Holly had already gathered that.
Albert—he refused to give his surname or his date of birth—was homeless and had been found collapsed in a doorway. It was unclear how long he had been unconscious. The paramedics explained that the shopkeeper who had called for an ambulance had said he was used to him being there when he closed up at night.
He was usually awake by morning and told to move on.
They just hadn’t been able to wake him this morning but he had sat up when the paramedics had arrived and insisted that he was fine. Albert had tried to get up and walk off but had been unable to do so and had finally agreed to come to hospital and be seen.
He was cantankerous, and very, very unkempt, with wild white hair and sore, cracked skin, and he refused to get undressed. More worrying than his appearance was a deep cough and a tinge of purple to his lips and tongue.
Holly checked his oxygen saturation, which was rather low so she slipped on some nasal prongs to deliver a low dose of oxygen as she took his temperature.
‘You’ve got a fever.’
He nodded.
‘Let me help get you into a gown so that the doctor can examine you.’
‘I don’t want you cutting my clothes.’ He was coughing and wheezing but finally he allowed Holly to start removing layer upon layer of clothes.
First a coat, then a jumper, beneath that a jacket and then another shirt.
Kay came in and helped with his boots and bottom half.
It was always a bit of a feat to undress the homeless, especially in winter.
Soon, though, it was all bagged into two large plastic bags that Holly put under his trolley. Albert held onto a small leather bag and refused when Holly offered to lock it up in the hospital safe for him.
‘You’re not touching this!’
So Holly didn’t.
And neither did she get very far with all the questions that needed to be asked and forms that needed to be filled in. He didn’t want to reveal even his surname, let alone his next of kin.
‘Is there anyone I can let know you are here?’ Holly asked.
He gave a derisive laugh.
‘Do you have any medical history that we need to know about?’
Albert didn’t answer, and neither did he let Holly put in an IV or take bloods. All he wanted to do was to be left alone to sleep. Soon enough Daniel came into examine him.
Albert was more responsive to Daniel’s questions than he had been to Holly’s and he did let him listen to his chest.
‘How long have you had this cough for?’
‘It’s been bad for a couple of days.’
‘You’ve got quite a high temperature,’ Daniel commented, and Albert nodded.
‘I’ve had that since last night,’ Albert said. ‘I got the shakes and I couldn’t get warm but I think I was burning up.’
‘Okay,’ Daniel said, and he helped him lie back on the pillows and had a feel of his stomach, and though he tried to talk to him Albert didn’t really communicate.
‘I’m going to take some blood and then get an IV started,’ Daniel said. ‘We’ll get a chest X-ray...’ He went through it all but Albert just lay back. ‘You can have some breakfast while you’re waiting to go around, it’s a bit of a wait.’
‘I don’t want breakfast.’
‘Well, a cup of tea...’
‘I don’t want anything.’
Daniel could see that he was markedly dehydrated. The IV he was putting in would take care of that but he was more concerned with his lethargy.
‘Is there anything else going on, Albert?’
‘Everything’s fine!’ Albert’s response was sarcastic and Holly watched as instead of leaving Daniel remained.
‘How long have you been on the streets?’
‘Long enough,’ Albert said, but then he opened up a little. He had lived rough, on and off, for eighteen years. ‘Sometimes I stay at a hostel and I was at a halfway house once for a few weeks but it didn’t work out.’
He relied on several charities and soup kitchens for some meals and had to beg for help with the rest and he didn’t want to see a social worker.
‘I just want my chest sorted out and then I’ll be gone.’
‘How old are you, Albert?’ Daniel asked, and though he had refused to answer Holly, now he did.
‘Seventy-two.’
‘And winter’s barely got going,’ Daniel said, and Holly saw Albert close his eyes at the thought of the prospect of another winter living rough but then he rallied and gave a shrug.
‘It’s not so bad.’
‘Really?’ Daniel checked, but Albert didn’t answer. He just lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling as Daniel took some bloods and an IV was commenced.
‘Would you like some breakfast?’ Holly offered again once Daniel had gone, but again Albert shook his head.
‘Leave me alone.’
The wait for X-Ray was a long one but finally he was back in the unit and sure enough he had lower lobe pneumonia along with a few more chronic issues.
He was started on antibiotics and as Holly added them to his IV she tried to engage him.
Albert was having none of it.
‘I’m going to call the kitchen and see if they can send you something hot to eat,’ Holly said, removing the untouched sandwiches that she had put out for him. ‘I’ll be back soon to do your obs.’
Daniel came in just as Holly left.
‘She’s a chirpy little thing, isn’t she?’ Albert grumbled.
‘You could say that,’ Daniel agreed. ‘The admitting doctors will be down to see you, though it may be a while, but you’re going to need to stay in.’
Often patients like Albert declined admission or set a very strict timeline for treatment, such as a few hours, but Albert nodded.
If anything, he seemed relieved that he would be staying in.
‘How are you doing?’ Daniel asked.
‘Still coughing.’
