‘Um, maybe we should get off the road, then,’ said Dora.
The two ladies helped Carly to her feet and dusted her down.
‘I hope you didn’t dent my car,’ the doctor snapped, turning to inspect the bonnet of her car. ‘You should watch where you’re going.’
‘So should you!’ Carly said. ‘That’s twice you’ve knocked me over!’
Dr Cooper smiled, embarrassed. ‘Sorry.’
‘We’re just getting used to motor cars,’ Jo explained. ‘Lilian just brought this one back with her from America. Isn’t it fancy?’
The girls looked at the car. It was certainly fancier than any car they’d ever seen before.
‘Would you like a ride?’ Dr Cooper asked.
Suddenly Carly’s bumps and bruises stopped hurting. The girls grinned at each other.
‘Would we ever!’ said Dora.
They climbed into the back of the car. There wasn’t much room, especially since there was already a dog on the seat. Ellie woofed with joy to meet a doggy friend. Carly and Dora squeezed in together and held the dogs on their laps.
‘Let’s go!’
They took off. The car was slow compared with modern cars, but since it had no roof, the wind rushing past made them feel as if they were speeding along in a jet. Dr Cooper drove faster than the other motorists. They hurtled along, bumping and rattling, with the wind ripping at their bonnets and the dogs barking and the horn hooting. Carly laughed and held onto her hat.
Then the tyres screeched again and they came to a sudden stop. Poor Ellie flew forward from Dora’s arms into Jo’s lap.
‘Oh dear,’ said Jo, handing the corgi back to Dora. ‘Well, that was fun.’
‘It’s the most fun we’re going to have today,’ Dr Cooper said glumly.
‘Why?’ Carly asked. ‘Where are we? What are we doing?’
Jo turned around to speak to her. ‘We’re going to the official opening of a new wing of the Lady Lamington Hospital.’
‘Oh,’ said Dora. ‘Well, that sounds like a hoot.’
Dr Cooper groaned and said, ‘I’d rather be looking after my patients.’
‘Why are you going, then?’ Carly asked.
Jo stood and climbed down from the car. ‘It’s taken a lot of work for Dr Cooper to be accepted as a doctor. She doesn’t always like to socialise, but she does it because when people get to know her, they find out that she’s a kind and respectable lady. She can only help them if they trust her.’
They all climbed onto the footpath and stood looking at the two-storeyed building before them. ‘Besides,’ Jo went on, ‘today is a very big day. This hospital only opened five years ago, and Dr Cooper was one of its first doctors. She has a lot to be proud of. The hospital has grown and done lots of good work. The Governor’s wife is going to open the new building.’
Dr Cooper smiled shyly. ‘Well, let’s get it over, then.’
They strolled onto the lawn in front of the building, where crowds of people gathered.
‘It looks like a scene from a movie,’ Dora whispered. She was right. The men wore top hats and long coats, and the ladies were all done up in frills and big fancy hats. Carly and Dora wandered about the gardens with Ellie trotting happily at their heels.
They lost sight of Dr Cooper and Jo. As they walked through the grounds, they passed a small group of people and Carly heard a woman say, ‘Isn’t that Lilian Cooper over there?’
‘It is!’ came the reply. ‘I’d know her face anywhere! She operated on me once.’
Carly stopped to listen.
‘Did it go well?’ the first woman asked.
‘It certainly did. She scared me so much, I was afraid not to get better!’
The ladies laughed. Carly and Dora were about to move on when they heard a man’s voice.
‘That was brave of you. I don’t know how you could let a woman operate on you!’
Carly and Dora stopped dead. They turned to look at the speaker. He was a tall man with a big belly and an even bigger moustache. Two middle-aged ladies were scowling at him.
‘Excuse me,’ Dora said loudly. The man looked down at her. Dora’s hands were on her hips and her glasses glinted fiercely in the sun. ‘Women doctors are just as good as men!’
The man chuckled. ‘You’re just a young girl,’ he said. ‘When you grow up, you’ll learn that’s not true. Women just don’t have the right brains for the job.’
‘We have better brains than you! ’
Carly put a hand on her friend’s arm. ‘I don’t think this is the time to get into a fight—’ she started to say, but the older of the two ladies stopped her.
‘Your friend is right,’ she said. ‘There are quite a few lady doctors in Brisbane now and they are very clever. Dr Cooper is at least as good as any man.’
The man snorted. ‘She’s always stirring up trouble of some kind.’
‘Trouble?’ the other lady said in an icy voice. ‘You call fighting to get good hospitals and health care for children trouble?’
‘It’s all the other stufftoo,’ the man grumbled. ‘All the politics and stuff.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ the older lady said. Then she turned her back on him and spoke to Carly and Dora. ‘You’ll be pleased to hear that we’re about to form a Queensland branch of the National Council of Women. Dr Cooper will be at our first meeting. The council does all sorts of things to improve the lives of women. You should come along!’
‘Sure,’ said Dora. ‘Thanks.’
‘Meanwhile,’ the lady added. ‘You’d better get your dog off the gentleman’s leg.’
The girls looked down and saw that Ellie’s teeth were clamped deep into the man’s trousers. He shouted and shook his leg, and Ellie ran off with a strip of black fabric in her jaws.
The crowd started moving inside. Carly and Dora followed. They found themselves at the door of a shiny new hospital ward. The chatter settled and a smartly dressed man cleared his throat and began to speak. A lady in a frilly dress stood
