Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 14:20:39 EDT
From: Djedoric58@aol.com
Subject: The Bull singer chapter twenty five

THE BULL SINGER
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

From chapter twenty-four

I stared at the tray and watched the steam filtering out from under the
plate cover. I pressed the bell. No answer. I measured the distance between
the bed and the table and wondered if I could hop or even walk that far. I
drew the covers back and eased my injured ankle from under them. I felt a
twinge but nothing like the pain I'd had earlier. Swinging my legs over the
side of the bed, I sat on the edge of the bed and lowered my right foot to
the floor. Okay so far. I pulled my hospital gown down over my thighs in
case someone walked past the open door and stood up. Holding onto the
bedside cabinet, I tried my felt foot on the floor. Okay again. I took a
step forward with my left foot and a hop with my right before I had time to
bear any weight on my left. I could do this okay. I took another hopping
step and pain shot through my ankle. Over balancing, I grabbed for the
cabinet, missed and sent the jug of orange flying. Hospital floors are
slippery when wet; they are also cold and very hard, as I found out seconds
later.

Now read on

As I lay there, stunned with my gown soaking up the orange, I thought the
jug would break and the smashing of glass would bring someone running. No
chance; the jug being plastic. I tried to get to my knees but the wet floor
gave me nothing but a slippery surface. Damn, shit, damn! "Help! Help me,
someone!" My ankle hurt, my shoulder hurt. I craned my neck to look at the
table, no more than three feet from me. Using my elbows and the toes of my
right foot, I wriggled and squirmed my way towards it, and reached out to
grip the bar holding the rear castors. I pulled it towards me and managed
to get hold of the uprights. I was halfway to my knees when it decided to
roll away from me. I fell on the floor again and watched it roll towards
the open door. Lucky me, the table hit the door jam, the tray slid to the
side, caught on the lip causing the plate and its cover to carry on over
the lip. If I hadn't been in so much pain I would have laughed my head off
as the aluminium cover bounced and rolled out of the doorway, making like a
runaway cymbal. Well, at least it got the attention I needed. Suddenly the
room was full of people shouting orders and trying to make like I was dying
or something, the fuss they made of me and telling me off for being out of
bed. Did it really take four nurses to get me into bed and strip me of my
wet gown? By the time they had finished sponging me down and had me in a
clean gown, I had tears rolling down my face, partly from the incident that
caused my predicament and partly because I couldn't help laughing at the
look of embarrassment on the face of the youngest nurse at my unfortunate
boner. It was obvious she had never seen a naked guy before.

Once the floor had been cleaned and everything was back to normal, nurse
Hodge, the chubby one, came back in and demanded to know what had
happened. I started to tell her when Mags walked in. Boy, was I relieved to
see him! As soon as he and nurse Hodge had the story, nurse Hodge's face
lost it cheery expression. "Right," she said, "I've just about had enough
of that porter. I don't much care for the way gays live but I don't let
that interfere with my job and neither should he. It isn't the first time
he's let his own feelings rule his job. But this will be his last, believe
you me. Wait here, Mr. Alton."

We watched her storm out of the room, and I could imagine her rolling her
absent sleeves up to do battle with the crummy bigot. "But how on earth
could he have known about me, Mags? I never told anyone." I watched Mags
look away from me, deep in thought. "What is it Mags?"

"I'm not sure." Mags rubbed his chin. "What's Bernard's last name again?"

"Reece, why?"

Before Mags could answer me, nurse Hodge marched back in with the casualty
doctor, a very irritated porter and another man in a suit. This man came to
the bed and addressed me. "Young man, I'm Perry Torch, the weekend duty
manager of this hospital. I believe you have a complaint against this
porter?"

I look looked past him at the porter and threw mental daggers at
him. "Yeah, I do. First he brought me a lunch that was cold, and then he
dumped a second tray on the table that was nowhere near enough for me to
reach. As a result I hurt myself again, trying to get to it. For a patient
who's supposed to be kept calm, I don't think I've been treated very well."

"Indeed you haven't." Mr. Torch glared at the porter. "What have you to
say, Mr. Reece?"

