The Doctor's Engagement

‘Help me! Someone help my daughter. She needs a doctor.’ A woman struggled towards them, clutching a small girl who was shrieking hysterically. ‘She’s been bitten by a dog.’

‘We don’t have a doctor on the premises,’ the receptionist told her briskly. ‘They’re all out on calls. You’ll have to drive to the Infirmary.’

Holly gaped at her and took charge.

‘Let me have a look,’ she said to the woman, smoothing the little girl’s hair with a gentle hand. ‘You poor thing! What a scary thing to happen. I’m Holly, what’s your name?’

The little girl continued to sob hysterically and peered at Holly with scared eyes.

‘It bit me,’ she wailed, and Holly nodded.

‘I know. And I’d like to try and make it better. What’s your name, sweetheart?’

‘Helen,’ the little girl sobbed jerkily, and Holly’s smile widened.

‘Well, isn’t that funny? You’re a Helen and I’m a Holly. Both our names begin with H. Where did the dog bite you, Helen?’

The little girl took a shuddering breath. ‘Arm.’ She shrank away from Holly who nodded sympathetically.

‘I won’t touch it, sweetheart, not until you’re ready. What we need to do is make it nice and clean and have a good look at it. There’s a special room here for that sort of thing. And there are some lovely toys...’

She crossed her fingers that her predecessor had kept toys in the nurse’s consulting room. Surely she did. Everyone did.

Holly turned to the receptionist, her smile friendly. ‘If I could just use the treatment room, we don’t have to make these poor people travel all the way to the Infirmary.’ She turned to give Helen’s mother an explanation. ‘I’m the new practice nurse and technically I haven’t started yet, but I can’t see anyone minding if we sort Helen out.’

The set of the receptionist’s mouth indicated that she minded a great deal. ‘We’re not an accident and emergency department.’

‘No,’ Holly agreed quietly, her voice firm, ‘but if we’re capable of giving the care required, without the patient having to make a long trip to hospital, we should give it. I’ll assess the bite and clean it up, and hopefully by then one of the doctors will have arrived back from their calls and they can write up some antibiotics. Is there a white coat I could borrow, please? My uniform is still in my suitcase.’

Her shoulders stiff with disapproval, the surly woman marched out from behind the desk and walked down a carpeted corridor. Making a mental note to have a word with Mark about the attitude of his receptionist, Holly gestured to Helen’s mother to follow her.

‘This is the room you’ll be using.’ The receptionist flung open the door and turned to leave. ‘I’ll phone the senior partner to let him know that you’re here.’

And try and make trouble, no doubt, Holly thought uneasily, watching the woman leave. Oh, bother. She didn’t need that sort of aggravation in a new job.

‘Take no notice of Caroline Duncan,’ Helen’s mother said, rolling her eyes. ‘Her bark is worse than her bite.’

Holly wasn’t convinced, but she gave the woman a smile. ‘I do apologise for the fact I’m not in uniform, Mrs...?’

‘Brown. But call me Alison, and I don’t care what you’re wearing as long as you can sort my Helen out.’

‘Well, I’m just going to dig out a white coat and then I’ll have a look at it,’ Holly promised, glancing round as the door opened sharply and Caroline entered, carrying a white coat.

Holly thanked her warmly. ‘Oh, and, Caroline, presumably I can access the notes on the computer?’

Caroline frowned as she turned to leave. ‘Our computer system is very complicated. I expect you’ll need to be trained before you can use it.’

Holly, who had been using computer systems all her working life, smiled easily, still doing her best to be friends with the woman. ‘I’m sure I’ll be able to muddle through. Thanks, Caroline.’

She slipped on the white coat and then spotted a basket of toys under the examination couch. ‘Oh, look at these, Helen!’ She dived under the couch and retrieved the basket. ‘Have a little look at those for me and tell me what there is because I’ve never seen them before.’

The little girl delved into the basket and finally a small smile appeared as she pulled out a bright yellow helicopter with blades that spun round. ‘There’s a helicopter! I love helicopters.’

‘I had one like that when I was small,’ Holly chatted away, calming and distracting the little girl until she felt the time was right to look at the damage. ‘Can I just take a look at that arm now, sweetheart?’

Helen nodded, still intent on playing with the helicopter.

‘Is it awful?’ Alison Brown bit her lip as Holly unwrapped the makeshift bandage she’d used to stop the bleeding. ‘It bled such a lot.’