‘And…you know how to get this back?’
‘I’ve put back dislocated shoulders before.’
The girl looked up, her eyes doubtful. This wasn’t the normal person’s idea of a doctor. He wasn’t wearing white coat and stethoscope. He wore blue jeans and a rough wool sweater. He had deep black hair that curled in an unruly tangle and needed a cut, and his face was tanned and his eyes were crinkled, as if he spent a lot of time outdoors.
He wasn’t the least bit doctor-like.
But he had piercing blue eyes, and a smile on his broad, tanned face that told her she could put herself safely in his hands. It was his very best bedside manner, turned on in force, and it usually worked a treat.
Now was no exception. The girl sighed and nodded, closed her eyes and forced herself to go limp. She waited, waited for the pain…
He looked down at her in surprise. Had this happened to her before, then? She looked like she knew what to expect.
There was no point dragging it out.
He lifted her wrist, bent her elbow to slightly higher than ninety degrees, then slowly, firmly, rotated her arm down and back-so firmly that the girl gave a sob of agony.
And then, miraculously, it was over. The shoulder clicked right back into place.
Silence.
The girl took two deep breaths. Three. Four. And then she opened her eyes to a pain-free world.
Her green eyes crinkled into a smile of absolute relief. ‘Thank you.’
The girl’s words said it all. There was no need for him to check his handiwork. The girl’s breathed words of gratitude and the easing of the agony behind her eyes told him all he needed to know. He smiled down at her, and she smiled right back-and it was some smile!
‘Well done.’ He put a hand on her good shoulder. Tessa’s courage was amazing. ‘Brave girl. Don’t move yet. Take your time. There’s no rush.’
No rush…
Her smile faded and the girl looked about her in bewilderment, as if seeing where she was for the first time. Doris lay exhausted on the straw. Around the sow, the piglets were starting their first, tentative movements toward her teats.