Mary Pat flopped back onto the bed in their room at the inn with a loud moan. "The roads are awful. I should have just found a horse."
"I can sympathize, but you got Veit to Grantville safely and he's doing well. I'm sure your sacrifice of more road time was worth it." Beulah's cheer sounded a little forced to Mary Pat. She sat up and looked across the room to where Beulah sat.
"Okay, what's wrong? Start at the top and fill me in. I've only been gone a few days. How much worse could things have gotten?"
"Just about everything has gotten worse, actually. It's become pretty clear that we managed to offend the entire university in a matter of minutes. Werner and I talked the morning you left. Werner suggested a lecture to the faculty and students to explain what had happened and what we did and why." Beulah's tone was discouraged.
"Sounds like a good idea. What happened?"
"First, a lot more than just the med students and faculty showed up. The other three deans and some of the other faculty and students were there as well. I've given lectures for years. Never given one like this. They kept interrupting with questions. That usually isn't a problem for me. Tells me the students are still awake and paying attention. This time, though, the questions were a problem for a couple of reasons. It was pretty clear that they don't have a lot of basic concepts. I had Ann there to draw some of this out, you know how good at sketching she is, but I thought we were going to be dealing with a few dozen people not nearly two hundred, so the drawings didn't help as much as I'd hoped. They had to be passed hand to hand and by that time, I'd gone onto other points. Points they also didn't understand sometimes. I'd have killed for an overhead projector or even a large blackboard and some colored chalk. The gist is that it is pretty clear that a lot of the basic principles we are counting on them to teach, they just don't have."
"From talking to Balthazar, I had thought things were further ahead than that."
"Well, they aren't. I wish I had talked to him in more depth about this. It was also pretty clear they shouldn't have sent me. Everyone from the students to the deans were ridiculing things I had to say. One of the law school faculty even got up and walked out, saying he saw no point in listening to anything a woman had to say about science. I think some of the others would have walked out too, but then they'd have missed their chance to laugh at Ann and me."
"What, they laughed at you?" Mary Pat was off the bed and pacing angrily now.
"Oh, yeah. I had to slap 'em down a bit, which didn't go over well either. Their ideas of science don't have anything to do with the experimental method, trust me. They are more about authoritative sources and since they don't believe a woman can be an authoritative source of anything scholarly..." Beulah paused. "To be fair, there weren't that many who were in need of a serious attitude adjustment. The ones from the law school were the worst. All that training in rhetoric certainly made things interesting. I was about to strangle them. Their dean didn't have any control over them at all. I'm not sure he even wanted to have any control; he seemed very much on his dignity, if you know what I mean. The arts dean, Wetzel, at least made an attempt to rein in his students. Werner's students and faculty just looked grim and angry and resentful. They had enough of a background to get at least some of what we were talking about, but that just seemed to have made it worse. It has made them more aware of what they don't know, not less. They don't understand "vacuum" and why negative pressure is necessary for the lungs to work properly. Nor do they have a very thorough knowledge of the circulatory system, much less what happens to the cardiovascular system during a shock state. Trying to explain why it was a medical emergency and why we had to act that quickly didn't quite get through. I had to keep going over things that a high school student would have known and backing up to explain basic science."
"I was afraid of this. I spent some time in the library the last few days. It doesn't have very much but I got enough to get a sense that they may know less than I thought they did. I can't blame them for being upset about it but they still shouldn't have treated you that way."
"That isn't all. Poor Hayes has had quite a time of it the last few days. I think he's about frustrated enough to give up and go home. Faculty are suddenly too busy to meet with him and Ann. Since we demonstrated that we know things they don't, the faculty and students don't want to give us their books. They want ours. I had read some things in teaching theory about the received view of knowledge, where the greatest authority had the knowledge and therefore 'truth.' They may hate the fact that this knowledge came through women and that it doesn't agree with their worldview, but in a way that just makes them more determined to get their hands on our books. They all want to go to Grantville and raid the library. Immediately, if not sooner. Since Hayes is the only male, they think he has the authority to just hand them the books and can't understand why he is letting women stand in their way. They also don't understand why he wants to spend time looking at their material. Right now, I'm not sure either. Hayes is ready to pack it up and go back to all the other projects he has in Grantville. He's even muttering about walking the distance if there isn't a way to get back sooner."
Mary Pat gave a low whistle. "Wow. How's Ann doing?"
