“Dr Fenwick!” he said, and his voice was icy. “What is this I hear about your authorizing Gary Higgins’ transfer back to Fenbridge hospital from the neurosurgical unit?”
“Oh, yes!” I said. “They phoned this morning. They needed an urgent cot at the neuro unit, and wanted us to take over Baby Higgins’ care at home. I told them that because of the social conditions he’d have to stay in hospital for a while and suggested they should transfer him back to Fenbridge - “
“Quite forgetting, I suppose, that his father was still a patient at Fenbridge? That he hadn’t yet been transferred to the mental hospital because they have a bed problem?”
“I did forget that, yes,” I said. “But what difference does it make?”
“Oh, none - none!” Max Lester said sarcastically. “Except that Higgins had just begun to calm down, apparently. But when his baby - and of course the baby’s mother - came back to Fenbridge hospital, he saw them. It was inevitable he should - the children’s ward runs parallel with the male medical ward where he is, and they share the main corridor. Anyway, seeing them was all he needed to get him all stirred up again. They’ve just phoned me from Fenbridge. Higgins has disappeared - walked out of the hospital, and gone God knows where. A dangerous man, a desperately ill man, and now he’s wandering round the countryside in a rage. Because of you!”
“That’s not fair!” I flashed at him. “How on earth was I to know first that Higgins would be so disturbed by the sight of his wife and child, and second that he was likely to see them? I don’t know the geography of Fenbridge hospital! To blame me for - “
He turned on his heeel. “There is absolutely no point in discussing this any further. I’m going to Dr Redmond now - and I’m telling him that he’ll have to make up his mind one way or the other. Either you go, and go now - or I do.”
I went after him, furiously. The prejudiced injustice of this man! We reached Dr Redmond’s consulting room door together, but it was Max Lester who opened it first and marched in. I was right behind him, and nearly ran into him when he stopped short, and I heard the sharp hiss of his breath as he stared across the room.
I looked over his shoulder, and then I too gasped and rushed past him to run across and fall on my knees beside the crumpled figure that was lying on the floor beside the desk.
Dr Redmond’s face was suffused with a bluish tinge, and he didn’t appear to be breathing. I fumbled for his wrist, trying to find a pulse, and then looked up at Max Lester. My own voice shook and seemed to come from a great distance as I spoke.
“He - he’s not - I can’t find a pulse.”
Max was beside me then, and ripping open the clothes across the old man’s chest.
“It’s a coronary - I warned him it could happen - get the emergency resuscitation tray, and get it fast. We may be able to do something - “
CHAPTER FIVE
How long it really was I don’t know, but it felt like an eternity. We worked over the inert body of Dr Redmond like people possessed. At some point in the proceedings - just as I was drawing up a syringe full of stimulant, I think - Peter Cooper came in, and took over the artificial respiration from Max.
Then it was Peter and I working, making the old man breathe again, forcing his heart to beat again, while Max frantically got through to Fenbridge hospital to arrange for an immediate admission.
And all the time I worked, I remembered Dad, and how we’d failed with him, how another attack suddenly coming so soon after the first had finally snuffed out his life, and I prayed the same thing wouldn’t happen to Dr Redmond, to whom I had become very close during my short weeks at Downlands. After about five minutes he opened his eyes and looked up at me, a puzzled look in their blue depths, and he tried to speak.
“No - don’t talk,” I said softly. “You’ve had an attack, but you’re fine now - but don’t talk, don’t make any effort at all. You know the drill, don’t you?”
And he managed a weak smile that made my own eyes suddenly smart with tears, so trusting was it.
The ambulance, with a highly trained resuscitation team aboard, came screaming up to the door a few minutes later, and within minutes, the flap was over. Dr Redmond was safely on the way to Fenbridge, leaving the three of us standing shakily in the hall, watching the tail lights of the ambulance disappear down the drive.
There was a sound behind us, and I turned, and saw Barbara Moon standing in the shadows of the staircase with tears running unchecked down her cheeks.
