Donna Alward Sold to the Highest B

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Strater last week.
The rumor mill is working just fine, I see. Irritation flared and he pushed his beer away. I suppose
everyone knows she s pregnant too.
Dammit! Kate dribbled cold water down her blouse front as her lips fell open. She grabbed a napkin
and blotted the white fabric. Jeez, Devin. You might warn a girl. Seriously? I suppose now is the time I
should offer congratulations.
Devin shook his head. Kate had been a friend for a long time. He d never really clued into the
attraction thing, but he d always been able to talk to her, beginning with the night he d made his first real-
estate deal and the celebrating had turned into a bourbon-fuelled lament about his broken heart. The kiss
had been an inauspicious beginning to long friendship and then business relationship. Telling her about this
now was just as embarrassing, considering what they d just said and what they hadn t.
Not exactly. Our divorce was filed this week too.
For several long seconds Kate looked at him, making him feel like she was somehow measuring. Go
ahead, let her, he thought. It wasn t like he hadn t been doing the same thing all week and finding himself
coming up short.
So you become a bachelor and a dad all in the same week? Interesting. She tapped a fingernail on
the table. Very interesting.
I m glad you think so.
She laughed, then reached over and patted his arm. You haven t seen the paper today, have you?
He shook his head, wondering why Kate was suddenly looking at him like she was the cat that got the
cream. The earlier tension was gone and she was back to being just his friend again.
I ve been fishing.
She slid out of the booth and went to a table next to the entrance. When she came back, she opened
the Sunday edition, folded it in half and passed it across the table.
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It was the story. Her story. Ella s. He d wondered what she was going to write, hoping she d meant it
when she said she wouldn t use his illness for her own gain. His picture was there though, the color one
they d used in that magazine article a few months ago, and a headline Healthcare for Real People.
His lip curled as he realized what she d done put him front and center. He d trusted her, dammit.
He d given her what she wanted a divorce. He d agreed to her arrangement even though it was the last
thing he wanted. And now here he was, in print. He refolded the paper and handed it back, keeping a rein
on his anger and forcing his face to remain neutral in Kate s presence. Maybe Ella had been right all along.
This was a better way, making the split between them official and permanent. But it hurt that she d
betrayed his trust again. So much for not exploiting him.
Now you understand the bachelor part, he growled, looking away from Kate and taking a drink.
This wasn t supposed to happen.
When Kate said nothing he turned his head back. She was watching him with a puzzled expression.
What do you mean, understand the bachelor part?
Ella s not the same girl I married, Kate. I don t think I know her at all. And just when I think I do,
she up and does something to reinforce my original opinion.
She pushed the paper back across the table and got up. Maybe you need to read the article, Devin,
rather than jumping to conclusions. I ve got work. Let me know if you need anything.
He waited until she was out the door before picking up the newspaper. His heart pounded for some
undefined reason as he opened the editorial section once more.
There it was, with a picture of him, and another of Betty Tucker. His eyes scanned the print.
Healthcare for Real People
Ella Turner, Columnist
Last month I brought you a story about Betty Tucker and how our healthcare system and the
capitalist structure of our insurance companies has failed her. Today I was planning on continuing that
story with numbers and facts and, let s face it, making an example of her plight in her fight for cancer
treatment.
But that s not the story I m bringing you today because healthcare isn t about dollars and cents,
profit and loss. Nor is it about who gets to decide which treatments are available to patients. Doctors
should be the ones making those decisions, not bureaucrats in high-rise offices. Healthcare is about people.
Life is about people, when it comes right down to it.
Devin McQuade, a business owner in Betty s town of Durango, has stepped up and paid for Betty s
treatment out of his own pocket. He didn t do this for personal gain. He didn t do it for recognition or to
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Donna Alward
buy himself good favor with karma. In fact, he would have preferred that I not bring the matter to your
attention at all. He did it for Betty. Because for Devin, it s about people and doing what s right.
Oh, that stung. She d used the same argument in convincing him her arrangement was for the best.
He set his teeth and read on.
It s about a woman who once called 911 when he needed it, visited him in hospital, brought him home
cooking. Betty was a friend who gave what she could her time and her caring. Devin McQuade has done
nothing more than help a friend. Betty is the true hero of this story, an example of the good we want to
believe is in all of us. A person who deserves the same chance of survival as someone with many more
zeroes on file at the IRS.
There is no place for moral judgments or financial comparisons in healthcare. It s about equality.
We re all human beings. We all have families and friends, hopes and dreams. We all deserve kindness, and
compassion, and access to treatments that can make us well again.
We could debate the merits of healthcare models all day long, argue about fiscal ramifications and
politics, but the truth of the matter is, none of it is important.
Perhaps if we treated all our patients as friends and gave them a face where currently a dollar sign
resides, the reform we need so desperately could finally happen.
We wish a speedy recovery to Mrs. Tucker.
Devin put down the paper.
It was not the article he had expected when he first saw his picture on the page. It was conspicuously
absent of details of his illness. It treated Betty with caring and respect. It had very likely landed Ella in hot
water with her superiors a short editorial piece rather than the newsworthy expos� he knew she d been
assigned.
So why had she done it?
As he let out a breath, he realized he d been testing her. Ever since her return, he d prodded, searching
for the gentle, caring Ella he remembered. He d criticized and berated her for her choices, only seeing her
through the glasses of his own hurt pride and disillusionment. And here she was, that young, soft-hearted
girl that had become a strong woman. Right in this short piece of writing that would never be syndicated in
national papers as a hard-hitting piece of journalism. It was quiet and truthful. It wouldn t earn her any
promotions, wouldn t be syndicated in big papers around the country, wouldn t open any doors.
Perhaps it had stopped mattering. Because she d given up those dreams so they could parent their
child together.
And for the first time since seeing her again, he felt like a complete and utter heel.
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