Chapter Twenty-One

Hoping desperately that Felicity was still registered at Dr Greene’s surgery, Lisa carried Fred over to the reception desk. The woman, whom Lisa didn’t recognise, continued to write without even the courtesy of a glance to acknowledge their presence. While Lisa was happy that Fred was now calmer than he had been on the journey, she couldn’t help but think they might get more attention if he was still hollering as he had been in the van.

Waiting bought back memories of standing at the reception desk with Felicity when they were teenagers; back then they’d had to endure the disapproving look of her elderly neighbour, Mrs Bates – as if checking into the family planning clinic wasn’t embarrassing enough when you were seventeen, without your neighbour judging you with the knowledge that planning a family was the antithesis of what was on your mind.

‘Don’t worry, Fred, the nice lady will soon take your name.’ Lisa spoke loud enough to ensure the disdain in her voice was heard, while Fred took comfort in rediscovering and chewing the strings on her hoody.

Finally, the woman looked above the rim of her glasses. ‘You can check in on the screen there.’ She pointed at the wall to Lisa’s left, offering a half smile that Lisa decided not to interpret as patronising.

Lisa looked at the large touchscreen asking her to check in. ‘Oh, we don’t have an appointment.’

‘No appointment?’ The tone and accompanying look removed any ambiguity as to whether the smile had been intended as patronising.

‘But Fred here is hurt, he fell off the slide and—’

‘We’re not an Accident and Emergency service,’ the woman scoffed.

‘I’m aware of that, but you are roughly fifteen miles closer than the nearest Accident and Emergency, and this little boy is hurt.’ Lisa looked at Fred, whose eyes were still red from crying, his face stained from tears.

‘But—’

‘Is there anybody who can just take a look at him?’ Lisa tried not to sound exasperated, but it seemed that the medical assistance Fred might need was in grasping distance and the dragon of a receptionist, who obviously saw herself as the gatekeeper to that assistance, stood in her way.

‘You should have called.’

‘Yes, yes, I should have, or I should have called his mum or an ambulance or anybody who might be able to help me, but all of that, you see, all of that was not possible because my,’ Lisa paused, and held back the expletives she knew wouldn’t help her cause, ‘phone is dead!’

‘So you’re not the boy’s mother?’

Lisa took a breath. ‘No, no, I am not, but Fred here was entrusted to me, and he has fallen and hurt himself, and I would very much like to have him checked over, so if I could please see someone.’ She felt tears welling in her eyes as her desperation increased.

‘Peeeeees,’ Fred added, with no idea what the general conversation was about, but recognising the word his mummy often asked him to repeat.

Finally the woman softened. ‘Well, you could have a long wait as we don’t have a doctor available, but we have a paramedic in clinic today who may see you—’

‘YES! Yes, please.’ Relief flooded through Lisa. Returning Fred with an injury was bad enough, but returning him with an unchecked injury might be unforgivable and she couldn’t risk that. The repairs to her friendship with Flick were still too fragile to take any chances.

While Fred, who it seemed was quite the dragon slayer, charmed the receptionist with his smiles, Lisa answered her questions. Luckily, she now knew Fred’s surname and date of birth – otherwise she would have been stuck. She held her breath anxiously as the woman searched for his details.

‘Fred Willis, there you are. Take a seat, but, as I said, it could be some time.’

Relieved that she was right in her assumption that Fred was registered at the surgery, Lisa thanked the woman, whom she was increasingly warming to, and headed through the double doors to the waiting room. Scanning the rows of blue-plastic, slightly-too-close-to-each-other chairs Lisa chose to sit within eyesight of the reception desk. That way she could monitor who came in and out, and ensure Fred’s wait was not prolonged by queue jumpers.

Settling into her seat and ensuring Fred was comfortable on her lap, Lisa stroked her hand over his back, cringing as she felt the lump. While she was relieved it wasn’t getting any bigger she really wished it would just disappear. How could she possibly explain it to Felicity? She had only had Fred in her charge for a short while and she had … broken him!

