The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (053) Gilbert’s

 

February

On the first day of February Duncan Wilson had an appointment, so he had a lazy start to the day at the farm and got showered and shaved at a leisurely pace.

 

Roman Water Farm is the second largest of the five farms on the island covering the area from Beaumont head in the north to Bellevue Woods in the south, the rugged coast to the west and Saxvirdan in the east, and the land was farmed by the Wilson’s and following, his parents, Martin and Louise’s retirement, Duncan Wilson took over the mantle of running the farm.

The farm had at its centre a large farmhouse, parts of which dated back six centuries which had been added to over the years to accommodate the growing Wilson clan until it was now comprised of six upstairs bedrooms and an equal number of rooms on the ground floor, where Duncan lived with his parents and two children Derek and Emily.

There were also two smaller dwellings, his brother James, wife Kate and children Nicole and Phil, lived in the larger one, and his widowed sister Debbie and her daughter Jodie lived in the cottage.

There were also stables, barns, hen houses, and assorted outbuildings.

At the age of fifty-five divorcee Duncan was finding that his hearing wasn’t as sharp as it used to be, so he got a referral from his GP to Audiology and in February he had an appointment at Bellevue.

 

Bellevue Cottage Hospital was originally built by the army during the Great War when Beaumont Manor was commandeered by the Medical Corp for convalescing officers before returning them to the front, but as the war went on, they found they needed to expand beyond convalescence.

After the armistice it remained War Office property but fell into disuse between the wars but was quickly brought back into service following the outbreak of World War Two.

The island played a much more active role between 1940 and 1945 with a radar station at Spaniards Point and two anti-aircraft batteries, and barrage balloons outside St Pierre and Spaniards Creek and the hospital saw more action as a result.

Two years after the end of the war the military left the island, leaving the fully equipped hospital mothballed, but intact, behind them and the Manor house became the Beaumont Manor Hotel.

The hospital would have remained in mothballs indefinitely had it not been for an outbreak of poliomyelitis on the mainland during 1949 and again in 1950, which meant that the powers that be, decided to get the hospital running again, if only in the short term, but a polio outbreak, coupled with high numbers of TB patients, meant that the short term lasted into the 1960’s when it was decided to update and improve the main buildings and add on a large extension.     

The hospital and the attached medical centre catered well for the islanders’ basic needs, but for more important treatments and surgeries, patients needed to travel to the mainland, which they would need to do by ferry, water taxi or some other vessel or in extreme cases a helicopter.

 

Because there were only around 3000 residents on the island there were no permanent diagnostic clinicians at Bellevue, instead for things like, Audiology, ENT, Diabetes, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Chiropody, and similar specialisms, along with blood donation, cervical smears, and inoculations they held monthly clinics.   

 

So, the first week of every month fifty-three-year-old Anna Turnbull held an Audiology clinic, for two or three days, depending on the volume of patients.

She was based at the Pepperstock and District Hospital outside Pipershaven, but she only worked there for one week in four as she ran clinics at other hospitals the rest of the time.

Anna was originally from Shallowfield, but when she was married her marital home was in Dulcet St Mary, but for the two years following her divorce she rented a flat near the hospital, until she decided where she wanted to put down roots again.

The nature of her job meant she travelled around Downshire to a great extent, but she hadn’t found it, the only place that had taken her fancy was Beaumont Island, which was totally impractical, but she liked visiting the island, nonetheless.

 

Duncan left the farm in his Range Rover at 10.30 and drove to Bellevue Hospital and was sitting in the waiting area with 10 minutes to spare until his appointment, so he picked up a magazine to fill the time, until a door opened and an attractive 50 something stepped out and said confidently.

“Mr. Wilson!”

“That’s me” he said and stood up and they exchanged a smile.

She wore no makeup, and her brown hair with contrasting streaks, was loosely tied at her nape, but not in a ponytail.

She wore a green patterned, long-sleeved sweater, black trousers, black sensible shoes and grey ankle socks adorned with pink butterflies, and that was the least cute thing about her.

In truth he was looking at her cute behind as she walked away which filled her trousers very snugly.

 

Anna Turnbull wasn’t a medical doctor, and she didn’t have a doctorate degree, but she didn’t need one to practice, but was a fully licensed healthcare professional, specializing in diagnosing, treating and administering to those with hearing loss, tinnitus and other types of hearing problems.

 

“Take a seat” she said motioning him to sit at the end of her desk, and he watched as she sat in front of her computer.

Once seated she fired questions at him, name, address, age, marital status, and typed in his responses and he looked at her very satisfying profile as she typed, and how her sweater fitted her contours, her flat stomach and well-defined bust.  

She wasn’t stunningly beautiful or even pretty, except when she smiled, but she was attractive, her green eyes were mesmerizing, but her nose was slightly too big and her lips too full, but he liked her.

“What do you do for a living Mr Wilson?”

“Please call me Duncan, only the tax man calls me Mr Wilson.”

He replied “I’m a farmer”

“Do you use machinery Duncan?”

“Yes, every day pretty much, but I always wear ear defenders”

“That’s good” she responded

“That’s good to hear even” he said, and she smiled

Every time she got up his eyes followed her, and his skin tingled when she pressed against him as she examined his ears and when she stood in front of him to place the headphones over his ears, her pert breasts were right in front of him only inches from his face and his heart skipped a beat.

He thought she must have been able to read his thoughts because she stepped back momentarily, paused, and stepped forward again even closer, so close in fact that he could have puckered his lips and kissed them with the merest of effort.

When she returned to her chair, she seemed to do so more slowly, giving him more time to appreciate the perfectly formed cheeks.

When she had completed all the tests, she stood in front of him again for a final treat and removed the headphones, then she turned the monitor towards him and sat down, then she muttered. 

“Come on, open”

“I’m glad I’m not the only person that talks to a computer” he said, and she laughed, and it illuminated her face.

When she had composed herself, she said

“Well, you do have some slight age-related loss, but you also have some nerve damage on the left”

As she spoke, she was indicating with her finger the graph on the screen.

“Which is nothing to be concerned with at this stage, but hearing aids will help” she explained

“Is that something you would be happy with?”

“Oh yes I'm not a vain man” he replied

“Unfortunately, it will take about six months due to the backlog”

“That's fine” he said “I'm also very patient man”

“I will try to shorten the wait if I can” she said as she held open the door for him

“Thank you I would appreciate that” he said “Goodbye”

 

Anna smiled to herself as she closed the door, she knew he was looking at her, and she liked it, which is why she prolonged the consultation so she could give him more to look at.