A Mind of her Own

by Rosie Harris

  ‘My God!’ Peter yelled as he dumped the tray and ran towards the hedge, ‘she’s cut through the cord.’

  Shaking like a leaf, Betty was clinging to the ladder, which was swaying precariously. Almost at the same moment as Peter managed to reach her side, the ladder toppled sideways. Peter grabbed out desperately, trying to break her fall, but he was too late and both Betty and the ladder fell in a heap at his feet.

  ‘Whatever happened?’ Sally gasped as she arrived at the scene.

  ‘At a guess, I would say that she cut through the cable and then let go of the trimmer because at that same moment she felt the ladder slipping. It was lucky she did let the trimmer drop or she would have been electrocuted!’

  ‘I saw it swaying just a few moments earlier, I should have told her to get down,’ Sally cried.

  ‘She had a very heavy fall and she’s unconscious,’ Peter pronounced as he took control of the situation. ‘Go and call an ambulance. I’ll stay here with her in case she comes round. Also, can you bring out a blanket or something to cover her over so that she doesn’t get cold, and perhaps a pillow to put underneath her head to make her comfortable,’ Peter asked.

  ‘Yes, of course I will,’ Sally called back to him, as she hurried off.

  Ten minutes later they heard the approaching vehicle, and Sally rushed to let them in through her house and into Betty’s garden.

  The two paramedics came armed with bags of equipment, and they listened carefully as between them Peter and Sally explained what had happened, or at least what they thought had happened.

  They examined Betty carefully, then one looked at the other and nodded, then went off back to the ambulance to collect a stretcher.

  ‘We’re taking her in,’ they told Peter and Sally. ‘If one of you wish to come with us you can.’

  Peter and Sally exchanged looks. ‘I’ll go,’ Peter said.

  ‘No, I think I should,’ Sally told him. ‘It might upset her if she woke up and found you sitting at her bedside.’

  There was a moment’s silence, after which Peter nodded his head in agreement. ‘Yes, you’re probably right,’ he said resignedly. ‘Let me know how she is as soon as you can though.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll do that,’ Sally promised.

  She followed the two paramedics out to the ambulance, and took the seat they indicated.

  Betty was still on the stretcher, and her face was completely devoid of colour. Even her lips were so pale that they looked translucent.

  When they reached the hospital Sally followed the two paramedics carrying the stretcher into the A & E and stood there waiting, wondering whether she should go into the small single ward where they had taken Betty or whether she should stay in the general reception area. Not knowing what to do for the best, she followed the stretcher-bearers and waited as they transferred Betty from the stretcher onto the narrow bed and told the nurse who had directed them what details they knew about the accident.

  Sally remained there, uncertain about what to do next. She almost jumped out of her skin when a dark young man with a stethoscope around his neck entered the room. He nodded in Sally’s direction but went straight to the bedside and began checking Betty over. A nurse entered and their voices lowered as they exchanged comments about Betty’s condition, so that Sally was unable to clearly hear what was being said.

  ‘Is she going to be all right?’ Sally asked in a frightened voice.

  The nurse looked at her quickly. ‘Are you a relative?’

  ‘No,’ Sally admitted, ‘I’m her neighbour, but I was there when she fell off the ladder.’

  The dark-haired doctor looked across at her as if seeing her for the first time. ‘You witnessed the accident?’

  ‘Well, yes,’ Sally admitted. ‘She was trying to cut a high hedge. She was standing on a sort of ladder and it became rickety as she was holding an electric trimmer in her hand trying to cut the hedge. I’m not sure quite what happened, whether she cut the cord of the trimmer first, or whether the trimmer cut itself off as it fell when she fell.’

  The doctor frowned as if not quite understanding what the situation had been, then he looked at the nurse with raised eyebrows.

  ‘You mean she could have electrocuted herself?’ the nurse asked.

  ‘Well, yes I suppose she could have done, but I think she fell first and it was then that she let go of the hedge trimmer so that she could hang onto the ladder. Anyway, it ended up on the ground beside her.’

  ‘The trimmer was switched off at the time?’ The nurse pressed her.

  ‘Well, it certainly wasn’t running when we went across to pick Betty up,’ Sally admitted.

