Chapter 10

There was something to be said for this small town life if Maggie and Veronica were examples of the benefits one could have with this style of small town living thought Steve. Women are women no matter if they were from the big city or small town. He did have to admit that the pace of living in a small town was slower than the big city and because of that was more enjoyable. Steve could as they say, “Stop and smell the roses.”

The usual parade of illness and accidental injuries at the clinic were interrupted one day when the ambulance brought in a logger who had a sever laceration to his left arm. It took twenty five stiches to close the wound. The logger who was named Charlie had almost lost his arm and was lucky that there didn’t seem to be any nerve damage. He said he was cutting a tree when his chain saw hit a steel spike some environmentalists had hammered into the tree which he didn’t see.

A large group of environmentalists had invaded Lake Lancer and were camping out here as they were protesting a logging operation that was nearby. While some environmentalists thought the term ‘tree hugger’ was a derogatory, this group of environmentalists embraced the term since they wore shirts and jackets on which this term was embossed. Steve had not seen the logging operation so he hadn’t formed an opinion if the protest was justified.

This group of protestors was a rowdy bunch and disturbed the town’s people not because of their protesting but in how they conducted themselves. Excessive drinking, vile language, littering and boisterous conduct were their norm and the local five person police department was overwhelmed in trying to control them.

Steve was not against the right to protest and he respected it. In fact Steve believed in the right to peacefully protest. The right to injure someone however was something he was against. The protesters’ conduct in the town just turned people against them and their cause. This group seemed to be using protesting as an excuse to have a rowdy time.

When Taylor, the clinic’s receptionist was accosted and almost raped that was the last straw. Steve thought long and hard about what he could do to control this unruly bunch. After some thinking about the problem he opened his desk drawer and looked for a certain business card among a group of business cards he had wrapped a rubber band around.

He found the card he was looking for and placed a phone call. On the third ring the call was answered as he heard, “Hello.”

“Is this Howie Graff?”

“Yes it is, who is this?”

“This is Steve Brandle, the doctor who treated you when you had your heart problem near Lake Lancer. I hope you remember me?”

“Yes I do Doc, what can I do for you?”

Steve explained the problem about these protesting environmentalists and the problems they were causing. He reminded Howie about offering to help if Steve ever needed it and wondered if Howie could do anything about this problem. After a pause Howie said he thought he could. He further said that the problem should be solved in a short time.

The next day Steve heard the large roar of many motorcycles outside the clinic around noon. Steve walked outside and saw a large number of motorcycles there and shook hands with Howie. After exchanging some pleasantries Howie asked where these problem makers were as he and his one hundred and thirty rough mean looking cyclists friends would like to go and pay them a visit. He said he thought the problem would be solved after they paid a visit to the protesters.

Steve told him where the group was camped out and invited him and his people to come back here after they paid their visit.

As Steve watched and listened to the bikers roar off he looked for and found Joyce.

“Can you order 150 sandwiches and coleslaw and potato salad from the diner as well as send someone to get paper plates and plastic knives and forks and set up some tables in the parking lot? Also ask the EMT’s to take the ambulance and get five cases of beer and five cases of soda. We are going to do a little entertaining here.”

At about three Steve heard Howie and his group coming back. Howie parked his cycle and walking up to Steve told him the problem was solved. He said, trying to keep a straight face, that for some unexplained reason the huggers had decided to pack up and leave. He did smile after he told Steve this.

Steve invited Howie and his people to have something to eat and drink before they headed on back.

It was a nice time and Steve and his staff learned that while the bikers appeared to be rough and mean they really were nice and gentle people.

As Howie was leaving he told Steve not to hesitate to call if he has another problem like this.

The clinic’s staff and some of the patients became excited two days later when the Academy Award winner for best actress of two years ago walked in and asked to speak to Steve. She told Steve and the staff heard her say that she was on her way to visit some friends and had learned that Steve was now located here so she just had to stop and visit.

The actress in the privacy of Steve’s office asked him if he really had stopped doing cosmetic surgery as there was a little work she needed done. Steve told her he no longer did procedures but Ted Bylek at his old practice was as good as anyone and Steve recommended that she see Ted.

As she was leaving Steve said to her that she put the clinic in a little bit of a turmoil with her being here and asked her if she would mind signing some autographs or taking some pictures? She said she would do it if asked and she was asked by everyone there. She was nice enough to have a picture taken with her and all of the staff which Joyce said she would frame and hang on the wall.

The word of the actress’s visit had spread with both Maggie and Veronica hearing of the visit and they peppered Steve with questions wanting to know what kind of a person she was and what procedure Steve had done for her. Steve only would say that she was a nice person and an old friend. He fibbed a little when he said he knew her because she was a member of his prior country club. They continued to grill him and wanted to know what other ‘old friends’ Steve had. He told them about his prior club and who the celebrities were that he knew were members there. That some of them also had been his patients was information he didn’t disclose.

With Steve knowing these celebrities only seemed to inflame Maggie’s and Veronica’s passions when he made love with them. They were insatiable in wanting to make love and had Steve thinking that maybe he should try some of the medicine he had prescribed for Marty.

The functioning of the clinic as to patient care was going fairly smoothly. Steve was surprised by the limited medical interactions he had with his fellow doctor Liz. She made sound decisions as to patient care and seldom asked Steve for a second opinion. In fact when he thought about it, he asked her more for second opinions than she asked him.

While her medical decisions were sound, Steve could not say the same thing for her choice of boyfriends. Her current boyfriend was Adam Trandal who had briefly been a patient of hers for a minor laceration. They had started dating after he was released from patient care.

Steve couldn’t say what it was but there just was something about Adam that bothered him and he didn’t want to see Liz get hurt. She was too nice of a person and Steve thought he should eliminate any doubts he had about this man.

With Adam’s patient records in hand Steve phoned Bob Conway in LA who was the husband of a former patient and someone who Steve had met. Bob wasn’t licensed as a private detective but he did do background checks for the various movie and television studios in the LA area.

Steve told Bob about Adam and what his concerns were and asked Bob to do a complete background check. He was able to give Bob sufficient information from Adam’s medical file to do the investigation. Steve asked him to phone him with a preliminary report and mail him a written report along with his bill for the services.

Three days later Bob phoned Steve with his report.

It started off bad and went downhill from there has he said, “Adam Trandal is currently married and substantially behind on his child support payments. He received a bad conduct discharge from the Army which he was encouraged to join rather than go to jail for a burglary arrest. He was once accused of rape but the charges were dropped when the complainant refused to appear in court. There is more but these are the highlights.”

Steve thanked him and asked that the report be mailed to him.

When Steve received the report his reading of it confirmed that it was what Bob had told him. Steve asked Liz to come into his office when she had time.