Tiny Pineapple

ananas comosus (L.) minimus

Society Nurse

by Georgia Craig (1962)
Society Nurse

From jet set to hospital, Susan worked to rebuild her shattered life.

The heart knows.

Love betrayed Susan Merrill, socialite. Jilted by a fortune hunter, she turned to nursing in hope that hard work would fill the void in her heart and replace her broken dreams.

But love was something she still had a lot to learn about. True love means dedication as well as romance. A new world, new experiences, and a new and deeper kind of love waited for Susan as she crossed the threshold from her luxurious but shallow life to one of noble purpose in serving others.

Special Duty Nurse

by Ann Rush (1968)
Special Duty Nurse

The handsome young giant, his head swathed in bandages, was an enigma to the entire staff at County Hospital. With nine thousand dollars in his billfold — and quite the handsomest patient County had had in many a day — they decided that he must be a member of the entertainment world. Not a movie actor — or a night club performer — because most of the nurse would have recognized him; but someone important.

And then when all the nurses had worked themselves up to fever pitch about this stranger who since his admission had seemingly been dead to the world, the patient decided to come back to consciousness. And all their conjectures were blown sky-high. The man who looked so much like a Greek god was a well-known Florida playboy, Tony Cavanaugh, the son of wealthy Anthony Cavanaugh, owner of a chain of hotels.

It was a foregone conclusion that Tony, susceptible to all feminine charms, would fall for his blue-eyed nurse, Ann Cubbedge. But no one — and least of all Ann’s four apartment mates — would have dreamed that Ann would reciprocate. That Ann would even promise to marry Tony.

Their marriage rested on one condition — Tony must start doing something useful in the world. And Tony, who had expressed interest in archeology — and who loved the young nurse enough to change the pattern of his life — decided to go back to school and train for the job he wanted to do.

If Ann, at her parents’ home getting ready for her wedding, hadn’t been listening to the radio that night, the shock of hearing about Tony’s latest escapade might not have been so great…although it would have been devastating under any condition.

Still unable to believe her ears, Ann received a call to come back to work. And knowing that work was the thing she needed most, Ann accepted the assignment.

But how was Ann to know that the lanky, red-haired young man who brought her coffee and a sandwich, when she was unable to get them on the crowded train — and to whom she poured out her whole story of disillusionment — was at that very moment on his way to become the new resident at County Hospital?

Staff Nurse

by Lucy Agnes Hancock (1942)
Staff Nurse

To Judith Morely, Cranford was more than just a hospital where she made her living at a job she liked. Cranford was a refuge and a haven and Judith had no thought of ever leaving it to face marriage, men, or the world.

Judith had never known her father. Her mother had died when she was very young. She was brought up by her Aunt Hepsie in near-poverty, and it had been drummed into her over and over again that her father had forsaken his wife and child, that men were monsters not to be trusted, that she had a bad heritage and could never expect to amount to anything or live down the stigma. No one at Cranford knew about that past, or cared. Judith was well liked, an efficient nurse, an important part of the staff.

Then young Dr. Larry Booth tried to break down her reserve. He said he loved her. He said he wanted to marry her. She didn’t want to fall in love with him and she didn’t want to believe him. But gradually, she found she was beginning to do both. And Rufus Grant said he loved her and said he wanted to marry her. She felt sure she didn’t want to fall in love with him, but she did believe he was honest. And one evening, when she discovered that Dr. Booth really wasn’t trustworthy, she almost came to believe that Aunt Hepsie had been right. But Rufus Grant showed her why that wasn’t true.

Staff Nurse Sally

by Marjorie Norrell (1965)
Staff Nurse Sally

If only Staff Nurse Sally Nesbitt could have fallen in love with nice young reporter Mike Amberton, instead of carrying a torch for the surgeon Curtis Palmer, in company with all the other nurses at the General Hospital!

Stand-By Nurse

by Peggy O'More (1968)
Stand-By Nurse

A major problem of the staff of the City Core Hospital was saving the lives of would-be suicides; a second problem was keeping the revived patients from trying again — and again. Nurse Iva Loring had an inner drive that had taken her through school and training at top speed — and straight into a nervous breakdown. Now she was being eased back into work as a stand-by nurse.

Clearly she had a special empathy with the depressed and the discouraged, so she was put on the suicide detail. But there was some question as to whether or not she was too understanding, too involved, to be effective; and whether it would not be better for both her and the patients if she gave up her career and married the druggist in the hospital dispensary.