Things were pretty bad when she was going off on children, she thought with a sigh. All of a sudden her life seemed complicated and she wasn’t sure how to fix that. She needed a plan or a massage or maybe just a cupcake.
Leaning against the wall, she listened to Daniel’s slow reading. As always, he sounded out each word. The pace was painful and had to be discouraging him, she thought. Maybe she should talk to someone about helping him in a different way. Maybe the dog thing wasn’t working. “There…are…fif…fif…teen…shoes…un…under—” Daniel stopped for a second. “There are fifteen shoes under the bed.”
He read clearly and without hesitating.
Montana straightened but told herself not to get too excited. He might have accidentally memorized the sentence. But even as she tried to be calm, she knew that reading happened like that. One minute there was a collection of individual sounds, the next the sounds became words.
“Fifteen shoes for fifteen boys,” he continued. “Mr. Smith knew everyone would be happy when he told him about the shoes.”
Montana stared at the open door, wondering if she was hearing this right.
Daniel kept on reading. Excitement filled his voice as he continued through the book. Then there was a slam and he came running out of the room.
“I can read!” he yelled. “I’m reading this book. Listen.”
With that, he opened it from the beginning and started the story over. He read through without hesitating, Buddy standing anxiously at his side, as if not sure this was a good or bad development.
Montana grinned. “You did it!”
“It’s like you said about shooting baskets. At first I couldn’t do it at all, but now it’s easier.” He ran down the hall to the cartful of books to be put back on the shelves. He shuffled through them and pulled out a story about a lonely bunny.
“Lonely bunny was all alone,” he read, standing in the middle of the hallway. “All lonely bunny wanted was a friend. But when he hopped down to the pond, the ducks there wouldn’t talk to him. They turned their backs on him and walked into the water, leaving him behind.”
Daniel looked up, his eyes glowing. “I can read.”
Montana grinned. “You sure can. You’ve been practicing and getting better, but you couldn’t see it until now.”
The boy crossed to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Thanks for yelling at me. It really helped.”
“I’ll remember that for next time.”
He laughed and released her, then hurried back to the cart. “Help me find more books, please. I want to take them home and practice. I can read to our cat, right? He’ll just fall asleep, but that’s okay. Then I can surprise my mom.”
Before Montana could get to him, he ran off, yelling for Mrs. Elder, announcing to all who could listen that he could read.
Montana crouched down in front of Buddy and rubbed his face.
“You did good,” she told the worried dog. “You’re a good boy. This is why we do it, right? To help a child learn to read, or to make someone in a nursing home smile. You make a difference in people’s lives and so do I. Butthead men may come and go but we will always have the work we do.”
Buddy regarded her with his solemn stare, then licked her nose.
“Thanks,” she told him. “I love you, too.”
“IF YOU CAN’T DO THE JOB correctly, then get assigned to another department,” Simon said with a growl.
The nurse, obviously fresh out of college, flushed. “Dr. Bradley, I—”
“Have an excuse? I’m sure you do. This is a burn ward. There’s no room for excuses. Mr. Carver had his arm burned by a blowtorch. Until you know what that is like, until you’ve lived through that kind of pain, you’re not allowed to offer excuses. Get off this floor and don’t come back. Do I make myself clear?”
The nurse burst into tears and ran away.
He saw the other nurses watching him, then quietly returning to their work. No doubt he would have to endure all kinds of scurrying and whimpering for the next few days. It always happened when he kicked someone out of his department. But dammit, was it too much to expect people to get their jobs right?
He walked toward his office, aware of people ducking into rooms to avoid him. In this corner of the world, he was a god, and a vengeful one. He was required to give his all and expected the same from those around him. Maybe they hadn’t made the identical deal with the devil, but when they were working with him, they were required to act like it.
He walked into his office and closed the door. As he crossed to his desk he admitted to himself that one of the problems was Montana. He missed her. No, it wasn’t just that he missed her. He’d hurt her.