A DEATH TO DIE FOR by Geoffrey Wilding Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Geoffrey Wilding
before I came crashing awake again gasping for air as though I was drowning and after gaining some composure I decided to pull a blanket around myself and sit in the lounge chair with my head laid on the side of the bed and like this I managed some sleep.
I never asked the nurse her name and don’t remember ever seeing her again after this happened but I very much appreciated what she had done for me which must have been near to a miracle in today’s health service.
Wednesday 30 th November 2005
I woke fairly early after a short spell of deep sleep with a very stiff neck and shoulder from laying with my upper body prone on the bed, at first in the half grey light I wasn’t sure where I was but the awfulness of the previous day came readily to mind, I straightened up and determined to give my brain something else to do I set about ‘discovering’ my new room.
Just then the functioning of the hospital began in earnest with the ‘early’ nurse coming into the room, first she carried out the ceremony of opening the curtains which let in the day, then she checked my saline drip, when she saw that bag was empty she removed the line and I was left sat on the edge of the bed free from attachments so I started to examine the detail of my surroundings for the first time.
The room was basically square and with the curtains opened I was able to see that the window looked out onto a closed roof top courtyard area and although it faced onto three red brick walls if I laid on the bed I could see the sky and today was looking like it was going to be bright and sunny.
It must have been about 3.5m x 3.5m and in the wall facing the foot of the bed there was a door which lead into the ensuite shower room, on the wall opposite the outside window there was another window which overlooked and gave borrowed light to the corridor and the bed head wall had all the paraphernalia of a hospital ward with the pipes, sockets, switches and lights you would expect plus an angle poise flat screen television, each of the windows had sets of curtains so privacy would not be a problem.
The colour of the room was generally a mid blue, there was the high backed arm chair that I had slept in along with the over bed trolley table and a cupboard under the window to the corridor, altogether I thought that it compared favourably with some of the hotel rooms I had stayed in over the years and I came to the conclusion that if I had to die somewhere then this small warm private cocoon of a room would be better than some places I could think of and I took a strange kind of comfort in this thought.
I managed to get myself through my ablutions without having to drag the wheeled drip stand with me and avoided knocking the cannula in the back of my left hand which was still quite painful, I then changed into a clean nightshirt, put on my towelling dressing gown and sat back down in the bedside chair and waited for Helen.
I looked down and saw the blue script ‘HHH’ on the breast pocket of the gown and fond memories of the wonderful weekend Helen and I had spent at the Hartwell House Hotel in Buckinghamshire came to mind, I had bought the robe as a memento and smiled as I remembered that no sooner had I brought the garment home than the ‘HHH’ had become the families acronym for ‘His Holy Highness’ whenever I wore it.
Apart from the bed making duo I saw no-one else, so time dragged by until Helen arrived, I could have texted her about the new room but I wanted to see if the change of location could even for a brief moment help to lift the hollow eyed expression that haunted her face.
After her initial surprise she managed a smile and asked how it had come about, I explained what had happened and she said that she was so glad that we would have privacy over the coming weeks and that later she would try and find out the name of the nurse in the white uniform so that we could thank her.
Helen
I never asked the nurse her name and don’t remember ever seeing her again after this happened but I very much appreciated what she had done for me which must have been near to a miracle in today’s health service.
Wednesday 30 th November 2005
I woke fairly early after a short spell of deep sleep with a very stiff neck and shoulder from laying with my upper body prone on the bed, at first in the half grey light I wasn’t sure where I was but the awfulness of the previous day came readily to mind, I straightened up and determined to give my brain something else to do I set about ‘discovering’ my new room.
Just then the functioning of the hospital began in earnest with the ‘early’ nurse coming into the room, first she carried out the ceremony of opening the curtains which let in the day, then she checked my saline drip, when she saw that bag was empty she removed the line and I was left sat on the edge of the bed free from attachments so I started to examine the detail of my surroundings for the first time.
The room was basically square and with the curtains opened I was able to see that the window looked out onto a closed roof top courtyard area and although it faced onto three red brick walls if I laid on the bed I could see the sky and today was looking like it was going to be bright and sunny.
It must have been about 3.5m x 3.5m and in the wall facing the foot of the bed there was a door which lead into the ensuite shower room, on the wall opposite the outside window there was another window which overlooked and gave borrowed light to the corridor and the bed head wall had all the paraphernalia of a hospital ward with the pipes, sockets, switches and lights you would expect plus an angle poise flat screen television, each of the windows had sets of curtains so privacy would not be a problem.
The colour of the room was generally a mid blue, there was the high backed arm chair that I had slept in along with the over bed trolley table and a cupboard under the window to the corridor, altogether I thought that it compared favourably with some of the hotel rooms I had stayed in over the years and I came to the conclusion that if I had to die somewhere then this small warm private cocoon of a room would be better than some places I could think of and I took a strange kind of comfort in this thought.
I managed to get myself through my ablutions without having to drag the wheeled drip stand with me and avoided knocking the cannula in the back of my left hand which was still quite painful, I then changed into a clean nightshirt, put on my towelling dressing gown and sat back down in the bedside chair and waited for Helen.
I looked down and saw the blue script ‘HHH’ on the breast pocket of the gown and fond memories of the wonderful weekend Helen and I had spent at the Hartwell House Hotel in Buckinghamshire came to mind, I had bought the robe as a memento and smiled as I remembered that no sooner had I brought the garment home than the ‘HHH’ had become the families acronym for ‘His Holy Highness’ whenever I wore it.
Apart from the bed making duo I saw no-one else, so time dragged by until Helen arrived, I could have texted her about the new room but I wanted to see if the change of location could even for a brief moment help to lift the hollow eyed expression that haunted her face.
After her initial surprise she managed a smile and asked how it had come about, I explained what had happened and she said that she was so glad that we would have privacy over the coming weeks and that later she would try and find out the name of the nurse in the white uniform so that we could thank her.
Helen
Similar Books
The Wagered Heart: Signet Regency Romance (InterMix)
Rhonda Woodward
Urban Climber 2
S.V. Hunter
Sanctuary
Pauline Creeden
The Summer I Died: A Thriller
Ryan C. Thomas, Cody Goodfellow
Once Forgotten Twice Loved
Bryce Evans
RulingPassion
Katherine Kingston
Warhead
Andy Remic
He's Her
Mimi Barbour
Strange Images of Death
Barbara Cleverly