The Flying Doctor

Dr. Grace Miller works for the flying doctor service in Australia. Her patients don't live in cities. They live on farms in the outback, hundreds of kilometers from the nearest hospital. When they are ill, Grace gets into a small plane and flies to them.

Last Tuesday, the phone rang at six in the morning. A woman called Helen was worried about her son. "Jack has had a high temperature since yesterday," she said. "He's got a terrible cough and he isn't eating anything." Helen's farm was four hours away by car, but only fifty minutes by plane.

Grace and the pilot took off at seven. From the plane, the land was red and flat, with no roads and no towns. Grace drank her coffee and checked her bag: medicine, a thermometer, bandages, everything she needed.

Jack was nine years old. He was lying in bed and his face was very hot. Grace listened to his chest and looked at his throat. "It's a chest infection," she told Helen. "He needs antibiotics and a lot of water. He'll feel better in two or three days." She gave Jack the first tablet and a small bottle of medicine for the cough.

"You can't go yet," said Helen. "You've flown all this way. Stay for dinner." So Grace stayed. They ate outside, and the sky was full of stars. Jack came to the door in his pajamas. "I'm hungry," he said. Helen laughed. "That's a good sign."

Grace flew home at nine. The farm was already a small light behind her. She has done this job for ten years, and she still loves it. Tomorrow there will be another phone call, another farm, another family. And Grace will be ready.