"Lots – but for now, just remember I warned ya that the girl that was hurt, Running Deer, and her sister Little Doe, have been chasing Clay since they were kids, claiming someday they would be his wives."
"We better watch out then. I ain't ready to get married anytime soon."
"You could do a lot worse. Marriage was the best thing that ever happened to me," he laughed.
As we followed Red Cloud into a large skin lodge, Grandpa announced, "Dove, do you know who this is?"
A woman in a buckskin dress looked up, puzzled for a few seconds then cried, "CLAY! Is that really you? They told us you were dead!"
"Well, as you can see, I'm not. As I read somewhere, Aunty Dove, 'reports of my demise are premature'."
As we greeted each other, I studied my great grandmother quite closely. She stood about five-foot-six, with a figure that most women in my time would have spent a fortune on cosmetic surgery and all their time in a gym to achieve. I knew she was quite a lot younger than my great grandfather Henry, but she still appeared to be somewhere around thirty-five to forty, probably closer to thirty five, much younger than the forty to forty-five I knew her to be. With long black hair flowing to the bottom of her back with just a bit of gray starting to streak here and there, an amazingly clear complexion and startling, compassionate dark eyes, she was a strikingly beautiful mature woman.
"I'm glad you're here! You remember Running Deer and Little Doe? Running Deer fell and broke her arm real bad and is running a fever. I don't know if she will live, and if she doesn't die, her arm will be crooked and useless."
"Let me see what can be done. Uncle Henry would you get my bag?"
"Sure! Be right back."
While waiting, I looked at the two sisters. 'I'll be damned! TWINS!' I thought.
They were both just tiny things, about an even five foot, probably not weighing even a hundred pounds soaking wet. Running Deer looked sick, her face flushed with fever and her eyes dull with pain. Her sister was obviously worried, her face drawn with care. Still, despite their obvious pain, they were exquisite. Their long black hair, framing angelic heart-shaped faces, hung in gleaming ebony braids more than six inches below their shoulders. From what little I could actually see of their bodies, shrouded in loose buckskin shifts, these exquisite little beauties were perfectly proportioned for their size. What little skin I could see was baby smooth and flawless. Not immune to the attractions of beautiful women, I felt parts of my body lurch at the delightful double vision they presented. Oddly enough, I also felt a tug on my heart.
Grandpa came hurrying back in with the big Corpsman's bag. "Here ya go, Clay!"
"Thanks, Uncle Henry." I start to exam Running Deer.
"This is going to hurt. Bite down on this," I told Running Deer as I gave her a piece of leather to bite down on.
Wishing I had an x-ray, I had to do this the hard way and hope my sense of touch would be enough. I palpated her swollen and extremely painful right forearm, and could feel that her right ulna, the biggest bone in the forearm, was broken. Luck was with me, at least as it felt like a clean break. For it to be such a clean break, she must have wacked her arm across a branch or rock as she fell and she was lucky she didn't break the radius as well. It might be cracked, but at least it was aligned. If not it would be a compound fracture, requiring more sophisticated treatment than I could offer.
The break itself should not be causing her fever. I checked closer and found where she had also scraped her hand as she fell. Red and hot, although not bleeding, it looked like it was infected. Thorough cleaning of the wound and treatment with antibiotics was the only effective treatment, even in my time, except she would be in a hospital getting massive doses of antibiotic by IV. I would have to make do with my limited supplies.
As I completed my examination of her injuries, I turned to Grandpa and said, "I need some wet rawhide thongs to tie on a splint – they will shrink as they dry, holding it in place. I also need four sticks about three-quarters of an inch across and about a foot long for the splint itself. Have someone bring me some clay mud. I'm going to set her arm and try to make a cast to keep it straight and to cover and protect it. I also need someone to boil some water so I can wash that scrape. That's where the fever is coming from."
While waiting for Grandpa to fetch the splint materials, I gave her an amoxicillin tablet and half an aspirin from my bag. I had cut it in half, not knowing if she would have a reaction to it or not. The whole amoxicillin should be OK for her, as it was actually a children's antibiotic and should work well for her, given her size and that she and her people had never been exposed to modern drugs. I knew I would have to keep a close watch on her for awhile, but I risked the dosages I gave her because I had to get the infection under control and her fever broken.
Soon, an older man entered, bringing me the items I had asked for.
"Here is the mud-that-dries-hard," he said.
Expecting him to leave, I noticed with surprise that he just stepped back to watch. I raised an eyebrow to Grandpa and he said. "This is Spotted Owl. He is the girls' father."
"Is he going to be trouble?"
"No, he's just worried. He loves his daughters very much."
Turning to Running Deer, I said "I'm sorry Little One, but this is going to hurt very badly, but I'll do it as fast as I can. Don't be ashamed to cry out if it hurts too much."
Recruiting the others in the lodge with us as my helpers, I said, "I need you all to help hold her down tightly so I can set her arm so it will be straight."
I instructed them on where I wanted them and how to hold the patient. Then, once they were in position, I slipped off my boots and braced myself by placing my foot in her armpit and pulled her arm straight at a steady pace till I felt the two bone ends slip back in place. You could almost hear them click together, and the obvious distortion disappeared, although her arm was still swollen.
