CAROL MARINELLI - The Italian's Touch

‘I told you, I fell!’ Jason was becoming indignant now but Mario chose not to notice as he carried on chatting in an amiable voice. ‘Humour me, please, Jason. I need to practise my English.’ He flashed a smile and Jason shrugged. ‘If, and I hear you when you say no, but if this was the result of a bite—say you went to thump someone and their tooth caught your knuckle…’

Jason was seriously rattled now and pulled his hand away but Mario continued unperturbed. ‘Then that would make this seemingly simple injury far more serious. A human bite would be far more dangerous than a piece of gravel. You see, a bite acts like a very effective injection, and in this small space…’ He flicked his hands dramatically. ‘Pow! The germs multiply at a great rate and the hand fills with pus. Of course, if this were a bite, then we would need to admit you and give you intravenous antibiotics. Possibly you would need to go to Theatre to have the wound cleaned to halt the progress of the infection. Anyway, as it is merely from a fall, we don’t need to worry as much. We can increase your oral antibiotics and continue with elevation, and I will see you again tomorrow when I hope to see a great improvement. Sister Hadley here will clean it now for you and put it in a high arm sling.’ Handing Jason a script, he picked up his patient card and started to write.

Instead of getting up, Jason sat there for a moment. ‘Suppose it was a bite and I took the tablets and sling, what would happen then?’

‘Well, I really don’t think we need to go into that, Jason. I’m sure you are sensible enough that you would tell me so that I could give you the appropriate treatment.’

Jason gave loud sniff. ‘Well, come to think of it, I did get mixed up in a bit of a blue on Saturday.’

‘A blue?’

Fleur suppressed a smile as Mario tried to work out that particular Australianism. ‘A ‘‘blue’’ is a fight, Mr Ruffini.’

Mario glanced around at her. ‘Ah, I see. Well, Sister will take you around to the main department and as soon as I finish the clinic we’ll see about getting the orthopaedic doctors to admit you.’

‘How long will I be in for?’ Jason sounded nervous now and nothing like the angry young man of earlier.

‘A couple of days probably, but had you left it longer it could have been a lot more serious. I thank you for your honesty, it has made treating you a lot more straightforward.’

Fleur had to hand it to him, Mario certainly had charm. Most doctors—nurses, too, come to that—wouldn’t have been able to resist a quick lecture. But Mario had put that aside in the interest of his patient and the result was a positively docile young man now who would get the appropriate care.

‘I’d like a swab taken and then could you ask them to put in an IV bung? I’ll be around shortly to write up some antibiotics and refer Jason. Thank you, Sister.’ He gave a very brief on-off smile without meeting her eyes.

Fleur knew he was annoyed with her and, what was worse, she couldn’t blame him. After this morning’s debacle he must be wondering what on earth Danny was doing, taking her back!

Jason was soon settled onto a trolley.

‘How’s the clinic going?’ Danny asked

‘Fine. We’re just about finishing up. Young Jason is to be admitted under the orthopods and needs an IV bung inserted.’

‘So it was a bite?’ Danny said knowingly. ‘He swore blind he’d fallen. How did you get him to open up?’

‘Not me,’ Fleur admitted. ‘Mario forced it out of him, or should I say charmed it out of him.’

‘I must say I’m impressed.’ Danny laughed. ‘So Mario does have his uses after all.’

Fleur gave him a quizzical look.

‘Just joking. I know he’s a great doctor, he’s just thrown the staff into disarray—surely you must have noticed? Lucy is a bumbling wreck whenever he’s near, Beryl has given up cleaning and mans the coffee-machine as if she worked in a café and even Len is taking his bad back to see him.’

Fleur laughed but her heart wasn’t in it, as she knew what was coming next.

‘How are you finding it?’

‘The clinic was fine, but I know I lost it a bit this morning. I’m sorry, Danny.’

Danny patted her arm. ‘There’s no need for that. It was completely understandable.’

‘Understandable, yes, acceptable, no.’

‘It was just bad luck it had to happen on your first morning. Things will get easier. Anyway, you finish in ten minutes, then you can go home and put your feet up.’

Fleur glanced down at her fob watch. ‘Gosh, the morning’s flown. How is Mrs Green?’ She held her breath, waiting for the answer.

‘Still in Theatre. The CT scan showed a massive subdural haematoma. Hopefully once they’ve evacuated the blood clot she should do well. She wasn’t down long.’

‘She was fine,’ Fleur said, almost to herself. ‘It just all happened so quickly.’

‘Then it’s just as well she was in the observation ward and not at home.’

Fleur nodded. ‘I’d better get back and have a quick tidy before I go.’

‘Well, I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow. Now, don’t dwell on it, Fleur. It really is good to have you back.’

By the time she got back, the last patient’s injury had been dressed and Lucy was enthusiastically restocking the dressing trolleys. As Fleur joined her, Luke Richardson made his way over, a pile of notes under his arm.

‘Thanks for that, Fleur,’ he said warmly. ‘I must say, I’m glad to see you back. It’s nice to have such a busy clinic run so smoothly.’ He turned to Mario who was somewhat impatiently hovering, obviously anxious to conclude the conversation. But Luke didn’t notice. ‘Fleur’s one of our finest,’ he said enthusiastically.

Mario was obviously choosing to reserve his judgement and spoke only to the top of her head. ‘Indeed,’ he said politely, as Fleur stood there awkwardly. His obvious coolness upset her, and rather surprisingly so. She had been around long enough to witness more than the occasional rudeness or indifference from a colleague. But this felt different. This time it was merited and coupled with the fact that everyone else seemed to get on famously with the wonderful Mario Ruffini.

Her cheeks burning, Fleur gave the two consultants a brief smile before making her way to the changing room.

‘Damn,’ she cursed once the door was safely closed. Day one and already she’d put someone offside. For a second she closed her eyes, resting the back of her head against the door. Surely her job couldn’t be in jeopardy on the strength of this morning? Surely it wasn’t all over before it had even started?

‘HI MUM!’ Alex gave Fleur a worried smile as he ran towards her. ‘How did it go?’

‘It was fine.’

‘Honestly?’

Fleur nodded assuredly. Some things a seven-year-old didn’t need to hear. ‘Where’s Ben?’

‘He’s in time-out—he had to stay behind for talking too much. He shouldn’t be long.’

As if on cue, Ben appeared, smiling happily, not remotely fazed by his short time in the sin bin. Fleur tried to ignore the unsettling contrast between the two boys. Alex would have been completely devastated—everything these days seemed to unnerve him. Not, of course, that she wanted him to be naughty at school, but he did need to relax a bit more. Kathy was probably right. The extra time with Ben would help, and maybe some of Ben’s happy-go-lucky nature would rub off on Alex. Once again it was rammed home to Fleur that she needed this job for so much more than the money.

By the time Kathy arrived the kids had devoured a bowl of potato chips and a drink and were finishing up their homework.