The Fever Box by L P Fergusson

Author:L P Fergusson [Fergusson, L P]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amanuensis Books
Published: 2024-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

At the end of the ward round Nick Mountjoy said, ‘Just a minute, Nurse Cooper. I wanted to thank you.’

‘Whatever for?’

‘Having that chat with Dougie Douglas.’

‘It didn’t go very well, I’m afraid.’ She shook her head in confusion. ‘I just seem to irritate him.’

Nick Mountjoy pushed his bottom lip out in amused disbelief. ‘That’s as maybe, but it did the trick. He’s up and about.’

‘That’s excellent news.’

‘It is and it isn’t. I’ve tried to get him to socialise with the other patients, but he won’t. This good weather doesn’t help. He disappears into the parkland for most of the day.’

‘Perhaps he’s down at the pub.’

Mountjoy shook his head. ‘I doubt it. No, he’s hiding. I’ve stopped him taking cover in a sideward and instead he’s out there somewhere…’ Nick Mountjoy waved a hand towards the window, ‘hunkered down where no one can see him and reappearing on the ward at dusk. He’s turning into a first class Count Dracula.’

Clara laughed. ‘That’s a bit unkind.’

Nick Mountjoy shrugged. ‘It’s a damned sight better than Quasimodo, which he prefers to call himself. But look, I want to strike while the iron’s hot. I want you to ask him out.’

‘Me?’

‘Yes. You. He likes you. I can tell.’

‘He can’t stand me.’

‘Either way, somehow you’ve got under his skin.’

‘What on earth do you want me to do with him?’

Nick threw his head back and bellowed with laughter. ‘Anything you like, but I rather thought a drink in the pub or a meal out would be a good idea.’

‘What about the cinema?’

‘No – although he’d probably prefer that. He could hide away in the darkness. But the whole point is that he’s got to face the public.’

‘That seems terribly cruel if he can’t even stand a general ward.’ Clara thought of his shaved head, his swollen and red grafted eyes and clawed hands.

‘And that’s precisely why I insisted he came out of that side ward. And precisely why your intervention is essential. Please. Do it for me.’

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