The Woman who Went to Bed for a Year

44

Nurse Spears ordered Eva to remove her nightgown. She wanted to examine her body for bedsores.

Eva covered her nakedness as much as she could with the duvet.

Nurse Spears said, ‘I’ve known people die from bed-sores, Mrs Beaver. If unattended, they can lead to infection, ulceration – and, eventually, amputation.’ She lifted Eva’s ankles and stared at her heels critically. She then moved to Eva’s buttocks, and finished by checking her elbows. She seemed almost disappointed to find no angry sores. ‘You’ve obviously been using a good barrier cream.’

‘No,’ said Eva, ‘but I know about bedsores, I just keep moving and changing position.’

When Eva was dressed, the nurse took her blood pressure and frowned at the result, even though it was in the normal range. She stuck a thermometer in Eva’s ear and, again, frowned at what she saw. She put the thermometer away and asked, ‘How are your bowels?’

Eva said politely, ‘Mine are fine, how are yours?’

‘I’m delighted that you are able to be so light-hearted, Mrs Beaver, considering your circumstances. I understand, from your mother downstairs, that your husband is living with another woman in the garden extension.’

‘It’s a shed.’

‘Your mother also tells me that when you need to use the bathroom facilities, you construct what you call a “White Pathway”, which you seem to think is an extension of your bed. Is this true?’

‘Yes, it’s true. It is an extension of the bed. If I fired a bullet at your skull and it blew it apart, Nurse Spears, would the bullet that did so be a property of itself or the gun?’ She half remembered this from overhearing a conversation one morning at breakfast, between Brian and Brian Junior about quantum physics, which had only ended when the marmalade jar had slipped through Brian’s hands and fallen on to the floor.

Nurse Spears was writing on Eva’s notes.

Eva said, ‘I’d like to see what you’ve written.’

The nurse said, moving the notes out of Eva’s reach, ‘I’m afraid your notes are confidential.’

Eva said, ‘You’re mistaken, Nurse Spears. The law allows patients to read their notes.’

‘I have made a judgement that you are not mentally strong enough to read your own notes. It could set off another psychotic episode.’

‘I am physically and mentally well.’

‘It is quite common for psychotic patients to think themselves well.’

Eva began to laugh. ‘So, you win both ways?’

Nurse Spears said, ‘There’s a touch of paranoia in that question.’

Eva asked, ‘Are you trained in mental health diagnostics?’

‘Trained, no, but it is a special interest of mine. There was mental ill health in my own family, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, Mrs Beaver.’

Eva felt a chill, a physical sensation of fear. ‘Of course, you’re implying that I have a mental illness?’

Nurse Spears said, ‘I will go back to the surgery and inform your doctors that, in my opinion, you are having a breakdown of some kind. Again, Mrs Beaver, you need not be frightened. Some of our most notable men and women have suffered, like you. Think of Churchill, Alastair Campbell, Les Dennis.’

Eva insisted, ‘But I’m not mentally ill!’

We have moved on since poor Mr Churchill suffered from his “black dog”. We have some miraculous drugs now, and within a few weeks you will be feeling your old self again. You will be able to get out of bed and re-join the rest of us.’

‘I don’t want to join the rest of you.’

Nurse Spears put on her navy-blue mac and carefully threaded the belt through the brown leather buckle. ‘I’ll call again, of course. Goodbye, Mrs Beaver.’

When she heard her mother’s voice in the hall five minutes later, and then the sound of the front door slamming, Eva shouted, ‘Mum!’

It took longer than usual for Ruby to climb the stairs, and she was breathless when she arrived at the side of Eva’s bed.

Eva did not want to upset her mother, but she needed to talk frankly with her. She asked, ‘So, you had a good talk with the nurse?’

‘Yes,’ said Ruby. ‘She was telling me about Dr Bridges. He’s been off work for three days. He did some bad damage to his nose with a pair of animated nose clippers.’

Eva corrected irritably, ‘Automatic. And she shouldn’t be gossiping about the doctors.’

‘She doesn’t like that dark doctor, Lumbago, she says he’s lazy. Well, they are, aren’t they?’

Eva said, ‘No, they are not.’

‘I wouldn’t have her job for the world. The things she has to do. She told me about some of her worst cases. It’s disgusting what that poor woman has to work with.’

