Mabel Maney
San Francisco
July 2002
Contents
Cherry Aimless cut an attractive figure as she dashed through the crowded lobby of Seattle General Hospital, her striking royal blue nurse’s cape sailing behind her and her crisp white cap perched precariously on rumpled curls. Her rosy cheeks were even more flushed than usual, for she had run the entire ten blocks from the children’s free clinic so as not to be late for the night shift on the Women’s Psychiatric Ward. On clinic days the head nurse usually forgave a late entrance, but there would be no forgiving smile awaiting her now, for Head Nurse Margaret Marstad, the strictest nurse in the hospital, would be Cherry’s boss tonight.
Cherry was in a cheery mood, for tomorrow morning she would begin a well-deserved vacation. “In just a few days I’ll be in sunny San Francisco!” she murmured happily. While she was certainly looking forward to visiting her family in Pleasantville, Idaho, for a few days first, she had to admit she was more excited about going to San Francisco to see her beloved Aunt Gertrude. Although they had kept up a regular correspondence for the past five years, the two hadn’t seen each other since Cherry was a child. “And I haven’t had a chance to thank her properly for this nifty graduation present,” Cherry thought, looking fondly at the sturdy nurse’s watch Aunt Gert had sent her when she graduated from Stencer Nursing School, class of 1957.
“Jeepers!” she cried, realizing the time. “In another minute, I’ll be late!” Cherry took a shortcut through the hospital newsstand, and in her haste caught the toe of her freshly-polished white nurse’s shoe on a crack in the linoleum floor. She landed face first on a bundle of newspapers.
ATTORNEY CARSON CLUE MURDERED!
Longtime housekeeper admits dastardly deed!
screamed the headline.
“I’ll take a paper!” she cried, searching in the pocket of her white uniform for a dime.
“I’m sorry miss, I have to count the papers before selling any,” the newsstand operator explained. The frantic look