guardians. My dearest hope is that they appreciate the gravity of the situation and take steps to safeguard the babies, hospital, and staff.
I’m sorry I am unable to say more. You have an artist’s eye for detail and insight into the people around you. Be sure you put it to good use.
Yours sincerely, Louise de Kiriline P.S. I am enclosing the scrapbook I was keeping of the babies’ lives. It’s time I set aside the habit of wondering what the press is saying about them, and us. I hope you can be convinced to keep it up.
December 10, 1935
The film crews and celebrities have finally packed up and left, but what a month! The film is to be called The Country Doctor, with Jean Hersholt starring as “Dr. Luke” and Dorothy Peterson playing the head nurse. If you told me two years ago that I’d be shaking the hands of two Hollywood film stars before my twentieth birthday, I’d have laughed until I was hoarse.
Dr. Dafoe was very strict with all of our Hollywood visitors. Every day the actors and actresses, technicians, cameramen, and any other support staff entering the nursery had to don gowns and masks, then have their noses sprayed by me or Ivy, while the doctor paced the room, his hands clasped behind his back. Me, Emma Trimpany, spraying the hairy nostrils of Mr. Jean Hersholt twice a day. It is simply too funny.
I hope they will use some of the scenes with Ivy holding the babies in the background or leading them out to the yard to play. I was never asked to be in front of the cameras at all, and I’m perfectly fine with that.