‘You told her about Brian and Titania. You said they were living in a garden extension.’

Well, I could hardly call it a shed, could I?’

‘And I wish you hadn’t told her about the White Pathway.’

Ruby said, ‘But everybody knows about the White Pathway.’

‘Everybody?’

‘Well, everybody I know. And I’ll tell you the truth, Eva. Everybody thinks it’s barmy. And I’ll tell you another thing, Nurse Spears thinks it’s barmy, an’ all.’

‘And you, Mum? What do you think? Do you think it’s barmy?’

Ruby shook her head sadly and said, ‘I feel like I’ve never known you, and now I never will. None of us know you, any more. We all want the old Eva back.’

‘I didn’t like the old Eva. She was a miserable coward.’

‘All you need is a change of scenery. You’ve had a lovely four months’ rest. Why don’t you get up, have a shower, wash your hair with some of your lovely vegetable stuff -’

‘Herb,’ said Eva.

‘- put some warm clothes on and we could go to the shops. And there’s snowdrops in the park. I could borrow Stanley’s wheelchair. You weigh nowt, I could easily push you. I want to look after you, Eva.’

‘You don’t understand, do you, Mum? Think of me as a giant grub. I’m here, in this room, pupating.’

Ruby began to feel uneasy. ‘You’re talking daft, stop it!’

Eva said, ‘But one day, I’ll shed my skin. I’m looking forward to that. I wonder what I’ll be?’

‘On your own, if you carry on talking like that.’

Ruby went downstairs and found Titania unloading the washing machine. Hers and Brian’s clothes were tangled together. One of his shirts was enveloping one of her nightgowns.

Ruby said, ‘So, you’re not at work?’

Titania, who thought that Ruby was one of the thickest people she had ever met, said, ‘Obviously not, I’m here, in the kitchen, in three dimensions. Four, including time.’

Ruby said, with a nod towards Eva’s bedroom, ‘She’s getting worse, she’s just told me that she’s a giant grub.’

Titania’s eyes widened. ‘Are you sure she didn’t say “I need some grub”, or “Bring me some grub”, or something similar?’

‘I know I’m getting on a bit, but I definitely heard her say that she was a giant grub.’

‘As in insect?’

‘Yes.’

Titania muttered, ‘Très Kafkaesque.’

Ruby said, ‘Will you tell Brian, when he comes home from work, that Eva now thinks she’s a giant grub?’

Titania said, ‘Oh yes, I’ll be delighted to pass on that message.’

‘I’m going home now,’ said Ruby. ‘I’m feeling a bit poorly.’ When she had put her hat and coat on, she said, ‘Titania, what would happen to Eva if I passed away?’

Titania said, ‘We’d cope.’

Ruby checked, ‘You’d feed her?’

‘Obviously.’

‘Do her washing, change her sheets?’

‘Of course.

‘Keep her clean?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you wouldn’t love her, you and Brian, would you?’

‘There are plenty of people who love her.’

Ruby’s voice cracked. ‘But she needs her main, and if I went to the arms of Jesus, she wouldn’t be looked after properly, would she?’

Titania said, ‘I sense Alexander loves her.’

Ruby picked up her empty shopping bag and said, ‘That’s sex, I’m talking about love.’

Titania watched her walking down the hall, and thought that she had visibly aged in the last week. She looked unsteady on her feet, and her shoulders were stooped. She might suggest that Ruby swap her mid-heeled court shoes for a pair of Merrell body-shaping trainers.

When Brian opened the front door, he could smell curry, his favourite food. Titania was at the stove, cooking chapattis over a gas flame. Every surface that could be burnished, shone. There was a faint smell of bleach. All the surfaces had been washed down. There was a small pot of snowdrops on the table, which had been set for two, and a bottle of Burgundy was breathing. Glasses had been polished, and reflected the lights.

He lifted the lid off a saucepan and asked, ‘What is it – chicken?’

‘No, goat,’ said Titania. ‘And before I forget, your wife now thinks she’s a giant grub. A “monstrous vermin”.’

Brian had a delicate stomach. He replaced the lid. His appetite waned a little. ‘A giant grub?’ he said. ‘Couldn’t you have waited until after dinner?’