On Bended Knee

Chapter 1

If she was going to run away from home, this was the place to go, thought Lucy MacKinley. Though it was nearly summer, the cool morning air smelled like early spring; all pine forests and waking earth. If there were ever a better place for fresh starts than this remote Northern town, Lucy couldn't imagine it.

Though she stood in a parking lot, Lucy could turn her back on the small office building, lift her chin and believe she was in the middle of nowhere; it was practically the truth. Thick evergreen forest spread as far as she could see from the small rise the town stood on. The greenery was uninterrupted by roads, houses or any other sign of human habitation.

Lucy could hear a car, though, and turned to see one headed her way. Once parked, Lucy's friend Violet bum-shuffled her way out of the driver's seat, maneuvering her eight-month belly around the steering wheel. Lucy jogged to meet her.

"Have you got it?" asked Lucy after saying her hello's.

"Right here." Violet patted her purse.

The two women walked through the outer door of the office building, then stopped before an inner door that read 'Violet Herbertston, Physiotherapist.' Lucy resisted the urge to hop from one foot to the other as Violet dug in her purse for a key, then pressed it into Lucy hand. "Take good care of my baby," Violet said.

"You'll be far too busy taking care of your actual baby to care what I'm doing with your clinic," Lucy teased. She took the key and stood in front of the door, pausing to take a deep breath.

"Are you waiting for me to take a picture?"

"This is a big moment! Don't rush me." With a sense of ceremony, Lucy slid the key in the lock and turned the handle.

The room inside was small and well-worn, but tidy and clean. A battered wooden desk, two matching chairs, and a set of shelves crammed with manuals and binders sat along the left-hand wall. Next to an open space in the center of the room, an exam table stretched along the right-hand wall.

"So that door on the back wall, that leads to the staff room? Or the cafeteria, maybe?" Lucy asked.

The room was about what Lucy had expected, actually, but her habit of giving Violet a hard time about choosing to work in such a remote location was hard to break.

"I forgot how funny you big city girls were. It's a bit different than what you're used to, I know, but you'd be surprised how much we can accomplish here in the sticks with just the basics."

Violet took Lucy on a short tour of the record-keeping system and therapy equipment. Lucy hardly needed it; the two women had become friends during their first year of training to become physiotherapists and Lucy used most of the same systems Violet did.

"Thanks again for starting so quickly," Violet said.

"Not a problem. My boss was more than happy to let me use a few vacation days and leave a bit early." In fact, the woman had practically danced with glee when Lucy had asked to leave before her notice was up.

"I thought you'd have a chance to settle in and unpack before you started. I didn't mean to throw you straight to the wolves."

"Doctor's orders trump unpacking. I don't mind one bit, I promise. Besides, it doesn't look like there's much of a night life to distract me from getting my apartment set up in the evenings."

"Actually, it's pretty busy here this summer. There's a whole whack of people in town shooting a movie on Mrs. Kittington's property. I don't know too much about it. I've been distracted with getting ready for this one," she said, patting her belly. "I've heard it's got monsters or aliens or something though."