"The schedule we had has been effectively destroyed already. We've been lecturing and dealing with upset people instead of finding out what we need to know to move forward. Ann hates disrupted schedules. They aren't letting us anywhere near their patients at the moment. She and Hayes haven't been able to do anything to evaluate the material they came to look at, either. Ann is an experienced educator. She is none too happy with how the lectures are going and how we're being treated. Neither am I. The urge to snarl at them is getting pretty intense. That wouldn't exactly help."
"So where do you think we should go from here?"
"Good question. I hate to say it but maybe Mara was right. We should have just started our own med school from scratch."
A discreet consultation with the proprietor of the Black Bear a few days later had led to Beulah reserving the best private room at a local restaurant. The room looked nice and she had paid for a good dinner. Maybe I should have ordered more booze. Question is, for them or me? At least the white wine is really good. I have a feeling we'll be drinking quite a bit of it tonight.
The idea was to get away from the university environment and the other deans and faculty to talk about the future of the joint med school in a more relaxed environment. After the last week, Beulah wasn't too sure there was a future. She'd known it would be hard to pull this off but she hadn't realized it would be this bad. To make matters more interesting, Veit was due to come back from Grantville in a few more days, a week at the outside. Human nature being what it was, she was absolutely sure he would be talking about what he saw there, maybe even exaggerating a bit. At this juncture, she couldn't see that making things anything but worse. The Jenaites were convinced by now that Grantvillers were out to steal their herbal knowledge while depriving Jena of the up-time knowledge they craved. Rumors were flying all over town. Jena's mayor had hinted about the political consequences of Jena not being treated as an equal just this morning, for Pete's sake. She'd given Mike and James a heads up the day Mary Pat had come back, but things had deteriorated since then.
James had told her yesterday that in the last few days the deans had already contacted him over the radio. And Mike. And Balthazar. When they found out a woman was running the hospital, they had just plain had a fit. James, Mike and Balthazar had all told them the same thing: We're sorry to hear that but Beulah and her team have our full confidence. We're sure this can be worked out. So much for their end run around the women.
Wish I had a Tums right now, the way my stomach is churning. This mint tea just isn't getting it.
Predictably enough, Ann was the first to arrive. She was positively twitching. Beulah hadn't ever seen her do that much smoothing and hair checking before. Her eyes had darkened with her agitation until they were almost as dark a blue as Beulah's. As far as Ann was concerned, this trip was an unqualified disaster and she wished she had stayed in Grantville. She wanted to go home. So did Hayes. Neither of them had been shy about telling Beulah that.
Phillip seemed solidly in the you-are-withholding-information camp. He wanted the information and he wanted it now. Werner was still trying to work with them but he didn't seem to really trust them. Kunz and Willi weren't talking much, so Beulah wasn't sure where they stood. They had both somehow managed to be too busy to do much more than say hello in the halls in passing. Mary Pat had sarcastically begun calling them Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Beulah had put a quick end to that but she couldn't change what Mary Pat actually thought. Mary Pat deeply resented the treatment they were getting. While Hayes thought they had better things to do and Ann just wanted to go home, Mary Pat was ready to get in their faces and demand respect. Beulah had done that in her younger days. It usually didn't work but Mary Pat was too pissed off to listen to any words of wisdom on the subject. If it was only herself she perceived as being attacked, she would have restrained herself. Beulah knew that part of what had pushed her over the edge was the way she saw Beulah being treated.
Beulah firmly quashed the Tweedledee and Tweedledum thought that flickered through her head when Kunz and Willi walked into the room together, both garbed in sober dark brown clothing. Mary Pat followed hard on their heels and gave Beulah a speaking look. Beulah gave her a tiny frown, none of that Tweedle stuff now. After the good evenings were said all around, Hayes walked in and then Werner and Phillip. More good evenings. Then silence.
"Please everyone, have a seat. Supper should be here soon. I hope everyone likes fish. Felix, could you start serving please?"
Felix was a thin sixteen-year-old who would be their waiter tonight. He was apprenticed to the tavern keeper and had only recently started serving in the parlor. Beulah had arrived early while he was finishing setting up the steam table for supper. Supper looked good. There was salad to go with the fish, some wonderful smelling bread, cheese and fresh fruit. She had taken a few minutes to chat with him and set him at ease. He seemed pretty nervous. He'd been surprised when she'd apologized for being so early and volunteered to leave if she was in his way. While Felix deftly slid plates in front of the diners and poured the wine, Beulah struggled to find small talk that would help ease the tension a bit without any success that she could see. She was trying to pass the time until Felix left before they could get started talking about the school. When he took a position near the steam table, she realized he wouldn't be leaving. So much for privacy. Might as well get this over with.
