Steve by Steve Walker

Author:Steve Walker [Steve Walker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780720104
Publisher: Short Books
Published: 2011-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

A Difficult Decision

By the time I reached twenty-nine, I had messed up again. Feeling the need for an extra dose one day, I attempted to break into a chemist’s in Cardiff to get my hands on some prescription medication that would top up my regular methadone prescription. I made a mess of it and was arrested and remanded in Cardiff Prison. Dr Callum came to see me. He looked at me sadly, disappointed that I had screwed up so badly. But he also saw that he could give me an opportunity to make a real change in my life. Despite what should have been abundant proof to the contrary, Dr Callum continued to insist that I was basically a decent person who still had the capacity to sort his life out.

“Steve,” he said. “I can get you out of here, but I can’t take you to Woodchurch Hospital for detox, because nobody there is prepared to take you on again. I can, however, take you to Barry Island. It’s not a detox unit, it’s a psychiatric unit. If you spend some time there, then we can start thinking about sending you to rehab.”

“That sounds good,” I said glumly, not really meaning it, but realising that there were no other options whatsoever.

The two policemen who had arrested me were in the room as well. One of them turned to me. “Steve,” he said. “Listen to what he’s saying. Mate, you’re not a bad person at heart, and I think you can sort this out like he says. If you decide to do what Dr Callum is suggesting, we’ll back you up, put in a word for you when your court case comes up and make sure you get what you need. We’d really like to see you getting your life sorted out.”

I didn’t trust the coppers to follow through on their word, but I did trust Dr Callum.

“If I get you out on bail,” he said, “there’ve got to be some rules and you are going to follow them.”

“OK,” I said. “What are the rules?”

“If anyone comes to visit you, we have the right to search them, search their handbag or any of their personal effects.”

“That’s not a problem for me.”

“If you go out anywhere, you’ll be accompanied by a nurse.”

“Sounds OK. I don’t care.”

“If you’ve got a headache, I’m not even going to give you an aspirin for it. I’m giving you nothing. You have got to stay in that hospital until such time as I find you a rehab place to sort you out. Once I find that, we’ll organise things between ourselves, but you’re not to have anything. Any visitors that come, anything that happens, these are the rules. If you break them, that’s it; I’m not going to be able to do anything to help you.”

I knew that I had been given one last chance to straighten myself out and I agreed to everything, so I was taken to Sully Hospital on Barry Island to spend some time on a psychiatric ward before my case was heard.

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