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Children had never been her favorite patients, though, as the doctors at Robertson had pointed out rown men often behaved far worse than little boys Mercy couldn’t argue, but she hadn’t had little boys in her care too much, except for a few of the other nurses’ children, or the children of the s or wives of the maimed who came to the hospital to visit Small colored children were even farther out of her realm of expertise, and sht past her threshold of experience

But all things being equal, she figured a busted-​up leg was a busted-​up leg, and there was no sense in letting the little fellow suffer fro she could do about it

So she did her best to ignore the inquisitive eyes that followed her every , she came to the conclusion that she was not much more out of place in the colored car than in the rich car, where her fellow passengers were high-​class ladies who’d never worked a day in their lives, with their trussed-​up offspring and upturned noses

She turned back to Charles, saying, "Here, I’ and set it on an the process of unwinding the swaths of cloth that bound it

Mrs Hyde said, "I do appreciate you taking the ti, and as I told you, I don’tfor the service There’s not a doctor on this train, and even if there was one, I don’t know that he’d bother with us But I thought maybe another woman"

Mercy said, "I understand," because she did, and because she wasn’t sure what else she should say to follow that

"Do you have any children of your own?"

"No," she said "My husband died not long after we married We never had no children"

"I’m sorry," said Mrs Hyde "He died in the war?"

Mercy nodded And suddenly, because she’d wanted to say it for so long, but had no one to say it to, she blurted out in a hard whisper, "He was from Kentucky He died at Andersonville"

Taken aback, Mrs Hyde said, "But youyou’re--"

"I been working at the Rebel hospital up in Richrays"

"Oh my," said the other woman "It’s" She hesitated "These are complicated times And I’lad you’re here on board, and I mean every hen I say I thank you"

Mercy reached the end of the winding bandages The limb she unwrapped had met some terrible event; that much was plain The top of the foot ollen far beyond its regular size, and Charles’s tears flowed afresh when the nurse prodded it

Mercy asked, "What’d he do, exactly?"

Mrs Hyde frowned at the child, who gri "He fell down the stairs, running after his sister If he’d had his shoes on like I told hian, "She tookevery ith a fir ell past "You knew better"

"Ow!"

"Sorry, sugar," Mercy said She lifted the foot and peered at it fro, but" She looked again, and harder, and pressed against the purpled flesh over the boy’s protests "It’s not the worst I ever seen by a long shot I think probably he’s cracked a couple of the little bones here on the top of his foot, and ht But it could be worse If he’d messed up his ankle, that would’ve been a lot harder to heal These little ones over here--" She indicated the spot where the real dae appeared to have occurred "--there’s not much to be done about theht and keep him off it, as much as you can And once it heals up, it won’t bother his walking too bad, like it would if it’d broken at a joint"

"Can you show"I’ve got soive you soe off the pain and swelling soe and tore about half its length off "If you tie it right," she explained, "you only need about this htened the boy’s foot out He whimpered, and chewed on the back of his hand

Mercy wound the cloth tightly, but not so tightly that she’d cut off all the blood She braced it back around his ankle to hold it stiff, and finally, when she was done, she asked Mrs Hyde to hold the end while she rustled around in her bag again She pulled out a pair of safety pins and fastened it, then put the boy’s foot back down