The Night Interns by Austin Duffy

Author:Austin Duffy [Duffy, Austin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Granta Publications
Published: 2022-08-03T23:00:00+00:00

She pushed the trolley and we walked together down the corridor until we arrived at the patient’s room, where one of the nurses was waiting for her. I could see that the patient was in position, lying over on his side, his bare back visible, the nurse standing there holding him, making sure he didn’t fall on to the floor. I held the door open for Lynda and she went in pushing the trolley, allowing the door to close behind her. I stood for a second and then they pulled the curtain across and I turned and went away. At the far end of the corridor Stuart was waiting for me. He hadn’t even come on to the ward.

We didn’t see Lynda again for the rest of the night. Stuart and I went through both Duns and Willie Wilde wards in record time and found ourselves once more back in the private wing. It was unbelievable how smoothly things were going for us. Even when we went through Private 1 they only wanted us to re-chart a couple of things. So for once we were sitting in the res kitchen waiting for Ed the delivery man to arrive with the food. Stuart had his flask and sandwiches but annoyingly refused to open them until I had my delivery. We sat facing each other at one end of the long table, his mound of sandwiches wrapped carefully in greaseproof paper and the big tartan flask in front of him. If the night continued like this it would be the quietest ever. At last my mobile rang and it was the food. I left Stuart and went down the back corridor and out the rear exit of the res. There was a large stone on the ground and I wedged it into the door to keep it open. It was freezing outside but not raining and the sky above had almost as many stars as you would see if you were in the countryside. I went around the corner and the delivery person was waiting for me. It wasn’t Ed this time but a young blonde woman sitting on a motorcycle. I gave her the money and she handed over a plastic bag containing the food. As I walked away she put her helmet back on, then started up the motorbike and headed off.

After we finished eating, Stuart and I both went to our rooms to lie down. I left Lynda’s food on the kitchen table, writing her name on the brown paper bag. I was still carrying her pager, but the hospital remained eerily quiet. I kept checking my own to make sure it was working properly, even using the bedside phone to bleep myself. For a long time there wasn’t a single bleep, and I lay on the hard bed in the on-call room in an uneasy stillness. Eventually I did get a few calls from various wards, and they came almost as a relief. But nothing was urgent and I asked the nurses to make a list, telling them we’d get to it on our rounds.

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