Dennis struggles. ‘You fucking –’
‘Right now, I said! I put you outta here last time, and I’m happy to do it again.’ Holding Dennis’s arm at what looks like a very painful angle and ignoring his cursing protests, Mel nods at Allan Waugh, the other security manager, as he comes running up the hall.
‘You right, Mel?’
‘All sorted, Allan. Might be good if you stick around, though.’ Mel frog-marches Dennis over to the waiting seats, spins him around and pushes him down. ‘Sit down.No– don’t you bloody move. What a dickhead you are, Dennis, I swear to god… Amie, are you okay, love?’
I’m actually a bit winded. The hospital can be a challenging place, but this has never happened to me before. I watch Dennis sneer and writhe under Mel’s arm. My god, how did Harris live with this man for twenty years?
‘I’m fine. I’m okay.’ I straighten, smoothing myself down. One of the buttons on my work shirt is only hanging by a thread. ‘He was trying to take the daybook –’
‘She fucking slapped me!’ Dennis’s eyes are still wild.
Mel rounds on Dennis. ‘You shut your mouth.I’llslap you in a minute if you’re not careful.’ She presses on his shoulder with one strong hand before looking back at me. ‘D’you wanna call your dad? Cos if Dennis spent the night in the lock-up it wouldn’t be the first time, and you’d be well within your rights –’
‘I just want him gone.’ I glance out at the ute in the ambulance bay. ‘Put him in his car, but if he comes back here, go for it.’
‘We’ll see him out, no worries,’ Allan says.
I walk around the admissions desk until I’m right in front of Harris’s father. My voice is shaking, but I enunciate very clearly. ‘What you’ve done is illegal, Mr Derwent. If you come back here we’ll call the police. And if you come anywhere near me again, I’ll have you charged. Do you understand me?’
He mutters under his breath, looking baleful, with Mel leaning on him.
‘Do you understand me?’ I repeat. His lips purse over a curse. I feel my own lips curl down as I look at Mel. ‘I think he understands. Get him out. There’s people here trying to get well.’
Mel and Allan escort Mr Derwent to the ute and bundle him in. He mutters and swears the whole time, then finally gives up – slams his own door, guns the engine and takes off for the exit with a squeal of rubber.
‘What a pathetic man…’ Mel says when she returns. ‘Press the buzzer next time, darl, if you need me.’
‘There wasn’t time.’
She puts a hand on my back. ‘Sure you’re okay? You look like a ghost, and no wonder.’
‘I’m okay,’ I say, but I can hear in my voice how all my limbs are suddenly tired.
‘Allan, could you get Amie a nice hot cuppa?’ Mel asks. ‘That’d be great.’
Allan disappears, and Mel walks me back to the desk. I sink into the wheeled office chair, push it away from the counter; I don’t want to sit near any space Dennis Derwent has just occupied.
Mel hovers to the side. ‘You’ll need to give me a statement, love. He’s already been in strife here, we need it for the record. Just in case.’
My shift finishes an hour later. I spend the entire drive home mulling over whether to tell Dad what happened with Dennis Derwent before deciding it’s unavoidable. He’ll only hear about it on the grapevine anyway, and he’ll be hurt I didn’t let him know.
‘He grabbed you? Like, really grabbed you?’ Dad asks.
‘And then I hit him, yes.’ I glance at Dad’s expression as he puts his mug of tea down on the table. ‘Please don’t go all Dirty Harry on me, Dad. I’ve had enough of that aggro rubbish for one day.’
But Dad is still glowering. ‘Don’t tell me how to do my job. If anyone deserves a personal call, it’s that bastard –’
‘It won’t change anything. Dennis will still be a bastard after you leave.’ Harris’s comment about his father –he’s just mean– seems pretty bang-on. ‘If he comes back to the hospital he’ll be evicted on sight. And he doesn’t come in from Five Mile often enough for me to run into him on the street.’
‘But –’
‘You’d only be making it worse. Dad, it’s over. I handled it. Let it go. There’s too many bastards in the world to bother about them all on a case-by-case basis.’
‘You’ve pretty much just nailed my job description,’ Dad says, but then he stops, sighs out his nose. ‘Okay, fine. I’ll leave it. But you’re heading for Mildura on Monday morning, aren’t you? For the wedding? I want you to skip your next shift and go tomorrow.’
‘Dad –’
