Sunday, 8 September 2024

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (094) The Good Samaritan

 


Victoria Pullen was fast approaching 40, and it was she who nursed Sir Avery until the end of his life.

Working as a private nurse in palliative care meant that she led a very nomadic life, but with the lump sum left to her by Sir Avery gave her options, so she had decided she had had enough of being a nomad and had been looking for something more permanent since getting her windfall but hadn’t as yet found somewhere to put down roots.

She was enjoying her time on the island though, and the Hotel was excellent, but on Saturday Night she was on her way back to her room after Dinner with Elisa when they heard someone being violently sick but had no idea where it was coming from.

So they carried on down the hall and the next door they passed was slightly ajar, and they exchanged a look, and Victoria pushed open the door.

“Hello!!” she called “Is everything ok?”

There was no response, but she could hear vomiting coming from the bathroom.

“Hello!!” she called again as the sound got louder and as she looked in the bathroom she asked

“Are you ok?”

There was a naked man slumped over in the bath, who was pale and pasty, covered in vomit and he had soiled himself.

At first glance he looked like a drunk but despite his appearance and his incoherence she was not prepared to take it at face value and after a cursory examination she concluded he was not a drunk.

“I’m just going to clean you up a bit” she said and turned on the shower and he threw up again.

The smell in the bathroom was quite extraordinary and she had to step out into the hall to catch her breath where she asked Elisa to call for an ambulance and call down to reception.

She glanced into the room and saw vomit and Diarrhoea on the bed, then she grabbed a towelling dressing that was laying on a chair.

After she finished hosing him down in the shower and managed to wrap him in the dressing gown and just hoped he wouldn’t soil himself again before the ambulance arrived.

She sat him on the toilet and went back out to the hall just as the manager arrived and Victoria explained the situation, and he told her his name was Harold Jardine.

When the ambulance arrived, she relayed all the symptoms to them and that she suspected seafood poisoning.

“Ok thanks” the paramedic said as they got the man into a wheelchair and took him out to the ambulance.

 

On Sunday Victoria called in at the hospital to see how Mr Jardine was and explained the circumstances, and she was told it was indeed seafood poisoning and he was already on the ward receiving intravenous fluids and would stay in hospital for 24 hours until his fluids were normalised, and satisfied all was well she went back to the hotel.

 

That afternoon Rebecca and Ross Clarke returned to the states but Elisa and Victoria decided to stay on the island a little longer so Molly said they could stay at Cliff Haven for as long as they liked.

 

On Monday, George picked them up from the Hotel and drove them to Molly’s.

“Do you mind if we stop at the Hospital on the way George?”

“Of course, is everything alright?”

“Yes, I just want to check up on the patient” she replied

 

So George dropped her by the entrance, and she wasn’t gone for long as she managed to speak to the sister and she was told they kept him in for a second night, but he was asleep again, so she thanked the sister and was about to leave when the sister asked.

“If you leave your name, I’ll tell him you stopped by”

“It’s Victoria Pullen” 

“Ok I’ll let him know” She said, and Victoria began to walk away

“It’s a lovely little hospital you have here”

 

Harold Jardine was a Beaumont Islander but living and working on St Giles du Cabot Island where he ran the General Store/Post Office and was only staying at the Beaumont Hotel for the weekend because of a family wedding which was when he started feeling ill.

So he went up to his room for a lay down and that was the last thing he remembered .    

 

As he sat on his hospital bed waiting to be discharged, he felt ashamed, but he was both immensely grateful to the lady who found him but also acutely embarrassed at the circumstances in which she found him.

He was at least thankful that she was a complete stranger, which was embarrassing enough, but he was mortified to have been found by a member of the opposite sex while he was in a state of undress and degradation, had it been someone who knew him it would have increased his embarrassment exponentially.

But he was grateful, firstly for finding him and then for cleaning him up before the ambulance arrived.  

He decided that his gratitude should outweigh his embarrassment and that he should try to find the lady and show his appreciation in some way.

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