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Midge
"Little Miss Nurse"
(Part one)
A children??™s story dedicated to my grandchildren
Midge was only six years old but she looked much younger
because she was small for her age. At birth, she had been
named Edna Marie Barton but her tiny size earned her the
nickname, ???Midge???.
Midge was still too young to quite understand that her
mother was really her Aunt Laura. Midge only remembered her
as her mother and she loved her so very much and had called
her ???Momma??? ever since she had learned to talk.
She had lived with her unmarried aunt since she was just one
year old because her mother, Clara, had died on August 28,
1912, which was Midge??™s first birthday. As a result,
Midge??™s birthday never seemed quite as joyous as it should
have been with that memory of sorrow that seemed to linger
somewhere in the shadows.
The doctors said that it was typhoid fever that killed
Midge??™s mother at the young age of nineteen and as she lay
dying her last request was that her sister, Laura, ???Take
care of Midge.??? Midge??™s father traveled in his work and he
thought it best to honor his wife??™s request to allow Midge
to live with her aunt who was also a nurse. Midge was very
happy living with her aunt who became ???Momma??? to her.
Being a nurse was a job that was always needed but didn??™t
always pay very well so Momma was glad when she was asked to
take a nursing position in a hospital in Woodward,
Oklahoma. The hospital was a few miles from Midge??™s
grandparents and sometimes Midge would stay with them in the
country. They lived in a little tar-paper shanty that
Grandpa had built when they homesteaded in Oklahoma and he
was working hard to build another room on to it. Midge??™s
Grandma had twin boys, James Roy and John Raymond, but
Grandma only called them that when she was upset with them.
The rest of the time they were just Roy and Raymond. The
twins were just a few years older than Midge and she thought
it was funny that they were her Uncles because all her other
uncles were grown ups. Grandma had fourteen children in all
but two had died in infancy and then later Midge??™s mother,
Clara, died. The others were all grown up now except for
Roy and Raymond.
Grandma Rosa loved Midge very much. Grandma missed her
daughter, Clara, and so Midge was very precious to her.
Midge looked so much like her mother that Grandma would
sometimes forget and call her Clara.
Grandma had her hands full because not only did she have the
twins and Midge to look after sometimes but she often had
Harold and Glen because their mother had recently died
also. Their father, Frank, was one of Grandma??™s older sons
and he worked on the railroad so he was gone a lot. Grandma
and Momma took care of Harold and Glen too when their father
was away working. Although Harold and Glen were older, they
were closer to Midge??™s age and she thought of them as her
brothers.
Momma hated to be away from Midge so much that sometimes she
would take Midge with her to the hospital. She liked to keep
Midge nearby because she loved her so much and also because
Midge seemed to become ill a lot. Momma had a little room
at the hospital because it was too far to travel everyday
from home and it wasn??™t unusual in those days for nurses to
sometimes stay at the hospital. Midge liked to go with
Momma so she said good-bye to Sassafras, her cat, promising
that she would soon be back to pet her.
Midge was a quiet, well-behaved child and soon became a
favorite at the small hospital. She became Momma??™s
assistant, carrying her supplies or helping to make beds,
and everyone would call Midge, ???Little Miss Nurse???.
The hospital just had one doctor but there were several
nurses. Midge had been taught to be respectful and to say
Sir and Ma??™am to her elders. When she was introduced to the
doctor, she wasn??™t sure just how to address him since he was
a doctor so she simply called him, ???Dr. Sir???.
Midge liked living at the hospital but she knew there were
rooms where she was not allowed to go, especially the room
with the big white double doors where they did something
called, ???surgery???. When Momma was busy helping in that room
or caring for the seriously ill, Midge knew she was to stay
in her Momma??™s room or play on the back porch if the weather
was nice. She dared not disobey because she had been told
people??™s lives depended on her obedience, so Midge felt very
important in following Momma??™s instructions and saw it as
part of her duty.
One day Midge was looking at pictures in a book not far from
the big white double doors when she saw a strange man
starting to go through those doors. Midge knew all of the
people who were allowed in there and she knew that this man
certainly was not one of them so she summoned all of her
courage and stepped in front of the big white doors. Midge
looked up at the tall man and said, ???Sir, you cannot go in
there.??? The man looked a little stunned at the small,
feisty doorkeeper but then he smiled as he bent down and
told her what a fine job she was doing, then he explained
that he was a doctor from Oklahoma City who had come to
help. Although Midge was doubtful at first, she decided to
believe him since the man knew Dr. Sir??™s complete name plus
he showed Midge his stethoscope that he carried inside of
his jacket and that seemed to gain her trust. Midge knew
that only the doctors and nurses had stethoscopes. After
that, it became a standing joke among the hospital staff to
confirm someone??™s skill by ordering them to, ???Show me your
stethoscope???.
By
Pamela Perry Blaine
?© February 2005 |
