You can never quite predict how awful things will sometimes work out for good.
Hettie had been feeling a bit lonely over the winter months. She had ventured to the shops, daft really in the icy weather. Inevitably she slipped and lost her balance.
Pain forked through Hettie’s right side. She knew instinctively not to try and get herself upright and squeezed her eyes shut to blot out the distress. When she opened them, she was lying in an icy gutter with several neighbours looking down at her. How embarrassing.
An ambulance was on its way.
‘You’ll look after Bella for me and switch off the heating?’
‘Course I will’
Hettie and her next-door neighbour had one another’s keys.
Because of age and the nature of the injuries, the ambulance wasn’t asked to queue at the hospital. People were kind, the A and E registrar was keen to assess the damage so that pain relief could be offered. This (pending confirmation by x ray – long wait), was a badly bruised right hip, fracture in right leg and a sprained right wrist.
Hettie was placed in a small ward behind A and E and awaited x ray and plastering along with two other people.
A youngish man was deeply asleep.
‘Overdose’ was the explanation provided by a wide-awake woman, Tracey, who seemed to be shivering under a silvery blanket. ‘Lucky we’re in the warm until they turn us out.’
‘Well, I’d rather not have broken my leg but yes, nice and warm. What about you? Why are you wrapped in tin foil? Are they going to roast you?’
‘They already have benefits stopped for missing an interview; me and my daughter had no cash for food or heat, just the food bank. Her school called the social because she was never there – no decent shoes. In the end she was put in care until I could sort myself out. It’s a nightmare, but I’ll get her back.’
It was a long night. The two carried on talking of their lives. Tracey had been evicted because of rent arrears. Hettie, despite having a good neighbour, was often lonely and usually cold from keeping her heating low.
‘How will you manage with your leg in plaster?’ Tracey wondered. ‘I could give you a hand once I get warmed up and out of here. Heat up some soup or something.’
‘Well, I’ll just have to look on the bright side. It’s a tempting offer’.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence in the warm ward and thought about their next moves.
Hettie’s reverie involved taking in Tracey, helping her get her daughter back and sharing companionship and help.
Tracey dreamed along similar lines: help Hettie with the housework, get her daughter back…
When they had both been readied for discharge next morning, taxis were ordered.
‘We’re both heading for the same address,’ Hettie said.
The two women shared a look. There would be much to discuss once they got home.