While Fred continued contentedly chewing the strings of her hoody, Lisa looked at the others in the waiting room. There were three elderly women – Lisa wondered if they were the same women who had resided in the waiting room when she was younger – curly grey hair, wide trousers, soft shoes, square handbags on their laps; the mainstay of all doctors’ waiting rooms. There was a man with some kind of bite or sting on his leg, and a child of similar age to Fred cuddled up on what Lisa presumed to be her mummy’s lap. Lisa thought how the poor, little love looked hot and sweaty, feverish she imagined her Granny Blake saying. What if it’s catching? Offering a sympathetic smile Lisa turned Fred in the opposite direction. She couldn’t have him getting germs as well as an injury on her watch; whatever would Flick make of that?

Slipping Fred’s jacket off, Lisa wished she could remove her own too, but after hearing the power of Fred’s lungs on the drive to the surgery she didn’t want to disturb him while he was happily chewing, even if that did mean she felt herself sweating up in a similar fashion to the flush-faced girl. Wiping her forehead, Lisa wondered why the room needed to be so stiflingly hot. There wasn’t a single open window and the small radiators running along the skirting boards were firing out an unnecessary amount of heat. She was sure she could feel the germs breeding around her. One of the elderly ladies coughed and Lisa sent her a glare before she could stop herself. She knew her panic was largely based on the paranoia about germs she had inherited from her mother. But, with Fred to look after, she couldn’t help but fear that the dreaded lurgies were multiplying in anticipation of making him their next victim. The words ‘a hive of germs’ rampaged through her mind as she realised the older she got the more she was turning into her mother! Before that thought could linger, a woman pacing up and down in the reception area, walked too close to the sensors causing the automatic doors to open. Lisa welcomed the hit of cool air.

Having chewed Lisa’s hoody strings into a contorted shape from which she felt they might never recover, Fred began to fidget. Realising she had left all his things in the van, she looked round for something to occupy him. Don’t all doctors’ surgeries have toys? If only he were an adult, there would be plenty to keep him busy. It was a case of information overload. There was a large screen scrolling advice on head lice, diabetes and alcoholism, as well as displaying the BBC News’ headlines in a constant stream across the bottom, in case the former wasn’t depressing enough. Posters galore were housed in wipe-clean display boards all around the walls, and a table smothered in leaflets for all things medical and local stood in the corner. Spotting a shelf with second-hand books for sale, Lisa wondered if there might be something suitable for Fred. But as a closer look revealed that half the shelf was stocked with pre-loved copies of Fifty Shades of Grey, she decided to look elsewhere.

Rummaging in her bag, Lisa spotted a packet of chocolate animals Flick had given her as a mock ‘thank you’ after she had helped give out party bags with Fred. They’d be a good distraction she was sure – food always worked to take her mind off things. She offered them to him and Fred smiled; success. It was only as she opened them and saw his hand slip in the bag it dawned on her that she had no means to clean him up. Chocolate, a toddler and a warm room were not a good mix. Finding a tissue in her pocket, Lisa remembered how her mum used to spit on a tissue to wipe her clean as a child, hmmm! There was no way she would be doing that. Lisa smiled, relieved that perhaps she wasn’t turning into her mother after all.

As Fred slowly crunched and dribbled his way through the biscuits, the man with the bite or sting on his leg began tapping his foot on the shiny-plastic, fake wooden floor. Lisa tried to ignore it, but, coupled with Fred’s eating, it was doing nothing for her nerves. For about the fiftieth time since leaving the park Lisa wished her phone was charged so she could call Felicity. She didn’t want her to worry where they were, and, despite the fact she wanted to get Fred checked out before returning him, Lisa knew she would feel better if Felicity were there too. Note to self, have a fully charged phone when taking out other people’s children! Not that she imagined that would be happening again any time soon.