"I knew it!" Mags took a step towards the porter but I managed to grab his
coat sleeve. When he looked down at me I shook my head. He calmed down and
turned to Mr. Torch. "I don't think much of your establishment, sir. Joey
was brought in for treatment at eight thirty this morning. It is now three
thirty. Not only has he been deprived of food, the doctor he's supposed to
be waiting for has not put in an appearance. If that doctor is not here
within the next half hour, I'm taking Joey home and will take him to a
private clinic. Is that understood?"

"What was the name of the doctor you are waiting to see?"

"Doctor Simms," Nurse Hodge said, looking up from my notes hung on the end
of the bed.

Mr. Short shook his head." I think there may have been a
misunderstanding. Doctor Simms won't be back on duty till Monday morning."

"Right. That's it." Mags pulled the covers off me. "You're coming with
me. Can I have his clothes please? And a wheelchair."

"Mr. Alton, please. Let's not be hasty." Mr. Torch laid a hand on Mags's
arm. "Give me some time, I'll get things sorted."

Touching Mags was the wrong thing to do. Mags whirled round on him, and the
man took a step back thinking Mags was going to attack him. "You've had
eight hours to get things sorted as you put it, Mr. Torch. Now, if you
don't want this hospital sued for neglect of a patient, I suggest you back
off and get whatever papers I need to sign, and give me Joey's clothes. Or
do I sue you for theft of property as well? But first I'd like a word with
Mr. Reece." Mags smiled at Reece and the man's face lost a lot of colour,
and backed to the door. He turned to run but he had no chance against
Mags. Mags grabbed hold of the back of his tunic and slammed him against
the door. "What relation is Bernie to you, tow-rag?"

"He's my nephew, damn it. What's it got to do with you?"

Mags grabbed his left arm and pushed it up his back till the man's face
creased in pain. "It's got plenty to do with me, and with Joey. So now we
know who's spreading the dirt. Don't we?"

"Lets him go, Mr. Alton." Torch said sharply. "I won't have rough stuff in
this hospital. Leave him be or I call security."

Mags laughed but stepped away from Reece. "Security? Don't make me
laugh. Probably one old age pensioner with bad knees." He came back to the
bed, looked round at Torch and Nurse Hodge and said. "Okay, I can see no
one is going to do as I asked so I'll do it another way." Using one of my
blankets to wrap me in, he picked me up in his arms and carried me out of
the room with Nurse Hodge and Mr. Torch hurrying after us. The only person
who seemed amused was the emergency doctor who gave me a wink as we passed
him.

As Mags carried me down the corridor towards A&E, I heard Torch shout, "You
can't take that blanket, it's hospital property. If you take it off these
premises I will have you charged with theft."

"So call the police." Mags shouted back. "You still have Joey's clothes."
Mags had parked the old 405 close to the hospital entrance. He set me down
and leaned me against the car while he opened the passenger door and
manoeuvred the seat back as far as it would go to give me plenty of
leg-room. Once I was comfortable, he fastened my seat belt and got into the
driver seat. He asked me if I was in any pain and I said my ankle and my
shoulder were starting to ache again. He didn't drive off straight away;
instead he pulled out his mobile and punched in a number.

While he waited for an answer, my curiosity got the better of me. "You
mentioned a private clinic, Mags. Which one are you taking me to?"

He grinned at me and said, "How about Marble House? Hi, Ben, it's Mags. Is
Doctor Sam there? I have a patient for him. Meanwhile can you do a check on
someone for me? Well, a family actually. The name is Reece"


Mags's Story

I couldn't believe the way Grandpa Chambers got his team moving the minute
I told Sam what had happened. First, Chambers refused to let me drive Joey
to Marble House, insisting on sending his private helicopter with Sam on
board, ordering Gramps to arrange for it to land in the field closest to
the cottage.  Next, he had his security team swing into action to
investigate the Reece family, including staking out the homes of Bernie and
his dad, and his uncle the homophobic porter. While we waited for the
chopper to arrive, Aunt Mabel marched into the cottage and took charge with
the authority of a woman used to getting her own way; we were all too tired
and hungry to argue with her.  By the time the chopper landed in the field,
Joey was fed, bathed and suitably calm, which couldn't be said for Bosun
and the rest of Aunt Mabel's farm-stock, panicked by the noisy intruder of
their peace. Like a scene out of `Casualty', the cottage filled with
Dr. Sam and two paramedics carrying bags full of portable
equipment. Dr. Sam gave Joey a quick check up, re-strapped his ankle with a
much firmer splint, and put an IV line in his arm. "All the better to
administer a sedative or painkiller," he explained when Joey started to
panic at the sight of the needle. "This way you can go to sleep and not
have to worry about being woken up every couple of hours. And my advice is
to get as much sleep as possible. I agree with the doctor in A&E, it could
just be a case of severe stress in which I prescribe lots of rest, okay,
young man? Now, my men are going to strap you onto a gurney and take you to
the helicopter. Have you ever been in one before?"

