He didn’t look up immediately, and Coral knew it for a power game. She waited him out. When he looked up, he met her eyes and looked concerned as he said, “I hear your patient had a set-back.” There were no secrets in a community this small—certainly not from the man who ran it. “A touch of nausea. She’s healing well, now. I’ll have her off the antibiotics and discharge her soon.” “Good,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about your very good idea to have a town hall meeting about medical care.” He hadn’t seemed to think it was such a good idea before. But whatever. “We really don’t have a room big enough for one meeting. Remember, there’s no way to project your voice over someplace like an empty library floor. So I thought I’d suggest this. We’ll have people come in slightly staggered shifts for an evening meal, and you can go from dining room to dining room and have the talk with each group.”
