Waiting for Morning (The Brides Of Last Chance Ranch Series) by Margaret Brownley

want to do that?”
    Caleb shrugged. “A funny thing about us doctors. We tend to have a fascination with the human body. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
    Donny studied him for a moment before giving a reluctant nod. Caleb lowered himself to one knee in front of the wheelchair. “I’m going to take off your shoes and roll up your trousers.” When Donny showed no objection, Caleb reached for a foot.
    He pulled off one shoe and set it aside before working on the other. “Did you know that if your blood vessels were laid end to end, they could travel around the earth twice?”
    Donny stared at him as if trying to figure him out, then said, “Did you know that a quarter moon and half moon are the same?”
    Encouraged that the boy chose to participate in his little game, Caleb glanced up at him. “How can that be?” Caleb wiggled Donny’s shoe off.
    “The quarter tells how much of the lunar month has passed and the half is how much moon is visible,” Donny explained.
    Caleb couldn’t help but be intrigued. Obviously there was nothing wrong with the kid’s mind. “Interesting.”
    “You can see more stars here than in Dobson Creek,” Donny said, warming to his subject. “There are no trees getting in the way. You can see even more stars with a telescope.”
    “So I’ve heard.” Caleb lifted a limp leg and flexed the youth’s foot. “I heard about the fire. Is that what brought you and your sister to Cactus Patch?”
    “Yeah.”
    Sensing Donny’s reluctance to talk about the fire, Caleb quickly changed the subject. “Did you know the foot has more bones than any other part of the body?”
    The dark look left Donny’s face and he fired back a question of his own. “Did you know that if the sun blew up five minutes ago we wouldn’t know it for another three minutes?”
    Caleb responded just as rapidly, “Did you know that babies are born without kneecaps?”
    After several moments of batting interesting and sometimes even amazing facts back and forth, Caleb squeezed Donny’s ankle. “Any feeling here?”
    “Sometimes it tingles,” Donny said.
    “What about here?”
    “No.”
    Caleb checked the length of the leg all the way to the hip. “Any pain?”
    “Sometimes. Mostly at night.”
    He replaced Donny’s shoes and tied the laces. The boy appeared to have a partial lumbar spinal injury with some leg contraction.
    “I can help you.”
    Doubt clouded Donny’s face. “Help me how? Can you make me walk again?”
    “No, I can’t do that.” Caleb sat back on his heels. “I wish I could, but I can’t. No one can do that.”
    Donny gripped the arms of his chair and leaned forward. “Then how are you gonna help me?”
    “I can help you strengthen your muscles. That will make you more independent. I can teach you how to get in and out of bed by yourself. Use the facilities without help. Get in and out of your chair.”
    Donny’s mouth twisted in disgust. “What good will that do? I’ll still be crippled.”
    Caleb stood. “Only if you want to be.”
    “What is that supposed to mean?” Donny’s eyes grew moist, but he was either too stubborn or too proud to give in to tears and glowered instead.
    “You can choose to be a cripple or you can choose to be someone who just happens to have legs that don’t work.” Caleb hated to be tough on the boy, but mollycoddling would do him no favors.
    Donny’s face turned red and his nose flared. “What do you know? Have you ever been crippled?”
    “No.” Caleb studied him. Obviously he’d hit a nerve. “I’ve worked with patients with similar problems.”
    “That don’t mean nothing! You’ve never had to sit in a chair all day. Or had to wait for your sister to dress you. Or been laughed at. You have no idea how awful that is.”
    Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re right. I don’t know what it’s like to sit in a chair all day. But people laugh at me all the time for driving a motor buggy.”
    “That’s not the same