The Wedding Veil

by LibO'Neill

to them. No-one knew the woman’s identity or what had happened, but the paramedics were convinced she’d been knocked by a car.

  “Are you sure there was no vehicle in the area?” asked one of the paramedics.

  “Nothing,” said the jogger.

  “What about the car?” the young woman prompted. “Remember you said you thought you saw a car?”

  “Oh, that’s right. Don’t know if it’s connected...but I thought I saw a white car, I think it was a ute or a work truck, maybe. Driving away down that way. Going pretty fast,” said the jogger, pointing to his left. “That was just before I noticed her lying on the ground.”

  “Right, well the police might want to ask you about it later. Thanks for all you’ve done.”

  A paramedic attended to the woman in the back of the ambulance on the way to the local hospital. The driver called it in, saying it looked like a hit and run, which was unusual for their town on a quiet Monday afternoon.

  “I think we’ll have to cut this coat off,” said the paramedic gently to his patient. “Sorry about that. The medics will want to get a line in...for a drip...they’ll need to get to your arm.” He snipped the jacket sleeves in two lengthways and cut across the front panels of the jacket then pushed it back onto the stretcher and out of the way. “Who are you? What happened, eh? Be better if I knew your name. You’ve got a nasty bump on your forehead and I don’t like the look of your arm.”

  After checking the woman’s blood pressure and her oxygen levels, the paramedic carefully went through the woman’s pockets again, searching for some clue to her identification. There was nothing of note. All they had found were two unused tissues, a small key ring with two keys on it. One key was stamped with the name ‘Kris’. That might be a clue. He found a small piece of paper with a hand-written note on it saying: milk, loo paper, bread, ground ginger and tomatoes. There was nothing else, apart from the plastic shopping bag that had been secured to the woman’s wrist and had somehow remained intact. He carefully snipped the bag free with his sharp scissors and looked inside the bag.

  “Well, well, what have we got here?” he asked his silent patient. He slowly pulled the soft tulle from the bag and unrolled it. “Looks like a wedding veil. Don’t see that every day. Why have you got a wedding veil with you, eh?”

  The nursing staff took control of the woman upon her arrival at the emergency department. Unfortunately the paramedics had nothing to identify the woman, no licence, no Medicare card, no health card, no phone with prominent numbers of family members they could call. The paramedics had bagged up the woman’s few possessions in a large clear bag and handed them over to the staff on duty, leaving them to their job.

  “She’ll need a full scan,” said one doctor on duty. “We’ll keep that brace on her head and neck until after a scan is done. We need to find out what’s happening in the brain...if any damage has been done...or if there are other broken bones. How long before we can get a scan?”

  “About 20 minutes,” said one nurse.

  “Let’s get a line in,” said the head nurse on duty. “Who’s doing bloods? I need to know where her blood pressure is at.”

  “Let’s have a feel of her tummy,” said the doctor. “I’m looking for swelling or possible internal bleeding...looks like a broken wrist on that side over there...”

  It was busy and the medical staff bustled around efficiently, clipping, cutting, poking, prodding, taping and securing. Machines beeped and clicked, the wheels of the intravenous drip rolled and scraped along the floor as it was wheeled into place. An oxygen mask was placed over Janet’s face and a gentle hiss of life-giving oxygen flowed. She was oblivious to everything happening around her.

  “What’s this lady’s name?” asked the doctor.

  “No ID. No wallet...no phone...nothing. Possible hit and run,’ replied a nurse.

  “Right,” said the doctor.

  “There was however a wedding veil,” said a male nurse.

  “A what?”

  “A wedding veil.”

  “You mean she was wearing a wedding veil when they found her?” asked the doctor.

  “No,” explained the head nurse. “She was carrying a wedding veil with her.”

  “Carrying it along the road in her hand?” queried another nurse.

  “No, it was in a plastic bag that she was holding on to.”

  “Right.”

  Two nurses paused in their work and took a long look at the woman lying on the bed in their care.

  “How old to you think she is?” said the first nurse, the younger of the two.

  “How old do you think she is?” said the second and considerably older nurse.