"I need to ask you straight out. Is there any future for a joint med school with Jena and Grantville? Or have things gone too badly to repair before we could even really get started?"
Werner took a sip of wine to give himself a moment to think. "I don't know. I had wondered if you called this meeting to tell us you were leaving. There certainly seems some sentiment for that among your party."
"I realize things haven't gone as any of us thought it would. I want this to work and so do the rest of us. More than that, I think both Jena and Grantville need this to work. Perhaps what you are hearing is frustration and disappointment. I'd like to talk about what can get in the way of being successful at this and how we can remove barriers so that we can build something to benefit us all."
"Pretty words Frau Professorin, but that is not the message your actions give," Phillip said. "You say you wish to be colleagues. You say we can contribute to a partnership. You say many fine things but you don't bring your books to share with us, you ask to see ours. You don't treat us with respect. You don't talk to us as equals."
"And you do?" That was too much for Mary Pat. "I've seen nothing but a lousy attitude since I got back. Okay, so we did something you couldn't do. So we did it in public. What else could we have done? You've been choosing to ignore everything we've said and done or put the worst possible spin on it. Respect, my ass. You are the ones who haven't treated us with respect. Respect is earned, buddy. You think that walking out on a teacher in the middle of a lecture, being rude and laughing at her entitles you to respect? I've got a news flash for you. It doesn't. You've taken one incident and blown everything out of proportion. We didn't mean any disrespect to you and I think deep down you know it. This just gives you an excuse to quit so you won't have to face things you don't want to see. And take the easy way out by blaming it all on us."
"That is untrue," snapped Kunz. "We have acted in good faith. We welcomed you to our town and you repay us by shaming us, withholding your knowledge and taking over. That is not a partnership."
"Let me address those points one by one. I think they're important." Beulah said. It should also keep our resident hotheads' mouths shut while they cool down a bit. At least Werner has a hothead on his side to deal with, too. "We do see you as colleagues. We wouldn't want to shame you anymore than we like you treating us disrespectfully. Actions are important. I hope you will have seen from our actions that what you thought was shaming was actually simply an attempt to save a young man's life. We truly did not intend to shame you."
Ann spoke up next. "We didn't think to bring the books because we didn't know what you had or what you knew. It took quite a while before Dr. Abrabanel was ready to practice in Grantville and he hadn't been trained at your university or even in this country. That was part of the reason for the trip here. As for not sharing our knowledge, it isn't that simple. The things we have to show you can't just be learned by opening up a book and studying the text. If you do that, it will just be more confusing. There have been almost four hundred years of advances in medical care between now and our time. If all we did was give you the books, it would be like giving a beginning student the texts to study for their last set of exams. We need to figure out what you know and what you don't and then put the information together for you and help you integrate it into your practices."
"It doesn't help when you won't even let us look at your books so we can actually figure out what we have to work with here," growled Hayes.
"That is the attitude I am talking about," snapped Phillip. "You helping us, not us helping each other."
Hayes snorted. "You haven't given us a chance! We brought two gardeners along to learn about the botanical gardens and how you use them. You could be showing us something we need to know. Instead, I get nothing but the runaround from everybody I talk to. No one will let any of us anywhere near your precious books. We have to know what we are dealing with before we can make any plans."
"We didn't believe that our books had anything to offer you. We have seen the books Leutnant Flanagan shared with us. We have seen something of what you can do. Where do we and our students fit in to that? It will not be, as Beulah said that first day, a matter of us learning a certain amount and then being ready to teach it to our students. Ann is right. It is more complicated than that." Werner looked at each of his faculty in turn. "I don't know if we are ready to merge our schools. Yet we have no real choice. How can we live with ourselves if we don't learn what they have to offer? Are we so proud then? So angry? What is that next to those we might help, the lives we might save?"
Beulah said slowly, "It sounds as though you've been concerned about this since before we even got here. And we haven't been concerned enough about it."
Willi looked up from shredding a piece of bread. Beulah didn't think he'd taken a bite of food yet. "It is not easy to see what is in those books. How do I take care of my patients now? There is so much more to know."
