Face by Benjamin Zephaniah

Author:Benjamin Zephaniah [Zephaniah, Benjamin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1999-03-05T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

~ What the Officer Said ~

Five days after the operation, and twenty-three days after being admitted to hospital, Martin was ready to be discharged from Newham Parkside. His thigh had begun to grow new skin and his face had improved. There were no infection problems after the operation and the two newly grafted pieces of skin had begun to settle in. The burns on his hands had now healed as much as they could, the minor cuts and scratches that he had received in the crash had all gone. There wasn’t any more that the hospital could do for him for a while. Once again it was time to let nature do its thing. Martin’s legs felt weak. He hadn’t run or gone for a long walk for over three weeks. Martin had a daydream about doing gymnastics, going for long walks and playing football whilst in hospital. After listening to so much music, he longed for the day to come when he could dance. But he also knew that gymnastics, football, dancing and even walking were never going to be the same again with his new face. Martin’s parents arrived early to help him pack. The daily presents they had been bringing in, added to his friends’ gifts, meant that there was quite a lot of packing to do. His mother had brought him a brand new designer outfit with a pocket specially made for a Walkman and other pockets specially made for spare tapes. Martin put the outfit on straight away and immediately made use of the pockets. It was an extra baggy, brown, two-piece outfit that his mother described as cut curtains. But Martin had seen a similar outfit being worn by the rapper MC Kitty Kat on the front of a music cassette and had said he wanted something like it. Fortunately for Martin, his mother would buy almost anything to make him happy.

As they packed, Alan Green popped in to say goodbye. He gave Martin a card with his home and hospital phone numbers on it and told them all that they were free to contact him at any time. Then he bid them farewell and continued on his rounds.

‘Come on,’ said Martin’s father. ‘We’ll get a taxi at the hospital reception.’

Martin had never walked off the Burns Unit before. As he left the ward, other patients said goodbye or waved. Many of them had never spoken to Martin but they had got used to seeing him on the ward. As he walked to reception, Martin saw a whole world of people. Some were patients, some were staff and some were visitors, and for the first time Martin thought he was being stared at publicly.

Getting into the taxi was a relief. It was like escaping but the summer sun was shining brightly and hurting his eyes. He had seen very little natural sunlight and the summer heat was something that oppressed him after three weeks in an air conditioned state. He was aware of every turn the taxi made.

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