by Roddy Murray
He stood up as she left the canteen smiling a farewell. "Well well well," he thought. "Life just gets better and better."
He finished the last mouthful of his coffee which was by now stone cold and headed off to the medical suite.
As Doc "please call me John" Gibson had suggested, his wife had seen and heard it all before. Prior to joining Nebus, she had been a sister in the Accident and Emergency department of a large general hospital. Nothing Frank told her, in answer to her rather detailed questions, fazed her at all. Indeed after a while and some scary anecdotes from her he even started to think he might have led a rather sheltered life.
She was very easy to talk to and even when she started to major on his previous drinking habits he felt it quite natural to give her the unedited version, which wasn't pretty. As a result, she said they would be doing some extra tests and scans on his liver to assess the extent of any permanent damage and some of this would involve a visit to a local hospital.
"Private," she said with an element of distaste, "so plenty of staff and no queuing."
After what seemed an age she announced that she had finished for the day, but that there would be further questionnaires once his answers had been analysed and also after the visit to the hospital. There would also be ongoing medical assessment during the three weeks to make sure he wasn't suffering any trauma.
"No trauma so far," he assured her as he left her office and headed to the canteen.
It was 3.30 and he was hungry again. He hoped he might meet up with Bernie again but she was nowhere to be seen. Indeed the canteen was very quiet. A couple of kids in lab coats and an assistant behind the counter. He asked her for a fairly challenging bite to eat to keep the chef occupied and made his way to an empty table carrying an orange juice. The guys in lab coats kept talking without acknowledging his arrival. That's fine, he thought, I wouldn't understand a word they're saying anyway.
The mature lady from behind the counter appeared with his savoury crepe with grilled mushrooms and gruyere cheese, accompanied by a salad of grated carrots, fresh low fat coleslaw and couscous. Again it looked fantastic and he tucked in.
Just as he was about to finish his plateful he looked and almost choked on a piece of crepe. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen had just walked into the canteen and had made her way to the counter. She was tall and slim with perfect dark skin and black hair. Her figure was incredible and Frank realised his mouth was wide open. "Not cool," he thought and closed it.
Stay calm my son. Act cool. Maybe she will sit beside the kids if she knows them or me if I'm unbelievably lucky. If she sits on her own I'll grab a coffee and join her. He watched her unashamedly as she ordered a coffee "to go" in a deep American accent with an educated southern drawl. Frank watched every movement she made. Imagined movements she didn't make. He had never seen anyone as beautiful before.
She took the coffee from the assistant and thanked her politely then walked back to the stairs and descended towards reception.
Frank was on his feet in a shot, all thoughts of finishing his plate or washing it down with a coffee now gone. This was far more important. He tried to appear as casual as possible as he too descended the stairs and followed her along a corridor. He would stay just a little behind her and see which office or suite she worked in. Then it should be a simple matter during the three weeks there to bump into her and give it the charm as only he could. He had some leaflets in his hand that nurse Moira had given him to read based on some of his answers to her questions and he pretended to read them in case she looked round. But she didn't. She had a distracted, almost worried look on her face and never noticed Frank stalking her.
She headed on down the corridor until she arrived at D section, walking straight in as one of the security guards smiled and opened the security door using a switch on his desk.
"Bugger," thought Frank.
That was going to make things a bit more difficult. One of the security guys eyed Frank suspiciously as he approached the desk but just at the last moment Frank looked up in a distracted way and turned down the corridor towards The Penicuik Suite. The guard watched him all the way till he turned a corner and was out of sight.
"They're good," he thought, "if they watch me with someone like her on their monitors."
The guard who had watched Frank turned to his buddy and said, “there’s something strange about that guy, you know, the hard case working with the Irish lass."
His colleague didn't look up from his monitor. "Could still be a boffin though, reading stuff as he walks along the corridor. Bit of a giveaway wouldn't you say?"
"Can't be that bright though, reading a leaflet called 'How to tell if you have genital warts' for all the world to see," and they both laughed briefly before returning to their normal duties.
Frank made his way to the Penicuik Suite and went in for no good reason at all. Jon was there on his own working on some wiring which had been attached to Frank earlier. He hadn't even heard Frank come in and didn't look up. Frank left and headed off to reception the opposite route from D section. Fiona was not there, only her security guard colleague, who gave Frank a polite but slightly suspicious nod as he passed and made his way over to Jim and the people carrier. Frank realised he must stand out like a sore thumb amongst the boffins and whiz-kids at Nebus Biosciences and security, with very little else to do, were happy to eye him up and down whenever they saw him. He didn't much like it but supposed they were only doing their job. Still he wouldn't mind a chance to sort out that nosey one at D section. He would enjoy doing that.
"Home James, and don't spare the horses," he said to Jim with a smile. Charlotte awaits and with the lights out she might as well be the American vision of beauty he had just seen. He didn't know how but he was determined to see her again and try his luck. He hadn't figured out how yet but that was a mere detail. The way his luck was going at the moment he would get a chance one way or another.
