Martin looked once again at the letter he held in his hand as if unable to comprehend or accept what it contained.
He reread it for the third time.
"My Dear Martin,
"I have to tell you that our relationship is over, as is our planned marriage."
"I'm sorry to be so blunt, but it seems the best way rather than prevaricating, and knowing you as I do, always straight and to the point, I'm sure you prefer it this way."
"For some time I've felt that I could not be a successful doctor's wife. For a start I'm too selfish. I would make demands on your time that you would be unable to meet. What's more, as I've already found out, your life would belong to your patients as much as, if not more than, me."
"I believe that you love me in your way, but you will always be a doctor more than a husband."
"I know that if I see you again you'll be able to persuade me not to leave you -- you can always be so irresistibly persuasive"
"You may try to see me, so I must tell you that I have met someone else, and by the time you get this letter I shall have gone away with him so please don't try to find me."
"I shall always remember you with affection as I hope you will remember me."
"Have a good life.
Melanie."
The letter fell from his hand to drop on the desk. He sat as if paralyzed, unable to believe what he had read.
* * * * * * * *
Dr. Martin Holder, the brightest of the medical students in his year to graduate; "A promising young man," his professors had said.
"Have a good life," she had written, but until the moment of reading the letter a good life had been centred around Melanie and their future together.
Even more devastating was that she had met someone else; someone she must have been seeing even while..."Dear God, only two nights ago we had made love in her bed and all the time..."
He felt that he wanted to vomit, to cry out in his anguish, cursing God, or the gods, or anything or anyone he could blame for his loss; anyone or anything other than himself and his profession.
Yet Melanie had put the blame squarely on his profession and with it himself. If that was so then wouldn't any girl raise the same objections?
In his misery he failed to remember that many in his profession had very successful marriages. Even if he had remembered this it would have been of no account since the loss of Melanie blinded him to anything positive.
For Martin the loss of Melanie was akin to someone beloved who had died. In fact it was worse because he knew she still lived and was with someone else. This added humiliation to his bereavement.
At such times we are apt to make snap decisions that afterwards we come to regret. Martin made such a decision now.
He was currently working at a city medical clinic in a salaried capacity, now he scoured the medical journals looking at advertisements for general practitioners. He had to get away...get away anywhere as long as it was far away.
Eventually he found what he was looking for; a practice was for sale in a small coastal town, Point Danger. There was only one doctor in the place and he was retiring. The cost of buying the practice was small compared to a practice in the larger centres of population.
He telephone the incumbent, a Dr. Ferris, and made an arrangement to see the practice.
* * * * * * * *
Dr. Ferris had practiced in the town for over forty years and knew almost everyone. Unfortunately the equipment had not been updated since he'd first arrived, and Martin realized that most of it would have to be replaced; this meant borrowing more than he'd anticipated.
It had the advantage of being the only medical practice in the town, but this meant also the disadvantage of carrying more responsibility than a city practice with its hospitals and specialists close at hand. The nearest hospital to Point Danger was eighty kilometers away at Darley Heads.
Nevertheless, in his grief over the loss of Melanie this remoteness was what Martin sought. Here was a place that carried no memories of Melanie and eventually there would be forgetfulness.
And so, after negotiations with the bank for a loan, and against the advice of his colleagues, Martin bought the practice at Point Danger.
Along with the consulting room, waiting and reception areas went what had been Dr. Ferris' modest house, a three bedroom affair that had once held not only Dr. Ferris, but his wife and three children as well. No doubt a trifle crowded before the children left home, the place was far larger than one lone doctor needed.
Regarding "lone doctor," that was how Martin intended to keep it. No more women in his life, he would be a sort of medical monk. Sex, wife and family had been replaced by a decision for the celibate life.
Despite the smallness of the town Martin anticipated that he would be busy, and even if he was inclined to be his own receptionist and cleaner -- and he was not so inclined - he would need someone to clean the house and the consulting area.
Dr. Ferris had employed a receptionist, Miss Reynolds, who was well past retirement age. Like the doctor she knew just about everyone in the town, but she had decided to retire "Because I've worked for dear Dr. Ferris since I was twenty five and can't see myself settling in with another doctor."
Mrs. Ferris, the devoted doctor's wife, had kept house for him and, as some might say, "Had pandered to his whims" since a couple of years after Ferris had qualified, which amounted to nearly forty five years. Thus Martin was faced with recruiting his own staff.
Discussing this problem with Dr. Ferris before the latter bowed out; Ferris suggested what might be described as a package deal.
"There are a widow and her daughter who live right next door," he said. "The mother sent the girl to some sort of secretarial college in the city, she's only just come back here, but I don't suppose she'll stay for long because she'll be looking for work, and there's nothing much around here for young people. If you get in quick you might be able to get her."
"Of course, I don't know if she'll be any good at the job, but if you interview her and think she'll be okay, Miss Reynolds could fill her in about what's needed."
"As for a cleaner, I'm thinking of the girl's mother. Like your self she's a foreigner, only lived here for ten years. Funny sort of woman, keeps herself to herself. She doesn't seem to be short of a few dollars but I'm thinking she might appreciate a bit extra, you could try her."
Martin saw no problems concerning the cleaner, but the receptionist was a different matter. Dr. Ferris still kept his patient records on filing cards, but one of the innovations Martin intended was a thoroughly computerized system linking him with the various pathology services, the hospital at Darley Heads and some city specialists, as well as the keeping of patient records. He wondered if the girl, whose name was Sari Hockham would be up to the job.
Martin decided he'd see the girl, and Dr. Ferris said he'd arrange the interview, and so while, much to Dr. Ferris' distress, Martin oversaw the arrival and installation of his new equipment -- and the departure of the old -- Martin interviewed Sari Hockham.
Since Dr. Ferris was still consulting Martin used the lounge in the house for the interview. Mrs. Ferris brought Sari in and introduced her.
Martin was somewhat dismayed on seeing the girl.
At twenty one she was a lovely creature with a kind of wild-rose pink and white complexion, a long delicate neck, pale golden hair sculpted close to her exquisitely shaped head in soft natural waves, eyes of a deep vivid blue, a short slightly upturned nose and small beautifully shaped ears set close to her head.
Her figure was of the kind that most men find intoxicating, slim, yet curving in all the right female places. Even the now resolutely celibate Martin felt a lurching sensation in the pit of his stomach, a tingling sensation in his testes, and the threat of an erection.
Martin's immediate reaction was dismissive, "A girl like her won't stay long around this town," but on looking at her secretarial college records he began to soften.
She spoke quietly yet distinctly, and when questioned about her computer skills she revealed a knowledge that went far beyond Martin's own limited understanding of the infernal machines.
She'd gone so far as to speak with the redoubtable Miss Reynolds about the practice records, and she assured Martin it would, "be no trouble at all to get the whole lot on computer."
Trying to be subtle about ascertaining Sari's future intentions he asked her how she liked living at Point Danger. She replied that she loved it and all the time she was studying in the city she had longed to be home. She went on to eulogize the pleasures of the beach, the fresh air, and the walks in the nearby tree clad hills.
"And anyway," she added, "If I do want to occasionally go to the city it's only a couple of hours drive."
Martin decided he would employ her, but it was agreed only on a trial basis for the first three months, and then if they suited each other Sari would be taken on permanently with an increased salary.
