Chapter 7: Davie Beaton's Closet
In this chapter, we are all thankful for modern medicine (not for the last time, I imagine).
Claire is called to another audience with Colum. He notes her skill as a healer and asks her to look over the supplies left behind by their late healer-in-residence, Davie Beaton.
I saw the thickened skin around the nail and wondered at it; it hardly seemed likely that he did much manual labor.
What's all this about?
Claire and Colum make their way down to Davie Beaton's lair, and I am reminded again that I am disappointed that Claire's scene with Frank in this location is not Book Canon. It remains part of my personal canon.
Claire wanders around a bit, looking at all of the medical supplies. These are mostly disgusting or useless. I'm not sure whether Colum's implication that one of Davie Beaton's patients died because of a thumb injury is actually true or just meant to reinforce to Claire the ineffectiveness of 18th-century medicine.
If nothing else, the room allows Claire some privacy in which to contemplate her predicament. She muses on her passage through the stones, comparing it to bombing raids she lived through during WWII. She remembers the passage as a struggle, away from some "incomplete thoughts" and toward others:
Had I actually chosen to come to this particular time because it offered some sort of haven from that whirling maelstrom?
It's not clear to me why Claire would have chosen to come to the 18th century, but the question of volition is intriguing. Can someone travel through the stones deliberately? And can travelers steer toward a particular moment?
Later, Claire brings Jamie another picnic and they continue their conversation about his personal history. He reveals that he has a price on his head . . . for murder.
"Well, it's a bit off. I didna actually kill the man whose murder I'm outlawed for. Mind ye, I've done for a few other redcoats along the way, so I suppose it's not unjust."
It's difficult to update the Body Count ticker on this sort of vague information, but let us stipulate that the number of people Jamie has killed on the page is not a complete accounting of his lethality.
Jamie explains that he needs to avoid both the English soldiers and the Watch in order to stay alive. He also tells Claire that McTavish isn't his own name, though he doesn't offer his real name.
"Why do you wear your hair cropped?" I asked suddenly, then blushed. "I'm sorry, it's none of my business."
Don't worry about it, Claire. Your lack of tact is both endearing and useful to the voyeuristic reader.
Jamie shows her the scar on his head, explaining that he took a wound in the head.
"I was blind for a month or so after it happened, and my head ached like fury all the time."
Jesus. Maybe he does have some sort of permanent brain damage.
Here, we meet Alec McMahon MacKenzie, the Master of Horse. That, plus Jamie's description of a dream in which tree roots grow through his eye sockets, makes it seem like we've entered some sort of Game of Thrones cross-over episode.
In spite of the fact that I took no part in the horsey conversation, I didn't feel out of place here at all.
Claire's getting very comfortable here. I'm a little surprised at her lack of urgency regarding escape.
Jamie and Alec talk of horses (in Gaelic), and then about the Gathering (inexplicably, in English). It strains belief that they would have this sensitive conversation in front of Claire in a language that she can understand.
There's a bit of talk about Jamie's parents, which I hope to hear more of sometime. Apparently Colum and Dougal were of the opinion that "Black Brian" was a terrible man who stole the sister of whom they were, evidently, quite fond. And by fond, I mean controlling. I assume that we will hear different sides of this story at some point.
We also have the first mention of the Stuarts by any of the 18th-century characters. It seems to be widely known that Dougal is a Jacobite.
Alec tries to persuade Jamie to swear loyalty to Colum, mentioning that he'll have a good job in the stables at Leoch, and that Laoghaire would certainly be happy to see him stay. Jamie protests that he didn't take Laoghaire's beating out of affection, which Alec believes just as much as he should. Honestly, Jamie, no one is going to believe that.
"Even this Sassenach wench can no keep away from ye, and her a new widow!"
At least some people are paying attention.
Claire "wakes up" and offers to take the bandages off Jamie's shoulder, but he refuses. Claire finds this "very odd," as do I. The only thing I can think of is that Alec's teasing has made Jamie self-conscious around Claire and he's sending her away so that she doesn't notice his interest.
Anyway, Claire walks off with two final thoughts:
- Who hit Jamie with an axe? One of the MacKenzies? Possibly. I don't remember whether I know the answer to this from the show or not.
- "For a young man on the run, with unknown enemies, Jamie had been remarkably confiding to a stranger." Yes. Indeed. Another reason why you should RUN AWAY, Claire. I don't care how attractive he is, this guy has shown nothing but bad judgment since you met him.
Back in the Beaton's room, Claire continues her encounter with 18th-century medicine:
I closed the book, marveling at the large number of the late doctor's patients who, according to his meticulous log, had not only survived the treatment meted out to them but actually recovered from their original ailments.
She throws out various revolting substances and has an encounter with Davie Beaton's surgical tools, which are so filthy that they stink. Gross. When I was a child, several members of my family were fascinated with the history of medicine, so I spent more than one childhood vacation staring at the old Army Medical Museum collections in the National Museum of Health and Medicine and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. The surgical tools didn't bother me as much as the slices of preserved tissues in jars, but the worst were the photos of veterans who had actually survived both their wounds and the medical treatments of the day. I would not make a good medical professional — just thinking of those photos of what a lead bullet can do to the human body gives me the shivers.
Luckily, Claire has a stronger stomach. Somebody brings in a man with a torn up foot and her emergency room is officially open for business.
Body Count:
Jamie: 3 + (assorted redcoats)