"The books... I thought I was helping by giving you the copies of the books. Instead I just made it worse. I'm sorry. I only meant to help."
"You did help, Mary Pat." Werner used her first name deliberately. "Without that, we might not have realized there was such a problem until much later. Perhaps we were ready to make certain assumptions given any excuse."
"Which brings us to the start of this conversation," said Willi. "Does the joint venture have a future? For myself, I too wish to learn what you have to teach."
"This won't work at all unless we are all for it. Does everyone agree that we want the merger to work?" Beulah asked. There were nods around the table. "Okay. We have some issues here already to address. How about starting tonight by identifying what we think the problem areas are and then we all take a few days to come up with possible ways to solve them before we meet again?"
"An excellent suggestion. We could all use some time to think and for tempers to cool." Werner glanced around the table. "Let us each take turns bringing up one issue until we have covered all our concerns."
Ann reached into her suitcase-sized purse for the paper and pen she carried everywhere with her. "I'll take notes so we don't miss anything at our next meeting."
They had all had to send for or buy warmer clothes before they got back from Jena as the weather had changed considerably over the last two months. The trip back had been cool, rainy and generally uncomfortable. Beulah wanted nothing more than her bed and some willow bark tea. They had been able to distill the active ingredient for the equivalent of aspirin from the birch bark into a pill form since it worked better in pill form than the willow bark but she usually drank the tea. The heat from the mug was a double benefit for her hands.
She had sent James, Balthazar and Starr a long letter a few days ago catching them up so she didn't have to meet with anyone tonight. Tomorrow was slated as a settle-in day, so she was planning to take things easy. The group from Jena wanted to get started right away. Beulah thought they needed at least a day or two to get accustomed to Grantville. She hoped the trip had taken some of the starch out of them. It certainly had taken the starch out of her. It had also given her more time than she needed to think on the last few months and what lay ahead. The changing leaves on the trip back had just seemed to emphasize the running-out-of-time message playing in her head.
Veit's arrival in Jena a week after the supper meeting had had several consequences. As she had feared, he'd spread his view of Grantville's medical capabilities far and wide. Beulah and the others had been approached by Jena natives for all sorts of medical needs. Most of them, they couldn't meet. Some of those could be fixed in Grantville. When they had explained that they didn't have the equipment they needed, a considerable number had shown up at the Grantville hospital. It hadn't been a flood exactly, but it had strained resources and personnel who were already stretched thin. The doctors in Jena saw their patients look to Grantville, not them, for help. It was a double-edged sword. Some of those who went to Grantville were helped. They brought back stories of relieved pain or even cures over the last two months. Others weren't helped and no one in Jena had enough of a background to understand exactly why one particular patient could be helped but not another.
She and Mary Pat had had to do a lot of explaining. The Jenaites just wanted answers while she and Mary Pat wanted to put things in a larger context. So the answers the Jenaites got didn't really make sense to them because they didn't always want to listen the underlying reasons and what nurses called critical thinking that went into the processes of assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation.
They hadn't been too eager to share their medicines when Beulah and Mary Pat ran out, either. The doctors had seen that Mary Pat and Beulah could help with some things in Jena without sending the patients to Grantville. It had kept the wounds from the episode with Veit fresh in everyone's mind.
Beulah and Mary Pat had hoped to establish a better relationship between themselves and the doctors and students at Jena. There had been a little progress but the things that helped them make progress sometimes hurt rather than helped.
That was true for more than the med school and the town. The rest of the university was watching all that happened very closely. So closely, in fact, that they had sent along several university delegates. The dean of theology was one, as were representatives from the law and arts schools. She was grateful the other two deans hadn't come. The arts school dean made her dizzy hopping from topic to topic and the law school dean had a permanent scowl etched on his face. Beulah thought their goals were to find out as much as they could about the knowledge in their areas that might be affected by Grantville know-how before they were confronted with it more directly. She had to admire their being proactive and wanting to learn. She just wished they were coming after the med school delegation left. The Grantville library wasn't too well organized yet and there wasn't a lot of space for people to go looking around. The other schools would also be watching how the med school faculty and students were treated. That put the med school faculty and staff under a microscope instead of letting then just deal with the Grantville people. Beulah felt for them. It wasn't an easy position to be in.
