by S G Read
‘See you Stu.’ Stephen said as he followed the other two out.
Stuart watched the side window and waved as they filed past, then they were gone. He walked across to the side window and peered after them but he could not see them. He pulled the curtains across, walked back to his bed and turned on the little television. It did not seem long before Big Brenda came into the room and turned the television off. She took the remote control from Stuart's hand and placed it on top of the television.
‘Time for bed Stuart!’ She informed him.
Brenda was big enough not to be argued with but that did not deter Stuart this time.
‘I was in the middle of that programme!’ He protested.
‘Hospital rules, it goes of at nine o'clock!’ Brenda replied.
‘We didn't go to bed at nine o'clock when we were in the jungle!’
Before she answered, Brenda tucked him in and plumped up his pillows to make him comfortable.
‘No I expect you went to sleep when it grew too dark to do anything!’ She replied.
She walked to the door and turned of the light.
‘There you are its dark!’ She said with an air of satisfaction. ‘Goodnight!’
Stuart let her footsteps fade, as she walked down the corridor before squirming along the bed to regain the remote control. He turned the television on then turned it to channel six, one he noticed earlier that was not tuned in to any station. He used the untuned channel to turn the volume down before turning it back to the channel he had been watching. He shrugged on his new dressing gown; Wendy had decided his other one was too tatty for him to wear in hospital and had promptly brought him a new one. He picked up a pillow to rest his head on, then tucked his feet under the remaining pillow and lay full length toward the television before he raised the volume far enough for him to be able to hear. He settled down to watch the end of the programme he had been watching, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
CHAPTER 11
When Stuart woke he was tucked up in bed with the large nurse standing next to the bed.
‘Good morning Stuart.’ She said in a kindly way.
‘Is it morning already?’ Stuart asked through a yawn.
‘Yes it's seven o'clock.’ The nurse replied and walked over to open the curtains on the side window.
‘But that's still night time!’ Stuart complained.
The nurse walked back to the bed, shaking her thermometer.
‘Not in here it isn't.’ She replied.
Stuart opened his mouth to speak but she put the thermometer in his mouth. While she waited for the thermometer to register she took Stuart's pulse and marked the result on the board which hung on the end of the bed. She laid the board on Stuart's legs and rescued the thermometer from his mouth and noted the reading on his chart. Stuart slid up his pyjama sleeve to reveal a slim white arm. Brenda returned the board to the end of the bed, ignoring the proffered arm.
‘Aren't you going to take my blood pressure?’ He asked a little put out.
‘No.’ She replied as she walked to the door. ‘You have to be really ill before we do that all the time!’
She closed the door and Stuart heard her footsteps fade as she walked down the corridor. He thought about his last visit to a hospital, not the one for the tests, but after he was kicked during their last game. The thought occurred to him that he must have been quite bad then as they kept taking his blood pressure then.
A little later the door opened again and Brenda walked in.
‘Time to wash Stuart!’ She ordered. ‘I take it you can wash yourself?’
A picture flashed into his brain of this big nurse holding him stationary as she scrubbed his face.
‘If I can survive a river full of little boy eating piranhas, then I think I can wash myself!’ He replied.
‘Good, I'm glad to hear it! I will be back in ten minutes, if you haven't washed by then I will wash you!’
Stuart stumbled out of bed and washed in the adjoining bathroom then climbed back into bed and waited. It was sometime before anyone came in and to Stuart's surprise, it was not Big Brenda but a spotty faced porter of about eighteen. The porter was dragging behind him a trolley which had drinks on it. Without asking the porter poured a cup of tea and stood it on the tray next to the bed. This tray was on wheels and could be moved round to the patient but he did not move it, instead the porter dragged the trolley back out of the room. Stuart had to get out of bed to pull the tray near enough to reach the cup and then climb back into bed. He took a sip. The tea was awful and there was no sugar in it! He let the tea dribble out of his mouth back into the cup.
‘Where's the sugar?’ He shouted at the closed door but nothing happened.