Finally, Fred’s name was called, stating that he needed to go to ‘the treatment room’. As she did what she could to wipe his face with her tissue, Lisa hoped he wouldn’t need any treatment and felt the weight of being there without Felicity even more keenly. What if he needed something done? She couldn’t OK treatment without Flick’s say so. She wondered why she hadn’t just driven him home before going straight to the doctor’s. And then she knew it was because she wanted to get it right. Overreact rather than not act at all and be the cause of something vital being missed. Some lessons were learnt the hard way.

Lisa knocked tentatively on the treatment room door.

‘Come in.’

As Fred looked at her trustingly, Lisa attempted a reassuring smile and opened the door, but as she locked eyes with the paramedic, who was sitting behind the desk in full green-shirt-matching-trousers-and-steel-toe-capped-boots uniform, she did a double take.

He glanced up from his computer. ‘Hello, I’m—’

‘Dom!’ Lisa finished, not quite believing her eyes. There was no trace of leather and the surroundings were much improved from their last meeting, but there was no doubting it; it was definitely him.

‘Rose!’ The surprise in his dark brown eyes was clear.

Lisa felt heat rise to her cheeks and hoped Dom didn’t notice. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she had blushed more lately than she ever did as a teenager. Back then she had been cool and collected, her emotions in check; a person who rarely gave thought to others’ opinions of her.

‘Lisa.’ Fred laughed, jerking them both back into the moment.

‘Lisa, yes,’ Dom echoed, switching to a professional, formal mode, and directing both Lisa and Fred to take a seat. ‘As you know, I’m Dom. I’m an advanced paramedic practitioner and I’m taking this clinic this afternoon.’

Lisa sat down as her mind continued to attempt to assimilate the information that Dom was sitting there before her, completely out of the context in which she expected to see him and that he was a paramedic. Suddenly the words ‘called away on an emergency’ carried more weight.

‘And you must be …’ Dom glanced back at the computer he had been studying as Lisa opened the door, ‘Fred,’ he finished, with a smile.

Realising that Dom was now speaking directly to him, Fred hid his face in Lisa’s arm.

Dom smiled. ‘OK, Fred, I’ll ask … Mummy.’

‘Oh, I’m not his mummy.’

‘I’m sorry. I assumed. Sorry. So you’re Fred’s?’

Oh Lord! It was like Jack all over again. ‘Friend.’

‘You’re this little boy’s friend?’

Realising how ridiculous that sounded Lisa grimaced. ‘No, well, yes, but that’s not what I meant. He’s my friend’s son.’ Lisa inwardly cursed the fact she hadn’t just said that in the first place.

‘Ah, from pet sitter to baby sitter.’ Dom laughed.

Lisa realised that explaining that Fred had fallen off the slide on her watch to the man who knew that Jack had run away also on her watch made her look like a terrible guardian of dogs and children alike.

Aware that Lisa was not laughing with him, Dom stopped smiling and returned to the matter in hand. ‘So why don’t you tell me what has happened to young Fred here?’

Lisa related the events of the park, minus the mini-superheroes and the fact that she was left holding Fred’s Gruffalo wellies, ensuring she mentioned the lump on his back and the fact it had got no bigger while she had been monitoring it – saying that at least made her feel that she had demonstrated responsibility after the fact.

‘OK, and did Fred bump his head at all on landing?’

‘No, I’m pretty sure his back took the impact.’

‘And has Fred been drowsy at all since, or felt sick?’

‘No, he’s been wide awake, he cried a lot in the car—’

‘Cried in pain?’

‘I don’t know; it was loud.’ Were there different types of crying? Lisa didn’t know. ‘He stopped when we got here and he’s eaten some chocolate animal biscuits.’ Lisa realised as she said it that she probably shouldn’t have let him eat in case he had to have treatment.

‘OK and I can see from his notes he has no allergies and isn’t on any prescribed medication at the moment.’

Lisa simply nodded and smiled, grateful that Fred’s notes were able to answer questions she couldn’t.

Dom asked for permission to examine Fred and pushed his chair back decisively. Lisa wished again that Flick was there, but knew she had to see the appointment through now. Leaving midway through an examination on a child probably looked worse than presenting with one who didn’t actually belong to you. She nodded her head.

