Summary: Little Joe meets a lady doctor who tends to an injured Adam.

Rating: K

Word Count: 3,441

Sally Mars, M.D.

 

A Doctor’s Story

A young girl walked passed, a slight breeze coming off of her thanks to her speed. She seemed to be in a hurry as she weaved her way in and out of the crowded street, black hair slowly tumbling off her head. Many people paused to watch her float by, she was a beauty and new to the town where nearly everybody knew each other. One man on the street continued to watch her even after she quickly crossed the street. He found her mysterious nature and elegant looks to be fascinating. The small crowd around him kept moving but he stayed in place as he watched her pause to set down her package so she could pin her hair back in place.

After she pinned up her hair, she bent down and picked up her package again. Seeing her struggle under its weight, the man hurried over to lend a hand. He tipped his hat with a smile as he offered to carry her package. She accepted his offer and gladly handed over the heavy box. Putting it under his left arm, he gestured for her to lead the way. Within seconds they were headed down the wooden sidewalk in the direction of the local hotel. 

After getting her room key from the clerk at the front desk, she headed for the stairs that led to the second story, the man following closely behind. She unlocked her door and turned to see the man standing patiently behind her with her box. Studying him for a moment before asking for her package back, she realized he was a rather handsome man. He handed over the package as his whole face lit up with a charming smile. She wanted to talk to him for a moment longer, but not daring to invite him into her room since it was a scandalous thing for a single young lady to do, she slipped the heavy box onto the table right inside the door.

“Thank you for carrying my package all this way for me,” she offered him her hand to shake, “it was becoming quite the load.” 

“It wasn’t a problem at all,” the grasp he had on her hand as he shook it was warm, rough, and tight; it felt like the hand of a man who was accustomed to hard work,  “Miss…?”

“Miss Sally Mars,” she quickly said so that there wasn’t an awkward pause, “and you are?”

“Joe, Joe Cartwright.” His smile broadened as if he were proud of his name and he should be, too, if what she’d heard around town was any tell tale. The name Cartwright had been tossed back and forth around her many times and it seemed to be connected with a well known, honorable family of the area. While she watched him, he quickly yet smoothly looped his thumb into the gun belt slung around his hips while his other hand went up to push back the tan hat he wore as he spoke again, “Since it’s already noon and I was planning on heading there myself, would you care to join me for lunch downstairs, that is if you aren’t busy?”

“I was actually about to do the same thing,” she smiled, “that’s why I was in such a hurry to get back, my stomach’s been having a protest over me not having fed it for the past half an hour, so I’d love to join you. Eating alone isn’t a pleasant affair for anyone.” 

After offering her his arm, Joe led her down to the hotel dining room where he pulled out a chair for her. The waitress soon arrived to take their order and after she left, there was a silent pause.

“So,” Sally began just as Joe opened his mouth and said, “Where…”

Both laughing, Sally told Joe to continue, which he did, “Where are you from, Miss Mars? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before.”

“Well, I just arrived here from Boston but I was born and raised in a little town in Minnesota called Mankato. And please call me Sally.”  

“What brought you all the way out here from Boston?”

“I came out here to work on the Indian reservation.”

“What’s a pretty young lady like yourself supposed to on an Indian reservation?” 

“Doctoring.” She replied with a distinct and proud nod of her head.

“Doctorin’?” Joe sputtered on the coffee he’d just taken a drink of.

“Yes, doctoring,” she grinned as she continued, “I attended a college in Boston that allowed women to become doctors.”

“I’ve never heard of a lady doctor before.” Joe looked a little suspicious yet impressed. “I don’t think anyone in these parts has and I’m not so sure the folks around here will cotton to the idea of a lady doctor.”

“Women doctors aren’t liked in any area, Joe,” she explained, “not in Boston, not here. People think it’s unnatural and not proper. My father was a physician and me being his only child, naturally, I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I finished my schooling in Boston and then realized people wouldn’t let me treat them because I was a ‘Miss’ and not a ‘Mister’.” 

“But what made you decide to doctor the Indians?” Joe was obviously more than just interested.  

“Well, it’s simple, I suppose.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “The Indians are treated as if they aren’t human beings and women doctors are treated like the plague itself; so it just made sense for me to treat a people who would allow me to and that weren’t getting doctored by anyone else because they’re ‘heathens’.”

“Sounds pretty logical to me,” Joe nodded with a satisfied look, “if you ever need any help, send word to the Ponderosa. My Pa, brothers, and I will get you whatever you need.”

“Thank you, Joe, I appreciate it.” She said as the waitress brought their plates of hot food to the table.

 

Four Months Later

Drying the last dish, Sally placed it in the small cupboard on the wall over her small sink and was about to sit down to relax for the evening when suddenly a knock sounded on her door. It was rather late in the evening since she’d been busy with tending patients all day and the last one hadn’t left until after six o’clock, so it was very close to eight by then and she almost never had someone come that late. The person knocked loudly again, rattling the thin door as she hurried across her small house to open it. 