“It’s all right, Barbara,” I said gently, going over to put my arm round the girl’s shoulders. “He’s got every chance of recovery, now - “
And she gulped, turning her head to rest it on my shoulder, and wept even more bitterly.
“Don’t, Barbara,” I said. “Please - you’ll only make yourself feel dreadful - and it won’t help - “
“You did a great job, Pippa,” Peter’s voice cut across, and I looked up, surprised.
“What?”
“You did a great job,” Peter repeated. “Have you used resuscitation methods like that before?”
I nodded. “At the Royal - yes. And once - once for my father. We - failed that time.”
“I’m sorry,” Peter said. “It doesn’t always work, of course - but it can, in the right hands. And yours certainly are. I congratulate you - and us. You’re a real asset to the practice. And my God, it’s a good thing you’re here. Not only did you help save Dr Redmond - you’re here ready and able to take over all his work too - “
“An asset to the practice? Am I?” I said, and my voice was very even, as I looked across at Max Lester, who was still standing by the open hall door staring out into the garden. “Does Dr Lester agree with you?”
He came across to us then, closing the door against the dwindling light of early evening.
“I have no choice,” he said harshly. “We can’t run a practice this size with only two of us. It was getting heavy for three, which was why Dr Redmond took you on in the first place - not that - well, that’s beside the point now.”
He stopped and looked at me, and at Barbara who was still weeping into my shoulder.
“Barbara, for heaven’s sake stop that caterwauling. It helps nobody - “ and then he looked very directly at me.
“At least you aren’t howling,” he said, and his voice was a little less cold. “And I have to agree - you worked very well in that emergency. I couldn’t have started resuscitation so promptly on my own - and it was the speed that saved him - “
And suddenly, Barbara was crying even more loudly, almost hysterically.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Max said impatiently, above her noise, but Peter shook his head at him, and came across and prised loose Barbara’s grip on me, and took her to sit beside him on the bottom of the staircase.
“Now, what is it, Barbara? Dr Redmond’s in good hands now, and there’s every chance he’ll do very well. So why the fuss, hmmm? What’s upsetting you?”
The crying redoubled, and I looked, puzzled, at Max.
“Surely you guessed,” he said irritably.
And then Barbara said, gulping, “The bag - Dr Fenwick’s bag - I’m so sorry - I didn’t - and if it hadn’t been for her, Dr Redmond - “ and a fresh burst of sobbing drowned her words.
“My bag?“ I said, softly. “It was Barbara?“
“Who else?” Max asked, in equally low tones. “It was obviously Barbara - it’s typical of the sort of thing she’s likely to do, under stress. And she saw you as a potential source of stress. As soon as it happened I realized it was her doing.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I said. “Surely I had a right to know? As it was, I thought - “ I stopped then, and reddened.
“What did you think?” He sounded genuinely curious.
“I -” I looked across to Peter and Barbara, who were now talking together softly, and then moved away. Max followed me.
“I thought at first it might be - Judith,” I said in a low voice.
�
�A logical thought, I suppose. But despite her problems, Judith isn’t as unbalanced as all that - while Barbara is.”
He stopped, and then said, “You thought at first it was Judith, which means you thought of someone after that. Who?”
“I thought it might be you,” I said baldly, after a moment.
He stared at me for what seemed a long while, and then smiled. It was very startling to realize it was the first time I had ever seen him smile, and it made an incredible difference to his face. He looked younger and friendlier and altogether a much more likeable person.
“Did I seem as hysterical a personality as that?” he asked. “I wouldn’t have thought anyone, in their wildest moments, could see me doing something so typically adolescent - feminine adolescent - as committing a piece of wanton destruction.”
“I didn’t see it as hysteria,” I said. “I saw it as an action designed to make it thoroughly clear I was unwanted here. And you’d made it very obvious you didn’t want me here.”
