by Naomi Davies
Watching the events from the top of the steps of their house Aaron, Cora and Clair stood in shock at the event unfolding. Clair immediately screamed “Noooooooo!” at the top of her voice. She ran down the five stairs towards Max and her parents followed very closely behind her. They were at Max’s side just after the policemen got there. Something about the way Max lay there stopped Clair in her tracks. She didn’t know what to do and how to touch him. But she so wanted to touch Max and make things better. She turned with a heart wrenching wail to hug Cora. Clair looked back at Max’s broken body on a few occasions in the next five minutes but couldn’t move away from her mum’s arms. She looked over to her dad who was trying to move Max’s wild hair away from his face.
“Is there anything I can do, officer?” He asked one of the policemen.
“The ambulance will be here within the next two minutes.” The policeman replied.
The ambulance arrived as promised. The paramedics split up as they checked the two victims of the crash. They quickly moved over to Max who still showed some signs of life. A second and third ambulance appeared and the BMW driver’s body was quickly removed. It took ten minutes for the paramedics to prepare and move Max’s broken body into the ambulance.
“Do you know the victim?” The second policeman asked Aaron, Cora and Clair.
“He’s a friend of…” Clair couldn’t finish her sentence. She cried again into Cora’s body.
“I’ll come with the ambulance, officer. Where are we going?” Aaron took control of the situation.
Aaron turned to Cora and Clair.
“Go and get his sister. Clair, do you know where she lives?”
Clair nodded.
“Cora, go and collect her and bring her to the hospital. This doesn’t look good for Max.”
The ambulance left with Aaron and Max, while Cora and Clair got straight into their car. They drove away from the scene outside their home that resembled one of those hospital programmes on television. The problem was that this accident had really happened, and Max’s life was hanging by a thread. This was real life.
Clair was sitting in the passenger seat next to Cora and rocking backwards and forwards in shock. She kept bursting out in a scream of tears and then letting them subside. This happened many times while Cora drove to Sandy’s flat a few miles away.
Clair suddenly remembered that she had Sandy’s mobile number on her phone. She dialled it. Sandy answered it after two rings with her normal upbeat mood.
“This is Sandy speaking, and I am really here! You can speak to me now!” was her answer.
Clair lost her voice and could only say two words.
“Sandy? Max!”
“Clair, is that you Clair? Is everything alright? Clair? Clair!” Sandy’s use of her name brought Clair to her senses for a moment.
“Max has been in a dreadful accident. I’m coming over to pick you up now. Just be ready.” Sandy’s scream filled the car.
Three minutes later Cora pulled into the car park to collect Sandy. Sandy had just run down the stairs as she was, and was jumping around and pacing around the car park. She looked at Clair and knew it was bad. Clair jumped into the back of the car with her and over the twenty minute journey to the hospital managed to relate to Sandy the shocking crash that had taken place outside her house. She thought that there was little point in lying to Sandy about Max’s state as she could see by Clair’s reaction how bad things were.
As they turned into the accident and emergency section of the hospital car park they saw Aaron waving them over to a parking space he had managed to commandeer. He looked hot and bothered and very concerned to get the girls out of the car and into the hospital.
“What is happening? Where is Max?” Sandy screamed at Aaron even though they had never met before. He held her by the shoulders.
“He is alive but has gone straight into the operating theatre. You can’t see him at the moment. You need to take some time to calm down and then we will go in and wait to hear from the doctors. I’m Aaron, Clair’s dad, by the way.” Sandy nodded and continued crying and held on tightly to Clair who was in a similar state of shock.
They found a patio area near the entrance to the accident and emergency section, with some benches. They sat down for a long time trying to comfort each other. Cora went off to get some drinks and returned with coffees and teas. Sandy was the only one of them who had not witnessed the crash and Aaron, Cora and to some extent Clair, tried to run through what had happened.
“I’ve always been terrified that something like this would happen to Max on his bike.” Sandy said as if it was her fault.
“Sandy, he was not even moving when he got hit. It is not his fault and it is not your fault. I think the car driver was being chased by the police. Is there anyone we should call to let them know? Your mum and dad?” Cora said.
“They were killed in a yachting accident.” Sandy said automatically.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot. Max told us this morning.” Cora was very annoyed with herself for being so insensitive and forgetful.
“You met Max this morning?” Sandy had forgotten about Clair and Max’s date. Clair went through the events of their visit to Bognor Regis which somehow helped the four of them to calm down to some degree. After an hour Aaron went to see if there was any news. There was no news. In fact there was no news for three hours. Then a consultant called them into a small waiting room. The news was not good. For now Max was stable and was on a full life support system. The fact that he was stable didn’t mean that he was getting better. It would take a few days for them to get a better idea of his condition.
Both his legs were badly broken and he had damage to his rib cage and internal organs. The biggest concern was the knock on the head which carried a huge risk of long term brain damage. The doctor took about ten minutes to explain everything to them.
