Love Imagination

Nurse Honeysuckle ran down the steps of the Nurses Home where she would live for the next three years. It was cold, so she put her cape on as she went. Sister Tutor had always taught her that a nurse is never properly dressed without it.

She ran smack into the middle of a silver Rolls Royce, the owner of which stuck his head out of the window and said ‘Watch, where you’re going, I could have knocked you down’. What’s your name anyway?” Honeysuckle,′ she said ‘Nurse Honeysuckle.’ It was only then he noticed the uniform, “Take after the flower do we?”

It was very rude of him she thought, but having been brought up well herself, she wouldn’t stoop to his level. “Of all the cheek!” she said. Any way, I had better get going, I’m on duty in five minutes, if I don’t go now I will be late.” Yes” he said “and I have a date to keep too”.

At the mention of the word date, her heart sank and she hadn’t a clue who he was. In actual fact the date he was talking about was taking his sister to the ballet, she had been looking forward to it for months and he wouldn’t like to disappoint her. He was very tired it couldn’t be helped, he had bought the tickets a month ago and now there wasn’t a seat to be had, it was all sold out.

Usually he liked the arts, they were going to a performance of Swan Lake and it was a black tie affair. His sister would look stunning but then she always did, he never really told her but she never let him down when it came to fashion. She knew all the tricks of the trade. The ballet was due to start at 20:00′clock and these things were always on time.

He knew from past experiences he had, just enough time to drive to his London house and get ready. You couldn’t call it a home because that would need a woman’s touch, a wife to be exact. Oh his many married sisters would try and set him up with some lovely ladies indeed, but they were all glitter and sequins to tell the truth and had only one thing in mind, money and all that went with it, and the prestige of being Dr. Lawrence’s wife. When he reached his house in Earls Court he suddenly thought back to that young nurse, what was her name again, well it was of no consequence they would never meet again.

He knew they both worked in the same hospital but they were probably on different wards. Alice was just on her way to see the Senior Nursing Officer who hopefully would tell her which ward she was to be on. She had heard the other Nurses say that lady to be firm but fair. Just before she opened the door to the S.N.O office she straightened her uniform and put on a clean apron that she found in the sluice room where bedpans hung in a neat row.

When she tapped on the door she heard a voice say ‘come’ and so she entered. As she moved further into the inner sanctum she saw a lady, she supposed to be the S.N.O. She was tall and thin and looked as if she could be knocked down with a feather, but she also knew looks could be deceiving and in the S.N.O’s case they were. ‘Nurse Honeysuckle reporting for duty’. “Ah yes nurse” she said as she looked at the list in front of her, “1 know you are new but I have some impressive reports in front of me. As you know that plays an important part but actual nursing is quite another thing”. “Yes matron, thank you matron”, said Alice. “I haven’t done any thing yet,” said the SNO and her lips widened and a slight smile appeared. When she smiled her face lit up but make no mistake whoever got in her way, she was no pushover. She indicated a chair to Nurse Honeysuckle and she walked smartly over to it and sat down. “Well nurse you have been assigned to women’s medical. Sister Thomas will tell you whom you can pair up with, they’re a good bunch. They will give you all the help you need and show you what to do”. “Yes matron, thank you matron”, said Alice. “That’s all right nurse now you can report to your ward”. She was Just about to leave and had just turned in her chair when matron said, “one minute nurse, if there is one bit of advice I can give you, just do your best, try to pass your exams, we all had to start somewhere”. As nurse Honeysuckle left the room she closed the door behind her and as she walked down the corridor she tried to find women’s medical, but as she was new to the hospital she couldn’t find her ward, so she asked a staff Nurse who was walking towards the sluice room with a bedpan in her hand. She knew she was a staff nurse as she had a light blue stripe on her cap. Her uniform was much like her own and a silver buckle encased her slim waist (you could nearly see your face in it). She must shine it every night she thought. “Excuse me Staff Nurse,” said Alice. “Yes nurse, you’re new aren’t you, well what do you want? I’m in a hurry I’m on my way to the sluice room but we can talk as we walk”. “I only want to find women’s medical” said Alice. “Let me dispose of this and then I will show you, it is not far but it can be hard to find”. Nurse Honeysuckle followed her there and stood outside while Staff nurse emptied the contents of the bedpan. While she stood there she suddenly thought back to that man in the car park. She wondered who he was, not that it was of any consequence. Anyway he was a horrible man, but he had lovely blue eyes and blonde hair with a few grey strands in it. He had a long lean body; he must exercise every day she thought. Just then the Staff nurse emerged from the sluice room empty-handed. Well! was all she said, “I haven’t much time to spare, its sister’s day off and she left me in charge. We are all run off our feet, it will be nice to have another pair of hands and I tell you we could use them”.“Dr. Lawrence will be doing his rounds at 9am tomorrow morning”, explained Sister. “What’s he like, fussy is he? asked Alice. “Nurse that’s enough”, “sorry Staff Nurse”, “I should think so too”.