  “In her sixties, maybe?”

  “Remember what we said last week about people looking older when they’re vulnerable or in trauma. Don’t be too hard on her! I’d hate to think what you’d say about me if I was lying there!”

  “I wish,” hissed the first nurse under her breath.

  “What?”

  “Fifties, maybe? Late forties at a pinch, given the circumstances.”

  “That’s more like it,” said the older nurse with a sniff.

  “I don’t think the wedding veil is hers,” the younger nurse added quickly.

  “Why? Do you think she’s too old to be getting married?”

  The first nurse had learnt early on that her co-worker could be prickly and often jumped to the offensive at the strangest times. She remained calm and simply said, “No, not that, it’s just that she already has a wedding ring on and it’s quite worn. So, although I don’t really know, I’m guessing she’s already married.”

  “Mm, you might be right,” conceded the older nurse.

  “Is there any other way of finding out who this woman is? Her face looks somehow familiar to me,” said the first nurse. “I feel like I’ve seen her or someone like her just recently.”

  “I’ve already spoken to the police,” explained the head nurse. “It’ll be up to them.”

  If only they knew, yesterday there was someone on duty in the emergency department that could have identified Janet outright. They didn’t know, but yesterday there was a nurse on duty that used to live next door to the unidentified woman and her husband. She’d rented a small house next door to them. It had been six years ago, but she would have recognised her immediately. But that was yesterday and today was Monday and apparently no-one knew her. Things got busier as the staff prepared for their change of shift and handover.

  It was then, after the change of shift at the hospital, that at last someone came on duty that knew who Janet was. It was one of those strange coincidences. Richard wasn’t meant to be at work. He was on four rostered days off, but saving up for a cruise meant he often took an extra overtime shift here and there. He was filling in for someone that had called in sick. When he first came on, the woman in Bed 4 was off having her scan completed. She had quickly become known as ‘the woman with the wedding veil in Bed 4’ by the staff. When she was wheeled back into the bay and the curtains were adjusted, Richard paid her a quick visit to check her observations.

  “Oh,” he said to his co-worker. “I know this woman.”

  “Do you? Really? Who is she? She had no ID on her when they brought her in.”

  “Her name is Jan...Janet. Janet James. Her daughter is my partner’s friend. The daughter’s name is Kris...she just got married a few weeks ago. God, we went to the wedding! We’ve got photos of it on Facebook. And they think it was a hit and run? That’s bizarre!”

  “Yes. Awful, isn’t it? But now we know her name,” said the head nurse. “We can let the police know and let her family know where she is. Do you know their address or do you have a phone number for her family?”

  “Well, I know where Kris lives, but not where her parents live. Beck might know. All I know is that they live here in town somewhere. I think Kris would still be away. I don’t have her mobile number, but Beck�
��s got it. I’ll ring her and get it for you and I’ll try and get an address and a number for Janet’s husband. Her husband’s name is Bob. Hang on a sec...”

  “Thanks,” said the head nurse, rubbing Janet’s hand.

  “But, what about the wedding veil?” asked Richard as he opened the cover of his phone. “What was she doing with the wedding veil?”

  “No idea,” said the head nurse and shrugged her shoulders.

  By the time Janet came to, she had been moved to the intensive ward upstairs. Her husband was with her. Her daughter, Kris and her son-in-law Matt had also arrived. They cut their honeymoon short by three days to get home again and they were all delighted to be told that apart from a broken wrist and two cracked ribs Janet would be fine. The doctors said she’d have to take it easy and due to the head injury she had suffered there was some amnesia but as time went on this should improve. Janet couldn’t remember what had happened. She had no idea what she’d been doing that would have led to her ending up in hospital. Her memories of the last few days leading up to the accident were very hazy and some other things were not that clear either.

  “Mum, we’re so glad you’re okay,” said Kris. “You gave us such a scare.”

  “Didn’t mean to,” said Janet, and then she yawned. She felt terribly tired.

  “The cat misses you,” said Kris.

  “The cat?” asked Janet.

  “Yes. Blacky. My cat. You remember you were feeding him while we were away?”

  “Was I?” said Janet.