Authors: Yelena Kopylova
saying, “Where’s
Annie? Mam wants her.”
“Annie’s not well. She’s resting in the sitting-room.”
“Well then, you had better come up, Kate. Maggie’s no good, and he’s yelling out, and ...
and I’m
sorry, but I can’t bear to look at his foot.”
Kate hurried from the room now and up the stairs and into her mother’s bedroom. Hal
was propped up
in bed, covered all over except for his right foot, which was turned to the side and looked twice its size.
But the swollen flesh hadn’t covered the ominous piece of bone sticking up through the skin. Her
mother was saying, “The doctor should be here any minute. The mine manager was
sending in a man to
Haydon Bridge. They’ve got the road cleared that far for the carts.”
She turned and glanced at Kate, saying, “Where’s Annie?”
“She’s ... she’s not well. She’s in the sitting-room.”
“Not well?” Mary Ellen made an impatient movement with her head for a moment; then
said, “Well, you
come and help me get your father changed.”
‘ Leave me be, woman! I. I can’t stand much more of this. Get me some whisky. “
Mary Ellen now looked across the bed to where Maggie was standing wringing her hands
and she said,
“Go and bring the bottle from the sideboard. Quick now.”
As Maggie scurried from the room Kate moved up the side of the bed and looked down
on to the
haggard face, but she said nothing; nor did Hal, but he put out his hand and took hers and held tightly on
to it.
And he retained his hold for the next twenty minutes or so. Mary Ellen had had to push a chair up near
the bed so that Kate could sit down and they had exchanged glances but said nothing.
Even when
Maggie had returned with the whisky and Mary Ellen had poured a stiff measure into a
glass, still he did
not release his hold on Kate’s hand, but took the glass from his wife with his left hand and swallowed the
spirit almost in one gulp. It was only when the doctor entered the room that Kate rose and, pulling her
hand from his grasp, stepped aside.
“Well now, what have you been up to?” Doctor Brunton had been a friend to Mary Ellen
from the day
when he took her to the prison to visit Roddy Greenbank, and he had attended each of her confinements
over the years. He knew all about this family, particularly about its head, who was
answering him now in
characteristic fashion, saying, “Well, if you open your eyes you’ll see what I’ve been up to.”
The doctor bent over the foot and muttered something;
then looking at Mary Ellen, he said, “When he does things, he always attempts to do
them thoroughly.
You know that, don’t you, Mary Ellen?”
“I ... I do indeed, Doctor.” She smiled wanly at him.
He had been divested of his greatcoat downstairs; now he unbuttoned his jacket and
slowly took it off,
saying the while, “Get John and Tom up here, will you? And then I’ll want some hot
water and two
pieces of wood, about two foot long and three inches wide, and a shorter piece, and some strips of linen
... and whisky, of course. “ He turned his head in Hal’s direction, adding, “That’s right, isn’t it? You’d
like to be washed inside and out with whisky?”
“Get on with it.”
He looked at Mary Ellen again and smiled. Then unloosening the cuffs of his white shirt and rolling them
back, he moved up the side of the bed and, bending over Hal, said, “Let’s have a look at your face.”
Turning it gently to the side, he added, “You’re lucky there, it’s just below skin-deep.
It’ll want a stitch
or two. Got a headache?”
“What d’you think?”
“I think you’re a very lucky man to have been brought down the hill when you were.
Another day and I
mightn’t have been able to do much with that.” He thumbed towards the foot.
“And I’m telling you’ His voice had lost its bantering tone, but he returned to it a minute later in greeting
Tom and John entering the room saying to them, “ Hello, there. Your father would like
you to hang on to
him time I straighten out this foot of his. By the way’—he turned and looked at Hal again
‘how did you
come to do it, and your head? “
When Hal did^ lot answer immediately, Mary Ellen, Kate, and the two men looked at
him
apprehensively, waiting for the answer which would be in the nature of, “I got it in a fight.” But when he
said, somewhat reluctantly, “I was bumped by a bloody goat,” their faces stretched, and they looked at
each other in disbelief. Then as Kate covered her eyes, for she had a vision of Biddy
carrying out her
greeting to an intruder, the boys spluttered, but Mary Ellen burst into a high laugh
touching on hysteria
which ended abruptly as the doctor said, “There now, there now.” And the tears spurted from her eyes
and ran down her face.
