Edge of Time (Langston Brothers Series) by Melissa Lynne Blue Page B

use a common axe for surgery or even bother cleansing or anesthetizing your patients before operating?”
    “Well, forgive me if this isn’t London proper or wherever the hell your father studied but we do the best we can with what we have.”
    “The best you can? I doubt that. Has it escaped your attention Doctor that this man has a raging infection and debridement is necessary to treat his wounds?” She jabbed a finger toward an orderly in the process of changing a dressing, and a thick layer of purulent slough was easily visible even from her vantage point a few feet away.
    “Debridement?” Captain Langston’s tone rose. “Are you mad? That is a protective layer over the wound, created by the body!”
    “Protective layer!” she exclaimed, eyes flashing, “That is staph! An infection , Doctor.” She turned away . “Oh, my God, I am in the dark ages,” she groaned, mostly to herself. “How could I forget that Penicillin won’t be invented for another sixty, or so years?”
    “Marissa,” Genie laid a restraining hand on her elbow. “I thin — ”
    Marissa sucked in a deep breath. “Sorry, Genie,” she whispered. “I forgot myself.” L ouder, she added, “But would you just look at the filthy state of this room? Old bandages lying all over the floor, no doubt infested with bacteria to spread infection.” Marissa shuddered. “You call this a hospital, Dr. Langston? Why have these orderlies not been instructed to clean this place up? Don’t they — and you — know that cleanliness is key to preventing infection?”
    “My orderlies have other duties.” Blue eyes flared with outrage. “They are not charwomen!”
    “Neither am I, but I’ll be here first thing in the morning to start.”
    “Start?” Craig spat angrily. “I don’t think I want you working here.”
    “Too bad. You hired me and now you’re stuck with me .” Their eyes locked, sparking with challenge.
    “Fine,” Craig ba rked. “But I won’t tolerate another outburst like this and I will not have you questioning my medical judgment in front of the patients.”
    Marissa just narrowed her eyes. It would be a cold day in hell before she kept quiet about the deplorable conditions of this hospital , but there were other means of getting what she wanted. Nurses had methods of steering obstinate doctors to their way of thinking. Craig Langston would never know what hit him.
    *               *               *
    The hour was late when Marissa ventured from the porch to the yard to amble leisurely with her thoughts. In truth she was hiding. Genie had not so gently lectured her about the need to control her temper and avoid another outburst like the one that afternoon.
    “When Dr. Langston says they’re doing the best they can with what they have he means it,” Genie had said. “And you’d be wise not to draw attention to yourself by referring to things which do not yet exist. Penicillin, Marissa, really!”
    She cringed, more than a little chagrined by the memory, but Genie was right, and if she wanted to blend in — which really she didn’t, but had to for the time being— she would have to be mor e careful. S he should probably apologize to Craig, but she really h ated to apologize, especially when she was in the right. Well... at least she wasn’t technically wrong, or wouldn’t be wrong in about fifty years. That must count for something.
    Sighing heavily she rotated her head to ease the tension in her neck and shoulders. Tomorrow was going to be a disaster. She really should just put her foot down, refuse to take the job and put all time and energy into going back to the future. Back to the future — how cliché. But a little voice at the back of her mind, her conscience, the same streak of good Samaritanism that had made her stop to help those kids on the road, which had landed her here in the first place, just couldn’t let her leave those wounded souls. She’d made the mistake of meeting