Note: Sorry this chapter is so short, but I'll have the next chapter up soon. I hope you like this chapter and please review!

Chapter 3

I said goodbye to Joseph and hurried back to the Rhode Island Camp. By the time I got back, it was almost dark but I managed to dash off a quick letter to my father before I went to sleep. I usually wasn't good with sleeping in unfamiliar places, but since Thomas and I were sharing a tent, it made it much easier for me. The next morning, I was up at six and, as usual, I got dressed and did my hair. I told Thomas and General Greene where I was going and set out for the Massachusetts camp. The hospital wasn't hard to find because it was situated right in the middle of their camp. It was warm out, even though it was early in the morning, so I wasn't surprised to find Joseph not wearing a frock coat and vest with his shirt sleeves pushed up to his elbows. He was treating one of the soldiers when I came into the tent.

"Good morning Joseph" I said softly, not wanting to startle him.

He turned to face me when he heard me. "Good morning Lucie. Are you ready to start?"

I nodded.

"Good." Joseph continued "First things first, have you been inoculated against smallpox?"

"I survived it as a child."

"Even better. Alright, the first thing I'm going to teach you is how to disinfect a wound. The best liquids to use are lemon juice and vinegar, and you pour a little on a cloth. For a small surface wound, you just wipe the cloth across the length of the wound. For a larger, deeper wound you dab at the wound."

I spent the next four hours with Joseph learning everything he could teach me about nursing. A few of the soldiers that Joseph was treating even let me practice on them. Joseph told me that I was a natural and he asked me if I wanted to help out at the hospital tent regularly and of course I said yes. Around noon, I went back to the Rhode Island camp and told Thomas that I was probably going to be gone until late afternoon and went back to the hospital tent. I worked alongside Joseph for the rest of the day (There were other doctors and nurses in the hospital tent but I only ever talked to a few). For the next few weeks, me and Joseph worked side by side when he wasn't at one of his meetings, and I was completely happy with my brother Thomas, my old friend Nathanael, and my new friend Joseph around me; but, my happiness was ruined on the afternoon of June 17th.