Page 21 of New Dreams for the Village Nurse
‘Um, I think that’s Windermere.’
‘OK,’ he said, turning back to the hill. ‘It’s not so bad. Still not happy about this climb, though.’
‘You get used to it.’
‘You do this a lot then?’
‘Every morning, more or less. Darryl – Ann’s son – has quite complex needs, so I call in before I come to work to make sure everything is OK. It’s only because of that I found Ann in bed.’
‘What kind of needs does he have?’
‘Mostly learning difficulties, diabetes, occasional seizures, though Ann says he hasn’t had any of those for a long time. Certainly not since I started to visit.’
‘And you have to come up every morning? Isn’t that within a social care remit?’
Ottilie turned to him with a wry smile as they started to walk again. ‘You’re in Thimblebury. We’re miles from anywhere, with a population smaller than some inner-city schools. Social care availability is limited around here. Besides, Darryl has got used to me now and he trusts me, so it seems easier to carry on as we are. It doesn’t take that long – usually, anyway – it just means me leaving the house half an hour or so before I would ordinarily.’
‘Well, I applaud your dedication.’
‘Thank you. And I applaud yours right now – you’re doing a sterling job of climbing this hill.’
‘Is that sarcasm?’
‘Of course not! Wouldn’t dream of it.’
‘Because I’d like to remind you,’ he replied with a smile of his own, ‘that I may only be temporary cover, but I’m still the GP.’
‘Yes, Doctor.’
‘That’s better. I knew it was a bad idea to have you calling me Simon – all sorts of dissent going on left, right and centre.’
‘You’ll know for next time.’
‘I will. Never had any of this in Botswana.’
‘Botswana? Is that where you’ve been?’
‘Got back about three weeks ago. I was there for a year.’
‘Working as a GP?’
‘On a voluntary basis, yes.’
‘Wow, that’s impressive.’
‘Not really. I’ve always felt I had a moral obligation to give back. You know, I’m lucky enough to have been born in a country where I was afforded the time and space and finances to pursue a career that pays me well and is good to me. I need to somehow repay that…Well, at the risk of sounding like a raging hippy, I like to think of it as a karmic debt. It’s only dumb luck that you and I were born here – we could just as easily have been born in a place a lot less kind to us.’
‘What did your family think about you going off for a year?’
‘They were fine about it. We’re not that close anyway really.’
‘And your…’ Ottilie wanted to say wife, but that doubt crept in again. He’d been so sad when he’d talked about her. And were there children? He hadn’t said so. ‘So you were pretty free to do what you wanted?’
‘As a bird,’ he said. He nodded at a wide metal farm gate. ‘Is that the way in?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thank God. If I go much further you’re going to have to find me some oxygen.’