Women’s medical was only just around the corner, she had passed it on her way down but she just didn’t see it. They must be busy; there were a lot of nurses in the corridor. They were in and out of wards like flies. ”Well we have arrived” Staff nurse said, “come in I will show you around”. As they went in nurse Honeysuckle saw yellow walls and thought it seemed a nice atmosphere in which to work. The Staff nurse showed her around and after she had done that she went into Sister’s office to finish the rosters for the coming week.

As all this was taking place Dr. Lawrence and his sister Victoria were at a performance of Swan Lake. He had made his sister a very happy lady; it was like she was floating on air. Victoria felt she was transported to another galaxy by the ballet, it can do strange things to a person and she was taken away body and soul. The ballet finished promptly at 11 pm, just enough time for Dr. Lawrence to get to his house and have a mug of cocoa. He had rounds at 9am and he also had paper work to do. He hadn’t enjoyed the ballet and he didn’t know why. Probably due to a lack of sleep, he hadn’t been getting much of that lately. He thought briefly of that girl but it was gone again in an instant.

Back at the hospital Nurse Honeysuckle noticed that all the wards were named after saints. This one was St Jude’s the saint for hopeless cases, she wondered if she was one of them. While she pondered on this thought, Staff Nurse called her into the office and said “well there is not much more to do tonight you can make a fresh start in the morning. You have seen everything now and you can go around with the nurse from 2nd year, she will soon show you the ropes”.

Dr. Lawrence got into the car park at 8.45 the next morning; he always liked to be on time for his rounds. As he mounted the steps he thought of that young nurse again, she was coming into his thoughts a lot lately.

Nurse Honeysuckle had started work long before Dr. Lawrence. Today was her first full day; Staff Nurse only showed her the ward yesterday and where things were. Now she had a full day in front of her and all she had done so far was empty bed pans and make beds. Nurse Burke, the second year nurse, was keeping a close eye on her and Alice thought maybe it wasn’t a bad thing.

Precisely on the dot of 9am all hospital doors were opened and Dr. Lawrence, followed by an entourage of medical students closely at his heels, entered the wards for his rounds. The team of medical students were like young pups they nearly tripped him up following him everywhere. Nurse Burke kept Alice well back so she wouldn’t get in the way, so all she saw was white coats flapping in the wind.

What she did see was a few women students amongst the men, thank goodness for that; the age of equal opportunities had dawned. Women were in every type of job now, not just in nursing, the world had really turned on its axis.

The first patient Dr. Lawrence and his team were due to see was just inside the door of the ward tucked up in her bed and she looked nice and warm, but not too warm as there weren’t too many blankets on the bed. He also noticed that the corners were straight; the nurses must have been busy. Sister was very particular she liked things just so and he liked that.

He stepped forward leaving the medical students at the foot of the bed, he looked at the chart and going by that her name was Miss Rice. She had epilepsy; something you couldn’t really cure but with the right drugs it could be treated. Epilepsy was a strange one; it could strike at any time.

Miss Rice was a nice lady, her face was angular and she had blue eyes, dark hair just going grey at the temples. She was about 30yrs old but didn’t look it. Just like her name, her face was like a bowl of rice pudding. Miss Rice had a long history of epilepsy and he said I think we will do an EEG. What’s that she demanded, so he sat on the bed and said well look at it this way, he spoke slowly as he could see she was nervous. This would take some explaining.

You go to the hairdresser don’t you said Dr. Lawrence, “Yeah” she said. Well this is much the same he said. How? asked Miss Rice in a high-pitched voice. Well all that happens is you lie back on a couch and open your mouth and close it and you open your eyes and close them, they also put rollers in your hair and the worst that can happen is that you have a bad hair day, he joked.

“Yeah” was all she said, and he thought to himself what a terrible abuse of the English language. He thought to himself of course that slang words were taking over more and more but that didn’t mean it was right or he had to like it. There was a right and a wrong way to speak and he liked the right way, and so Dr. Lawrence and his team and Sister walked on.

Sister made sure Alice and the other nurses didn’t follow, it would never do if one of those young nurses let something fall on Dr. Lawrence’s round. He was nice but could snap if the opportunity arose, everyone had their breaking point. Dr. Lawrence’s eyes could bore into you even if you didn’t say a word.

The next patient they were supposed to see was Mrs. Ryan, she had asthma and very severe at that. They had tried everything, first she was put on inhalers of varying strengths, which worked for a while, then she was put on a nebulizer and she seemed to be doing quite well on that. Thank goodness for small mercies thought Dr. Lawrence. He looked at her chart and said Mrs. Ryan you seem to be making an improvement, how do you feel this morning? Good Dr. Lawrence thank you, replied Mrs. Ryan.

Good, that’s what we like to hear, no wheezing or shortness of breath? No not much she replied. Right I’ll see you again tomorrow, and he carried on in his own inevitable style on to the next patient.