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Extended Work
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| Three accounts of events | |
| By teddy | ||||||||||||||
| 28 December 2006 | ||||||||||||||
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I’ve been struggling with this for weeks. Although I know exactly where I’m going with it, I’m not quite sure if I’m doing it the right way….would very much appreciate any advice. Thanks. Paul got woken up by a squeaky noise made by a trolley pushed along the corridor outside. He lifted his head from the pillow and threw a quick look at his wristwatch: it was nearly seven o’clock. His eyes moved to Adi. She sounded asleep, her face looking pale, but quite relaxed. He stood up, stretched his body with a long, slow move, then walked to the window. With one hand, he shoved the curtains just enough to let his eyes catch a glimpse of what was happening outside. There were cars pulling into the car park and people moving in and out of the building. Back near the bed, he kneeled down, took Adi’s hand into his and kissed it gently. ‘I’ll be right back, sweetheart.’ he whispered. He needed the loo and also hoped to find somewhere a strong cup of coffee. He left the room quietly, trying not to disturb Adi’s sleep. 'Could you please tell me where the toilets are?’ he asked, once outside, a young woman, who was consistently gliding a mop from one skirting board to the other, leaving wet, clean floor stripes behind. At the sound of his voice, she stopped, straightened up and pointed down the corridor. ‘Over there.’ ‘Thank you.’ Paul smiled at her. She responded with a quick shrug of her mouth before bending back over her mop. It could have been no longer than fifteen twenty minutes when he returned. As he was walking along the corridor, he noticed precipitated movements around Adi’s room. He quickened his pace. As he got closer, he felt his heart hastening and his legs going feeble. He involuntary stopped and rested his back against the wall: Adi was helplessly lying on a trolley, which people were rushing out of her room. Paul stared at them in shock. After a moment, when he finally managed to shift his legs, he ran towards the crowd pushing the trolley into the lift. ‘What happened?’ he grabbed the woman holding the lift doors by her arm. ‘Where are you taking her?’ ‘Step back, Sir.’ she threw him a severe look. ‘For God’s sake, what’s happening? I need to know.’ he hissed at her. ‘Sir!’ she admonished him, removing his hand from her arm with a brusque move. After the lift doors closed, the woman turned back to him. ‘Are you family, Sir?’ she asked. ‘Yes…no…I’m a very close friend.’ he mumbled distraught. ‘I’m sorry, they’re taking her to the operating theatre. She’s ...her condition is worsening.’ the woman looked at him sympathetically. ‘Is she going to be alright?’ he impatiently pleaded. ‘We could only hope, Sir.’ she said. Her tone was compassionate, but unconvincing. ‘Will you be able to contact her relatives?’ ‘Yes…I think so.’ he stared at her in disbelief. After she left, he reached for his phone. * George was restlessly lying in the driver seat of his car. It was Sunday, however, the hospital car park was filling up with cars, people and noise. A young woman passing by threw him a quick look through the car window and smiled indulgently before rushing towards the entrance. He watched her disappearing inside the building. He wished it was one of these ordinary Sundays when he’d get woken up by Vicky’s snivels shifted from her bedroom into his and Adi’s by the baby monitor, resting on Adi’s bedside cabinet. ‘I’ll go and get her.’ he would get up while Adi would uncover a sleepy face from underneath her pillow. ‘Ok. I’ll get her bottle then.’ she would mumble before dragging herself out of bed. By the time Adi would get back from the kitchen, a dryer, freshly nappy changed Vicky would impatiently demand from the middle of their king size bed her very early breakfast. Seconds later, they’d be both lying next to her, one on each side, warmly watching her little hands grasping the bottle and hungrily plunging its teat into her mouth. From time to time, she would interrupt the overzealous gulping with a quick gasp, and gaze at them as if she wanted to reassure herself that they were still there, guarding her. By the time the milk in the bottle would be almost gone, Vicky’d be half asleep. George would take her back to her bedroom; once back in theirs, he’d sneak in bed and snuggle up to Adi’s warm body. ‘Mmmm…’ she would coddle herself against him, curling up in his arms. By nine o’clock, the three of them would be downstairs, gathered around the kitchen table, having their lazy Sunday breakfast. Over a cup a coffee and freshly toasted bread, Adi and he would debate the latest events that had been happening in their life, in the country or in the world. From her high-chair, Vicky would preside the discussion, promptly intervening with squeals of excitement and babbling speeches when she considered necessary to do so. They’d spend the rest of the day lazing around the house, or in the garden if the weather was warm enough. Sometimes they would go for an afternoon walk and on their way back perhaps stop at the village pub for a quick lunch and a chat with the other villagers happening to be there. The evening would always begin with all three being back in the kitchen where Adi would get herself busy cooking one of her delicious meals. Vicky would have her last half an hour of fun for the day before getting ready for bed. In the meantime, he