‘Believe me, it’s harder to work with someone who can’t be bothered, who thinks this is their lot in life and the road to recovery is too hard to follow. When a person is in that mindset, my job is very hard.’
‘You know what a buddy at work said to me when I was in hospital?’
She waited to hear.
‘He said, listen to every single thing your physiotherapist says.’
She laughed. ‘Good advice and at the same time, I listen to you; that’s the way it works best.’
When they finished the session, he couldn’t help asking the same question he delivered almost every time – even though every session, he told himself he wouldn’t bring it up this time. ‘Have you any idea when I’ll be back on the job?’
She packed up her things. ‘You and I both know the answer to that.’
He did and he didn’t like it.It’ll take as long as it takeswasn’t a proper answer, neither wasevery patient is individual.They were fast becoming two of his least-favourite phrases.
‘You’re improving every day, remember that.’ She shrugged on her coat. ‘The work we’re doing is restoring your joint range of motion, improving ankle, knee and hip strength. All of that takes time. And it’s a process – we need to get you able to function in your everyday life before we even think about a work environment, especially the one you’re used to.’
‘But I’ll get back there, right?’
‘You know I wouldn’t be doing my job if I made promises I couldn’t keep. I’ve seen firefighters with far more extensive injuries make a full recovery, back at work inside six months. Others I’ve seen swap to desk duties.’
On his crutches to see her to the door, he still managed to lift his fist and put it to his heart before he got a grip on the walking aids again. ‘The dreaded desk duties. Never seen myself as an office boy.’
‘I hope we can get you to where you want to be, Gio.’
He didn’t hope. He prayed. Not a religious person, he willed any God out there listening to do him a favour and come through on this.
Marianne hadn’t given up looking for rooms to rent. Gio had had no choice but to explain why he was reticent about the one she’d been excited about and rather than make things awkward, it actually made it easier because she did the due diligence after that and looked at properties on a map, noted the surrounding area before she enquired any further.
Gio agreed to go and view another room with her, this time nowhere near a pub or an off licence.
‘You need a second opinion, Mum,’ he told her when she said yet again that she didn’t need a babysitter as they made their way there in a taxi.
The taxi driver pulled up outside a Victorian terrace on the outskirts of Whistlestop River.
‘It looks nice,’ she said.
When they got out, Gio led the way up the path on his crutches. The property looked respectable and he had a good feeling about it. At least he did until the man with the room to rent opened up the front door and the focus was no longer the enormous bay window and the comfy-looking armchairs beyond; it was a beer belly exposed at the bottom of an ill-fitting shirt and the stains on the shirt that almost blended into the fabric.
‘What do you want?’ the man barked. He’d been expecting a woman, Gio realised, so stepped aside so the man could see his mum, who’d closed the gate behind them as Gio got a head start given his predicament.
‘You must be Marianne.’ The guy immediately tried to turn on the charm.The smarmy git. Too late, mate.Gio had already made his judgement and it didn’t change when they were looking around the interior and Gio caught the man leering at his mother more than once, his eyes way south of her face.
‘We’ll let you know,’ Gio said before his mother could sayanything when they got back to the front door after their little tour around. ‘Thank you for your time.’ He nodded for his mum to go out first.
As soon as they got to the front gate, he said, ‘You are not moving in there.’
‘But it was a lovely room. Reasonable rent too.’
‘Didn’t you notice the way the guy was looking at you?’ He’d already gone onto his app to book the taxi when they were midway between the main bedroom and the shared bathroom but there were none available, so they made their way towards the bus stop.
‘What do you mean, the way he was looking at me?’
‘Like you could do some negotiating for a lower room price if you get my drift.’
‘Well, it’s nice to feel wanted at my age.’ She seemed pleased rather than offended.
‘Not with someone like that it isn’t.’
