Love Takes Wing Page #3

And give them as much water as you can.

I'll be back to check on them tomorrow.

Thank you, Doctor.

[ Sighs ]

[ Chattering]

I don't understand.

Are you the doctor, or aren't ya?

I'm a doctor,

but I'm here to help Dr. Simpson.

You and your friend need to

stop asking so many questions-

especially around the hotel.

Sikeston's a town on the grow.

We can't afford talk like this.

No. What you can't afford

is to ignore the problem.

Things like this orphan sickness-

I've seen them turn boomtowns

into ghost towns in a matter of months.

We know what the problems is.

Now, if youll excuse me, miss.

[ Exhales Sharply]

[ Children Laughing

In Distance ]

- [ Girl ] Stop it. We're gonna get caught.

- Okay.

[ Knife Thuds ]

Looks like you could use some more help.

Seems like you've got

a big enough job on your own.

Don't be needing to take on other chores.

Besides, making a stew for 30 kids...

is a lot harder than

baking a cake for a husband.

I've done my fair share of kitchen duty.

Watching your servants do the work

ain't the same thing as doing it yourself.

I can tell rich folks when I see 'em.

Educated doesn't necessarily mean rich.

Actually, you and I have a lot in common.

- I grew up in an orphanage too.

- Right.

It's true.

Too many kids, not nearly enough food.

They pay for your fancy schoolin'?

I never heard of an orphan

becoming a doctor before.

That's because I was lucky enough...

to be adopted by a wonderful family

when I was 14.

But I wouldn't be who I was today

If I hadn't grown up the way I did.

We all have our sorrows.

[ Sighs ]

If you want to make yourself useful,

I could use some more water for the pot.

The pump's in the yard.

Lillian's got me doing manual labor.

[ Laughs ]

- Spirited girl.

- [ Chuckles ]

What made her so wounded?

Her father was killed on the railroad.

Lillian was five years old...

when her mother couldn't

take care of her anymore.

She told Lillian that her father

had gotten the job just to support her-

that she was the reason

for the misery in the family.

Just what a child needs to hear.

She doesn't

talk much about it.

If you press hard, she lashes back.

She's been known to have-

[ Chuckles ]

a couple of pretty good

tantrums now and then.

- And you condone that behavior?

- No. Certainly not.

But try as you might to cage the lioness,

she will find a way to roar.

[ Chuckles ]

And, uh, speaking of which...

I heard about your little

run-in with Ray Russell.

It was out of line.

I had no right to speak to him that way.

And I'd do it again.

I know the town is afraid.

I'm just as scared as anybody else.

But I- I don't understand how they can...

- use God to justify what they want to do.

- I do.

When science can't explain something,

people turn to superstition...

to- to comfort them,

give order to their lives.

Surely you don't believe...

God is a superstition.

- I believe what I can see.

- But you're in the field of medicine.

They've just now discovered germs.

We know the children are sick.

We know a germ caused it...

but we all agree that we can't see it...

but we know it's there.

Just as we-we...

can't see God, but we can see

the effect of him in the world.

It's hardly the same thing.

And with microscopes,

you can see bacteria.

Perhaps you haven't had

the opportunity to know God.

If you read the Bible-

I've read the Bible, Miss Clarence...

and my family was very religious.

My views were formed by my own experiences,

and they are not up for discussion.

You're entitled to your beliefs, Doctor...

as are the rest of us.

[ Belinda's Voice ] Dear Mama, I've been

in Sikeston for a little more than a day...

and I already wonder if I've done

the right thing in coming here.

I knew the town needed me,

but things are much worse than I feared.

I think the disease they believed

to be influenza is actually cholera.

It's a terrible situation for everyone.

The disease seems to be coming

from the local orphanage...

and all the townspeople want to do

is send these poor children out on the street.

They're selfish. They don't care

about what happens to the kids.

And everyone looks to me

as if I'm supposed to make it all better.

The illness is bigger than me, and I'm afraid

they've put too much faith in me.

I'm afraid I'll let them down.

Especially this one little girl Lillian...

who reminds me so much of me at that age-

the person I was before you took me in.

I want to help Lillian find her own way,

but I can't even find my own path.

I wish I could talk to you and Grandma.

I wish I had your strength.

Miss Clarence, this is my good friend Annie.

She's a doctor as well.

Good. Come on, come on, come on.

- That's a good trick, Lillian. Where'd you learn it?

- I don't know.

People get sick around here a lot,

and nobody wants to help Miss Clarence.

just makes sense.

You need to get their heads up,

else the water just runs right back out.

Or they choke.

There you go, Katie.

Very brave, helping the sick.

Weren't brave, miss.

I just like helping people.

Well, see? We have a lot in common.

That's why I became a doctor- to help people.

- Lillian, wait.

- What?

You're not using the same cup

with all the children, are you?

There's just me and Miss Clarence

in the infirmary rooms...

and the rest of the kids

is busy cooking and cleaning.

- You can't do that, Lillian.

- We ain't got time to wash dishes.

- Do you know what a germ is?

- No.

It's what makes people sick.

And if you let everyone drink out of

the same cup, it spreads it around.

Give me that.

I've gotta find Miss Clarence.

You and Belinda seem very close.

Well, we've been best friends

since the first day of medical school.

- Oh.

- We kind of had to be.

It was two more years

before we saw another woman.

- [ Footsteps Approaching]

- Hi.

[ Miss Clarence ]

Oh. Hello.

Lillian said you're using the same

few dishes with all the sick children.

Yes. Well, there are

so few healthy children...

they- they can barely handle

the dishes we do use.

That isn't acceptable, Miss Clarence.

Every child must be fed

with their own dish...

and those dishes need to be

cleaned every single night.

And certainly not handled by

the healthy children, if you can help it.

The children in the infirmary

are already sick.

I didn't think it would

make any difference.

By Lillian using the same cup, she's spreading

the same germs to all those children.

They can't be expected to get better

when you continuously feed them the disease.

I- I- I'm doing the best I can, Belinda.

I 'm not a doctor, so...

tell me what you want me to do, and I-

I'm happy to do it.

We need to rewash

every dish we can find...

in the hottest water we can stand.

I'll boil some water.

Oh!

You needn't yell at her, Belinda.

And Mrs. Clarence didn't go to medical school.

She doesn't know these things.

- That's why we're here.

- I'll apologize to her later.

Well, we have a restaurant's

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