Werner and his entire faculty had come, which was what they had planned at the beginning more or less. The entire student body had also come. Since there were only about thirty students, and as Werner pointed out, the students couldn't do much with the faculty gone, that had made sense. Given the extra time, they had even found space for everyone. But more people trekking to Grantville meant more time was needed to get everything organized. Which had put them further behind schedule. Ann had been a godsend although the frequent changes in plans as one more person (and usually their family) just had to be added had kind of gotten to her. At least it had given all the Jenaites time to work on their English. One of the few nice surprises on the trip to Jena was that all the med school faculty and some of the students had been practicing English for some months before they got there, so they actually spoke it pretty well.
Beulah stared at all the horses, carts and wagons disgorging people and baggage into the cold night air. We looked like an old-time wagon train headed west, she thought tiredly. It was a toss up whether she was going to brave the crowd of people or just wait till everything settled down. Mary Pat had met up with Rodney and his girlfriend Pris then headed to the hospital to drop off her emergency bag for restocking and to check in with the army officer on duty. Beulah hoped to already be asleep in her own bed by the time Mary Pat got home. Rodney had told Beulah someone was coming to help with her bags, but he hadn't been sure who was coming.
The Grantvillers who were taking in some of the Jenaites were moving among them, trying to figure out whom they were supposed to meet and take home. The smarter ones were holding signs but in the gaslight and the confusion, it wasn't easy to make out what was written on the signs. The ones going to the town's only hotel were in a group and those people had ridden up together so they and their bags could be rounded up all at once. It still took time and was noisy. Fritz was standing right beside her before she heard him call her name.
"Frau MacDonald, are you all right?" he asked in concern.
"I'm just tired, Fritz. It was a long trip."
"I asked to come carry your bags home for you tonight. I thought you would have many and it is some distance to your home. I shall find your bags and help you get home with them if you would like."
"That would be wonderful. I wasn't sure how I was going to get my things out of this mob."
Fritz dove into the crowd and found the bags with Beulah's name on them. "I also wanted to thank you for recommending me to the nurses' aide courses. I am enjoying my new work very much." He set off with Beulah toward her home. They walked quietly for a while, Beulah letting her thoughts settle and Fritz apparently gathering his nerve.
"I have heard that the classes in Jena will start in a few months, that you and the others will be picking the first students soon."
"The reason I wanted you to get started in the nurse's aide courses so quickly is because I wanted to see how you did and if you liked the work. I hope to be able to recommend you for the first class. I don't know what the outcome will be and I can't promise anything. But I think you'd make a fine nurse or doctor, Fritz."
"Thank you, Frau MacDonald. I would like that. I had heard that things did not go smoothly in Jena. I was afraid that there would be no school or that there would be no chance for me there."
"We're working it out but it hasn't been easy. We have some of what we need pulled together. All of us want this merger to work out." She wished she could give him the reassurance he was looking for but this was the best she could do. They were farther behind than she liked. "Thanks for carrying the bags for me. You saved me a major hassle. I'll see you again soon."
"Come in, James." Beulah stepped back to let him in the kitchen door the next morning. He had his hands full with breakfast. "Thanks for bringing breakfast. We didn't have time to shop last night and the cupboards are pretty bare."
"I see Mary Pat has your favorite beverage at the ready." James nodded a good morning to Mary Pat, who was starting to pour mugs of coffee. She'd been ready to go off to work but Beulah had insisted she take the day to catch up on what was happening in Grantville. At least it got her to rest a bit. She was wound too tightly, and had been for too long, especially the last few months. This wasn't exactly time off but it was the best Beulah could do.
Mary Pat glanced up and gave a casual wave. "Morning, James. Thanks for breakfast."
"Fritz came by and walked me home last night. He mentioned some talk in town about the med school merger. What have you heard?" Beulah asked.
"Jeez, Beulah, let a man put down breakfast and get a cup of coffee first. See if I bring you breakfast again." To Beulah, his smile had a bit of an edge to it. Stalling.
"All right, all right. I'll quit pushing."
"For now, anyway," Mary Pat laughed, while she helped him off-load breakfast. "Let's get some food before she gets going again. Once she's had a cup of coffee, we're in trouble."
"How was the trip home, Buelah?"
"Cold, wet, bumpy and long. Okay. Get it over with." In response to his questioning look, Beulah explained. "You're giving me your clinician look. Assessing my movement, general appearance, yada, yada. I'm a seventy-three-year old woman who is tired, sore and aggravated. Otherwise, I'm fine."