She quickly threw it open  so that whoever it was wouldn’t bust it down. What she found on the other side made her gasp slightly but her reflexes took over and she waved the two men on her doorstep into her shack of a house. She didn’t recognize either of them but it’s hard to recognize someone in the dusk. As they stepped into the light coming from her lantern across the room where it sat on the kitchen table, she realized the smaller man holding up his companion was Joe Cartwright, the man she’d had lunch with four months earlier before she moved out to the reservation. He was nearly supporting all of the other man’s weight and they were both covered in blood, blood which she figured was from the pale man leaning heavily on Joe. 

She gestured to Joe to have the other man lay on her bed in the corner. The man who wore a black shirt and midnight colored pants groaned as Joe helped him lower himself onto the small bed. Quickly grabbing her bag of instruments from off the table, she moved the lantern closer to inspect the bleeding man. 

“What happened to him?” She asked as she began to undo the buttons on his black shirt. Thanks to its dark color she couldn’t tell exactly where the blood was coming from but she knew it was coming from his midriff and maybe also his arm because of the way Joe was splattered in the thick redness.

“We were riding back to Virginia City from up north and as we came down the hill someone started shooting at us. Adam was in front of me and got hit twice.” He replied, swiping his bloodied hand through his hair in an involuntary, nervous gesture before he continued, “He fell off his horse before I had a chance to react but I got him out of the way. He’s real bad and I knew he wouldn’t make it all the way to Virginia City and I remembered you, so I came here.”

“I’m glad you did, he’s lost a lot of blood and there’s a bullet in his arm but thankfully the other one just grazed him in the side. That wound on his side is bleeding pretty badly though.” She pressed a wad of bandage on the wound and watched it almost immediately turn red. Quickly replacing it, she turned to Joe, “Hold this down for me, press it tight and don’t worry about how much pain he’s in, we need to get that bleeding stopped.” 

He pressed down hard on the wound and tried not to cringe when the other man let out a painful moan. She glanced over at him before moving to try and stop the bleeding from the man’s arm, Joe seemed to be trying not to cry. His eyes filled with tears as he watched the white cloth under his hand turn red just as fast as it did the first time. 

The bleeding from the arm wound stopped rather quickly and she moved back to the other still bleeding gash and took Joe’s bloodied hand away, replacing it with her own. He swiped at his eyes with the back of his right hand as he stood up and paced quietly behind her, clearly nervous and beside himself. 

“Who is he?” She asked, breaking the dead silence in the room. 

“He’s my oldest brother.” He answered.

“How long ago did this happen?”

“I don’t know, maybe two, three hours ago.”

“Why don’t you sit down in that chair over by the table before you wear out my floor.” He kept pacing back and forth and it had begun to get on her nerves. “You’re not helping me by hovering over my shoulder like that.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He murmured as he obediently did as he was told. She found it odd to be called ma’am, especially since he appeared to be her age or at least a year or two older. 

She went through about four more pieces of bandage before the bleeding slowed almost to a stop. Sighing, she gently cleaned the wound with iodine before she wrapped it tight with a fresh bandage. She’d have to let him rest for a little bit before she even tried to take out the bullet in his arm, he’d already lost so much blood that she was scared for him to bleed anymore. She quickly cleaned up the arm wound and wiped the rest of the blood off him as she heard a soft sigh from behind her.

Turning back, she found Joe asleep with his head cradled on his arm. She quietly walked around the room to put away the things she used and no longer needed. She tried not to wake him but he was sleeping very lightly so the tiny bit of nose she made roused him. He looked dimly around the room almost like he didn’t know where he was but then Adam turned on the bed and called out, “Joe, Little Joe where are you?”

“I’m right here, Adam.” He practically leaped across the room and his knees hit the ground beside the bed as he reached out and firmly grasped Adam’s outstretched hand. 

“You didn’t get hurt in that fight did you?”

“No,” Joe reassured, “but you sure did.”

“Yeah, I know.” He groggily chuckled thanks to the laudanum she had given him before standing up. “Where are we?”

“You remember that lady doctor I told you about a while back, well we’re at her house. She’s fixing you up.” 

“I saw a girl but I thought I was dreaming.”

“You definitely weren’t dreaming, older brother, she’s real.”

“Where is she?”

Sally stepped back into his view as she said, “I’m right here, I’m glad to see you talking.”

“Thank you for helping me.”

“Don’t thank me yet, that bullet’s still in your arm.” She told him with her serious, doctor-like smile. “I’m waiting for you to rest a little bit longer before I try and take it out, you’ve lost a lot of blood and I don’t want to risk it.”

“Thank you…any ways…” His voice began to fade as his eyes slowly closed under the laudanum’s pull. 

“You’re welcome, now go to sleep.”

“Yes, ma’am.” His eyes dropped closed and his breath began to go in and out in the steady rhythm of sleep. 

 

The Next Morning

“Alright, Joe, I want you to hold this cloth over his face for me,” Sally handed him a small cloth lightly dampened with a few drops of ether, “if he starts to stir, place two more drops of the ether on the cloth.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He replied, yet again as he did what she wanted. 