‘You shall be for a while,’ Daniel said. ‘I meant, apart from your chest?’
‘I’m just...’ Daniel waited patiently and finally Albert elaborated. ‘I’m tired.’
It was as if everything was summed up in that short statement and Daniel knew he was hearing the very truth.
Tired of being sick.
Tired of a hard life on the streets.
And now that he had admitted just how tired he was it was almost as if he had given up because he lay back defeated.
‘Albert, while you’re waiting to be seen, I’m going to call the duty social worker.’
‘What’s she going to do?’
‘Perhaps she can get the ball rolling on some accommodation for when you’re discharged.’
‘I’m not going to another of those hostels. There are too many rules.’
‘Albert, why won’t you let us help you?’
‘Because I don’t want your help.’
Daniel wasn’t so sure that was true.
‘So do you want me to ring the social worker?’ he checked.
‘Call her if you want to.’ Albert shrugged. ‘I don’t know what she’s going to be able to do, though.’
Daniel called the duty social worker from the nurses’ station, where the radio was playing Christmas carols and there was a plate of star-shaped gingerbread out. Most of the nurses were now wearing tinsel, but for Daniel it all felt a long way from Christmas.
Actually, it felt like every Christmas he had known.
‘Nora!’ Daniel looked up as a flushed-faced Nora came in.
‘I’m looking for Kay,’ she said, and then promptly burst into tears.
He paged Kay, who was dealing with a domestic violence incident, and led a teary Nora around to Kay�
�s office.
‘Nora...’ Kay rushed in.
‘He’s talking!’ Nora said through her tears. ‘He knows where he is and everything.’
Daniel blinked.
He had been absolutely sure that Paul must have died and from Kay’s gaping mouth she must have been thinking the same. But it would seem instead that Nora had been holding things in all these weeks and now that the news was good she could finally allow some of her emotions out.
‘They’re thrilled with him,’ she sobbed.
Daniel left them to it.
Who would have thought?
Not he.
He walked past the cubicle and there was Albert, just lying there dozing, but he opened his eyes as Daniel approached.
‘I spoke with the social worker. Now that she knows you’re being admitted—’
‘She’ll see me on the ward.’ Albert knew the drill and finished Daniel’s sentence for him.
Daniel nodded. With public holidays and a very heavy workload at this time of the year, they both knew it might take a while for Albert to be seen.
‘You’ll be here over Christmas,’ Daniel told him. ‘Is there anyone you’d like us to inform?’
‘I doubt they’d want to know.’
It was an opening and the first hint of the life that Albert had left behind.
‘Have you ever been in touch with your family?’
‘No.’ Albert shook his head. ‘Well, I used to send a card to Emily, my great-niece, she’s also my god-daughter, but I wasn’t well one year and I didn’t manage to post it, then it seemed too late by the next.’
Daniel could see how it had happened. Oh, their lives were different in many ways but he could easily see how a couple of years of no contact might then make it hard to get back in touch.
And to know if you would even be welcome if you did.
‘How old is she?’ Daniel asked.
‘Emily?’ Albert checked, and Daniel nodded. ‘She was two the last time I saw her. She’d be twenty now, I doubt she’d even know my name.’
‘What about her parents?’
‘Dianne is her mother,’ Albert explained. ‘She was my late sister’s daughter. She’s a chirpy thing too, like your young nurse. Dianne was good to me. Everyone took sides during the divorce but she always stayed back from doing that. I wasn’t well.’ He tapped the side of his head to indicate mental-health issues. ‘Dianne always invited me over for Christmas but I’d always mess it up and start a row.’
‘Why?’
‘So that I could leave,’ Albert admitted. ‘I was embarrassed. I used to be a geography teacher. I missed out on head of department...they said I wasn’t up to the responsibility but instead of proving them wrong, I proved them right and walked out. My wife had had enough by then and, looking back, I can’t blame her. I lost my marriage, my job, everything really...’ He shook his head. ‘It’s history.’
‘I thought you said you taught geography.’
The silly joke made Albert smile but then Daniel watched as a very independent but very lonely man gave in then and started to cry.
It was very sad to watch but Daniel did so, and pulled out some paper hand cloths from the dispenser so that Albert could blow his nose.
Holly came in to the sound of his tears but saw that Daniel was in there and left.
‘Have you ever spoken with your wife?’ Daniel asked when Albert had finished.
‘I was admitted to hospital once when the divorce wasn’t yet through,’ Albert said. ‘They called her but she told them that she wanted nothing more to do with me. I can’t blame her for that.’
Daniel knew that the social worker would go through it all with Albert but that could be a few days away and, Daniel guessed, by then Albert could well have taken up his things and gone.
‘Have you thought of calling your niece?’ Daniel asked.
‘Every day,’ Albert admitted, and he went into the small bag that he would not let go of and took out a clear plastic bag. On it was a piece of paper and in very neat handwriting there was a number and his niece’s full name and address. ‘I don’t know what to say if I call.’
Neither did Daniel.