“For logical reasons, not for merely emotional ones, like Barbara’s. I want the practice to have a hard-working level-headed man in it. Women are fine, in their place - but I don’t believe medical practice to be one of them. So, I didn’t want you here and made no bones about it. I still don’t - but I’ve no choice but to make the best of things as they are. All I ask of you now is application to work, and some common sense. For God’s sake don’t do anything like transferring a patient, as you did this morning, without making quite sure it’s the right thing to do. Up to a point I can see it wasn’t entirely your fault that it happened - I’ve got a hot temper and I let it cloud my judgment - but you were still wrong. The Higgins family are a problem, and they’re my pigeon. You should have checked with me - I was here, after all.”
“Yes,” I admitted. “I should have checked with you, under the circumstances. I suppose I didn’t think. I assure you that I will think, however, in future. Will that satisfy you? Because if it doesn’t, you’ll just have to get someone else to help you and I’ll go. I don’t think I could work in the sort of atmosphere we’ve had around here - “
He nodded. “I agree. I told you before, and I’ll tell you again. I wanted to be rid of you while there were three of us who could have coped with the practice. Now Dr Redmond’s out of commission clearly we can’t do without you - and extra doctors aren’t that easy to find at short notice. So, you’re necessary now. And since you are, I can assure you you’ll have my full co-operation in all medical matters - as long as I can have yours.”
“Of course,” I said a little stiffly. “I’ll consult you or Peter whenever necessary.”
He held out a hand, and after a moment, I did the same, and we clasped and shook hands, a little solemnly.
“That’s understood, then. And now I’m going to get some tea before starting evening surgery. I’d advise you and Peter to do the same.”
He turned and walked back across the wide hall to Peter and Barbara, who was now looking a lot less upset.
“All right, now, Barbara?” Max said, and patted her shoulder briefly. “I daresay we can forget all about it now - hmm, Dr Fenwick?” and he looked over his shoulder at me.
“Of course,” I said, and smiled at Barbara. “My bag has been mended, made almost as good as new, so I don’t feel nearly as bad about it as I did. I think I can understand why it happened - people do things when they’re - upset - that they wouldn’t normally do.”
Barbara nodded eagerly, and came across to me, and held out one hand rather shakily.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It was just - I don’t know - you looked so young and pretty and all when I got a peep at you the day you arrived, and I thought my doctors wouldn’t like me any more, with you to talk to, and it made me so mad, I just - “
“I know,” I said soothingly. “I know. But of course ‘your’ doctors still want you. I do, too, and I’d love it if you looked after me as well as you look after them.”
“I’d like to,” she said, a little shyly.
“Good!” Peter said heartily. “Then make us some tea before we all dissolve into tears. All this emotion is making me positively weak at the knees - “
And we all laughed - even Max, a little - and Barbara bustled away to the little kitchen looking a lot happier, while the three of us went into Dr Redmond’s consulting room to clear up the resuscitation equipment, and then to reorganize the work of the practice, for without Dr Redmond to take part of the load the pressure was obviously going to be very heavy indeed.
And the succeeding weeks proved just how heavy a load the practice carried. As the days lengthened and the air softened with the coming of summer, the work piled higher and higher. A flu epidemic in the last week of April led straight into a measles epidemic that spread over the town like wildfire. Next year, Peter and Max and I told each other wearily, we’d see to it that every child in the town was inoculated against the disease.
But, I was happy in my work. Max Lester treated me with a professional courtesy that made a refreshing change from his original surly hostility, though he remained as chilly as ever in a personal sense.
But Peter - Peter was marvellous. He was kind to me, fun to be with, reliable to work with. Of course he was abstracted sometimes, especially after one of Judith’s “bad nights”, but I understood these, and never took his remoteness personally.
It helped that the news about Dr Redmond was good and remained good. He had to stay in hospital, which was a pity, because it would have been pleasant to have him in his own flat where we could visit him easily, but the senior physician at Fenbridge wouldn’t hear of such a thing.
