Alfie shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he made his way over to Mr Peterson’s bed.
‘One step is a step and all that. Rome wasn’t built in a day, my friend.’ He hoped the disappointment at her rebuff wasn’t leaking out into his voice. ‘Anyway, I’ve got the joys of physio now, so you get a break from me for at least an hour.’
‘Praise the Lord. He’s going!’
Alfie mustered his best glare, but no matter how rude or sarcastic his friend was, he couldn’t help but admire him. He really was one of the best gifts being in the hospital had given him.
‘You and Alice can both celebrate my absence together.’ He made sure his voice carried all the way to her bay.
He couldn’t give up on her now.
She’d only just started to let him in.
If any of his fellow teachers had been here, they would have scoffed and rolled their eyes, dismissing Alice as ‘another one of Mr Mack’s projects’. So what if he triedharder than most people would with the children written off as ‘difficult’ and ‘resistant’. He’d tried many times to keep his distance but his heart simply refused to let him. His desire to help took over, and pushed rules and procedure to the side.
He needed to remember that this was going to be a marathon and not a sprint.
Not that you could do either now with your one pathetic leg.
*
He’d left Alice well alone for the rest of the day, partly because he was exhausted from another intense physio session, but also because he was trying to employ his ‘easy does it’ strategy. Therefore, when he woke the next morning, he was very surprised to see Nurse Angles standing over his bed, arms folded and giving him a look he knew all too well. He’d been on the receiving end of that same look for the majority of his life. Most of the time, including this occasion, it was given with a healthy dose of affection.
‘What the hell have you been up to, Alfie? What did I tell you?’
Alfie shrugged, feigning bewilderment. Nurse Angles leant forward on the bed, one hand resting on his remaining leg and the other reaching towards his face. He was sure he was about to receive a little warning, maybe a gentle finger-wag to go with it. The other nurses on shift had probably told her of his continued efforts to get Alice to talk, despite being asked to leave her alone.
‘I’m sorry, it’s just I—’
But before he could finish, Nurse Angles placed her hand gently on his cheek.
‘Thank you, my love, you did well,’ she whispered.
‘So you’re not about to kick me off the ward and banish me back to orthopaedics?’
‘No, notquiteyet, baby.’ She laughed.
‘Phew. I think I’ve got a bit more work to do before I go.’
‘Yes, like getting yourself well enough to get out of here, OK?’ This time the finger was pointing at him, and with one raise of her eyebrow she disappeared off down the ward.
Spurred on by Nurse Angles’ delight, he waited less than ten minutes before grabbing one of the puzzle books next to his bed.
‘So, it’s that time again, ladies and gentlemen. I’m looking for a five-letter word for annoying.’
Mr Peterson didn’t even look up from his book.
‘Try A-L-F-I-E.’ The old man still hadn’t lifted his eyes from the page but he was now wearing a wry smile.
‘Agreed,’ came that faded Irish voice from next door.
‘Aha! She speaks again! Now, I want to get one thing straight: if this is going to become a regular thing, I don’t want it to just be an excuse to insult me, OK? I have feelings too.’
‘It’s not going to become any type ofthing,’ she replied.
Tread carefully, Alfie.
‘OK, neighbour, noted.’ He reached for his TV remote and switched onThis Morning.