Purposely ignoring her crying and the fact that the boys and the doctor were comforting her, Hal bawled,
“Will you stop your patting session and get on with it?”
And they got on with it.
They gave him another stiff dose of whisky. Then John, kneeling on one side of the bed, held his father’s
arm, and Tom, standing at the other side, braced himself against the head post as he
aimed to keep his
father steady as he writhed and groaned and his teeth brought the blood from his lower lip. Then after
giving one high piercing yell, Hal was silent, and the doctor, glancing up towards him, said, “That’s good.
Now Kate, keep that foot still. And Mary Ellen, hand me that blue bottle from the table.”
As he poured the liquid from the bottle over the jagged flesh, he said, “Let’s hope that stops any further
infection.” Then taking a needle and thread from a case that had been laid on the bed to the side of the
board on which the foot rested, he began to sew the flesh he’d had to cut in order to set the splintered
bone. This done, he now bound the ankle tightly with the straps of linen. Then placing the smallest piece
of wood against the bandaged sole of the foot, he secured this in position in the same way. After which
he set the two thin slats of wood down each side of the leg and once again he began
winding the torn
sheeting round them till the foot and leg were held firmly in place.
Looking up to where the boys were still holding the inert arms, he said, “Tis done. He’ll be all right
now. What I want next is a kind of cage tcrkeep the bedclothes off the leg. Do you think you can knock
something up?”
“Oh, yes, yes. Doctor,” John spoke, but both nodded at him, and when John added, “You
don’t want
us any more?” the doctor said, “No. He’s all right now, except for his temper.” He pulled a slight face.
“And you can expect that to be touchy for a few days. Now let me see to that cut before he comes
round.” . When Hal eventually came round, there was no show of temper, but he lay limp and
exhausted, which filled Mary Ellen with concern, for she knew all about reactions to
shock and
exposure. Only last year a shepherd had died after lying on the hillsides all night after a fall.
They had found him the next day, still alive, but within two days he was gone. It was in the middle of the
afternoon when Kate, unable to stand the waiting any longer, said to Mary Ellen, “Mam, I’m... I’m going
to slip along to see how he is. He .. he was out there, too, you know.”
“Lass, please, you can’t go the day. You’d never get back in the light, and the roads are a bog now.
Wait till the morrow. Anyway, he needs you.” She jerked her head upwards.
“He’s more content when you’re there. Do this for me.” She put out her hand and gripped Kate’s arm.
“Don’t leave him the day.”
She knew she was going against every fibre of her being when she said, “All right. But I’ll go
tomorrow. Understand, Mam? I’ll go tomorrow.”
“All right, lass, all right.”
Hal had a restless night. At one point he became feverish, but by morning the fever had left him and he
lay limp and definitely in pain.
They had taken their turns at sitting up with him during the night and it was five o’clock in the morning
when Kate had taken off her clothes and got into bed; so weary was she that it was five hours later when
she awoke.
Getting into her dressing-gown, she went hurriedly across the landing and, as she neared the bedroom
door, Mary Ellen came out, saying, “Oh, there you are, lass. Had a good sleep?”
“I’m sorry. I ... I didn’t intend to sleep till this time. How is he?”
“He’s a bit washed out, very tired, but the fever’s gone. That worried me, but he’ll pick up now. He’s
asking for you.” She paused, then said, “Be kind to him, Kate, patient like.”
Kate said nothing but went into the room and towards the bed.
“Hello, Dad. How do you feel?”
“Not too bad, lass. Better than yesterday at this time, Oh aye-’ his chin nob bled as he repeated, ‘better
than yesterday at this time.
Won’t forget that in a hurry. Sit down, lass. “
She sat down, and he took hold of her hand and, turning his head on the pillow, he stared at her as he
said, “Has been an experience this.