When he arrived at the hotel he was surprised when the young lad behind the reception desk called his name and said: "I have a message for you tonight Mr Chisholm," and handed him an envelope with a note inside. Intrigued he opened it straight away and discovered it was from Charlotte. Apparently, she had to attend a night-out at the end of the course she was running and wouldn't be back before eleven o'clock at the earliest.
"Bugger," Frank thought of himself. She might be back around eleven or she might end up making a night of it and stagger in much later. He thanked the lad at reception and headed up to his room. A quick change and he was headed to the gym and the pool for a bit of a workout before dinner; a meal he looked destined to eat alone. It was on occasions like this that his non-drinking habits were at greatest risk and exercise was a good way of distracting his desire to get hammered. He hit the gym hard, aware that the few days so far at Nebus had involved sitting about, good food and not much else. He felt stale and didn't want to start looking it too. Weights followed by a session on the exercise bike and then a serious battle with the cross trainer started to get him feeling positive and healthy again, and reduced the strong urge to go straight to The Space and put a heavy drinking session onto the Nebus, bill.
After 90 minutes or so he knew sobriety had won again and he had a quick shower and headed for the pool. By then he had expended energy and anger in equal measure and wanted to simply cruise up and down the pool for a while, killing time till a suitable moment for dinner, whilst waiting for Charlotte from bloody Carshalton. After a few lengths of the pool he got bored and felt a little drained. He toweled himself and headed into the sauna to sweat a bit before a strong possibility of a nap before eating.
After a few minutes the door to the sauna opened and a woman in her late 20s came in and sat down on the bench opposite him.
"Bad day at the office?" she suddenly asked out of the blue.
Frank had hardly noticed her as she came in and had not noticed her at all in the gym. He must be slipping, he told himself, as she had a rather tidy figure. N
o Miss World he thought but if he could still pull anyone who was under 30 he obviously hadn't lost his touch.
"Don't ask," he replied with a smile which suggested charm was set to stun if it could.
"I thought so," the girl continued. "Looked like you wanted to kill someone the way you were battering the weights in there."
"Just taking out a bit of frustration after a bad day," Frank said thinking all the time that he had to come through to Edinburgh more often in the future.
"There is nothing, and I mean nothing worse than being frustrated," said the girl staring straight into Frank's eyes. Not one for small talk he thought and asked her something about checking how the decor in his room compared to hers.
She smiled and said, “Room number 27. I'm going there now if you would like to have a look around."
"Don't mind if I do," replied Frank and they headed off to compare notes on decor together in the comfort of her room, after the briefest of showers in the changing facilities and wearing the minimum of their clothing.
The young man at reception, who didn't miss much, smiled a hello at Frank and quickly assessed the situation as the young lady who had caught his eye when checking in earlier followed on behind at a trot trying not to look as if they were together.
"Lucky bastard," he whispered under his breath.
The rest of the evening was one Frank would remember forever, given half a chance, and also one he could boast about to his Para chums, he thought, when he met them next. It would also have a made a good Ealing comedy or Whitehall farce. Jennifer turned out to be there for one night only with a very early start the next day to catch a flight which would ultimately end up with a year in South Africa as a nanny. After ten boring years working for the local council and staying at home with her parents she had embarked on a quest for adventure. After a seriously restricted social life she had started with a fairly wild send off with her friends for a few days in Dundee and had just about recovered enough at the hotel in Edinburgh to consider a final fling with an older man. An older man who was obviously still quite fit. Either way she had no intention of staying in touch or seeing him again even if it broke his heart. Frank's heart was made of sterner stuff and he jumped at the chance to inject a bit of adventure into this young lady's life.
After an exhausting session in her room they caught their breath and ordered food from room service. A platter of sandwiches and salad arrived which they devoured quickly. Refreshed, they made love again in the shower of the room and ended up lying on the bed side by side.
It had been good fun for all concerned but they both knew it was only ever going to be that and an
embarrassed silence descended on the room as each waited for the other to make an excuse for going their separate ways. Before Frank could summon up the courage Jennifer surprised him by saying, "I don't want to kick you out or anything but I have a really early start tomorrow and could use a good night's sleep."
Both surprised and relieved Frank nodded, got dressed and, giving her a kiss on the cheek left, promising to keep in touch etc, etc.
He arrived at his room and checked the time. Nine o'clock. Time for a quick shower and then maybe off to bed. He had pretty much written Charlotte off by then but decided a nap was the best course of action whatever lay ahead. His head hit the pillow at 9.20 and he must have been asleep five seconds later. A deep sleep. A very deep sleep where he dreamt of computers, women and club sandwiches in equal measure. The computers were buzzing and flashing and then knocking. Gently at first but slowly and surely getting louder.
Frank woke up to find there was a real knocking coming from his room door and the time was 10.45 pm. He dragged his body out of bed reluctantly, still too drowsy to think clearly. He opened it without saying anything and Charlotte rushed him with her hand grabbing his crotch as they twirled towards his bed. Not only had he been caught off-guard but he had already spent a busy hour or two earlier with young Jennifer and was struggling to rise to the challenge of satisfying Charlotte from Carshalton too. To make this worse, but at least buy him some recovery time, Dr Bernie decided to phone him five minutes after Charlotte arrived in his room.