He put the cup back on the tray and pushed it away then took a can of coke out of his cupboard to wash away the taste of the tea. Wendy had made sure that he was well stocked up, even though it was likely that he would go home today, if they could find nothing wrong with him. Later the same porter returned with the breakfast trolley and put Stuart's breakfast on the tray next to the tea. He saw the empty coke can but said nothing.
‘Is that it?’ Stuart asked looking at the meagre breakfast.
‘I save the larger servings for the really poor people!’ The porter answered rudely and pushed the trolley back out of the room.
‘It's nice to be liked!’ Stuart shouted at the closing door.
The nurse arrived moments later.
‘Is the anything wrong?’ She asked.
‘Ask Lenin out there with the trolley!’
‘And what do you mean by that?’ She asked with interest.
There had been reports of Billy Roberts’s attitude but up to now she had not met it.
Stuart sighed. ‘Nothing really. It's that everyone here except the nurses seem to treat me like something which gets flushed down the toilet.’ He tried to imitate the porter's voice. ‘I save the larger servings for the really poor people! I'm only in this room because my dad's firm has got good health insurance!’
‘I will speak to Roberts, he is supposed to treat everyone the same!’ The nurse replied.
‘That won't change what he or that girl thinks will it!’ Stuart replied bitterly.
‘What girl?’ The nurse asked in amazement as Stuart had only been here one night.
‘I don't know what her name is; she's in bed number three. She was watching telly in the rest room when I met her. The only way to please her would be if I was in that ward but then she'd only say that I was there to make her like me!’ Stuart rambled.
‘It sounds a bit like she would be right.’ Brenda said wisely. ‘It sounds like Jenny Robbins. I can't change the way she or anyone else thinks about you but you can! Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold.’
Stuart did just that, fearing that the porter would return before he had eaten it, wrench it from grasp and tip it away. He was beyond crying, he was angry! After he had eaten his meagre breakfast, Stuart walked down to the day room. The girl he now knew as Jenny was there already, watching television. He sat down and watched the television, it was not the channel he wanted to watch but he dismissed any thoughts of asking to change channels. They sat, working hard to ignore each other. Neither spoke, and the hot room seemed to take on an icy chill.
‘Stuart your mother is here and Mr Follet is due here soon.’ Brenda called from the doorway then walked away.
‘When Big Brenda calls all must obey.’ Stuart quipped as he stood up.
‘She IS a friend of mine!’ Jenny said acidly.
‘Why? Is she poor?’ Stuart replied just as acidly then walked out of the dayroom before Jenny could answer him.
Back in Stuart's room, his mother was tidying his cupboard.
‘Making friends are we?’ She asked.
‘Not really mum, more like enemies!’ Stuart replied. ‘It seems that it's bad to be anything but poor! Am I spoilt?’
Wendy did not answer straight away, instead she reflected on the question; obviously Stua
rt thought it was an important one!
‘Well as you are an only child, I think to some extent that you are spoilt but not in a way that would stop you from being a nice person.’ She answered. ‘Even to the very poor!’
‘Well tell her that!’ Stuart complained, looking toward the closed door.
‘Who is her?’ Wendy asked.
‘A girl named Jenny Robbins; I think she probably hates me!’
‘A girl, Eh?’ Wendy said with a wicked smile.
‘It's not like that!’ Stuart protested.
‘They say that there is a fine line between love and hate!’
‘Well believe me she's crossed the line!’
‘Where's my cuddle?’
Stuart held his arms out and wrapped them round his mother; Mr Follet chose to arrive at that moment.
‘Good morning Mrs Sellars, good morning Stuart. I have your X-rays here.’
He clipped the X-ray sheets up onto a flat screen and turned the light on behind the sheets.
‘Now, if you look at this X-ray, you will see a slight blemish to the right hand side of the visible cranium.’ He said briskly.
The X-ray was of the right hand side of Stuart's head and the blemish was on the right hand side of the X-ray. It was the right side of Stuart's Forehead.