Me own fault I suppose, going out like a bull at the gap. But I had to do what I thought best and, I’m
sorry to say this, lass, I haven’t changed me mind. But . aw, don’t pull your hand away.
Let me have
me say, and ‘tis this. He’s a good enough fellow in his own way, aye, I’ll give him that, and he told me a
thing or two about himself and I believe him. But underneath, lass, he’s still a Bannaman.
And you know
me thoughts in that quarter. “
“Yes, I do. Dad. But you also know mine, don’t you?”
“Aye, that’s the pity of it, that’s the pity of it. But being who I am I can’t change. I can say at this
moment. I wish I....” His words were cut off by the door being thrust open and Mary
Ellen stood there,
saying, “Kate, can ... can I have a word with you for a minute?”
As Kate withdrew her hand from his, his old manner asserting itself, he cried, “Can’t you come in and
have a word with her. What is it?
What’s up? “
“I’ll ... I’ll be with you in a minute.” Mary Ellen was nodding at him. Then as Kate
passed her she
closed the door and said, “Charles is downstairs. He ... he called in at the farm. Now lass, don’t get
agitated’ she put her hand on Kate’s arm ‘but he found Ben in a bad way, practically
delirious, he said.
He must have lain down in his wet clothes as soon as he got in yesterday. There was no fire in the place,
nothing. He says he’ll have to have the doctor, but that he can’t stay there. He proposes to take him up
to his place. But as you know he’s only got the cowman’s wife to see to his needs and her youngest, and
neither of them’s very bright. So... so he says, you’ she swallowed ‘you should come
along with them
and see to him, although I don’t know how you’re going to manage there as he’s only got three
bedrooms, and.... Wait a minute, lass! Wait a minute!”
But Kate was already running from her across the landing and into her room. And she
went to follow her
as Hal’s voice again came from the bedroom, crying, “D’you hear me? D’you hear me,
Mary Ellen?
Tell me what’s up?” And so, thrusting the door open, she went in and she couldn’t keep the impatience
from her tone as she said, “All right, I’ll tell you what’s up. Charles is downstairs. He’s found Ben in a
state, in a high fever. Lying in the cold house. He must have just dropped once he got in and has lain
there since. He’s taking him home to his place, but Kate will have to go with him to see to him.”
He remained silent, staring at her, then he muttered, “Can’t be, he must be as strong as a horse to be still
alive after what he did ... an’ going to Charles’s? No place there for him....”
“Stop agitating yourself. You’ve got to face up to it;
she’s going to look after him. You’ve got everybody in this house to look after you, he’s got nobody.
By what Charles says, it’s serious. I mean, he’s in a serious state. “
“Where’s Charles?”
“Downstairs.”
“Fetch him up.”
“What?”
“Woman!”—he closed his eyes ‘don’t aggravate me. Fetch him up.
Gritting her teeth, she went out and none too quietly.
Charles came up, and when he stood by the bedside, Hal said, “What’s this I hear? He’s bad?”
“Yes, very poorly I should say.”
“Very poorly?”
“Oh, yes, yes. I’m ... well I must admit, I’m worried. I passed one of the Robsons on the road, they
were making for Haydon Bridge. I gave them a message for the doctor.” Hal looked past
him now
towards Kate who was coming into the room dragging her coat. Following her came
John, and he,
seeming to ignore his father, addressed Charles, saying, “Tom’s got the cart ready, and Annie’s put some
blankets on. Is there anything else you think you’ll want?”
“No’—Charles had turned towards him ‘not that I can think of at the moment.”
“What’s this? What’s this?” Hal moved restlessly and went to pull himself further up on the pillows, but
stopped and screwed his face up against the pain. And when Mary Ellen went to his side, saying, “Now
don’t frash yourself,” he thrust his arm out at her, saying, “Let me get a word in,
woman.” Then looking
at Charles he said slowly, “It goes against the grain for me to admit this openly, but I owe that fellow me
life. If he hadn’t come across me after that damned goat hit me I wouldn’t be here now.