Using her scalpel, she cut open the wound on Adam Cartwright’s left arm and began to dig for the offending bullet. It took her a good ten minutes to get to it but when she did, she pulled it triumphantly out with her tweezers. Both her and Joe shared a small smile as she quickly tossed it into the dish on her side and cleaned the open wound before stitching it closed. 

Adam hadn’t stirred once during the whole ordeal but he began to come to as soon as she had washed her hands and tools. He blinked a few times before calling for his little brother again. Joe, who had never left his side for a second, began to quietly answer his groggily asked questions. One question though Joe couldn’t answer and he had to turn to her, “Adam wants to know when he can go home?”

“Well, I can’t exactly say,” she thought for a moment while observing the two brothers, who obviously had quite a few years between them and a very visible close bond, “but maybe in a few days. You lost a lot of blood and are still very weak, I don’t think you could sit a horse, let alone ride all the way to Virginia City.”

“Pa’s going to be worried sick.” Adam groaned.

“I have to go to the reservation today and I can send your father a telegram to explain what happened if you want me to.” She offered.

“I would really appreciate that,” Joe thanked her as he jumped back up and pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket where it hung on the back of a chair, “I’ll pay for it. Do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?”

“Of course.” She stepped around him and grabbed what he wanted.

He quickly scratched out the note and she noticed that he used his left hand, something she hadn’t noticed about him when they’d had lunch together. He was a very impressive young man; handsome, strong, and loyal to his family. She took the paper from him when he finished and briefly read it before folding it to put in her pocket. It read: 

“Adam hurt STOP At Dr Sally Mars house STOP Near reservation STOP Send Hoss STOP Will need help STOP”

She wondered who Hoss was but didn’t stop to ask as she slipped out the door with both the money and the note in her pocket. She hurried to the telegram office and the message was soon sent. Flitting back and forth between the different tepees, she soon had all her patients cared for for the day and was on her way home. 

She opened the door to find Adam sitting up on her small bed and Joe helping him drink some of the broth she had left on the stove. Adam looked a deal better, tired and worn out still but a lot better. They both greeted her as she stepped across the room to begin fixing supper. 

“Did you send the telegram?” Joe asked anxiously. 

“Yes, I did.”

“Good.” He sighed. “That means Hoss should be here the day after tomorrow. Do you think Adam will be able to move by then?”

“If the way he’s perked up just since I left earlier is any indication,” she smiled wearily, the little sleep she had had the night before and the hard work of the day making her tired, “then I say he probably could. That is as long as you take it slow and no speeding home.”

“Of course we’ll take it slow,” Joe nodded. “That’s why I sent for Hoss. He’s our other brother and he’ll be able to help me get Adam home safely.”

“Alright,” she replied, tossing things in the pot on the stove, “but let’s take things one moment at a time.”

“You look tired,” Joe stood up, leaving Adam to his broth, “let me fix supper. Go sit down and rest, you barely slept last night.”

“Thank you, Joe.” She moved away from her little stove and obediently plopped herself into a chair. 

 

Two Days Later

A very loud knock rattled the door frame as a manly voice called from outside, “Joe, Adam, you in there?”

Joe jumped up and crossed the small room to fling open the door, “Aren’t I glad to see you!”

“Is Adam all right?”  A big man stepped into the room, nearly filling it up with his massive size. He appeared to be a good five or six inches taller than Joe and about double, if not more, his weight. 

“I’m all right, Hoss.” Adam responded with a wave. “You know the only way to hurt me is to kill me.”

“Yeah but Pa’s worried sick.” Hoss nodded to Sally, “Ma’am, thank you for helpin’ my older brother out, Pa and me really appreciate it.”

“It was not a problem at all,” she smiled as she offered him her hand to shake, “I’m guessing you’re Hoss Cartwright.”

“Yes, ‘um.” He turned to look again at his brother lying on the bed and asked, “Is he fit enough to move yet?”

“I believe so,” she crossed her arms over her chest, “he’s one stubborn man and I think he’d go even if I told him not to. He’s not completely healed, obviously, but healed enough to go home.”

Between the three of them they got Adam all ready to go. Hoss had to nearly lift him onto his horse but once he was on it, he seemed stable enough. As Sally told Adam that he should see Doc Martin as soon as he got back to town, Joe took Hoss to the side and had a quiet conversation with him. Afterwards, Joe came up to Sally and extended his hand for her to shake. She took it without thought as all three of the brothers thanked her for her service but what Joe had put in her hand surprised her the most. At first she objected but then gratefully kept it after all of them insisted. 

Waving to the three brothers as they rode out of the yard, Sally held the hundred dollar bill in her palm tightly. She had never asked or been given so much for tending a patient before and she’d forever be grateful for it. The Cartwrights had seen how she lived in her tiny, run down shack with only the bare necessities and knew she wouldn’t accept assistance so they disguised it as a giant thank you from themselves and their Pa. She realized it and would forever be grateful for their help. The Cartwrights were definitely a one of a kind family!

The End  

 

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, JAM, Joe / Little Joe Cartwright, SAS