Page 44 of Girl Between
“She’s strong, Doc. Keep the faith,” George encouraged, squeezing his shoulder. “Give her my love.”
“Will do,” Landry said, pressing his lips together to form a tight smile that looked more grimace than grin.
“Is there anything else we can do for you or the clinic?” George asked.
Landry shook his head, offering another tight smile. “You’ve done more than enough, son.”
“Alright,” George said. “We’ll get out of your hair so you can see to your patients. Same time, same place next month, if I don’t see ya at the coroner’s first.”
“Let’s hope not,” Landry said, walking them out to the crowded waiting room.
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Dana couldn’t fightthe troubled feeling the visit to the clinic left her with. A lifetime of studying cultural patterns had made her a good judge of character. Ignoring suspicious inklings never served her, but she could tell Dr. Landry was widely respected, especially by George. It made her tread lightly with her line of questioning.
“How long have you known Dr. Landry?”
George grinned. “Since birth. Doc delivered me. All my sisters, too. He and his wife used to run a private practice in the Ninth Ward.”
“Used to?” Dana asked.
“Katrina took the clinic, took his wife, too. All he has left now is Amelia and she’s …” George trailed off, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You’re not,” he assured her. “Dr. Landry’s story isn’t a secret, it’s just sad. But most ‘round these parts are.”
Dana stayed silent, waiting to see if George would offer more. When he did, she listened intently.
“Amelia is the only child of Claudia and Richard Landry. She was a sickly child since birth. If her parents weren’t both doctors, she probably wouldn’t have survived the rare autoimmune disorder she was born with. She’s been on the kidney transplant list for as long as Ican remember with no luck. But she’s a resilient little thing. Always a fixture at her parents’ practice, greeting patients in the waiting room or hosting a lemonade stand out front in the summer.
“But Katrina changed everything for the Landrys. They opted to stay and help their patients who couldn’t evacuate. They knew the hospitals would need the help, too. Richard was volunteering at NOLA East when the levees broke. Claudia was with Amelia at the practice. She managed to get Amelia and all the patients to the roof before the waters rose, but Claudia didn’t make it.
“The last thing Amelia saw was her mother go back into the house for her medication. She never came back out. Search and rescue never recovered her body. Shortly after that, Amelia’s health started to rapidly decline. Not sure if it was the stress of the storm, losing her mother, or that she was without medication during the storm. Either way, the result was loss of her vision, a further sign her organs were failing.”
“Which got her bumped from the transplant list?” Dana asked, not liking the way her suspicion was growing.
“Exactly,” George answered. “How’d you know that?”
Dana ignored the question, instead asking, “How old is Amelia?”
“She’d be about twenty-nine now, maybe thirty…” George said. “Why?”
“Thirty years is a long time to live with renal failure,” Dana said, but that wasn’t what was bothering her. “Kidney disease isn’t that uncommon in North America. The transplant list is long and arduous, but priority is given to those with the best chance of survival. Age is a heavy factor. I find it strange she hasn’t found a donor yet.”
“Amelia’s condition is rare. I don’t fully understand it, but I know Dr. Landry has said she needs a zero mismatch.”
Dana’s eyebrows rose, her skin prickling at the same time. “Perfect compatibility?”
George nodded. “It hasn’t been easy for them. Since Claudia passed, Amelia is all Dr. Landry has left. She’s the thing that keeps him going. I don’t think there’s anything he wouldn’t do for her.”
Dana didn’t doubt that, and that’s what worried her, but shedecided to keep her comments to herself since she could tell Dr. Landry was a saint in George’s eyes.
There was no question the doctor’s story was sad, but it wasn’t enough to make Dana less wary. She’d let her personal feelings cloud her judgement before with devastating results. She didn’t want to see that happen to George. But perhaps she was letting past mistakes bleed into the present.
Only time would tell.
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