  The doctor and nurse went out of the cubicle and stood together outside, talking in low voices once again. They moved away after a few moments and about ten minutes later a porter came in and wheeled Betty away in the bed she was lying in.

  ‘What’s happening, now?’ Sally asked the porter.

  ‘We’re taking her for an X-ray and after that she will be transferred to a ward. Sister will tell you which one and take you there when she is settled in.’

  ‘So, do I wait here?’ Sally pressed.

  The porter nodded and quickly manoeuvred the bed out of the small ward and towards the double doors that lead to a corridor, and then disappeared from sight.

  Sally felt helpless. She stayed sitting on the chair for several minutes. When the nurse came into the room she jumped up guiltily. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t be here now my friend has been taken away,’ she said nervously.

  ‘No, she won’t be coming back here so I would sit outside in the waiting area. When they know which ward she has been taken to someone will let you know.’

  The waiting seemed endless. People arrived on stretchers bought in by paramedics, relatives came in, patients were taken away on stretchers or if, like Betty, they were too ill to be moved they were wheeled away by porters in the very bed in which they lay. It was all so busy that Sally was quite sure they had forgotten all about her.

  It was then that a nurse came in telling her which ward to go to.

  ‘How do I get there?’ Sally asked, bewildered by the complicated instructions.

  ‘Give me a moment and I’ll take you there,’ the nurse told her in a clipped voice.

  Five minutes later the nurse came bustling back and hurried Sally through the double doors where she had seen Betty disappearing earlier. They walked for what seemed like miles down corridors, and round corners until eventually the nurse stopped outside some glass-topped doors. She pushed them open and indicated for Sally to follow as she led the way down another corridor, past individual rooms. Sally found herself being directed into the very last one.

  Betty’s eyelids fluttered open as they entered the room. She stared in bewilderment; first at the nurse and then at Sally.

  ‘Where am I? What happened?’ she asked in a faint voice.

  ‘You had a bit of an accident, my dear,’ Sally told her. ‘You’re in hospital.’

  ‘Well, I know I’m not at home in my own bed,’ Betty told her tetchily. ‘What’s more I’m aching all over …’ She paused and stared down at her arm that was plastered from wrist to elbow and was lying on top of the bed cover. ‘Have I broken my arm?’ she asked, as she tried to lift it and failed to do so.

  ‘It looks like it,’ Sally admitted. ‘I wondered why you were away so long being treated, obviously they were putting your arm in plaster.’

  Betty didn’t answer, she simply stared round the room in bewilderment. ‘I can’t stay here, I don’t like the place,’ she said, almost aggressively. ‘I’ve got to finish cutting that hedge.’

  ‘You won’t be doing any more hedge cutting,’ Sally said emphatically. ‘Do you want me to let your Tim know what’s happened? I’ll just say that you fell off the ladder, you can tell him the rest when he comes in to see you. I won’t tell him that we’re not sure if you cut through the cable of the hedge trimmer or whether that happened when you dropped it as you fe
ll. I don’t know if you realize it but you could have electrocuted yourself. In fact,’ she added, severely, ‘you should consider yourself very lucky! Not only that you didn’t electrocute yourself, but that you’re awake now too.’

  ‘Sorry about that but accidents will happen,’ Betty muttered in a grim voice.

  ‘We know that, and you were very lucky that you got away with it. That ladder should have been condemned years ago, it’s lucky Jeff didn’t have a fall when he was using it. As for the hedge trimmer, all the cable on that was so old and cracked that again you’ve been lucky that neither of you were electrocuted.’

  ‘You sound like an authority on the subject,’ Betty said, accusingly.

  ‘No, I know nothing about it except what Peter told me.’

  ‘And what makes you think you can believe him?’

  ‘Oh, he knows what he’s talking about, and believe me if he hadn’t been there to tell me what to do you’d be in a much worse state than you are!’

  Betty closed her eyes and was silent for several minutes. ‘Can you call a nurse,’ she said opening her eyes and staring fixedly at Sally.

  ‘Of course, is something wrong? Are you in pain?’

  ‘Call the nurse,’ Betty repeated slowly and weakly.

  Sally did as she asked.

