Simmering Jams at the Edge of the Forest

he nursery.
With the doctor’s permission, I spread out the rug by the couch near the wall.
This was the end of my preparations, though.

Yesterday evening, Mark brought me this rug and a few toys.
I was preparing to bring those in myself today, when Mark suddenly came to the house and quickly took those away.
I tried to at least follow him to the clinic, but he told me it was almost dark and I didn’t have to come out… What was with that feminist hottie? A prince.

It was true that in this village, where there were hardly any streetlights, it quickly became pitch black when the sun went down.

Especially Lady Adelaide’s house; there were no other houses nearby, and the back was a forest.
If I were to go out at night feeling like I was in Japan, I was confident that I would be lost in no time.

When I went out at night, I carried a magic tool version of a lantern, but after all, this was the countryside, so basically, few people went out at night.
The cafeteria and other places closed down after sunset… Inconvenience was inconvenience.
However, living in harmony with the sun was surprisingly comfortable for the body.

Mark returned while I was putting my lunch basket in the break room.
This sister needed to talk to you for a minute before the patient arrived.
I didn’t have time to tell him yesterday.

I’d like to tap him on the shoulder, but he was too tall for that, so I tugged on his sleeve like a child and thanked him for carrying the load.
Ah, apart from that, when he answered vaguely, and I complained about what he told Dr.
Daniel, he looked at me as if he were watching something interesting.

“The doctor, as the attending physician, needs to be aware of the patient’s behavior, and I’ve decided it’s better to report to him as his assistant.”

I understood that, but it was embarrassing!

“It’s not good to be reckless and develop strange habits and pain.
Now, listen to me and be quiet.”

Hey! You blockhead, I am your elder! I am twenty-eight years old!

“You don’t look like a woman four years older than me.
If you act like an older woman, I’ll treat you as such, young lady.”

Yeah, that was a pleasant smile, handsome.
Even Dr.
Daniel was laughing, come on.

I was so frustrated that I took today’s lunch as a hostage and made him promise to call out to me whenever he saw me in the backyard.
I’d baked pancakes because the doctor said he liked them before, with cheese and poppy seeds, and a salad with grilled chicken.
How was that? Now there would be no more surprises… mostly.
Maybe.

While I was doing this, a patient with a child came to see me.

“”

It was Anna, the young wife of a haberdasher, who came to the clinic with an infant in her left hand and a three-year-old girl in her right.
She was pale to look at.
I hurriedly took care of the little ones and made them sit on the waiting couch for now.

“…….S-Sorry.
Plea-se… I’ve got diapers and stuff here…”

I took the cloth bundle from her shoulder, let her catch her breath, and have Mark pull her slowly into the examination room.
The baby was sleeping peacefully, but I was not sure about the sister.
When I looked into her face to see if she was okay with being left behind by her mother, she looked a little anxious, so I smiled and took her hand and led her onto the rug.

This cute little girl with blond curly hair who sat quietly while scurrying around was Mariella.
You were always so quiet, but you were still worried about your mother’s health, weren’t you?

Her eyes lit up as I pulled out a cloth doll from a wooden box.
All right, let’s play with dolls.

“The doctor’s visit is over, but I’d like to give her some medicine and let her rest for a while, if possible.
Can you still wait?”

We were playing with dolls for a while and I was enjoying the warm weight of her on my left arm, when Mark came to ask, but Mariella was very cheerful, ‘I’m not leaving yet, more play!’ She replied without even looking at Mark’s face.
Hahaha, children.
Mark chuckled and went back to attending to the patients that kept coming in.

After that, May, the grocer, and Daisy, the farmer, came to the hospital with their little ones.
Of course, other patients were coming, and as expected, the only clinic in the village was quite busy.

The people in the village basically helped each other, so they could leave their children with their neighbors and came to the clinic.
However, we all knew that everyone was busy, so mothers tended to put up with their own problems.
It was the same in every world.

I might not be able to come every day, but I hoped I could be of some help.

The rug was thriving as the children switched places.
Everyone was nice and played along and waited for me, so I was a little overzealous and got distracted.

The toys I brought were not that varied.
I produced a doll, some clothes to change into, some leftover cloth, and some old beans to make a beanbag, and a small handbag, small enough for a child to carry, and a few large handkerchiefs.

Since it was small children and babies up to three years old who waited here, it should be soft and light.
They could dress up their dolls, pile up their beanbags, or repeatedly put something in and out of their handbag.
Even the little ones who were a little squirmy stopped crying when I showed them how to play with three balls.
All right! I was glad I had done this with my grandmother.

It would have been nice if we could have sung a hand game or something.
I couldn’t help it, I didn’t have a voice.
I knew a lot of them, though.

The time in the waiting room nursery passed quickly as the other patients teased me with the usual line, ‘Margaret, you’ve suddenly become a mother of many’.

The three of us ate our pancakes in peace, although I was a little bummed that Lady Adelaide had made me have lunch alone, I also spent my time as a nanny until around three o’clock, when the afternoon patients stopped coming in.

When I opened the door to the clinic to let Mark drop me off, I found Buddy sitting there waiting for me.

Buddy, what a good boy! I would fall in love with you!

Footnotes

A bantam is any small variety of fowl, usually of chicken or duck.
Most large chicken breeds and several breeds of duck have a bantam counterpart, which is much smaller than the standard-sized fowl, but otherwise similar in most or all respects.
A true bantam chicken is naturally small and has no large counterpart. Statues (also known as Red Light, Green Light in North America, and Grandma’s/Grandmother’s Footsteps or Fairy Footsteps in the United Kingdom) is a popular children’s game, often played in different countries.
There are variations of play throughout different regions of the world.