would open a bottle of wine and pour some of it in two glasses, for Adi and himself. Adi used to say, always smiling, that sipping wine while meddling with pots and herbs and spices in the kitchen stimulated her culinary creativity. There was something so snugly heartening about these Sundays he wouldn’t have changed them for the world. It took only one awful, horrifying Tuesday though, a day he wished he could wipe off the calendar, to take this cosiness away and thorn their world to pieces. Deep down, George knew that from that day their life could never bee the same. And he felt a vast, dark emptiness inside him and had not the slightest idea how he’d ever manage to fill that hole back again. He leaned back in his seat, pressing his head against its headrest and closed his eyes. On Tuesday morning, he remembered, few hours after dropping Adi at the train station, he and Vicky were in the living room, lounging on the floor, trying to entertain themselves with the toys and books scattered all around them. ‘We’d better have all this mess cleaned up before Mummy gets home, honey.’ he recalled smiling at Vicky. The TV was on and, while his thoughts were still wondering about the note Adi left on the kitchen table before she left that morning, ‘Remind me to tell you something when I’ll get home tonight. It’s important.’, the words ‘breaking news’, ‘train derailed’, ‘London’, ‘Liverpool Street’ coming from the TV speakers struck his attention. He turned around and watched the TV screen. A trained had derailed minutes before arriving at Liverpool Street station. There were casualties; police, fire and ambulance crews were struggling to reach and help the victims. It was the 9:00 o’clock train from Cambridge. At that point a worrying feeling started creeping in. ‘No, Adi couldn’t have been on it, she missed that one. ‘ he tried to reassure himself; moments later he learnt that the train was packed with commuters and that was due not only to the morning rush hour, but also because it had run late. He picked up the phone and rang Adi. The number was unreachable. He tried again with no more luck. At that point he was already worried sick. He tried Tina; Adi was supposed to meet her later on. ‘Has Adi rung you?’ he asked her. ‘No, not yet. ’ Tina said. ’What’s the matter, George? You sound worried.’ ‘Haven’t you heard the news?’ he asked. ’There’s been a train crash in Liverpool Street this morning and I can’t get hold of her. I just want to make sure she’s alright.’ he tried to control his voice to remain calm. There was a silent moment at the other end of the phone. ‘Was she on it?’ Tina finally spoke. ‘I don’t know, that’s the worst of it.’ When they arrived at the station that morning, Adi didn’t let them stay with her until she got on the train. ’There’s so no need for you to wait here with me.’ she said. ‘I’ll be alright. You two be good, ok?.’ she kissed them good bye before getting out of the car. He had no idea what train she got on, and he felt panic overwhelming him. ‘I’ll try to get hold of her myself. And I’ll phone you back straight away. I’m sure she’s alright.’ Tina regained her self-control, trying to reassure him that there was no need to worry. The time seemed to drag on as he was waiting there for news. After he fed Vicky, he took her upstairs for her afternoon nap. He tried to phone up the station to find out what time the train arrived there that morning, but their lines were all busy. When he finally managed to get through and got an answer, he realized it was very possible for Adi to be on that train. He was just about to call Tina to let her know when his phone started ringing. ‘George, it’s me.’ s sickly feeling rumbled his stomach when he heard Tina’s distraught voice. ‘You must come to London as soon as possible. Adi’s in hospital.’ From that moment, everything had transformed into a very long and dark nightmare, and, no matter how much he’d struggled, he could find no way out of it. ‘Oh Adi, why didn’t you tell me? If I’d known you were pregnant, I wouldn’t have never let you come to London on your own. Then none of these would’ve happened. And nothing would’ve come between us. Not even Paul.’ They had never talked about having another baby: Vicky was still quite small and their relationship was still young. Until one night, when they got carried away on the sofa in the living room by a one extra glass of wine. ‘That was a bit naughty, wasn’t it?’ Adi said as they cuddled up to each other after they cooled down. ‘What happens if…you know, if I…?’ ‘Well, how do you feel about it?’ he examined her face carefully. ‘I asked first.’ she laughed. ‘Ok, well, if it happened,’ he held her tight into his arms, kissing her hair, ‘then I would most probably become the luckiest man on earth. And I’m sure Vicky wouldn’t mind having a baby brother or sister to play with.’ ‘Hmmm…’ was all Adi let out. But she was smiling. And next time when it happened, she didn’t try to stop him. So he became more and more careless because, with her, he felt he was ready to start a family. Something he had never seriously thought of before. They were already a family: apart from not genetically contributing to her conception, Vicky was in any other way his daughter. The acute sound of his ringing mobile startled him. He watched its screen for a second: it was the call he’d hoped all night he would not receive. ‘Oh God, no matter what happens to us, please, don’t let her die. She’s too young, she doesn’t deserve this.’ he stared at the phone petrified.
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