Eight years passed. They were long years, with long winters and short summers, but all in all, they were good years.

Although Gil Evachevski still watched the new Spearfish Lake Appliance and Furniture store from time to time, and made occasional service calls, it was Danny’s business now. Danny no longer worked regularly as a brakeman, although he filled in for the C&SL once in a while as needed. Once Sally Szczerowski’s kids were all out of college, she decided she was a little tired of working full time, so she went back to being a part-time sales person, and Debbie was made Advertising Manager. Between them, Danny and Debbie didn’t make lots of money, but they were comfortable, and didn’t have much room to complain; they’d both by now settled into the quiet middle class life they’d long dreamed of.

They did have some other activities. In the slow winter following their commitment ceremony, Danny happened to be reading a particularly difficult part of Reverend Carter’s journal, and was having trouble picking the meaning out while struggling with the handwriting. Just as an experiment, he went over to the computer and keyboarded the passage in question. He shared with his mother the ability to type things without thinking about them, just concentrating on the copy he was working from, and the passage went quickly. Once completed, he read it back over and it made a lot more sense. It was a darn shame, he thought, that someone didn’t keyboard the whole thing. Maybe it could be burnt onto a CD or something, and would be easier to study than the hard-to-read handwriting. And within seconds he realized that there was no one better to do it than him.

It took four years, with both he and Debbie annotating and editing, and he did burn some CDs. It was still an awful lot of information to wade through, and when the Navajo woman who had worked with Ellen and Ruth on the Shakahatche language stopped off at Three Pines on one of her occasional visits, she commented that if a lot of the routine stuff was edited out and the important observations left in, it would be a lot more useful – and something that she could take to her university press. The editing took another year, but Man of Memory – the Journal of Rev. Dr. Robert Carter among the Shakahatche, 1858-1892 was a modest success – and probably had done more than any one thing in recent years to heighten awareness of the people of Three Pines to their heritage. Fifty-two people now spoke Shakahatche fluently, and Danny was considered by many to have the purest accent of all – so now, he was teaching it.

In most other respects, though, they were pretty normal. Danny and Debbie were fairly active in the affairs of Spearfish Lake, as business people in the town should be; both of them were members of the Chamber of Commerce. In fact, Danny made the mistake of whispering to John Archer when officer nominations were going on, and before he realized what had happened, he was Chamber President.

One of the major concerns in any small, relatively isolated northern town is having adequate physician coverage. Dr. Metarie – Shovelhead – had been working with a couple of Physician’s Assistants for some years, and had the majority of the business, partly because old Dr. Luce, who had been a physician in Spearfish Lake for roughly forever, was slowing down a lot. He’d kept some patients for years out of habit, but even he finally realized that it was time to be giving it up. That set off a crisis, because Shovelhead was already busier than he wanted to be, and it’s always difficult to draw young physicians to small northern towns, especially when they have huge college and med school bills to pay. For some months, a couple of local foundations, the chamber and the council had been working with the city council and both the doctors, trying to find someone to take over Dr. Luce’s practice, with more cooperation from Shovelhead than Dr. Luce had given in the past.

It took a long time and several incentives, but finally, mostly through Shovelhead’s work, a young woman physician by the name of Tricia York, out of the University of Wisconsin and an internship and family practice residency at Milwaukee General, agreed to come to town. It was a huge relief; Danny and Debbie and a lot of other people organized a reception for her out at the Spearfish Lake Inn to welcome her.

Danny – and most of the rest of the town – had not previously met Dr. York, who turned out to be a petite brunette with a pert smile, in nice-looking clothes. When they first arrived at the reception, Danny thought she looked somewhat familiar, but couldn’t put a finger on it, and couldn’t place her.

Since Shovelhead knew her, at least a little, he took Dr. York around the room, introducing her to some of the locals, who were standing around, usually with drinks in hand, gossiping about important local issues like how sorry the football team was doing. When he got around to Danny and Debbie, Dr. York, with an inexplicable expression on her face, just said in a low voice, "Hi, Danny."

Danny looked at Dr. York again – and with the sound of her voice his mind took an amazing leap. Yes, she did seem familiar; it had been several years, and he’d never figured on hearing anything about her again. Fortunately, Shovelhead started Debbie into a discussion at that instant, so Danny just leaned over and said in a whisper, "Hi, Patty. I see you did it."

"I did," she smiled. "Danny, we have to talk sometime, but not here."

"Yeah, sure," he said. "Drop by the store some time; I’m usually alone in the mornings." He straightened up and raised his voice. "Welcome to Spearfish Lake. It’s a small place, but there are those of us who like it."

Danny was not surprised to see Dr. York walk into Spearfish Lake Appliance early the next morning, looking just a bit nervous. And she had every right to, he conceded. "York Peppermint Patty," he grinned, trying to put her at ease. "I never thought of that. I always figured Charles Schulz rather than the candy company."

"Danny, I swear," she shook her head. "I never even made the connection between you and Spearfish Lake, it’s been that long. I about shit when I saw you last night. Is this going to louse things up?"

"No need to," he told her. "And we need a doctor that badly. Pat . . . er Tricia, I’ve kept the secret about Amelia all these years. I see her folks now and then and my folks know them real well. Debbie doesn’t even know. There’s no reason I can’t keep this secret."

