A Little Crazy

Chapter Ten

September 4th

Drew returned from his morning of rounds, scrubbed his hands in the water basin, and walked to the field behind the house, in search of Nora.

She was lying in the grass, gazing up at the sky. He stood for a moment, watching her take it all in and tried to see what she was seeing in the world there.

Only since Nora had arrived had Drew let himself notice his surroundings more. The river was polluted but much of the land was paradoxically green and lush. The hill behind the house sloped softly toward the riverbank, vivid with bursts of yellow and purple wildflowers. The long row of houses was punctuated every ten yards or so by a stone shower, a well, or a small bench.

A stand of trees shaded Nora's lower body, speckling her legs with shadows and the undulating movement of the leaves in the wind. Drew imagined drawing his hand up her shin, over her thigh to her hips. He imagined crawling over her, sucking at the sweetest skin at the hollow of her throat.

She smiled when she saw him lean into the beam of sun in her face.

“It's so amazing here,” she breathed, lowering her hand from where it had shielded her eyes. “I can't get over how different everything is.”

He moved to lie down next to her and she took his hand. Drew brought her fingers to his lips, inhaling and kissing her fingers.

“I missed you,” he whispered.

She hummed in response, and he could hear her smile in the sound. She looked so comfortable here, even thousands of miles from her home, her garden, her familiar life.

“What did you do this morning?” she asked.

“The usual,” he said, stretching beside her. “Visited each home. Gave meds—mostly pain meds at this point. I'll go back after lunch and make sure everyone is still eating and drinking from their safe boxes.”

She turned towards him, brow furrowed. “Are they still eating food from the field?”

Drew shrugged. “This village is many generations old. It's hard to tell them that it's not enough to wash or boil the food. It's very hard for them to understand that their land is poisoned, that what they are growing is toxic all the way through. That's a very painful reality for people who’ve lived off this land and chosen to stay here. If I don't make sure they're eating from the safe food, they just go back to what they know: growing what they eat.”

She looked back up at the sky and Drew could see her mind working. Her brown eyes grew darker in her thoughts; her fingers clenched and unclenched his.

“Ask,” he murmured. “Anything.”

She smiled and rolled to kiss him.

“I mean it,” he said with a smile against her lips.

“I know,” she whispered, kissing his nose. “So, why are you only giving pain medication? I guess I figured these types of things—your trips, I mean—dealt more with outbreaks and, like . . .” She closed her eyes, trying to remember something. “Like the movie, Outbreak.” She winced, looking at him and laughing a little at what she perceived to be her naiveté.

Drew kissed her flushed cheek before propping his head up on a hand to lean over her. “I do sometimes focus on infectious disease,” he admitted. “But our goal is rarely to contain outbreaks. That kind of thing is usually left to the larger government agencies. Health Relief International does non-profit work. What we do is more out-reach. Getting to the places that don't have resources. Providing care for places just like this.”