‘I am quite sure that that was a crack or what I call a fissure, in your skull! I would think by the tissue that has built up round it and the fact that a fissure is still visible, that this is an old fissure that has not been allowed to heal!’ He moved on to the next X-ray. ‘On this X-ray you can see another fissure, again to the right of the cranium.’
The X-ray was a rear view of Stuart's head; the fissure was on the right hand side of the back of Stuart's skull.
‘By the look of this one it is newer than the last one we looked at but there is some sign of healing but again it has been interrupted by something!’ He moved on to the next X-ray. ‘Now this one is the latest fissure, quite fresh and starting to heal as are the others now but it will take time.’
‘Are these the cause of my blackouts?’ Stuart asked moving closer to the X-rays for a better view.
‘With blows to the head it is hard to be sure but in my considered opinion, they are.’ Mr Follet replied.
Stuart pointed to the first one.
‘I bet that was when I was kicked during the last game!’
He moved his finger to the next one.
‘That might have been when the branch hit me when C.J fell into the ravine.’
He moved to the next one.
‘That must be when I fell onto Mrs Brown's coffee table!’
‘I have not received your blood tests back yet but I have arranged for you to have more tests today. You will be collected for each test and your mother is, of course, welcome to go with you on each test, please wait here in your room to make it easier for the porter to find you.’
‘He will be ready and waiting Mr Follet.’ Wendy assured him.
To Stuart's horror on one of the tests the doctor had to cut off some of Stuart's hair to fit sensors to his head. Stuart, fearing the worst, looked in the mirror as soon as he arrived back in his room.
‘I look silly now. I'll have to stay in my room now, or they will laugh at me!’ He complained.
Wendy reached into her bag and passed him a wrapped package. Stuart unwrapped it and found a cap. It was the one he had wanted for some time but he had been told it was far too expensive, for what it was.
‘I came prepared!’ Wendy said as she put it on his head. ‘Does that look better?’
‘Wow! Thanks mum! These cost a fortune!’
‘They certainly do, considering how much material is needed to make them!’
At four o'clock Mr Follet appeared in the doorway.
‘You have passed all your tests with the exception of your blood test and I have no reason to suppose that that will show me anything except a healthy young man with no problems. As soon as those fissures heal, I think your blackouts will cease. I think you can probably go home soon after the blood test results arrive but until then you must rest. I will come and see you tomorrow, goodnight.’ Mr Follet closed the door behind him and headed for the ward.
‘What about my hair?’ Stuart complained. ‘If I go to school like this the others will laugh at me!’
‘It will soon grow back.’
‘How can you even think of sending me back to school next week?’ Stuart complained.
Wendy could see that Stuart was angling for time off school and she was having none of it.
‘We could always have the rest cut off to even it up and say you are suffering from Alopecia.’ She said with a hint of a warning.
‘What's that?’ Stuart asked.
‘A disease which can cause baldness, sometimes complete baldness!’
Stuarts' face fell; he knew he was not going to win.
‘How heartless can you get?’ He moaned. ‘Your own loving son.’
‘If anyone makes fun of you, you tell me and I'll sort them out.’ Wendy offered.
‘That would go down well I'm sure! You fighting my battles for me!’
Simon's face appeared at the side window and Stuart pulled his new cap on quickly.
‘The cavalry have arrived.’ Wendy said when she recognised Simon's face. ‘Just in time for me to get home and cook your father some dinner, Stephen is eating with us tonight then we are bringing him in to see you.’
Ben, Sherman and J.C's face followed Simon's past the window, seconds later they walked into the room. Wendy kissed Stuart on both cheeks.
‘A fate worse than death!’ Simon whispered in his usual too loud whisper.
‘I heard that Simon Higgs!’ Wendy said as she picked up her hand bag. ‘Any more comments like that and you will all get one!’
Simon tried to speak but Ben put his hand across his mouth, to keep him quiet until Wendy had gone.
‘Big mouth!’ Ben said as he took his hand away.
