A Spot Of Bother

68

Shortly after Jean sent Jamie off to find something to eat in the hospital canteen a doctor appeared. He was wearing a dark blue V-neck pullover and no tie, the way doctors did these days.

He said, “Mrs. Hall?”

“Yes?”

“My name is Dr. Parris.”

He shook her hand. He was rather good-looking. There was something of the rugby player about him.

He said, “Could we step outside for a moment?” and he said it so politely that it never occurred to her to be worried. They stepped outside.

“So?” she asked.

He paused. “We’d like to keep your husband in overnight.”

“OK.” It sounded like a very sensible idea.

He said, “We’d like to make a psychiatric assessment.”

She said, “Well, yes, he has been feeling rather down recently.” She was impressed by the hospital’s thoroughness, but puzzled as to how they knew. Perhaps Dr. Barghoutian had put something in George’s medical records. Which was a bit alarming.

Dr. Parris said, “If someone’s harmed themselves we like to know why. Whether they’ve done it before. Whether they’re likely to do it again.”

Jean said, “He broke his elbow a couple of years ago. Usually, he’s very careful about that kind of thing.” She really didn’t understand what Dr. Parris was getting at. She smiled.

Dr. Parris smiled back, but it was not a proper smile. “And he broke his elbow…?”

“Falling off a stepladder.”

“They didn’t tell you about the scissors, did they.”

“What scissors?” she asked.

So he told her about the scissors.

She wanted to tell Dr. Parris that he’d mixed George up with someone else. But he knew about the blood and the bathroom and the eczema. She felt stupid for believing his ridiculous story about the chisel. And frightened for George.

He was losing his mind.

She wanted to ask Dr. Parris what exactly was wrong with George, whether it would get worse, whether it was something permanent. But these were selfish questions and she didn’t want to make a fool of herself for a second time. So she thanked him for talking to her, he went away and she returned to the chair beside George’s bed and waited for Dr. Parris to leave the ward and wept a little when no one was watching.