Read Online Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen - Free Book Online

Dora told her bedridden sister.
    “I agree,” Claire answered. “It seems we are perfectly safe here. There is no reason for any such worry.”
    But as the days passed, Dr. Hazzard persisted in stressing the necessity of securing their expensive belongings.
    After the third request, Dora finally gave in to the doctor’s suggestion.
    “It might be a good thing to have it in a safe,” she said.
    “And your rings, too,” the doctor said. She slipped the diamonds off Dora Williamson’s thin fingers and smiled sweetly.
    “Any land deeds, dear?”
    “Yes,” Dora told her, “I have deeds to land in Vancouver.”
    “Very well. I’ll secure those as well. I’ll store the lot in my office safe for a few days before I take them to the bank.”
             
    N ELLIE SHERMAN appeared to be the kind of expressionless woman who could command any situation, medical or otherwise. She didn’t flinch at her chores and, though she would have rather attended to other business than the Williamson girls, once she reluctantly committed herself she had no choice but to do the best she could. But if she had the kind of professional manner that usually didn’t portray fear or concern, it was slipping away during the days and nights at the Buena Vista. The results of the fasting treatment were troubling her.
    She knocked on Clara Corrigan’s door one evening in the middle of the month.
    “Miss Corrigan, I hate to be a bother.” Her expression was anxious. The tone of her voice suggested particular worry. “I have something to show you. Will you come to the girls’ apartment?”
    Clara agreed and followed Nurse Sherman to the bathroom in the Williamsons’ apartment. Nellie pulled on the chain and the light came on swinging slightly and bouncing shadows across the bathtub where she had bent down to retrieve something. The stretched canvas was over the tub, indicating that an enema had been administered to one of the sisters.
    Nellie held up a pail two-thirds full of water. Inside the liquid were numerous milky white particles.
    “What do you think it is?” she asked. “It’s the water from Miss Claire’s enema.”
    Clara didn’t know.
    “Did you ever see anything like it before in an enema?”
    “No, I never have,” Clara answered flatly. She tilted the pail slightly to see its contents under more light. She shook her head. She was mystified.
    “What do you suppose it could be?” Nellie Sherman asked once more.
    “I’m sure I don’t know. I have no idea.”
    “Well, it can’t be food, because there was no food in her stomach. It looks so peculiar to me.”
    Clara left the apartment. She was shocked by what she had seen; disgusted, too. What was the white material swirling in the water? Was it part of Miss Williamson’s innards? Was her diet causing her body to consume itself?
    The poor girl; I hope she’ll be all right.
    The next evening a worried Nurse Sherman arrived at Clara’s apartment. Clara invited her inside. Both women were at a loss about what they had seen floating in the pail the night before. Both were worried.
    “I don’t know what to make of these girls,” the nurse said. “Miss Claire is getting weaker every day and cannot retain food in her stomach. She is in such a queer condition of health.”
    “How is Miss Dora?” Clara asked.
    “Not much better, really. She is getting weaker every day. I’m not sure either will live. Claire has fasted over thirty days, and Dora over forty.”
    Thirty. Forty.
The number of days without food was alarming. As Nellie Sherman ran her hands through her hair, she talked about the effect Dr. Hazzard’s treatment was having on the English ladies.
    The words were indelibly etched in Clara Corrigan’s memory.
    “I’m not sure it is working. I think the girls may die.”
             
    T HOUGH CLAIRE lost the most weight and appeared to be the weaker of the two, it was Dora who began showing signs of mental weakness. Dr. Hazzard came early one