Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge

Author:Beryl Bainbridge
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Medical, Emergency Medicine
ISBN: 9780140144048
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1991-04-15T05:11:56+00:00

8

Binny and Muriel cleaned up the mess on the carpet. The fur cape, speckled with fragments of undigested food, was shaken out over a piece of newspaper and then dropped inside a large carrier bag.

‘I’ll take it to the cleaners,’ Binny promised.

Muriel, thinking in that case she might never see it again, said it didn’t matter. The two men, grown pale, were unable to assist.

‘I’m so sorry,’ moaned Alma weakly. ‘What a nuisance I am. It must have been something I ate.’ She saw Edward hovering by the door. ‘Teddy darling,’ she cried. ‘Fancy seeing you. Have you had a nice bath, pet?’

Simpson tried to lift up the back window but it was stuck fast. He went into the hall and opened the front door to let out the smell of vomit.

‘Look here,’ whispered Edward, following him. ‘We really must go home. I’m frightfully late as it is.’ He shut the door.

‘It’s not me,’ said Simpson. ‘It’s my wife. She’s well into her Florence Nightingale routine.’

Muriel rubbed energetically at the carpet with a piece of rag. When she had finished she rolled the cloth and various soiled tissues into a piece of newspaper and made a parcel of them. Fetching a damp flannel from the bathroom, she wiped Alma’s hands and face. The false eyelash came away.

‘My goodness,’ cried Alma. ‘It is bright in here.’

‘Muriel,’ said Simpson, taking her to one side. ‘Edward wants to leave.’

‘Really,’ she said curtly. ‘Who’s stopping him?’

Alma allowed the stains to be sponged from her red dress. ‘Is he a friend of yours?’ she asked.

‘No,’ said Muriel. ‘We’re married.’

Alma began to shiver uncontrollably. The sponging left vivid patches on her breast. Binny wrapped her in one of the children’s duffle coats and removed her boots. Eyes filled with remorse and teeth chattering, Alma lay on the sofa with the washing-up bowl placed strategically at her side.

‘Oughtn’t we to telephone her husband?’ asked Muriel.

‘Better not,’ said Binny. ‘He’ll only be obscene.’

Muriel picked up the newspaper parcel and took it into the front garden. As she approached the bins she thought she heard voices behind the hedge. Curious, she stepped out on to the pavement. She saw a woman pushing a pram and a taxi coming along the street in the same direction. The woman looked over her shoulder at the taxi, and at that moment the police car on the corner edged into the road. The taxi swerved, scraped the side of Simpson’s Fiat parked at the kerb and, accelerating, drove left, past the block of flats. The police car reversed, mounted the pavement, rammed a plane tree in a circle of earth and with siren hideously wailing sped round the corner in pursuit. The woman, trundling the pram ahead of her, ran straight at Muriel.

In the front room Edward was standing worriedly at the hearth. What excuse was he going to make to Helen when he arrived home without the Rover? It was getting far too late to collect it from the car park near the office.

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