Chapter Twenty-SixSYLVAN LODGE HOSPITAL, LOS ANGELES,
November 19, 1929
“Daisy, you sure ya can handle everything while I’m in here?” Clara asked.
“Of course I can. Don’t worry,” I said. “And when Doctor Hommel’s done, you’ll feel much better.”
“I dunno about that.”
I sat alongside her bed with my notebook, jotting down items to do while she was laid up.
Sylvan Lodge Hospital, at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Hoover, had originally opened four years before as a maternity hospital for wealthier women, but now it treated all kinds of gynecological problems.
Dr. Hommel had taken over for Dr. Toland when he retired. Hommel had finally talked Clara into the surgery she both needed and dreaded, the removal of an ovary. Because of the nature of her ailment, we’d tried to k