  ‘Yes, what’s the matter?’ the nurse asked briskly as she came to the bedside. Automatically she picked up Betty’s wrist and checked her pulse.

  ‘I want to know when I can go home,’ Betty stated.

  ‘Not for a while, I’m afraid. You will have to stay here until your temperature and pulse are back to normal. In the meantime, you must rest and I think it is time your friend left. You shouldn’t be worrying about anything.’

  ‘We were only chatting,’ Sally said defensively. ‘I haven’t said anything to upset her, she simply wanted to know what happened and I was telling her about the accident.’

  ‘Yes, well that will do for the moment. I think Mrs Wilson needs to rest,’ the nurse repeated, emphasizing the word rest.

  ‘Very well, I’ll leave. Can I come back later?’

  ‘Not today. Mrs Wilson needs all the rest she can get. I am going to give her a sedative and it would be better if you left visiting until tomorrow.’

  ‘Make sure it’s you that comes back and not that Peter Brown,’ Betty said, weakly.

  ‘Do you want me to let your family know what has happened?’ Sally asked.

  ‘We will have already notified the next of kin,’ the nurse said quickly.

  Betty groaned, ‘Oh dear, that means they’ll be here like a bunch of vultures all saying I ought to go into a home,’ she murmured, as she closed her eyes wearily.

  Three

  Betty was in hospital for just over a week. Sally went to see her once, but the room was so full of relatives that she decided it would be better if she stayed away. Anyway, she had plenty to do.

  Peter Brown had taken it upon himself to complete the cutting of the hedge. It was now trimmed down to a very manageable five feet. He had also tended the garden; weeding the borders, digging out dead plants, trimming back bushes, and generally making the whole appearance neat and orderly.

  Sally had carried out much the same task inside Betty’s house. She had washed up all the dirty dishes, and cleared away a lot of the old newspapers, wrappers and boxes so that the kitchen was now sparklingly clean and looked as if it hadn’t ever been used. She also tackled the rest of the house, cleaning the bathroom, changing Betty’s bed, and laundering the sheets and duvet cover.

  The whole house was now in pristine condition and ready for Betty’s return.

  Her son, Tim, came round with groceries to fill the fridge and smiled appreciatively at Sally when he saw what she’d done. ‘You’ve done an excellent job here,’ he said softly. ‘Let’s hope she can now keep it neat and tidy.’

  ‘Well, she did have the garden, as well as the house, to look after,’ Sally explained.

  Tim walked over to the window and looked out into the garden, and then turned around to face Sally.

  ‘You didn’t do that as well, did you?’ he gasped.

  ‘No, no, Peter Brown did the garden. Made a nice job of that, hasn’t he!’

  ‘Yes. It certainly is neat and tidy and he’s saved me a job,’ Tim said happily.

  ‘He’ll be round here in a few minutes for his morning cuppa, so I suggest you tell him that,’ Sally chimed. ‘It was a lot of hard work, I can tell you, and he’s an old man, you know.’

  ‘Well, he didn’t have to do it! I would have tidied up the garden, but she refused to let anyone help her.’

  ‘Yes, I know that, but sometimes it’s the way you put it,’ Sally pointed out.

  ‘And what is that supposed to mean?’ Tim asked, hotly.

  ‘Well, Betty doesn’t like to think that she is putting pressure on people. She doesn’t want to be any trouble. I could have helped out in the house but she made it clear that wouldn’t do at all.’

  Their eyes met.

  ‘Yes I know, and I am grateful to you, and to Peter, and believe me I will tell him so when I see him.’

  When Betty came home she stared around in wonderment.

  ‘I didn’t know there were still fairies working here. Invisible ones that come when you’re in the hospital to clean and tidy,’ she murmured looking straight at Sally.

  ‘Just a bit of a clear up, that was all. I thought you’d like it done for when you came back, sort of start afresh,’ Sally said with a smile.

  ‘I would’ve got around to doing it once I got home,’ Betty told her. She raised her eyebrows and smiled. ‘And what about the garden? Has Peter been out there fiddling around?’

  ‘He’s certainly been out there and worked very hard,’ Sally told her.

  Betty went to the window to take a look outside, and stared in surprise at the low hedge, beautifully tended borders, trimmed bushes and the new plants that had been put in appropriate places.