He turned to Mary Pat. "She always this grouchy in the mornings?"
"Just lately. It's been a pretty rough few months." Mary Pat seemed to take his comment more seriously than he had intended. Now it was her turn to get the clinician look. Beulah didn't think he liked what he saw.
"I gathered that from the letters you both sent back. You sketched out the broad picture. How about you fill me in some more? We have a few days before all of us are officially supposed to get together but in a town this small, we may run into each other sooner. I'll pass whatever you think is important on to Starr and Balthazar later today. Then you two can get some well-deserved rest."
"I'll leave you two to it. I think I'll go get some groceries. Rodney can fill me in on how things are going in town and points beyond." Mary Pat grabbed a slice of heavy dark bread and headed for the door, carefully avoiding his stare. "Thanks for breakfast. See you in a bit."
James turned slowly back to Beulah. "You want to tell me what just happened?"
"I think she thought it was confession time. Irish Catholic, you know. Very good at the guilt thing."
"Ah. Not exactly enlightening. I take it she felt she had something to confess? From that look, you feeling the need for confession, too?"
"I'm a Methodist, remember? No confession but I do have a few things to catch you up on. Mary Pat first because it's all of a piece really." Beulah took a fortifying sip of coffee. She'd been good and had the medicinal tea first but it didn't seem to work quite as well of late except to help turn her stomach into a vat of acid. And the tea didn't even taste like coffee. "I'm old enough to remember how women were treated in nursing and medicine even comparatively recently where we're from."
He nodded in understanding. "So am I. Mary Pat isn't. I take it she took issue with their attitudes."
"Yeah. She thought showing them the error of their ways would be enough, that once they saw the evidence that she was every bit as good if not better than they were in the healing arts, they'd get it and that would be that. Sometimes that strategy actually works, but it isn't without its drawbacks and it usually takes more than two months. The thing is, Mary Pat knew that. She knew better but it was like she couldn't stop doing it. She was going to make them see. Whatever was going through her mind, I don't think it was just about Jena or the merger."
She sighed. "Part of the problem is that I agree with her about most of it. For all I've tried to be politically correct and culturally tolerant, we've come from a time that has been through history that has disproven or otherwise challenged some of this time period's views that were driving us nuts. Especially their views about women. I'm not a feminazi but I won't be less than I am just because it threatens notions I find ridiculous anyway."
"We are all products of our time and culture, just as they are of theirs. Being aware of that is fine. So is trying not to come across as arrogant know-it-alls. That doesn't mean we're all going to agree with their views. We can't even agree about plenty of things among ourselves."
"She saw me as not being very supportive when I tried to talk to her about modifying her approach or about being sensitive to their side of things. She was frustrated with them for not listening to reason and not seeing what, in her opinion, was right in front of their faces. She got madder. They got their backs up even more. Vicious cycle. I didn't exactly help matters. I know you sent me along as the mature member of our little party, but I certainly had my own moments."
"I'm almost afraid to ask. What moments?"
She slumped a little in her chair. "They quoted Galen to me one too many times and they did it at the same time that they were pulling a nicely subtle you're a woman we don't expect you to be able to comprehend this crap. Galen was just plain wrong about a lot of things and I, ah, took exception. I brought up the fact that in ancient Greece, most of the healing deities were women. I brought up Hygeia and Panacea and pointed out that their precious Galen spoke highly of women physicians like Margereta, who was an army surgeon, or Origenia, a physician, and even extolled the virtues of some of her treatments."
James started snickering.
"I'm glad you find it so amusing," she said quellingly. "They didn't. These are very devout men, James. I respect that. I may not park my butt in a pew each and every week, but I take my beliefs pretty seriously. I'd talked to Balthazar a bit but evidently not enough. With a daughter like Rebecca, his viewpoint isn't exactly typical, although he does know what those attitudes are.
"If I'd asked the right questions and paid more attention to what is going on right here in Grantville, I might have been better prepared for this. I haven't spent a lot of time with our new German citizens, certainly not enough to realize how deeply their attitude toward women in general and women as healers in particular goes. They truly don't believe women can learn this sort of material, much less teach it. Their beliefs aren't just about academics or medical practice. They're founded in beliefs about the basis of their society and the roles of men and women in their daily lives.