“You can see him for a minute but he is not conscious. He will not know that you are there. Please, for his own good, do not touch him. He needs to be left well alone while we try and help him. Sandy and Clair went into the side room where Max lay. All they could see was part of his face. The rest of him was covered in sheets and a plethora of medical equipment.
They only stayed for a few seconds as it was too hard to take, just standing there helpless, looking at Max in his condition.
“Come on, Sandy. There is nothing we can do here.” The two girls gripped onto each other with their heads bowed down, and walked out towards where Cora and Aaron were waiting for them. They all got into the car and for a minute didn’t know what to do or where to go.
“Do you want to go home, Sandy?” Aaron asked her.
“Can you take me to my friend’s house in Ealing. I need to talk to Anne.”
“No problem, you just give me directions. We’ll get you there.” Aaron replied gently to this distressed girl who he had never met before. He hoped by helping her he would keep a grip on his own emotions which were barely under control.
The journey over to Anne’s house took about ten minutes and Sandy ran to the front door. She fell into Anne’s arms with a loud cry and the door closed.
Aaron turned the car around and they made their way home. There was huge activity outside the house due to the accident. There were lights and privacy tents and police officers everywhere. They couldn’t at first get to the house. Aaron explained things to a policewoman and the yellow and black plastic tape was raised for them to drive up to the house.
As they got out of the car the officer in charge asked to speak to them. Aaron told him he would tell him anything they wanted just as soon as his wife and daughter were safely in the house. He took Clair and Cora into the kitchen and left them there.
The rest of the evening was a complete blur of knocks on the door, police visits, and questions about what they saw. At one o’clock Aaron called a halt to the intrusions and told the police they were going to bed and would not answer the door until nine o’clock the next morning. The three of them went
to bed. At about half past two Clair knocked on her parents’ bedroom door and asked if she could spend the night in their room. The three of them slept in the bed together, silently comforting each other through the night with hugs and kisses.
Clair didn’t go to work in the following week. Aaron and Cora did but they might as well have stayed at home. The vision of what had happened to Max would not leave them, and they were in varying degrees of shock for the whole week.
Max’s condition did not change although the doctors and nurses said he was doing well. This was not obvious to Clair and Sandy when they visited him each day. He looked the same and all the machines beeped the same. Nothing was happening. Most days they went together on the tube to the hospital before taking it in turns over a two hour visit to sit next to him. It was hard to sit there for the whole two hours and they would take short breaks to clear their heads when they needed to. On the Friday after the accident Max’s eyes opened. Sandy shouted.
“Max!”
He closed his eyes again, and things seemed to have returned back to how they were before.
Sandy ran out into the corridor and announced with a loud shout to the hospital.
“He opened his eyes, he opened his eyes!”
A pair of nurses ran up to Max’s room and rushed inside. Then they checked a whole lot of readings and machines that surrounded him. After two minutes one of them said to the other.
“I’ll get Rashid.” She ran out.
Sandy and Clair had stood back to give the nurses room.
The nurse returned with Rashid who was obviously a consultant of some sort.
“Please ladies; I’ll need a few minutes to check things out. Please wait in the waiting room. I’ll come and see you when I have finished.”
“He’s alright is he?” Sandy asked in desperation.
“Please, let me attend to him and then I will come and see you.” Rashid was professional and calm. Clair and Sandy were trying not to hope too much that something good might have happened.
After fifteen minutes Dr Rashid Mehta came and spoke to them. He was smiling and ebullient. He addressed Sandy directly.
“You brother has just woken up. He is very lucky, we were not expecting this so soon. He can’t talk, but he did make moves to get out of his bed. I have explained to him that he has two broken legs and can’t go anywhere at the moment. I think he understood. Go and see him but do not tire him. You have five more minutes today, then he must rest.” Sandy hugged Dr Mehta and Clair said thank you. She wasn’t sure if you were allowed to hug consultants.
They went back into Max’s room to find him looking exactly the same except his eyes were open. He looked at them both in recognition but couldn’t do anything else. This was enough to get both of the girls smiling and crying at the same time. Dr Mehta came in after five minutes and they left Max.
Clair and Sandy both looked a mess after an emotional week and a positive hospital visit. They decided to stop off for a drink on the way home. The release of tension and emotion for both of them was huge, and they even smiled and laughed a little together as they drank and shared stories of Max. They probably drank a little too much but enjoyed the comfort of each other. They each took a taxi home and slept well for the first time in a week.
Chapter Ten – The Second Week
Saturday should have been a day of celebration. To some degree it was. Clair woke up after sleeping for a good eight hours. Her mum knocked on her bedroom door and brought her a light breakfast on a tray. Cora had obviously been crying in the night. It had become her new way of living in the last week. She had cried more than Clair although she couldn’t explain to Aaron the reason why.
“Max opened his eyes last night; he did wake up didn’t he?” Clair was unsure.
“He did kiddo. The hospital have phoned this morning to say that Max has started saying a few words including ‘Sandy’ and ‘Clair’ They don’t want you to visit until after six this evening because they are going to try to change some of his drugs today. But you and Sandy might be allowed to stay longer if you want to and if Max is strong enough for it.”
