The Plague Doctor Read Free

gnomes, she had said. I wonder what had happened to them. I guess the bark grew up around and over, encompassing each little piece of quartz. I supposed they would make a future Sterling pause and reflect someday when he cut down the tree. It had better be a Sterling, after all the hard work we had put into this place.
    I was surprised that the young people showed no signs of leaving. Mother was apparently thinking the same thing.
    â€œYou children have no plans for tonight?”
    â€œNo, Mrs. Sterling. I hope you don’t mind if we stick around?”
    â€œWhy, of course not, Ethan, dear. We love your company. But how can you put up with us old fuddy duddys?”
    â€œCome on, Gran, quit fishing for a compliment. You know you’re about as far from a fuddy or a duddy as they come.”
    â€œAs a matter of fact I’ve been looking forward to some conversation with you, young man.”
    â€œYes, Mr. Raleigh?”
    â€œPlease, call me Horatio. It seems there are a few rumors floating around town as to the reason for your visit to our little neck of the woods. What does Rowan Springs have that would interest a man of your experience and talents?”
    â€œEthan, have you been holding back on me?” teased Cass.
    It was too dark to see him blush, but I’m sure he did. It was something he did often. It made him look almost handsome—like a young Gary Cooper.
    â€œYour young man here is quite well-known in certain scientific circles, Cassandra. Before he went to work for the Centers for Disease Control, he was in Kinshasa trying to find the original vector for the Ebola virus.”
    â€œWhat’s a ‘vector’, Ethan?”
    Horatio went on as if Cass had asked him instead of her boyfriend.
    â€œLet me finish showing off here, my dear. I learned all of this from the Internet this afternoon when my curiosity about this young man could be contained no longer. A vector is the creature, insect or animal, which carries a viral or bacterial agent—an illness if you will—to man. An example would be the mosquito whose bite causes malaria. The vector that causes Marburg Disease, or the Ebola virus, has yet to be identified. Am I correct young man?”
    â€œRight you are, sir. You’re a fast learner.”
    Horatio smiled, obviously pleased with himself. “I also found out that young Dr. Ethan McHenry went into a cave in Africa where the original case of Marburg was contracted. I would say that is comparable to Daniel going into the lion’s den.”
    â€œWell, it wasn’t exactly like that. I was wearing protective gear.”
    â€œNonsense, my boy. Daring to enter a dark and dangerous cavern in search of an unknown entity which causes a deadly untreatable virus—why, I call that damned heroic!”
    Ethan laughed, a rich full laugh, and there was that smile again. I saw “son-in-law” written all over him.
    â€œMy colleagues called it damned foolish.”
    â€œWell, I should say so! I hope you’re not doing anything like that now,” Cass scolded. “You’re not are you?”
    â€œAfrica’s a long way from Lakeland County, Cassie.”
    â€œI know, Mother, but Mabel said…never mind,” she trailed off.
    Ethan reached over and took Cassie’s hand in his big one.
    â€œWhat is she saying about me?”
    â€œOnly that you went to see her last week and asked all about her pregnancy. She said you were asking other women the same thing. Lots of other women.”
    Mabel had been my mother’s part-time housekeeper for years. She had confided to me a few months ago that she and her husband were determined to have another baby before she turned forty. She said she could not imagine her home without a little one around to get underfoot and pull the dog’s tail. I guess she had told Cassie the good news first.
    â€œDo we have some sort of medical problem here in town, Ethan? Something we should