"I'm afraid that by sending women as the medical delegates, we made a serious error. We've been here two years, I should have been more aware of the culture here but I've been somewhat isolated by working in the hospital so much and mainly with other Grantville professionals. Most of the Germans I've met have been as patients, family of patients or casually in town and on 'my' turf."
"I kind of expected something like this," James told her. "I had the advantage of talking with some of the people here, including Balthazar, who were born in this time. It's been enlightening. Whether or not it was a mistake to send a mostly female delegation or not remains to be seen. It's certainly got the issue out in the open. What did Machiavelli say about a leader figuring out all the cruelties necessary and getting them out of the way all at once?"
"Medicine by Machiavelli now, is it? You're really hanging out with the wrong crowd, James." She shook her head in mock rebuke, clearly grateful for his support and for him lightening the mood a bit. "I don't know what the long term consequences will be. We have to face them but right now, we need to get through the short term without making things worse."
"I agree. After we realized what some of the problems were, we had a group of up-timer and down-timer health care people get together to brainstorm solutions and try to identify any other tripwires we might face. We've been giving inservices based on their recommendations to all the staff. The members of our ad hoc committee have also been trying to prep the rest of the town."
"And how are they taking it?
"It varies. Some are unsurprised by the attitudes and just plan to work around it or think that it doesn't really affect us here in Grantville. That's rather shortsighted, given that the USE is lots bigger than just Grantville. Others have a milder version of Mary Pat's reaction. There are a few people who have been problems."
"Let me guess. Mara and her little band of twits," Beulah said acidly.
"Um hum. She's been quietly stirring up some of the staff, exaggerating the cultural and academic differences in our positions and goals. Most people know enough to ignore her but she's smart enough and good enough that she is making headway. Everyone here is a bit tense. On the up side, some of the tension is that most of us want this to work and want to get off on a good foot with our guests. Most of our people will be on their best behavior."
"Thanks, that is good news. So, Machiavelli-in-training, is that why we don't have an official meeting for another few days?"
"We're going to show them around a little first. We thought that might make a number of points without having to rub anybody's nose in it. Then, when we get to the official meet and greet and the hospital tour, two days from now, things might have loosened up a bit. Each of the host families or some other designated tour guide will be showing them around town tomorrow. Today is a rest, unpack and get to know your hosts day."
"Sounds good. Fill me in on any of your other plans and then tell me the story with Rebecca and her group? Have you heard anything from Julie and Andrew yet? Are Melissa and the others okay? From what little we've heard in Jena, it sounds like things are heating up."
Mary Pat slid the groceries onto the kitchen counter early that afternoon. Diving for the nearest exit this morning meant that she hadn't taken either the cloth bags she used or Beulah's little two-wheeled pulley cart to the store. No "paper or plastic" at the grocery in 1633. She'd stopped by Rodney's place to borrow his bags rather than come back and face Beulah and James. Cowardly retreat wasn't her style, but this morning she'd just had it.
Things hadn't gotten any better when she went to Rodney and Pris' place. Last night in the dark, she hadn't noticed the engagement ring that Pris was wearing. Rodney was like her little brother. She certainly didn't think of him in any romantic way but she had felt a stab of something like hurt or grief when she'd seen the ring. She knew they were getting serious and had sort of seen this coming. She also knew from experience with two of her brothers that things would change now. Rodney would, quite naturally, be changing his priorities to his wife and eventual children. That had to come first. She understood and even applauded that.
She had admired the ring and congratulated both of them. She'd even managed to smile and joke. Inside, though, it was different. Normally, she'd have talked to Sharon or Elizabeth but Sharon was deployed with one of the mobile units who were trying to help out Gustavus Adolphus and Elizabeth was doing railroad stuff somewhere. And Beulah....
Things were pretty strained between the two of them at the moment. Mary Pat knew Beulah didn't approve of the attitude of the Jenaites toward women or nurses. She also knew that Beulah had to play diplomat, a role she wasn't too comfortable with. Beulah had talked to her about trust building and potential and need and different cultures. Beulah was a public health nurse. Beulah knew how to do that kind of stuff. Mary Pat however, was more on the trauma end of things. Grab 'em and go was closer to her reality. And my own impulsiveness and temper didn't exactly help out either.
Mary Pat reached into the bag for the cheese and eggs. She still needed to stop by the bakery but the bread James had left would do for today. One of the nice things about being in the seventeenth century was that the bread wasn't that store bought yuck she'd grown up with. This bread had some real taste to it.
