No Distance Too Far Read Free Page A

growling of her stomach, she undressed and crawled back in bed. Would she be in trouble for missing supper? What were the rules here?

2
    W e missed you at supper last night.”
    “I’m sorry. I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until long past suppertime.” Astrid set her tray down on the table next to the gentleman who had spoken to her.
    “You must have needed the sleep. You came directly here from medical school?”
    “I did.” She held out her hand. “I am Dr. Astrid Bjorklund.”
    “And I am Dr. Heinrich Gansberg, and this is my wife, Irene. I hear you are our newest medical prospect.”
    “I am glad to meet you. Please accept my apologies for last night.” She sat down and let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. People would be friendly. She would be welcomed. She wasn’t sure why she’d feared she wouldn’t be, but irrational fears seemed to be her lot lately. “Where are you from?”
    “Pennsylvania. Reading, to be exact.”
    She poured milk over her oatmeal. “You had . . . er . . . have a medical practice there?”
    “I did, until we felt the call to come here.”
    Astrid turned slightly on her chair. “Would you mind if I asked you some questions?”
    “Not at all. Ask away.” Deep commas on either side of his mouth obviously came from smiling a lot.
    “Forgive me for being blunt—that seems to be a trait of mine— but I’m still not sure if this is where I am supposed to be. What made you decide to come here?”
    “Well, our children are grown. In fact, our oldest son is taking over my practice. Years ago I dreamed of becoming a missionary. After I went to medical school, Irene and I were married, and I was invited to become part of an established practice in the rather midsize town of Reading. We went there, and there we’ve been ever since.”
    Astrid began eating while she listened.
    “Until the doctor began having dreams of the mission field again,” Mrs. Gansberg added, her smile gentle on the man beside her. “And they wouldn’t leave him alone. Then a missionary came to our church.”
    “And still I hesitated.”
    “So God sent a little child.” Mrs. Gansberg wiped her mouth with her napkin and laid it back in her lap.
    “A child?” Astrid put her spoon down to give her full attention.
    “A little negro boy was brought to our town by a local minister and needed a home.” The doctor smiled at his wife. With matching silver hair and blue eyes, they might have been sister and brother rather than husband and wife.
    “We had a spare bedroom, and the child needed medical care, so he came to stay with us.” Mrs. Gansberg took up the telling again, the two going back and forth as if they’d rehearsed their speech.
    “Adam had a large growth on the side of his neck, a goiter. After extensive prayer and research, my colleague and I removed it.”
    “I’ve never prayed so hard in my life. We all did. He was such a darling little boy.”
    Was. Did the child not live? Astrid could hardly keep from jumping in to ask questions.
    “The surgery was successful. He has a scar on his neck, but that will fade with time.”
    “He was from the Zulu tribe in South Africa, and as he learned English, he said to us, one too many times, ‘You must go.’ ”
    The two exchanged a look so filled with love that all Astrid could think of was her mother and father.
    Mrs. Gansberg laid a hand on her husband’s arm. “So we are going.”
    “I wrote to the school here, told them our story, and asked if they had need of a doctor.”
    “That was six months ago, and here we are.”
    “Did I understand someone to say that you are a nurse?” Astrid looked to Mrs. Gansberg.
    “Not by schooling but by assisting me and teaching classes in hygiene and family care to the miners’ families up in the hills. Cholera nearly wiped the town out one year. After that we got the mining company to provide clean water and take care of the wastes. I hope to do the same in Africa.” Dr.