‘Hi Stu.’ Simon greeted when he was able to speak. ‘That's a neat cap!’
‘They don't half cost a lot!’ Ben added.
‘It's what it's covering that matters!’ Stuart replied and took the cap off to reveal the patches of hair which were missing.
‘That's sick!’ Simon moaned. ‘Are they going to drill a hole in your head as well?’
‘I hope not!’ Stuart replied.
‘No they were using the sensors to find his brain and failed!’ Sherman joked.
‘Be careful Sherman or I'll set the nurse on you!’ Stuart responded.
‘She looks quite pretty.’ Ben replied.
‘You ought to see the one who comes on after her!’ Stuart explained. ‘She's built like a brick you know what!’
Toby's face appeared at the side window, followed by C.J, John and Colin.
‘It's getting a bit crowded in here!’ Simon moaned.
‘Let's go down to the dayroom there is a lot more room there.’ Stuart suggested. ‘And you can meet Jenny!’
‘Jenny eh!’ Ben crowed. ‘Is she pretty?’
‘Pretty but very prickly!’ Stuart warned.
They walked through the ward to the day room trying to be as quiet as possible. Jenny sat watching television, as they did not have a television at home she watched it as much as she could to make up for it. The group which had now swollen to twelve boys filed into the day room and swarmed to the back of the armchair Jenny was sitting in.
‘Oh, these are YOUR friends are they?’ Jenny asked when she saw Stuart, disappointment plain on her voice.
‘I thought you said she was pretty!’ Ben said as an answer.
Jenny glared at Stuart, who said nothing. He had no idea what to say.
‘Well she's sort of pretty.’ Sherman conceded.
Jenny could stand no more; she fled from the room to the safety of her bed.
‘You fancy her then Stu?’ Ben asked but it was less of a question and more of a statement of fact.
‘Of cour
se I don't! I don't even know her. She thinks I'm a spoilt little rich kid because I'm in a private ward.’ Stuart retorted.
‘It's called a private bed actually.’ Toby corrected in his usual way. ‘We have the same thing through my dad's work.’
‘Then that means that you're spoilt as well!’ Simon concluded.
‘To her maybe.’ Toby admitted. ‘But you lot know better don't you?’
No one answered.
‘That was the point when you were all supposed to say -no you’re not spoilt?’ Toby explained.
‘Alright, you're not spoilt because you have private insurance, my dad's got the same sort of thing but not through his work, he pays monthly.’ C.J answered, to reassure Toby.
‘Do you think she's a Communist?’ J.C asked. ‘That's what my dad would call her!’
‘No I think she's just poor.’ Stuart replied. ‘She laughed when we said that we were stuck in the jungle.’
This upset the other boys and they walked up to her bed, Stuart stayed put in the day room. Jenny was listening to the radio through the earphones which were plugged in behind the bed. As the boys gathered round her bed, she turned the volume on the radio up. When Ben unplugged her earphones from the socket on the wall, Jenny pushed the red button by her bed.
‘So you don't believe that we were stuck in a mosquito ridden, snake infested jungle, which was inhabited by some very nasty drug traffickers eh?’ Ben asked accusingly.
‘Well it doesn't sound very likely does it?’ Jenny replied.
Brenda had just arrived on the ward; she was early as was usual. When she saw the group around Jenny's bed and the red light on she walked up to the group of boys. Even Sherman was intimidated by the nurse's size.
‘Is that Big Brenda?’ Simon whispered in his usual, too loud whisper.
‘Big Brenda am I? Well you have a choice. Go in the day room, go into your own room, or I throw you out! Even the fat one!’ Brenda retorted trying to sound as if she meant it.
‘I'm not fat!’ Sherman insisted. ‘Just well built!’
Toby did not help matters when he said. ‘Actually that is three choices.’
Brenda just glared at him and the boys hurried away back into the day room. They settled round the table on the right hand side, in the corner nearest the ward, out of sight of Jenny's bed. Stuart walked across to join them.