Clair’s mobile phone rang, it was Sandy. She had also had the same phone call from the hospital. They made arrangements to meet at the hospital at six on the dot. Sandy had asked Anne to cancel all the band’s gigs that they were booked for. Somehow singing and playing gigs didn’t seem important right now.
This left Clair with a whole Saturday and nothing to do. She looked at her emails and gave up on it after reading the first ten messages. None of her online circle of friends knew about Max so their light hearted banter was too bland and irritating to read. She checked out her Facebook page and lasted about thirty seconds before slamming down the screen of her laptop. Her eyes were watering for what seemed like the hundredth time this week.
Sandy, Clair and Jo had become very close in the last week. They supported each other and kept saying that things would be alright to each other. Clair had moments when she felt very uncertain about her relationship with Max. When they had said goodbye last week her heart seemed like it was rushing headlong towards loving Max. She remembered her feelings of passion and devotion on that day.
They had been on one date. Just one date. Admittedly it had been an extremely good date and they had got on like a house on fire. Her heart had been broken by the crash and she still was waiting for her deep feelings to return. Clair knew that the feelings were there, she just couldn’t feel them at the moment.
Max had a four year old memory of Clair and a love for her looks and her singing. All Clair had was an attraction to an out of control guy who was highly original and slightly dangerous. You never knew what was going to happen next with Max. She remembered saying to Max ‘Don’t rush me’. She didn’t know where to go now.
Clair was washed and dressed and hung around the kitchen all morning. She tried to talk to her dad but he was way behind at work, and was planning to go into the office later. Her mum was getting things together for a fruit cake. Clair was at a complete loose end and started making a nuisance of herself. She started by spinning two teaspoons in opposite directions on the work surface. They would spin for more than two minutes before stopping. Then when spinning spoons got boring, she started opening the cupboards and seeing what was inside them. The cupboards made a satisfying ‘Clunk’ when she closed them.
The last straw for Cora was the spice rack. Clair started to arrange the spice bottles in alphabetical order like they have them in the shops. She was just sorting Cumin, Coriander and Cinnamon, but not in that order, when Cora snapped.
“Peace Girl.” She handed her the house phone across the kitchen surface.
“Call Jo and see if she is working today. That is an order! With the mercy of God with us, she will have a day off and you can go and see her for the afternoon.”
Clair snatched the phone off Cora and pressed memory one.
Mercifully, Jo answered immediately. Clair asked if she could come round as she needed to get out of the house. Clair had already been round to see Jo in the week and she had proved to be a real friend.
Jo had lived through her own share of tragedy in her young life. Her younger sister, Ruby, had died in unexplained circumstances when she was five. That was fifteen years ago.
As a result Jo had spent four years in a care home until her mum was cleared of responsibility for Ruby’s death. Jo never knew who her father was. She was now the head of her house and looked after her ailing mother who was house bound with multiple sclerosis. She worked, Monday to Friday running the HR department of an international software company. For three evenings a week and every other Saturday she worked as a waitress in a fried chicken restaurant.
Clair walked the mile and a half to Jo’s house and knocked on the door. The walk was bracing and helpful. It cleared Clair’s head of a lot of rubbish ideas that were festering in there. Jo opened the door and they hugged for a few seconds.
“Hiya kiddo.” Jo and Cora were the only two peop
le who were allowed to call her kiddo.
“Where is she? I want to see her!” A voice rang through from the back of the house.
“She’s alive and well today!” Jo whispered to Clair as they went through to the back room.
“Hi Mrs Garner, how are you keeping?” She went over and kissed Jo’s mum.
“Say nothing about me, how are you baring up, your poor girl?” Mrs Garner spent her days in a huge armchair, with everything she needed for life and living within easy reach, on a selection of side tables and surfaces. Those items that were out of reach could be fetched with a special grabber she had been supplied with from the social services department.
“I’m doing a lot better now that Max has woken up. Thanks.” Clair replied.
“It’s wonderful news. You will have to bring him round when he is up and running again.” Mrs Garner had mentioned this many times when Clair had visited last Wednesday. The three of them had a coffee together before Jo and Clair disappeared upstairs to Jo’s room. This little oasis was Jo’s escape. Her room was plastered with posters of rap musicians and movie stars. Her wages allowed her the luxury of a fifty inch screen television with full surround sound. It was fitted to the wall and permanently tuned to MTV Dance channel. It was far too big for her nine foot by nine foot bedroom but Jo didn’t worry about that. There were times when she needed to get away, and this was her main escape.
“You’ve tidied up!” Clair said accusingly.
“I tidy up once a year, you struck lucky.” Jo smiled quietly. She had drifted through her life, with nothing to do for eight days since the accident. So she had tidied her room. For today they stepped back in time and danced and sang around Jo’s room for two hours. MTV Dance was playing ‘100 hits from the seventies and eighties’, which as everyone knows were the best decades for dance music. They finally stopped dancing as the number one tune of Le Freak was played.
Jo muted the TV and looked at Clair.