  ‘My, my he has worked his socks off,’ she commented dryly.

  ‘He worked very hard, I can tell you,’ Sally said. ‘In fact, there were times when I thought he was doing too much.’

  ‘He’s certainly done that,’ Betty’s said sharply. ‘Given a few days home and I would have tackled it myself.’

  ‘Would you? Could you with your arm?’

  Betty looked down at her arm, still encased in plaster. ‘Well perhaps you have a point,’ she conceded.

  ‘Then make sure you thank Peter when he comes to see you, he’ll be here any minute for morning coffee.’

  Betty pulled a face. ‘Lazy old devil, too idle or too mean to make his own,’ Betty said witheringly.

  ‘No, nothing like that, he was working so hard in the garden but I felt he needed a drink. I didn’t want him passing out from dehydration,’ Sally stated.

  Before Betty could answer, Peter arrived.

  ‘Anyone in?’ he called as he pushed open the back door.

  ‘Come on in, Peter,’ Sally called. ‘My word,’ she said in surprise, ‘you do look smart this morning. Is that a new pullover?’

  ‘Yes, it caught my eye and I thought it was about time I bought myself something new to wear,’ he told them, rather sheepishly.

  ‘Betty’s here and delighted by what you’ve done in her garden.’

  ‘I wouldn’t go as far as to say that,’ Betty muttered softly, but there was a smile on her face as she greeted Peter.

  ‘My word, it’s good to see you back home and looking so well,’ Peter greeted her warmly. ‘You certainly had us all worried. Do you remember what happened?’

  Betty winced as she raised her broken arm very slightly. ‘How can I forget when it weighs so much,’ she said dryly.

  ‘How long does the plaster have to stay on?’ Peter frowned. ‘It must make doing things very difficult,’ he added, with feeling.

  ‘I’ll find out when I go back to the hospital in a couple of weeks’ time for a check up,’ Betty told him.
r />   ‘She’s very pleased with the garden,’ Sally persisted.

  Peter’s eyes lit up. ‘I know how much it means to you, Betty, that everything is tidy. I’ll be keeping it in order until you are better, so don’t worry about it.’

  ‘It looks all right at the moment and by the time it needs attention I’ll be able to do it myself,’ Betty said quickly.

  ‘There’s no rush. I’ll carry on doing it for as long as it needs it. In fact,’ he said hesitantly, ‘I’m hoping that you will let me go on doing it for good. You certainly must never attempt to cut that hedge again. For one thing, that old ladder isn’t safe and I think it should be thrown away. As for the trimmer, well the cord on that was so cracked that it’s a wonder old Jeff didn’t do himself some harm when he was using it.’

  ‘Well, he didn’t,’ Betty snapped, ‘and as soon as I can get out and about I’ll buy a new hedge trimmer.’

  ‘Don’t trouble yourself, I’ll use mine,’ Peter told her.

  Sally could see that Betty was about to refuse so she quickly changed the subject. ‘Come on,’ she insisted, ‘let’s drink our coffee before it goes cold. And now don’t you worry about anything, Betty. Concentrate on getting better.’

  ‘I expect you’ll have to go for exercises to get that hand and arm working,’ Peter said thoughtfully.

  ‘I need to get the plaster off first.’

  ‘Yes, of course. I understand that,’ Peter mumbled. ‘I was just trying to say don’t do anything until your hand and arm are working properly again. If there is anything in the house that needs attention just let me know and I’ll come and do it for you. I’d even move in if you wanted me to look after you properly; I’d wait on you hand and foot if only you would let me.’

  There was an uneasy atmosphere in the room. Sally looked across at Betty and raised her eyebrows questioningly. ‘That mightn’t be such a bad idea,’ she mused. ‘Peter would be on hand to bring you a cup of tea when you wanted one or help you with anything else.’

  ‘Like putting me to bed,’ Betty said caustically.

  ‘I know that you wouldn’t want me to go that far,’ Peter said quickly, his face going red with embarrassment. He looked across at Sally. ‘Although I’d even do that it if she wanted me to help her. I’d do anything to help you, Betty, as you well know,’ he added sincerely.