Nearly two decades on, what did you say?
‘They might have moved...’ Daniel said as he looked at the address, but Albert shook his head.
‘They’re still there,’ Albert said.
‘How do you know?’
‘Sometimes I walk past. There’s a “For Sale” sign up, though. They shan’t be there for long.’
It was now or never.
‘Do you want me to try and call for you?’ Daniel offered.
He rather hoped that Albert would shake his head. Daniel really did, because he didn’t want to walk back into the cubicle and have to tell Albert that his family had terminated the call, as often happened in situations like these.
There was a lot of hurt on both sides, no doubt.
But instead Albert nodded. ‘I’d like that,’ he said. ‘Please.’
Daniel took a few more details and as he walked out, Holly was walking toward him, carrying a tray. Her hair was piled up high and her smile was bright, if a bit forced, when she saw him. ‘I got the canteen to send Albert up an early lunch.’
‘Good,’ Daniel said. ‘I’m just about to call his niece, they haven’t been in touch for eighteen years. I think Albert’s hoping to resume contact.’
He watched as her smile faded. Holly would know only too well that the chances of this call ending well weren’t great.
Daniel held the cubicle curtain open for Holly and she walked in with the tray. ‘I’ve got a nice potato and leek soup for you, Albert, and it actually smells rather amazing.’
‘You have it, then.’
Holly arranged the tray on a table and pushed it towards him but Albert wasn’t interested. Instead, he lay back on the pillows and closed his eyes and wondered what the doctor would say when he returned.
Daniel wasn’t hopeful.
He dialled the number that Albert had given him. It had been many years and given the little history Albert had told him Daniel wasn’t sure that he’d be speaking to the right person, let alone that the call would be welcome, or that anyone would even pick up.
Someone did. ‘Hi!’
‘Hello,’ Daniel responded to the cheery voice. ‘I was wondering if I could speak with Dianne Eames.’
‘She’s not here at the moment.’ The voice was that of a young woman and she sounded busy. ‘Who’s calling?’
‘It’s Dr Daniel Chandler from the accident and emergency department at The Primary Hospital.’
That tended to get a response!
‘One moment...’ She must have covered the phone but Daniel heard the young woman call for her mother and a few moments later another woman came to the phone.
‘Dianne Eames speaking.’
She sounded brusque and impatient but, Daniel knew, that was often the way to cover fear.
‘Is everything okay with Vince?’ she asked.
‘We had a patient admitted to us this morning. Albert Marlesford...’
There was a long stretch of silence.
‘How is he?’
Daniel had to think for a moment before answering. ‘He’s been admitted with pneumonia. But, I’m not sure if you’re aware, he’s been living on the streets for some time.’
‘Yes, I’m more than aware. That was his choice.’
‘I understand that.’
‘We tried to keep in touch with him, he used to send the odd card or letter and I’d go out looking for him...’ There was a tense, inward breath that was followed by the sound of tears. ‘He always managed to mess up Christmas every year, you could guarantee it!’
Given that i
t was Christmas Eve, Daniel thought for a moment that the message was clear—Albert wouldn’t be messing up this one—but it would seem he had misinterpreted, Daniel realised, as Dianne continued to speak. ‘Now he’s managed another. I guess there won’t be turkey at the table tomorrow.’
‘Sorry?’
‘I was just on my way to pick it up but that can wait... He’s at The Primary, you say...’
It was then that Daniel realised that Dianne was saying that she was on her way in. That, even after eighteen years of no contact, Albert’s niece would drop everything, even plans for tomorrow’s dinner, to come and see him on Christmas Eve.
‘Dianne,’ Daniel said. ‘To be honest, I think by the time you’ve got your turkey he might be a little more ready to receive visitors.’ He decided it might be better for Albert if he explained things now. ‘It might be nicer for him to be a bit more presentable when you meet.’
‘He was always too proud for his own good,’ Dianne said, and then thought for a moment. ‘Can you tell him that I’ll be in to see him this afternoon...? Hold on a moment.’ Daniel waited and there was the sound of chatter in the background. ‘Can you let him know that Emily will be in to see him too?’
She gave Daniel her mobile number and asked that she be called immediately if there was any change.
And that was it.
The phone call ended but instead of going immediately to tell Albert, Daniel sat for a long moment staring at the phone.
He had expected a cool reception, even to have the phone hung up on him, or at best to be bombarded with questions. Dianne hadn’t required an immediate update on all the missing years, all she had needed to know was where Albert was, to be there for him.
Daniel walked over to his cubicle and saw that Holly was still in there, trying to persuade him to at least try and have a little something to eat, but Albert ignored her and simply closed his eyes.
‘I just spoke with Dianne,’ Daniel said, and he saw that Albert’s eyes remained closed, no doubt bracing himself for rejection. ‘She’s going to come in a bit later with Emily.’
Then Albert’s eyes opened.
‘She said that?’ Albert checked, and Daniel nodded and he watched as Albert’s face broke into a smile.
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