August 27, 1900

Tombstone. 

This morning I wandered around looking for Miss Pet and saw her talking to a man at the hotel. I hugged her tightly and she said that she was making the man breakfast. I asked if she was dating him but Miss Pet insisted they weren’t dating. Miss Pet made me some breakfast and I told them how I was working in the clinic. 

I walked over to the clinic and talked to Miss Lilly about Mr. Alex teaching me about working in the clinic. Mr. Alex came over then and I told him about how I learned how to make tea and what kinds did the different things. We headed off down the street and went to Pearce. 

Pearce. 

We walked past the house and I waved to it as we walked. We headed to the clinic and Mr. Alex, or now Mr. Stone as I called him, said, “Okay, Miss Stark. What’s the first thing we do when we get here?” 

“Well, we gotta wash our hands up to our elbows. And see? I wore dress with no sleeves this time!” I held out my arms to show him. 

“Yes!” he grinned. “That’s exactly right. And good thinking about the sleeves.” 

We walked over to the sink and washed our hands at the sink with soap. I looked around and said there wasn’t a sign in book and he said some clinics didn’t have them. He said that this was the only clinic that had Mr. Bones. 

“I bet Mr. Bones don’t really walk around much,” I said. 

“You’re right. He stays put right here in Pearce,” he chuckled and walked over to the skeleton. I turned and jumped a bit, seeing it. “This is Mr. Bones.” 

“Wow, he a bit scary at first. Like at hall’ween.” 

“He is a little scary until you get to know him,” he smiled. 

“Does he talk, Mr. Stone?” 

“No, he doesn’t talk. But you’ll get to know him really well, then he’ll just be interesting.” He put his hand inside the skeleton’s jaw and made it move. 

I got out my notebook and looked for a pen before saying, “Okay I ready! I better not touch him or he’ll break right?” 

“You can touch him. Just be gentle. Now, let’s start from the top and work our way down.” 

“Okay.” 

“Do you know what this big round bone that makes up your head is called?” he put his hand on the head. 

“Um.... That’s like in hall’ween too, right?” I asked and he nodded. “Skull?” 

“Yes! That’s the skull. There’s also another word for it. Cranium.” 

I went to write it down but then looked at him. “How you spell that?” 

“C, R, A, N, I, U, M,” he said and I wrote it out. “That’s a really good idea to take notes.” 

“It helps me ’member. Ma writes notes all the time. Hey Mr. Stone, you know that Ma and Mr. Thomas are courtin’ now?” 

“Are they? Well, that’s great! I’m happy for your ma,” he said and I grinned. He pointed to Mr. Bone’s jaw and said, “Now this is the jaw. It’s also called the mandible.” 

“That the mouth. I never heard that word before.” 

“Yes, it’s the bone on the bottom of your mouth,” he smiled, then pointed to the bones going all the way down the spine. “These are called vertebrae. They connect together to protect your spinal cord and hold your body up.” He pointed to the shoulder blade and said, “This flat one back here is the scapula, also known as your shoulder blade. Most of these have two names, a common one and a fancy one.” I nodded as he talked and kept writing, wondering how I would remember it all. He ran his finger along the collar bone and said, “This is the clavicle or collar bone.” He pointed lower and said, “These on the side are the ribs - they protect your organs like your lungs and heart.” 

“Mr. Bones don’t have organs.” 

“This flat one that the ribs connect to is called the sternum,” he tapped the front. “"Nope, he doesn’t have any organs. That way it’s easier to see what his bones look like. And what ours look like under all our skin and muscle.” He pointed to the long upper arm bone and said, “Do you know what this bone is called? It’s kinda amusing.” 

“Um… Funny bone?” 

“Yes!” 

“Why’s it called that?” 

“That’s the funny bone, or the humerus. I don’t know because when you bang your elbow and hit that bone, it isn’t very funny at all.” 

“I would think it hurt.” 

“It does. Now notice here in the forearm there are two bones next to each other. The leg is like that too. They are called the radius and ulna. The radius is connected to your thumb.” 

I stared at him blankly and he chuckled as I said, “That a lot of bones, Mr. Stone.” 

“It is! We’re about half way.” 

“Halfway???” I blinked and bit my tongue. “Sorry, I listening. Keep going.” 

“There are a lot of other tiny bones but I won’t go into those. I’ll just show you the big main ones.” 

“Okay.” 

Mr. Stone pointed to the hand and said, “These little ones here are the carpals and metacarpals. Then the ones in your fingers are called the phalanges.” 

“Why don’t they just call ’em fingers?” 

“Well, fingers are the whole deal, your bones, joints, tendons, muscles, skin, nails, all of it put together.” 

“Oh.” 

“I know, it’s a lot to take in,” he smiled and I nodded. “This big one here that attaches your legs to your body is called the pelvis. It’s made up of several parts, the pubis, the sacrum, the ilium and the ischium." 

I tried to write the words down and looked at him. “If you say so… Those weird words.” 

“They are a little odd, aren’t they?” he laughed. “The sacrum is more at the bottom of your spine than part of the pelvis.” 

“Who made up the words?” 

“I don’t know who made up these words. They’re probably Latin. Or maybe Greek. Hippocrates was the ancient ‘Father of Medicine.’ Maybe he named them.” 