Rationally, she knew Beulah had been trying to teach and comfort her under circumstances that were a strain for Beulah as well. Emotionally, she felt betrayed. She trusted Beulah, counted on her. The incremental approach Beulah had taken didn't suit Mary Pat's nature at all. Beulah had tried to laugh it off as one of the benefits of age. Well, Mary Pat was thirty-one, not exactly a kid. Rodney was nearly ten years younger than she was and he was getting married. Before she knew it, he'd have kids and...
The hanky was lace trimmed. Beulah had tatted before arthritis had ended her hobby and now she was handing Mary Pat one of the few remaining hankies she'd made. Mary Pat had been so deep in thought she hadn't heard her come in, much less realized she herself was crying. "Thanks Beulah." She said stiffly. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm not the crying sort."
The floodgates suddenly opened and she was babbling, a jumbled collection of two years of grief and stress and confusion. Rodney and Pris. Sharon and Hans. Jena. Marriage and kids. No connections. Work and how tired she was. Missing her family. Aunt Heather and her brothers and Mom and Dad and the rest of the Flanagan clan. On and on and on. Beulah just listened and handed her another hanky.
"I'm glad you're crying. About time. You've been carrying a lot of things around with you for a long time and not letting any of us in. When we came through the Ring of Fire, no one handed you a cape and tights or put a Super Mary Pat on your chest, my dear." She'd been trying to sort out what Mary Pat was really saying while she listened.
"Things are changing, but you aren't alone. Rodney and Pris, Sharon and Hans just expanded your family. When the kids come along, you'll be Auntie Mary Pat. Yes, your relationships will change but that's life. Right now, you're looking at what you've lost instead of what you've gained."
The next area was more sensitive and Beulah wished for some of Rebecca Stearns' subtlety. "As for marriage and a family of your own, you're going to have to stop hiding in work and being deployed all over the place. I've seen you turn down several offers for dates during the last two years using that as an excuse. What are you really afraid of, loving someone that deeply and then losing them the way you did your up-time family?"
Mary Pat bolted. Beulah had anticipated her maneuver and reached over to grab her wrist. Mary Pat was younger and stronger and could have broken the grip and left but the pain on Beulah's face wasn't just from arthritis. There was such understanding, such shared grief there that all Mary Pat could do was lean against the cabinet and cry. Beulah reached out and took her in her arms, hugging her fiercely, knowing Mary Pat wouldn't have accepted that comfort earlier. I should have brought a hanky for myself, too. Is this what mothers feel when their children are hurting so badly? This need to do anything to take the pain away, the intense empathy with their pain?
"I'm sorry," Mary Pat said dully, looking spent and hollow. "I gave you nothing but trouble in Jena and now I'm whining like a baby because my life's a mess and it's my own fault."
Beulah loosened her grip and leaned back, pretending shock. "You mean you were the one responsible for the Ring of Fire? You were the one who shaped the attitudes of the early modern era? I'd have never guessed. Shame on you."
To her own surprise, Mary Pat gave a watery laugh, a little shaky but still a laugh. "Cut that out."
"You were more help than you know in Jena. I had quite a bit of time to think the last couple of days. They needed to see that we wouldn't take their attitudes lying down. I was so worried about being culturally sensitive and not putting my foot in my mouth that I didn't put forward much about our culture and beliefs. You did and in a way they couldn't miss. That may not be the disaster you're making it out to be. These are not stupid people and we're all motivated to make the project work. It'll take time and effort but we'll get it done. You aren't the only one trying to make it happen. I'm sorry that I was so selfish in asking you to be part of this. I thought it would help you get a break."
She let go of Mary Pat and motioned toward the kitchen table. That was where the two of them always sat and talked. She wished she could promise her that she would always be there for her. Reality was different. Beulah was not getting any younger in a time with a lousy life expectancy.
"I never had kids myself but I've still had a great life. I wouldn't change any of it, including the Ring of Fire oddly enough. Without that, I'd never have met you. I'd have just been another retiree with too much time on her hands. I'd never have met so many interesting people or grown as much. I didn't think an old dog could still learn so many new tricks. I know things have been a little tense with us lately but I wanted you to know that I love you as though you were my own daughter. I'm not your mother but you still have someone who loves you that way. You have more connections than you know here. It's time to start reaching out a bit, letting your heart heal. You do have a future here. You can shape that future. It's up to you but you won't be alone while you're doing it."