Alison Roberts - Twice as Good

‘Oh, no! I still haven’t rung the agency.’

Ruth Prendergast was smiling. ‘I don’t mind waiting. I feel a lot better just being somewhere close to medical assistance.’

Janet nodded and smiled. ‘Make yourselves comfortable. There are plenty of books and toys.’ She could see Miss Little standing outside the office door. She was clutching a solid-looking handbag. A tight hat was jammed on her head and her thick woollen coat was firmly buttoned. Not quite undressed, indeed!

Janet ushered her patient into the treatment room and closed the door behind them. ‘We’ll need to get you undressed, Miss Little, so I can take the ECG.’ Janet briskly pulled the curtain to screen the bed from the door.

‘Did you know that you have a cat in your waiting room?’

‘Yes. That’s Outboard. St David’s sort of acquired him quite recently. Did you not see him when you came in on Friday? He loves talking to people in the waiting room.’

‘I don’t like cats.’ Miss Little had made no move to start undressing. ‘They carry germs.’

‘We don’t let him come in here,’ Janet said reassuringly. ‘This is the only place we keep sterile equipment.’ She reached out an encouraging hand to relieve her patient of the handbag. ‘Have you been getting some more chest pain?’

Miss Little backed away, a protective arm now enclosing the handbag. ‘Germs travel. They can go a very long way.’

‘Not this far.’ Janet decided to take a firm approach. ‘Just take off everything down to your petticoat for me, Miss Little. Like you did on Friday.’ Janet collected syringes, a vacutainer and tourniquet as she spoke. She opened a small cupboard to extract an ampoule of injectable iron solution. ‘I’ll be back in a minute or two, when you’re all ready.’ Janet moved briskly. She could do Mrs Endicott’s test and treatment in the side room. At least that would be one empty seat in the waiting area.

Mrs Endicott was delighted at the unexpectedly prompt attention.

‘It’s not that I like to make a nuisance of myself,’ she explained to Janet. ‘I don’t even want to go to the hairdresser today. It’s far too nice a day to sit around for hours having a perm.’

‘It is a lovely day,’ Janet agreed. She tied the tourniquet around Mrs Endicott’s upper arm. ‘Just squeeze your hand for me a few times.’

‘A perfect drying day,’ Mrs Endicott continued contentedly. ‘Monday’s always been my washing day.’

‘Every day’s my washing day.’ Janet deftly inserted the needle and clicked the vacutube into the plastic holder. ‘But not today, unfortunately. I turned the washing machine on this morning and the next thing I knew I had a flood on the laundry floor.’

‘Oh, dear! You’ve got two little boys, too, haven’t you?’

‘Yes. Twins. Adam and Rory.’ Janet removed the full test tube and then pressed a cotton ball to Mrs Endicott’s elbow as she withdrew the needle. ‘They’re six. Nearly seven.’

‘You must have a lot of washing to do, then.’

‘Heaps.’ Janet agreed ruefully. She thought of the pile of muddy jeans, track pants and sweatshirts she had walked out on this morning, and sighed deeply. ‘In fact, it’s quite unbelievable how many items of clothing two small boys can go through over a weekend. If I don’t get the machine fixed tonight, they may well have to go to school tomorrow in their pyjamas.’ Janet picked up a syringe. ‘Let’s get this injection over with and that’ll be you. I’ll ring you when we get the results of this sample and let you know when we need to check your levels again. Hopefully, we’re getting your anaemia under control now.’

Miss Little eyed the blood sample Janet carried back into the treatment room for labelling.

‘I hope you’re not intending to take any blood from me.’

‘Dr Spencer hasn’t ordered any blood tests, Miss Little. I think he wants to see the trace of your heart first.’ Janet looked disbelievingly at May Little’s foundation garment. Was it an antique or did they still manufacture genuine corsets? ‘Can we undo this lacing bit on the front?’ Janet struggled to keep her face straight. ‘I need to stick an electrode on just about here.’ She touched what felt like some steel reinforcement.

‘You just never know, do you?’

‘What about, Miss Little?’

‘What they do with the blood. What they really test it for.’

‘Oh, I don’t think they do anything they’re not asked to.’ Janet clipped the electrodes into place on the sticky patches. ‘They haven’t got the time and it’s all too expensive these days.’

May Little looked unconvinced. ‘They already know too much,’ she informed Janet knowingly. ‘They’re not going to get any of my blood.’

‘Mmm.’ Janet ripped off the rhythm strip. If Miss Little needed a blood test Janet was going to make sure it was Oliver who did the deed. ‘Stay here for a moment, Miss Little. I’ll just get Dr Spencer to have a look at this.’

Oliver was pacing around his consulting room. ‘Would you believe it?’ he demanded of Janet incredulously. ‘The locum agency just rang to ask if we’d had the message from Dr Singh. Apparently her mother took ill and she flew back to India yesterday. They wait until 11 a.m. and then ring to ask if we want someone else.’

‘What did you say?’

‘I said of course we want someone else. We wanted someone else at 9 a.m. Before the waiting room started overflowing.’

Janet winced at the choice of vocabulary. She would have to find time to ring a washing-machine repair firm or she would be in trouble tomorrow morning. Oliver was still speaking distractedly.

‘Poor Sophie’s not feeling at all well herself. She threw up three times before we even got to work.’

‘She’s got the written exam for her GP registration tomorrow, hasn’t she? Is it nerves, do you think?’

‘No.’ Oliver couldn’t suppress a grin as he reached for the ECG trace Janet was holding outstretched. ‘We’re pregnant.’

Janet gasped in surprise. ‘I didn’t even think of that !’

‘Neither did we.’ Oliver was still grinning. ‘Toni did. She thought that was why Sophie was so tired and hungry all the time, but she didn’t miss a period. Twice. They were a lot lighter, she said, but they were still on time. You could have bowled us both over when we got the results of the blood test. I talked a mate into doing a scan over the weekend and it turns out she’s about ten weeks along.’

Janet was nodding vigorously. ‘The same thing happened to me. Exactly. Only I didn’t find out until I was twelve weeks pregnant. Gave the father enough time to swan off and get someone else pregnant.’

‘You’re joking!’ Oliver’s face was a picture of disgust. ‘I never knew. What a bastard!’

‘You said it.’ Janet tried to lighten the atmosphere with a grin. ‘No wonder I was put off men for life, was it? No chance now, even if the twins are desperate for a father.’

‘Did he know about the twins?’

‘No.’ Janet looked thoughtful. ‘I was going to tell him but there didn’t seem much point when I found out about the other woman.’ Janet laughed without a trace of amusement. ‘She was my best friend, would you believe?’

Oliver didn’t look amused either. ‘We’re not all like that, Jan. You’ll find the right person one of these days.’

‘That’s the problem, Oliver,’ Janet said sadly. She kept her gaze on the ECG strip which Oliver appeared to have forgotten he was holding. ‘I thought I had found the right person. I was so sure of it. Now I’ll never be able to trust my own judgment again.’ She managed another smile. ‘Anyway, I’m so pleased about you and Sophie. That’s great news.’