“He a hypocrite?” I remembered the word from somewhere and asked. 

“No, he wasn’t. Though that’s where the Hippocratic oath comes from. That’s a special oath doctors take that says they promise to do no harm,” he chuckled. 

“Oh. I should know that one. What the whole oath?” 

“That’s an important thing to know. It goes like this,” he said and started to recite the oath from memory. “I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant: To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else. I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work. Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves. What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about. If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.” He took a breath and said, “It’s very old, from sometime around 400 BC.” 

I blinked at him, writing quickly as I tried to catch up with him. When he was finished, I looked up at him, impressed. “You memorized ALL that???” 

“I have a good memory,” he chuckled. 

“Wow…” 

“Okay, we have a few more bones to go,” he said and pointed to the thigh bone. 

“Okay I listening.” 

“This one is called the femur. This little round one down here on your knee, that’s call the patella. Then we have these double bones on your shin like in your arm. Those are called the fibula and the tibia. Then like in your hand, there are a bunch of little bones in your feet. They are called the tarsals and metatarsals. And your toes? Just like your fingers, they’re called the phalanges.” 

“But what happens if someone says phalanges and you dunno which one they mean?” 

“That’s a good question. I guess you have to ask.” 

“Oh.” 

“How many bones do you think are in the human body altogether?” he smiled. 

“Um… a lot!” 

“Yes, a lot! There are 206 all together.” 

“How many we just learn?” 

“There are even little tiny bones in your ears to make them work. They’re called the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup. I don’t know how many we just learned.” 

“Let’s see….” I looked at my notes. “Skull or cranium is one, mandible is two.... vertebrae is three.... scapula is four... but there two of them so five... clavicle is six... ribs.... there’s two of those so eight... sternum is nine... two bones in each arm called radius and ulna.... so that’s eleven... thirteen... funny bone is twelve…. carpals and metacarpals is fourteen... phalanges ... um..... five fingers in each hand so nineteen... plus five more is um... twenty-four…. pelvis is twenty-five but then pubis, sacrum, ilium and ischium is..... twenty-nine… femur is thirty… patella is thirty-one... fibula and tibia is thirty two but there’s two of those so thirty four… then tarsals and metatarsals in the feet… um… forty-four? Then.... hammer, anvil, stirrup... that forty-seven. Wow that a lot of bones we just learned!” 

“Well, we can see you’re good at math,” he chuckled and I grinned. “That was great! You were able to name all of them back. I’m impressed.” 

“It just adding Mr. Stone. And cause I wrote em down, see?” I showed him my notes. 

“That was very good to write them down. Notes are important.” 

“Thanks Mr. Stone, that a lot!” 

“You’re welcome, Nat. You did a great job. That’s probably enough for today. I don’t want to overwhelm you. What would you like to lean about next?” 

“Uh huh. That lots of stuff. Um… Well what other stuff will I get to do with you at the clinic?” I looked over and saw a man walk in and asked, “Hi Mister, you shot?” 

“Maybe I should show you what all the equipment does so you can help fetch things,” Mr. Stone said. 

“Hello. Nope, I am okay,” the man said. 

“Hi Jy,” Mr. Alex smiled at the man. 

“I’m Nat and Mr Stone teaching me the parts of the um.... skelton,” I told him. 

“Very nice, I am Jy. I am the fire marshal,” he introduced himself. 

“This is Nat Stark. She’s really smart and doing a good job here,” Mr. Alex introduced. 

“That is good to hear.” 

“Mr. Jy you know what this called?” I asked, pointing at the phalange on the hand and Mr. Alex chuckled. 

“Meta carpel?” Mr. Jy asked.

I blinked and looked at Mr. Alex. “How he know that?” I looked at Mr. Jy’s uniform and asked, “What you do mr Jy?” 

“I injure myself a lot,” he answered. 

“You not s’posed to do that, mister.” 

“I put out fires.” 

“Oooh.” 

“I doubt he does it on purpose,” Mr. Alex laughed. “Hurting himself that is.” 

“Do fires hurt the meta carpels a lot?” I asked. 

“Might burn them, or the skin on them,” Mr. Jy said. 

“That hurt a lot,” I said. 

“Miss Stark, do you know what plant you would use on a burn?” Mr. Alex asked. 

“Um… Well Willow tea and willow bark help make pain go away….” I said. 

“I do know,” Mr. Jy said. 

“They do. And that would be good to give him for pain. But there’s something else that would help with a burn. The aloe plant,” Mr. Alex said. 

“Oh… You rub it on burn?” 

“It is very good,” Mr. Jy agreed. 

“An aloe has gooey clear stuff inside the leaves and yes you rub it on burns,” Mr. Alex smiled and I wrote that in my notebook. “That’s a really good one for you to know.” 

“There lots of fires ’round here Mr. Jy?” I asked curiously. 

“There is a few. I put one out a week ago,” Mr. Jy replied.

“Well, Nat, I need to head out. You did a great job today. We’ll continue later this week. It was nice to see you, Jy. Hope you both have a great day!” Mr. Alex said.

“Thanks Mr. Stone!” I went to hug him. 

“You too. I am going to head to finish my rounds,” Mr. Jy said. 

“You’re welcome!” Mr. Alex smiled and hugged me as I headed out towards home.