Sophie hesitated and then nodded slowly.
'Good girl.' Ellie moved to the other side of the trolley so that she could be next to Ben. She carried on chatting to the little girl, noting that the skin was red and blistered.
Ben glanced up. 'Can we give her some paracetamol syrup for the pain?'
Ellie nodded, all her attention still focused on Sophie. 'Aren't you lucky? The conductor says you can have some of our special pink drink. I'll just fetch that for you now.'
She left the room to fetch the drug and when she returned she stopped dead, astonished to see Ben and the paramedic both making train noises.
Smothering a smile, she walked briskly across the room and handed the little girl the tiny container. 'Sip this, sweetheart, it will make you enjoy your trip more.'
Ben was examining the little girl, and Ellie felt a lump in her throat as she saw how careful he was, his strong fingers infinitely gentle as he assessed the severity of the burn.
'Ellie, can we clean this up with some saline?'
She pulled herself together and ripped open a dressing pack. 'I'm just going to make your arm more comfortable, Sophie, and then put a bandage on it so that you don't get sand in it when this train arrives at the beach.'
She cleaned the burn carefully, finding new distractions every time the little girl's lip wobbled. At one point she glanced uncertainly at Ben.
'Do you want me to aspirate that blister?'
Ben looked closely at it and shook his head. 'No. It looks fine. It's not tense and it will protect the epithelium underneath while it heals. Use some sulphadiazine cream and jelonet.'
Ellie carefully did as he'd requested, astonished that the little girl was being so brave. Then she applied the gauze and an absorbent layer of cotton wool and held the whole lot in place with a firm crepe bandage.
'
All right. That's good.' With a nod of satisfaction, Ben took a step back from the trolley and picked up the little girl's record card 'We don't know her immunisation status so we'll have to wait until her mum gets here to find out if she needs a tetanus.'
At that moment Nicky entered the room, accompanied by a woman who was clearly flustered and out of breath.
'Mrs Bassett?' Ellie walked over to her and the woman nodded.
'Yes. I came as soon as I got the message. I can't believe this has happened.' She hurried over to Sophie who still had her thumb in her mouth.
'I'm on a twain,' Sophie mumbled, and her mother looked startled.
'What, darling?' She looked anxiously at Ben. 'Is it bad?'
He put down the notes he'd been filling in and slipped his pen into his pocket. 'Your daughter has a nasty scald to one arm,' he told her. 'It's very red and blistered but it doesn't seem to have affected the deep layers of skin so I'm confident that it will heal by itself in ten to fourteen days. We've given her some paracetamol—you can give her some more in four hours' time. Is she fully immunised?'
The mother nodded. 'Oh, yes, she's had everything she should have had.'
"Good.' Ben gave her a brief smile. 'In that case, you can take her home now and take her back to your GP in two days to have the dressing changed. Mrs Bassett, you need to think about shortening the flex on your kettle. Apparently she grabbed it and pulled the kettle over herself.'
The mother's eyes filled with tears. 'I left her with my sister—I can't believe she was in the kitchen unattended.'
'Accidents happen,' Ben said quietly, 'and your sister had the presence of mind to put her arm in cold water immediately. I have no doubt that her actions helped prevent the scald being more severe.'
He talked to her for a few more minutes before Ellie escorted them back to the reception area and then went back to Resus to clear up.
Ben was still writing up the notes but he glanced up as she walked in, his eyes warm.
'Ellie, you were really wonderful with that child.'
'Oh.' Pleased by his praise, she felt warmth flood through her veins. 'Thank you. Just luck really...'
'No.' Ben shook his head and gave a faint smile. 'It was inspired. I never would have thought of it. Without you I don't think she would have let me examine her.'