Citing business talk he excused himself to the bathroom of his room to take that call which he struggled to keep brief. Bernadette had been bored in her flat and, unable to sleep thought she would phone Frank to continue the chat from where it had left off in the canteen. Apologising for the lateness of the hour and finding that by then Frank was also wide awake, she had hoped for a long chat. Frank seemed strangely reluctant to get into any detail regarding any subject she raised and eventually admitted he was quite nervous about the next day’s activities and had to try to get some sleep. Bernadette was disappointed but seemed pleased he had been able to admit his nervousness to her. Maybe he had a shy sensitive side after all she mused.
Back in the bedroom Frank put the phone down and jumped back into bed beside Charlotte.
"Who was that?" she asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.
"That was Dr MacGuiness from Nebus," he emphasised the Dr and Nebus bits as he spoke. "There’s a slight change to the plans for tomorrow so I need different stuff with me."
"Kind of late for a phone call like that isn't it," continued Charlotte.
"These boffins work half the night and never pay attention to the time. But to be honest, on the money they are paying me they could phone me at my mother's funeral and I would listen politely."
This seemed to satisfy Charlotte's curiosity and she refrained from asking any more questions as Frank grabbed her under the covers and pulled her towards him.
"Phew, that was close," thought Frank.
Another awkward moment occurred the next morning when Frank came down to breakfast with Charlotte. Jennifer was in the process of checking out at reception when they walked in to view. Frank had smiled at her as casually as he could, taking a step in front of Charlotte to indicate they were not together. Fortunately for Frank Jennifer had started to feel quite embarrassed about her fling with such an older man and after briefly returning his smile turned to reception praying he wouldn't try and stop to talk to her. Frank didn't.
Frank and Charlotte had a long relaxed breakfast. She had finished her training course the day before and only had the journey South to achieve that day, with her shuttle flight booked for 11 in the morning. Frank knew his transport would arrive around nine to collect him and he was ready to go when it did, so they could both relax and make small talk.
Charlotte steered the conversation round to explore the possibilities of keeping in touch. At first the alarm bells went off in Frank's head but when he thought about it he decided it might not be too bad a thing to be able to visit Charlotte in the future. No regular set up of course but a visit to London every now and then could be interesting.
"I tend to be pretty busy most of the time," he started. "But I'll give you my email address and you send me yours. That way we can maybe meet up if we both have time off."
This seemed to be as much as Charlotte had been hoping for and she pocketed the serviette with Frank's email address on it.
A soft voice came over the tannoy informing Mr Chisholm that his transport had arrived. He shrugged his shoulders with a resigned look on his face and, giving her a quick kiss on the lips said, "Duty calls. Remember to send me your email address," and off he went.
Jim was waiting at reception and he joined Frank when he appeared and headed for the car. The usual
conversation followed with banter back and forward slighting each other’s football allegiances until they arrived once more at Nebus. With a final swipe at Heart of Midlothian FC Frank got out of the MPV and headed into the building. Jim had not been quick enough to come up with a reposte but just laughed briefly and grabbed a thriller from the luggage compartment beside his leg.
Chapter Twelve
Waiting for him in Edinburgh, Delores had got bored quite quickly. She was used to busy days. In fact she was used to everyday being too bu
sy as a rule. A day with no work or responsibilities was far harder to cope with. She had initially tried to set a routine which involved her usual early start. Coffee only, followed by a jog and speed walk was the norm but she didn't want to risk going out in a strange city alone. Instead she started her day by watching a news channel, a luxury she had not enjoyed for a very long time. This crystalized into specifically watching the BBC news channel which she discovered had no adverts on it and was staffed by people who actually seemed to know what they were talking about. After an hour or so of this and a healthy cereal breakfast she would go out for a walk, growing in confidence each day in her new surroundings, as people she had never seen before would say hello in passing or after seeing her out and about perhaps only once. Compared to the car-travel-only set up of her home town, this was very refreshing.
Edinburgh had plenty of hills and steep streets, especially around the area of Edinburgh Castle. As she explored the city she would set a brisk pace up these streets to get her breathing going. She also visited the gym each day during the ladies only sessions and began to enjoy the freedom of having time on her hands which she could herself choose how to fill. There were museums and art galleries everywhere and she started to visit them too. History seemed to be dripping off every building here. It oozed from every pore of the old stones which they were made of. There was nothing in her home town as old as the building where her flat was and it was in the New Town of Edinburgh. She found it all a liberating experience. Most of all though, it gave her time to think.
After three days in the flat, she had been collected by car and driven out of Edinburgh to The Nebus Bioscience building. There she had met with Dan's nephew Bobby. He had explained again how ill Blaine had been but had sounded very positive about the chances of his experimental treatment giving him a new lease of life. He was very short on detail and, like his uncle, emphasised how sensitive the process was, requiring her to keep anything she learnt to herself. Again without much detail he explained that there would be some changes in Blaine that she would have to get used to but that they would have a better idea of the extent of that after the operation had been completed. She nodded without fully