“He’s doing well,” he told us. “But let him come back to Downlands and what guarantee have we that he won’t start trying to work again? No. I don’t trust him - he’s a shocking patient, however good a doctor he is. I want him here right under my eye.”
We saw a lot of Jeremy, however. He’d taken to coming to Downlands frequently, on his way back from visiting his father at Fenbridge, and would sit and talk to Peter and Judith and me, up in the Cooper flat, long into the evenings.
I must confess that sometimes I found him rather boring; let’s face it, he was so very young. But I wouldn’t have hurt his feelings for the world, and knew how pleased his father would be to know his son was learning to be more sociable.
And, because of Dr Redmond’s illness, we’d had to let poor Jeremy down over the College spring dance - so the least I could do was put up with a little boredom on his behalf.
One thing that pleased me was to see what a good effect Jeremy had on Judith. At first, when he sat and chattered at us, she just sat sunk in her usual apathy, but after a few such evenings I noticed she was joining in, becoming more animated. She somehow became protective towards Jeremy, defending him hotly in any discussion between himself and Peter in which the latter seemed to be doing best. She was, in a way, maternal in her attitude to the boy, and it was good to see it.
And then, my own private life took a turn for the better. I’d written to Charles twice, and hadn’t thought much about the delay in any answer from him, mainly because I was so busy - not because I didn’t care whether or not I heard from him, because care I certainly did. And then out of the blue, one morning in the middle of surgery Barbara Moon called me to the phone for a private call.
“Yes?” I said, a little impatiently, because I’d had to leave a patient undressed on the couch, waiting for examination. “What is it?”
“Phillipa!” The voice sounded very close indeed, and the warmth in its familiar depths made my whole body shiver and then seem to melt delightedly. “Phillipa, how good to hear your voice! How are you, my dear?”
“Oh - I’m fine, Charles, fine! And you?” I said a little breathlessly.
“Never better, my dear. Horribly busy, of course. I’ve just taken a suite of rooms in Harley Street - and private practice keeps one hectic. That’s why I haven’t answered your charming letters. Time is just impossible -
but I’ve thought of you, of course.”
“Have you?” I said, almost in a whisper. “I’m glad.”
“In fact, I’m thinking of coming down to see you in this hell hole in which you’ve buried yourself - what is it called - Tetherdown? Is it too ghastly for you, my dear?”
It was extraordinary the sudden wave of affection and loyalty that swept over me, the slight sense of indignation that anyone who didn’t know the town should speak so slightingly of it.
But all I said was, “No - it’s not too bad.” I couldn’t really see myself defending Tetherdown to someone so sophisticated since I had been completely London-centred myself.
But Charles was coming to see me! That was more important than anything else. I tried not to sound as eager as I felt as I went on talking.
“It would be lovely to see you, Charles. When can you come? One weekend, perhaps? I’m sure we could put you up here at Downlands.”
“Could you? That would be nice - so much pleasanter than some fearful country hotel run by clodhoppers! How about the weekend after next - the last week in May, that will be?”
“Fine,” I said. “Just fine. I’ll fix it up, and arrange to meet your train if you let me know - “
“I’ll drive, my dear, so much more comfortable. I’ll be down in time for dinner, hmmm? Looking forward to seeing you.”
“Me too, Charles,” I said ungrammatically but letting all the pleasure I was feeling spill over into the words. “Me too - “
And I went back to my patient in such a dream of delight that he, a rather wicked old man with a sharp tongue, cackled with laughter and poked me in the ribs, and asked me if the spring had got into my blood. And I had to laugh back and say that perhaps it had - for certainly I was feeling on top of the world at that moment.
I thought that two weeks would never pass, so much was I looking forward to see Charles. I arranged with Dr Redmond, the next time I went to visit him, to put Charles up in his flat for the weekend, and Mrs James, the Coopers’ very obliging daily help, promised to clean the little flat and have it all ready. She seemed very impressed to be having a Harley Street consultant coming to stay, as indeed was Peter Cooper.
The Doctors of Downlands Page 6