I watched Joey's eyes widen with anticipation. "No, I haven't."

Sam shook his head. "What a pity you won't be in a position to enjoy it,
I've just given you a sedative and I'm hoping you'll be in Happy Land for
quite some time." We watched Joey try to fight the drug, to stay awake, his
hands waving about to grasp anything to hang on to.

I gripped his hands and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. "It's
okay, babe, just close your eyes and go to sleep. I'll be here when you
wake up." Joey tried to speak but I just heard a load of rubbish as his
eyes finally glazed over. His hands relaxed in mine and I looked up at
Sam. "I'm going with him, okay?"

Sam nodded. "Fine, although you'll have a long wait while we run some
tests. It might be better if you spent the night at Marble house and come
to the clinic first thing in the morning. The tests will be completed by
then and I'll have a better idea of what's wrong. He'll be asleep, on and
off, for at least twenty-four hours. I'm having him shipped to the Burton
Clinic a few miles north of Marble House. It's a place I help to run, very
private, very expensive. It's run through donations and sponsorship of past
and present patients who feel the need to have somewhere for themselves and
their families where they can be treated without a load of fuss by some of
the best physicians in the land. Mr. Chambers is one of our founding
sponsors." Sam lifted Joy's left eyelid and pronounced him to be in a
drug-induced sleep. He turned to his team. "All right, gentlemen; let's
rock and roll."


I can't say I had the best night's sleep that night, even though Elias made
sure I had every comfort in the same bedroom Joey and I had previously
used. That bed was of the most luxurious kind, but I still tossed and
turned with my mind on Joey, coming up with a myriad of illnesses that I
knew off and trying to link his symptoms to them. In the morning, I was as
tired as when I went to bed, couldn't face anything more than a cup of tea
for breakfast, and agreed to let Ben drive me to the clinic, which turned
out to be a blessing as I was so wound up I couldn't have driven anywhere
safely. We arrived at the clinic, a beautiful two-story building in its own
extensive grounds, just after eight thirty. Ben knew his way around the
place and led me past the reception area to the rear of the building where
Elias had his own suite. As we approached, Dr. Sam came out of a nearby
door, waved, and beckoned for us to follow him into the suite.  Suddenly
felt I had stepped back in time. None of your starched white American style
uniform here, but an honest to God ward sister in navy blue, complete with
white frilled cuffs and a frilly bonnet perched on top of her head. Her
motherly face lit up as Sam brought us forward to be introduced. She
approached Ben and took his hands in hers, and reached up to give him a
kiss on the cheek. "Hello Benjamin. It's lovely to see you again. How is Ly
doing these days?"

"Improving day by day, Sister, thanks to a certain young man we've come to
see. It looks like Ly has something to live for again."

"Ah, yes." The nurse glanced towards a door I guessed led to the
bedroom. "A sorry business this and no mistake." She turned to face me and
nodded her head. "And this must be the uncle the boy's keeps on asking
for. Magnus Alton? Pleased to meet you at last." We shook hands and I found
myself looking into the warmest pair if eyes I have ever seen. "I was just
about to wake Joey and give him his breakfast, perhaps you'd like to help
me after the doctor has had a word with you." She turned to a tea trolley
laden with covered containers and a pot of tea, and preceded to push
towards the bedroom. I turned back to Sam and found him standing with his
hands in his pockets and a troubled look on his face. He indicated the
comfortable settees set round a coffee table. "What I'm going to say is not
easy," he said as we sat down with him. "You must understand that although
we have own rules and procedures in this private clinic, there are some
rules we have to abide by that by law we have to follow. One of the rules
we have to obey is what we have to do when we discover any child abuse."
Sam fixed his gaze on me, and my heart pounded in my chest as he added,
"You know full well what I'm talking about, Mags; we've both seen the
evidence. I'm sorry, Mags, I have to do what I must."