"Thanks," she said. "It’s just goddamn embarrassing to get caught like that."

"Hey, look," he said, "I’ve seen your resumé. It looks to me like you kicked ass all the way through college and med school. I’m just pleased as hell and proud as hell for you. I’m sure you’re not very happy that you did what you had to do, but the results were worth it. Congratulations, and like I said, welcome to Spearfish Lake."

"You won’t tell, then?" she said dubiously.

"No reason to," he grinned. "I mean, I will admit to telling the odd story about those days over the years, but not much in years. There’s no reason to associate you with them, and those days are long in the past. Dr. York, your secret is safe with me, and if you ever need to talk about it, I’m available."

"All right," she said. "But Danny, since you know about it, I do need to talk about it. Those days aren’t all the way in the past. I’ve become sort of like Jennlynn."

"You’re still active?" he frowned.

"Not in years," she shook her head. "Danny, I said I’ve become a little like Jennlynn. I think I understand her a bit better, now. I spent six years just pounding the books, really focused on what I was doing, and it wasn’t easy. The only way I could get through was by maintaining that focus. I, uh, I didn’t have much time for relationships, and I got to the point where I hated being interrupted from my studies. I mean, really snappy, just like she’s supposed to be on her day job. I hope now I can finally develop a real relationship with someone, but I’m going to have to slack off a lot of that stuff to be able to manage it. I’m not going to say that I’m not going to do it again, but I hope now I can finally develop a real relationship with someone. If I don’t, I still have the option open to me."

"Well, no skin off my fanny," he said. "That’s one thing I learned out there, and a lot of it from you. You have to do what you have to do."

"Thanks, Danny," she sighed. "I was hoping you’d take it that well."

"Of course I do," he smiled. "You remember what I told you the last time I saw you, that I wanted to call you Doctor whatever the hell it was? Congratulations, Dr. York. You did it, and like I said, I’m proud of you."

"Thanks," she smiled. "I didn’t get much chance to talk to your wife last night, but she seems pretty neat."

"She is pretty cool," Danny smiled. "Pat . . . damn, I don’t ever dare call you that! Tricia, it’s been as good between Debbie and me as it was bad between Marsha and me. That surprises me just a little, but I am not complaining. We’ve got two kids now, one in kindergarten, one in first grade. It’s just as neat as I ever hoped it could be."

"Good," she smiled. "I was hoping things would work out for you."

"Hey, there’s going to be a little digging in, but let’s have you over for dinner some time. We don’t have to mention anything about Nevada, and as Chamber president I should invite you, anyway."

"Well, thanks," she said. "Give me a few days to get used to the idea, though. It’s going to involve a little changing in mental gears about you."

"You need to do it anyway, if you’re going to practice in Spearfish Lake," he said. "Maybe we’d better get the gossip out of the way now, then bury it. But I am curious about what happened with some of those people. You’ve always headed that list. George is still out there, I take it?"

"Oh, yeah," she laughed, comfortable now. "He was the last I heard, which is getting to be a while ago. He’ll be there till they carry him out. You’re going to have to name names; I don’t remember who you knew."

"Shirley, for example." he smiled. "I owe her a lot."

"I know you do," she smiled. "After you left, she came clean to me about what the two of you had been doing. That’s got to make Debbie a lucky woman. As far as I know she’s still there too, still a shift manager, she’d be seventy-six now, I think."

"How about Frenchy?" he asked.

"She was still there, too, the last I knew." She smiled. "Like I said, it’s been a while."

"How about Jennlynn, for that matter?"

"I heard she got married to Shirley’s grandson, would you believe it? I got a nice card. That was several years ago, and they’re still together as far as I know. You know about the business with the hijacking, of course. The last time I saw her was before that."

"Yeah that was really something," he shook his head, remembering the story. "She’s been on TV since a bit. I saw that she testified at a congressional hearing, oh, a couple of years ago."

"I didn’t know about that, but I’ve hardly had time to look at TV the last few years."

"I have to ask about Amelia," he said. "I don’t hear much from her folks about her anymore, but the last I heard, she was supposed to have some kind of a summer job in a park out there, or something. I figured it was a cover story."

"It was," she smiled. "The last I heard she was an assistant manager at an RV park, and she was there four days a week in the summer. Of course, it’s partly a cover story for her weekends at the Ranch."

"Figures," he snorted. "I don’t need to go into the details, but after I left there, I spent some time and agony thinking that I ought to do something about her. I decided not to. Just as well, I guess. I figured the odds were a hell of a long shot, at best."

"I could see you thinking about it all the time she was there that first time," Dr. York admitted. "I wanted to tell you to do the right thing, but I didn’t know what the right thing was. I guess I do now, and you did it."

"I like to think so," he said. "I felt a little guilty about it for a while, but I think I did the right thing in the end."

"Well," she sighed, "I guess I feel the same way. It never was anything I wanted to do, but it’s what I had to do to be a doctor in the first place. And, you know what? While I want you to be the only person around here who knows, I’m proud to have been lucky enough to have done both."

"One last time, and I won’t call you this ever again," he said. "But you’re a hell of a woman with a lot to be proud of, Peppermint Patty. Now, welcome to Spearfish Lake, Dr. York. I hope you have a long and rewarding career here, and if you ever need household appliances or furniture, you know where to come."

-- 30 --

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