Fred was less willing to give his consent and began to squirm. Lisa didn’t know what to do to get him to comply, but it seemed Dom had seen it all before.

‘I have just the thing,’ he announced, leaning over to a box of rubber gloves.

Lisa began to panic, she couldn’t let him tranquilise him; that would be a step too far. ‘Dom, wait—’ but as she spoke she realised he was blowing one of the rubber gloves up.

Fred stopped to watch it get bigger and was delighted when Dom drew a face on it, which, in Lisa’s opinion, rather expertly transformed it into a chicken. Now that’s a natural, Melissa, Lisa thought, watching the way Dom was now able to use the balloon chicken to coax Fred to let him look at his eyes and listen to his chest. Having made a new best friend, Fred lapped up the attention, giggling and being compliant, with not a hint of the welly-stamping two-year-old to be seen.

As Dom checked each of Fred’s vertebra, Lisa knew she had done the right thing bringing him. It made her feel some of the tension ease from her shoulders for the first time since the incident. She welcomed the smooth, calm voice Dom used as he spoke; she knew it was probably intended to calm Fred, but there was no doubt it was having a not-unwelcome effect on her too.

It was only due to the fact Dom stopped talking that she realised the examination was over and registered, for the first time, the grave expression on his face. Lisa looked at him, eyes wide, her breath suspended.

‘Well—’ he began.

‘What? Is it bad?’ Lisa wondered what the protocol would be if she should need Felicity there. She couldn’t leave Fred to go and get her.

‘What he has there, is a scapula, roughly triangular in shape, positioned on a posterolateral aspect of the thoracic cage.’

Lisa let out her breath and felt sick rise in her throat as the colour drained from her cheeks. ‘What does that mean? Oh my God, tell me. Is it bad?’

‘It means he has … a shoulder blade.’ Dom delivered flatly before offering her a cheeky grin.

‘What?’

‘The lump you’re feeling is his shoulder blade. It’s meant to be there. In fact I’d be more worried if it wasn’t. Here feel there’s one on the other side too!’

Lisa cringed. ‘Oh!’ she wanted to cry and didn’t know if it was from relief or embarrassment.

‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have joked about it. It’s obvious you are concerned and it’s always best to be on the safe side.’ Dom reached out and touched Lisa’s hand.

The gesture was reassuring and kind, and made her want to cry more. A noise in the corridor outside made them both jump. In a fluster Lisa pulled her hand away and decided she needed to be gone. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Really, it’s fine. He had a fall and you were right to get him checked. This kind of thing happens more often than you’d think,’ Dom stated.

‘Thanks, but I should go. You’re busy.’ Lisa thought about the little girl all hot and sweaty; there were people, children with genuine problems, who needed appointments.

‘Not at all and, seriously, you should keep an eye on him in case he hit his head, but, honestly, he seems fine.’

Despite Dom’s reassuring tone, Lisa felt too hot in her hoody and flustered as she attempted to exit. ‘I’m sorry I’ve wasted your time.’ Fred on her hip, she moved to go to the door but Dom stood in front of her.

‘Look, if it makes you feel better, you owed me. I wasted your time before … right?’ Dom looked at her waiting for recognition.

Lisa looked at him puzzled.

‘I heard you made it for our coffee, I’m sorry I—’

Now she was even more embarrassed as she remembered Celine Dion serenading her back to her van. ‘Oh that, yes, very funny!’ She attempted to move past him.

‘I wasn’t trying to be funny; please, if you’ll give me another chance …’

Lisa looked at his dark, chocolate eyes, tempting her to say yes, and then she thought about Nathan and the memory of looking into his eyes as they had said goodbye the night before. ‘I can’t, I’m,’ mortified at how stupid you must think I am, not sure what I’m doing, got a head full of what ifs, ‘busy,’ she finished.

Dom looked surprised and disappointed.

‘But, thank you, really. Especially for this.’