Patients

Stormwolf

Simon locked the door of the small clinic before turning on his heel to head back to the home of the widow who had taken them in. The sun was setting on the eastern horizon and the lights of the town were flickering on to compete with the coming darkness. Shrugging into his jacket to ward off the cold, Simon thought of the hot meal that awaited him at the widow Johnson’s home. Around him the citizens of the well-armed settlement greeted him kindly as they made their way to their homes. Simon smiled at them, and greeted them with nods of the head or spoken words.

As he continued on to the widow Johnson’s place, he ignored the blackened remains of a few buildings that he passed. The damage was recent and crews were still clearing out the wreckages.

Finally, Simon made it to the widow’s place. In front of the house was a vegetable garden that the widow had been unable to weed before she took in her guests. Now the garden was weed free and had even been pruned when needed. Simon’s mouth watered at the thought of the fresh vegetables that would no doubt be a part of the meal that awaited him inside the house.

Just inside the house, Simon removed his shoes and placed them on a mat beside the doorway next to two pairs of familiar combat boots. He then removed his jacket and hung it on a peg, then called out to the widow and her other two houseguests telling them that he was back.

The widow stepped out of the kitchen. Mrs. Johnson was an older woman in her late 70’s with her white hair tied up in a bun and a pair of glasses perched on her nose. She was a big woman, not thin and fragile looking. She smiled at Simon. “Your just in time doctor, just pulled the biscuits out of the oven.”

Simon smiled back at the woman who had offered to take in the doctor and his two long-term patients. The small amount of money he made from working at the clinic taking the place of the doctor who was healing from a gunshot wound in the belly helped to buy foodstuffs from the local gener