‘Don’t try and talk, don’t move your head, just rest for a bit. I’m going to have a look at you, check for injuries. I don’t want you to move but do let me know if anything hurts.’
‘I flew.’
‘Yes, you did. You certainly did.’ Alex found himself laughing, if slightly hysterically, at Sam’s words.
‘Now is this sore?’ Alex asked.
Sam’s wrist looked remarkably swollen and he was amazed that the boy wasn’t showing any other signs of pain.
‘Everything’s sore, Alex. But I flew.’ And a beatific smile spread slowly over the small boy’s face as he lay otherwise stone-still on the ground.
Chapter Forty-two
Rosy sped to the hospital, paying no regard to speed limits and reassuring Sylvie all the way. Sylvie had been silent since they got into the car, and her silence was far louder than all of Rosy’s reassurances.
‘Marion said he’s OK, they think he’s OK. It’s going to be all right. I chased after you as soon as I had got all the details from Marion. They were planning some kind of surprise and Sam took it upon himself to climb up the tree in Alex’s garden…’
Rosy flicked a look across at Sylvie, still nothing.
‘I don’t know where Alex was but Marion was outside with them. That’s why she feels responsible, I think. She took a call from Richard – between us she’s not been having an easy time of it and was distracted. She is beside herself with guilt but I really think Rafe was right, it was an accident. No one expected Sam to climb up there. His confidence has grown so much over the past few months but even I wouldn’t have expected him to try and scale a tree. Apparently, one minute the boys and Ellie were all talking about threading some lights somewhere, that bit’s a bit patchy, and then apparently – and this all comes from Rafe, although the other boys agreed – Sam was racing up the tree like a monkey, and missed his footing. But he’s OK. Sylvie, they said he’s OK.’
‘They said he was taken to hospital in an ambulance.’
Rosy let out a sigh of relief as Sylvie spoke, before responding to her.
‘Yes, which they called the second it happened. Apparently by the time the ambulance got there he was asking for chocolate. Alex had some job stopping him from sitting up. But the ambulance took him in anyway, just to run checks. Now, I know you won’t rest until you see him, but it sounds like things are going to be OK. I expect Alex will have turned his phone off, but have you tried to call him?’
The wordchocolateseemed to crack Sylvie’s mask; previously she’d been sitting there pale and still, but now she appeared to come back into her body. She took a deep breath before answering.
‘Straight to voicemail, but to be fair to him when I turned my ringer on, I saw he had tried to call me a heap of times. I imagine he’ll call back when he gets a chance. What else did Marion say? Did she hear Sam talk? She’s absolutely sure?’
‘From what I understand, absolutely sure. Alex went in the ambulance and they let Ellie too. They wouldn’t have done that if he was considered an emergency situation. They must have assessed and decided he was in no danger. They couldn’t have a small child riding along if there was any chance of a possible intervention being needed. I’m kind of surprised they did, so I think it’s a strong indicator that you’ve nothing to worry about.’
‘Do you think?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘I couldn’t bear it, I… well, I don’t know what I’d do.’
‘Of course you don’t, no one would. But I think you’re going to get there and he’ll be fine. Happy to see you and cross it’s spoilt whatever surprise they had going on.’
‘Oh, I really hope so. I can cope with cross. Life’s been throwing me a lot of lessons this year, especially to do with family. And knowing that lives can change for ever in a split second is not the lesson I want to learn through my son, not today, not any day.’
‘Yes, you’ve had an incredibly tough time, but we love having you at the school and hopefully life will start getting a bit easier now. And I know your mum’s gone and that is an irreplaceable loss…’
‘It is, but we knew that was coming. If I were… I couldn’t… when I thought something had happened to S… wow, we’re here already. How on earth?’
‘Matt says I could always have a career as a rally driver if I get fed up with teaching. Now, I’ve been in Marion’s car and that is terrifying. Believe me. But me, I’m super-fast and super-smooth.’
‘And the super-best boss. Thank you so much for this.’
‘Don’t be daft. Go on, hop out. I’ll park up and come and find you.’
‘Oh no, no need. I’ll be fine from here on.’
‘But if Alex came in the ambulance…’
‘We’ll work it out. I don’t know how long I’m going to have to stay. You get on with your evening. And I’ll text you and let you know what’s happening. Thank you so much.’
