Page 3 of The Doctor's Surprise Family

“Or else my little girl self with her doctor doll, her game of Operation she played to death, her butterfly hospital in the back yard — that girl’s heart will break clean in two. And mine’ll break too, because then what’s left? I never had any other dream.”

“Never, at all?” Blake scratched his head. “You never wanted to be an astronaut, or the next Lamar Odom?”

I laughed, distracted, still hunting for wood. “You’re certainly tall enough, if you want to be Lamar Odom. But, no, not for me. No other dreams. As long as I can remember, it’s been that white coat.”

“I used to get a new dream every time I changed schools.” Blake set down his fork, and I thought he looked sad. His gray eyes were distant, winter-sky dull. “There’d always be one teacher at every new school, one teacher who’d see me and think, okay, smart kid. I’d latch onto that one and try to impress ’em, and somehow in doing that, I’d get a new dream. I wanted to runmarathons all through third grade. Fourth grade was art, and then it was hockey. Then in fifth grade, I had this math teacher, got me all into sci-fi, and then astrophysics.”

“So what you’re telling me is some time in high school, your biology teacher pointed you here?”

Blake’s laugh was gentle. “No, not quite. It was actually this recruiter, y’know, from the Army. He looked through my grades and he said,listen, son.” He dropped his voice an octave, to a low growl. “He said,listen, son, these are top grades. You join up with us, you’ll have all kinds of options.He started listing them off, all these options I had, and when he got to med school, something just clicked.”

“Wait, you’re in the Army?”

Blake nodded. “Yeah.”

“So, they could…” My mouth went dry. “They could send you to war?”

“If they needed me, yeah.”

“That doesn’t scare you?”

Blake picked up his fork again. “Of course it does. But I’d go as a surgeon. I’d be saving lives, wherever they’d send me. That’s something worth doing, being there for, y’know. There’s a lot of kids out there, eighteen, nineteen, joined up out of high school, getting blown up. Someone’s got to be there to put them back together. To tell them, I got you. You’ll be okay.”

My eyes swam with tears, and I wasn’t sure why, maybe the thought of kids getting hurt. The thought of Blake, maybe, when he was a kid, wishing someone would tell him he’d be okay.Pushing himself to do well for his teachers so he’d be special to someone, at least.

“It’s okay,” said Blake, and stretched out his hand. His fingers brushed mine, a comforting touch. “Odds are, I’ll match with a residency stateside. The ones overseas are harder to get. Could be years yet till I see any war zone. Or it could be never. Some never do.”

“You’re brave,” I said, hoarse. Maybe this was the only way Blake could afford med school, but that didn’t mean it didn’t take courage. I wasn’t sure I could have made the same choice.

“Brave is just being scared and doing a thing anyway.” Blake’s lip twitched up. “Hey, you want dessert?”

“Cheesecake. Chocolate.”

“They’ve got chocolate cheesecake? Oh my God, yeah.” He waved to our waiter and ordered two slices. “You know what’s even better, though? Chocolate ginger. You get all the richness of cheese and dark chocolate, but that zing of ginger so it’s not too sweet.”

“Where’d you have chocolate ginger?”

“Made it myself.” He tipped me a wink. “Maybe if you ask me nice, I’ll make it for you.”

“I do have something to ask you.” I took a deep breath. “So, we’ve had a nice lunch and you know me better, so how about it? You in for Thanksgiving?”

“You sure your folks wouldn’t mind? I don’t want to intrude.”

“You wouldn’t be. Thanksgiving’s for sharing. They believe in that. One year, this whole busload of choir kids got stranded, and Mom asked them all to our house for Thanksgiving.”

Blake looked down at his empty plate. He rubbed at his chin. “Can I at least bring dessert?”

“You can if you want. But Mom bakes atleastthree pies — apple, pumpkin, and cherry.”

“Pie heaven,” said Blake. “You know what? Okay. I’d be honored to come to your family Thanksgiving.”

CHAPTER 2

BLAKE

Some folks have a glow about them, you know what I mean? It’s not that they’re pretty, though Claire sure was that. It’s more like they’re blessed, or maybe enchanted, and the grime of the world won’t rub off on them. They glide through their lives, graceful as swans, while the rest of us plod along in their wake.

The first time I saw her was first year of med school, in the student bookstore by the book bag display. It was raining that day, the footpath all muddy. Claire floated by with pristine white sneakers, and all I could think washow the hell?How? Later, I found out she had these shoe-baggies, clear plastic covers she slipped on and off. But at the time, it felt like she’d just walked on water.

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