The Lodgers by Eithne Shortall

Author:Eithne Shortall
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838951917
Publisher: Grove Press UK

TESSA

There are very few people in this world or any other who intimidate me. But Doctor O’Shea’s receptionist is one of them.

Julia treats all patients with deep suspicion. She’s an elite armed patrol and same-day appointments are her Fort Knox. I could be phoning with my arm hanging off and she’d still ask if I was certain it was urgent – and she’d say it with such scepticism that I’d be looking at the limb wondering if I could in fact just sew it back on myself.

Suffice to say, I’m a big admirer of the woman.

‘Tessa Doherty for Doctor O’Shea,’ I say, approaching the glass hatch with a wad of paper in one hand and my stick in the other. It feels good to walk into a room knowing that when I leave it, I’ll be doing so solely on my own two legs.

‘Take a seat,’ she says, without looking up.

But, somehow, she still sees.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Hmm?’

Her eyes dart from my face to my now-empty right hand.

‘Oh. That. I was just leaving a few flyers in your flyer stand here…’ I reach back and straighten the Save Our Hall leaflets. I’ve wedged them between Indigestion or a Heart Attack? and Five Signs You Are Having a Stroke. ‘It’s for an important local campaign to save the North Dublin Community Project over at the old parish hall—’

‘That stand is for medical pamphlets only.’

‘Actually, didn’t you attend our life-drawing classes? I remember you doing a very credible pear…’

‘Medical. Only.’

‘We teach first aid,’ I say, marvelling at how a face can be both blank and glaring. ‘And we do meditation – which is just healthcare prevention, really. Plus, the mobile blood pressure clinic stops by Rumba for Retirees twice a year…’

She blinks, slowly. It’s like two meat cleavers coming down.

‘Tessa Doherty?’

Doctor O’Shea is at the door to the far side of the hatch.

‘That was quick. Right, well, I’ll just leave those there anyway and if anyone asks the best option is to contact the email address on the…’

Julia’s face doesn’t move, but there’s a low growl and nowhere else it could be coming from. I smile, do a sort of bow, grab my stick and hurry after Doctor O’Shea.

‘How are you, Tessa?’ she asks when the door is closed and we are seated in her office.

‘Excellent, thank you,’ I reply, shirking off my jacket. ‘Raring to go.’

‘That’s good to hear. And the family? I saw Otis at the supermarket recently. He is turning into a fine young man, isn’t he?’

‘He’s on the basketball team this year,’ I say, brimming with pride. ‘Practising every morning. He was on the bench for the first few games, but he got called up yesterday.’

‘Good for him. Team sports are very important at that age. Now…’ She clicks on her computer before placing both hands on the desk, one atop the other. ‘What can I do for you today?’

‘I’m here about relinquishing this, obviously,’ I say, lifting the stick slightly, ‘but I wondered if I could also pick your medical brain on something.

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