I didn’t hear a thing,” the priest responded.
“But, but,” Cherry stammered, her rosy cheeks flushed, her heart beating a mile a minute.
“But what, dear?” he asked, squinting at Cherry through thick black-framed glasses.
Cherry looked around the quiet room. Obviously, nothing had happened. Feeling foolish, she blushed some more. “I’ve got to get more sleep; now I’m hearing things!” she said to no one in particular, for the priest had gone back to his magazine, and the corridor was deserted.
Cherry strode briskly back to the ward, knowing she had broken a strict hospital rule against leaving patients unattended. She pushed open the double doors to the ward and looked around. She was relieved to see her patients all tucked quietly in their beds.
Except for Lana, who was nowhere to be seen!
“Where is Lana?” Cherry asked, trying to control the alarm in her voice. But most of her patients were already fast asleep.
She looked at Lana’s bed. The half-eaten pork chop and glass of milk abandoned on the pink cafeteria tray looked so forlorn. What had happened to Lana?
“I’ve failed in my duty as a nurse,” Cherry thought. Nurses were forbidden to leave their wards at the understaffed city hospital, and that went double for the psychiatric ward.
“Where is Lana?” she repeated.
“She left with that nun,” a sleepy patient yawned.
Cherry was relieved to find that Lana hadn’t wandered away on her own. “Maybe they went to chapel,” she mused aloud.
“Who went to chapel?” a stern voice from behind her demanded to know. Cherry whirled around and found herself face to face with Head Nurse Margaret Marstad. And she was not smiling!
“What’s all the commotion in here?” she asked, hands on her shapely hips.
“When Cherry left the ward Lana went away with a nun,” the patient repeated. “Come to think of it, she was an awfully tall nun,” she added helpfully.
As soon as she heard this, Nurse Marstad strode briskly to the telephone at the end of the room and called security.
When she returned, Cherry tried to explain why she had left the ward, but before she could open her mouth, Nurse Marstad spotted the book in Cherry’s hand.
“What’s this, nurse?” she asked, crisply. In all the excitement, Cherry had forgotten about the book. She quickly explained about Lana’s mix-up. “I fear her amnesia is worse, and now she’s disappeared!”
Nurse Marstad glanced furtively at the book, cleared her throat, and looked Cherry straight in the eye. “I loaned her the book, Nurse Aimless. She simply forgot which nurse gave it to her,” she said in a convincing tone. “There’s no need to mention it to security when they arrive; they have enough to deal with. You will report to my office as soon as your replacement gets here.” The head nurse took the book from Cherry and left.
Cherry was so confused. She was sure Lana had arrived with the book. “But Nurse Marstad would never lie about a thing like that. Oh, I must have imagined the book belonged to Lana the same way I imagined hearing a call for help!”
Cherry swallowed hard, fighting back tears. She knew she had made a major blunder which could threaten her chances of joining the staff permanently. “Why, I’ll surely be fired if I admit to Nurse Marstad that I’m hearing things!”
Nurse Mildred Middy arrived a few minutes later to replace the despondent nurse. Cherry was relieved to see someone she knew, and it took all her willpower to keep from breaking down at the sight of her chum. The two had been fast friends since their first day at General Hospital, and they shared the same devotion to nursing and dread of Head Nurse Margaret Marstad.
“Don’t let Marstad scare you, Cherry. Why, everyone knows you’re one of the best nurses here,” comforted Mildred. “We won’t let her fire you. She just can’t!”
Suddenly, the loudspeaker interrupted Nurse Middy’s soothing consolations. “Nurse Aimless, report to my office immediately,” Nurse Marstad’s voice barked over the intercom.
Cherry said good-bye to her chum and to her patients, expressing the hope that she would see them soon. As she waited for the elevator that would take her to the third floor and the head nurse’s office, she thought of the years of dreaming and hard work that had brought her this far. Could it be that it was all about to end?
Cherry faced Nurse Marstad with a heavy heart. She tried to explain what had happened, but the harder she tried, the more muddled everything got, until finally she burst into tears.
“Oh, I’m so ashamed!” she cried, covering her face with her hands. Nurse Marstad pulled a lavender handkerchief from her pocket and gave it to the tearful girl.
“Blow your nose, nurse,” Nurse Marstad commanded with a gentleness in her voice that Cherry hadn’t heard before. Cherry hastily wiped her tear-stained face, took out her compact, brushed her shiny nose with a light dusting of powder and put on a hint of pink lipstick.
“Feeling better?” Nurse Marstad wanted to know. Cherry just nodded, too afraid to trust her voice.
Nurse Marstad took a seat behind her stately oak desk, which was piled high with paperwork and medical journals. She motioned for Cherry to take a seat in one of the turquoise naugahyde chairs facing the desk. Cherry squirmed in the slippery chair. Just a year ago, she had sat in this very spot, convincing Nurse Marstad that she was probation nurse material. And now she feared she had made a tragic blunder!
“I feel so awful that Lana is missing!” Cherry cried. “It’s all my fault; I should never have left the ward. It’s just that when I heard a call for help, I ran out without thinking, but no one was there. Well, no one except this priest and, well, I would just hate myself if anything happened to Lana because of me.” Cherry’s voice trailed off.
“I’m worried about Lana, too,” Nurse Marstad admitted. “But I have reason to hope she’ll soon be back where she belongs.”
“I’ll do anything to make this right,” Cherry cried. “I won’t go to San Francisco—I’ll stay here and find Lana myself. I’m a pretty good detective; why, just tonight I found three clues as to her true identity!”
Nurse Marstad looked interested at the revelation of this information. “Really? What did you uncover?” she asked.
“I know that she’s married, and her initials are C.M. And she must be Catholic; why else would she get a visit from a nun?”
“You’re very observant, Cherry. That’s a fine quality in a nurse.” Nurse Marstad pulled her black book from her uniform pocket. Cherry bit her lip. Once she counted all the mistakes Cherry had made that day, she’d surely fire her!
“Let’s see,” Marstad said, flipping through the pages. “A—Aarnes … ah, here you are. Aimless, Cherry. Hired July 5, 1958, with highest recommendations from Nurse Shirley Stern, Stencer Nursing School, Clearwater Falls, Idaho.”
Cherry was surprised to hear a good review from her old teacher. From the way she had always singled her out in class, Cherry had assumed Nurse Stern hadn’t liked her one bit.
Nurse Marstad continued. “My reports indicate you are a thoughtful and efficient nurse. I was pleased tonight to see the nice manner in which you handled Miss Bee. All your patients give you high marks.” Nurse Marstad