Page 43 of Pyg

“George, do you know that I’m talking about your brother Bernard?”

The man’s eyelashes twitched as if he were trying to open his eyes, but the lids were too heavy.

“You can hear me, can’t you?” Alice leaned closer and enunciated each word, as if somehow speaking clearly would rouse him into consciousness. “They’ve been trying to get hold of Bernard so we can find out what’s going on with you and get you the help you need.”

A jolly chuckle preceded a rotund Black nurse as she bustled a trolley into the room.

“You won’t get much out of Mr George,” she said in an accent as rich as ginger cake. She peered at Alice over the top of her gold-rimmed glasses and Alice glanced at the name badge pinned to the nurse’s generous chest —Marjorie Reid. Staff Nurse.

Marjorie manoeuvred around the room, picking things up and putting them down again.

“George wakes, eats a few mouthfuls in between mumbling a load of nonsense about pigs and dogs. He works himself up and then he goes back to sleep, just like that.” She snapped her fingers whilst waving her forearm in the air.

“Pigs and dogs?”

“Yes, yes. Pigs and dogs.”

“Oh, well that’s new. It was just pigs before, not dogs.”

“Today he said, ‘the pigsaredogs’ or some such thing.” The nurse shrugged her round shoulders and continued to busy herself in the room. “You’re his relation?”

“No, I’m just a friend… I don’t really know him at all, actually?—”

“Well, it’s time for his bed bath, so unless you want to get to know him much better, you might want to make yourself scarce.” The nurse chortled and whipped back the bed covers, revealing the man’s entire pyjama-clad frame. The bulk of him looked so vulnerable, laid out flat on the sterile sheets.

Alice stood and squeezed the man’s hand again. “George, I’ll go and find Ash to see what’s going on. Enjoy your bath,” she added as an afterthought.

The nurse’s merry chuckle continued as Alice closed the door behind her and stood alone in the corridor with a faulty strip-light flickering overhead. Alice resisted the pull of the vending machine humming in the corner and eased herself down into the end seat on a row of shiny blue plastic chairs. She pulled Ash’s old phone out of her pocket and turned it over in her hand. Currently as useful as a brick, with no SIM card or phone numbers programmed into it, but she smiled at the device and then pressed it to her lips, enjoying the feel of the cool glass screen against her skin.

There had never been a shortage of flashy gifts from Fran — jewellery, perfume, all the latest mobile phones, expensive weekends away and fine dining in exclusive restaurants. There’d even been talk of a trip abroad — somewhere chic and European. But everything with Fran was transactional; she was either buying something she wanted from Alice or paying for something she’d done to her.

With a loud whoosh, Ash burst through the double doors at the end of the corridor. Alice almost dropped the phone as she scrambled to stuff it back in her pocket.

“Hey, sorry I was gone so long. Why are you sitting out here?” Ash slunk down into the seat next to Alice.

Alice nodded towards the closed door of George’s room. “Bed bath.”

“I take it you didn’t want to help?” Ash giggled.

“Funnily enough, no. Any news?”

“Not really. They’ve continued to try the landline for George’s brother. The answering machine must be full now, as it just rings out.”

“Oh, that’s so frustrating. Poor George.”

“Perhaps his brother doesn’t like telemarketers either?” Ash playfully nudged Alice with her elbow.

Alice chewed her lip to restrain her smile. “So what will happen if they can’t reach anyone for him?”

“They’ll keep trying for now. George is scheduled for some scans tomorrow and he has a follow-up with the neurologist, which’ll help give us some idea of what we’re dealing with.”

“But will they just release him without support?”

Ash shrugged. “I guess it depends on what’s actually wrong with him. If we don’t think he’s capable of looking after himself, we’ll have to get Social Services involved. It’s looking like that might be where we’re heading as things stand at the moment.”

Alice must have been frowning as Ash summoned a kind smile and placed a hand on her back, that charming bedside manner shining reassuringly through the clouds of worry.Do they train them to do this in med school?

“It’s hard to say what’ll happen, but for now he’s in the right place and we’re taking care of him.” Ash pulled out her phone and illuminated the screen. “Okay, I have a couple of hours until my shift starts. Let’s get Pinkie to sort out your parking and I can jump your car if it won’t start.”

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