Bryson City Seasons: More Tales of a Doctor's Practice in the Smoky Mountains

Bryson City Seasons Copyright © 2004 by Walt Larimore This title is also available as a Zondervan audio product. Visit www.zondervan.com/audiopages for more information. Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Larimore, Walter L. Bryson City seasons : more tales of a doctor's practice in the Smoky Mountains / Walt Larimore. p. cm. ISBN 0-310-25287-3 (hardcover) 1. Larimore, Walter L. 2. Physicians-North Carolina-Bryson City- Biography. 3. Medicine, Rural-North Carolina-Bryson City. I. title. R154.L267A3 2004 610'.92-dc22 2004012811 This edition printed on acid-free paper. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. Interior design by Michelle Espinoza Map by Terry Workman Printed in the United States of America 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 /.DC/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 chapter one DEAD MAN STANDING It was one of those sweltering summer afternoons in the Smoky Mountains that are unknown to outsiders and a distinct surprise to first-time visitors-humid, sticky, and unyielding. The heavy air lay over us as though it didn't want us to even move. "You didn't tell me, Walt," my bride of nine years complained. We were heading toward our tenth wedding anniversary that fall, and I had already begun scheming, behind her back, with the help of our friend Sally Jenkins, to give Barb a bedroom makeover and a special trip out of town. "About what?" I asked, trying to feign innocence but suspecting she had somehow found out about my shenanigans. One thing that was almost impossible in Bryson City, North Carolina, was having a secret remain a secret. Somehow news wafted through our town as easily as mountain breezes. "About this heat!" Barb exclaimed. "If I had known it was going to be this hot in the mountains, I might have just stayed in Durham and let you come up here by yourself!" Barb turned to smile at me-one of those "you know I'm kidding" smiles I loved. She turned back to face the mountains. "At least I would have asked the hospital to put an air conditioner in the house!" We were sitting on the park bench we had placed in our backyard when we moved to Bryson City, North Carolina, over a year ago. It looked out over an exquisite view across Swain County Recreational Park, then up and into Deep Creek Valley, and finally over nearly endless ridges all the way to the most distant mountain ridges-deep in Great Smoky Mountains National Park-that separated North Carolina from Tennessee. "Maybe I could call down to the Bryson City icehouse and have them send over a block or two for us to sit on." "You mean that old building down by Shuler's Produce next to the river? It doesn't look like it's been open for years. How about you go get us a glass of ice water?" I nodded and ran into the house to get a glass for each of us- being quiet so as not to wake up our napping children-and then tiptoed to the back screen door and out to Barb. The view was mesmerizing, and we had now seen it through each of the four seasons-my first year as a practicing family physician -since finishing my family medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center. "I didn't know it would be this hot," I commented. "But then there were so many things we didn't know abWalt Larimore MD is the author of 'Bryson City Seasons: More Tales of a Doctor's Practice in the Smoky Mountains', published 2004 under ISBN 9780310252870 and ISBN 0310252873.