April
Matthew
Brookfield was a native Beaumont Islander, but he was no longer a resident, but
he had brought home in order to visit his sister who was waiting to undergo
major heart surgery, in fact it had brought him back to the country, from
sunnier climes, where he had been filming his TV Show.
When he got to
the Bellevue Cottage Hospital he went straight upstairs to the private room he
had arranged for her and found her lying in bed with wires and tubes coming out
of her, he also found someone who would figure in both their futures, in the
form of Shirley’s Doctor, Maxine Flaxmer.
Because later
that night they met for the first time outside the hospital and spent a
pleasant couple of hours in the bar of the Beaumont Manor Hotel, and they made
an unlikely connection, considering that she was a Doctor and he was a TV
Fisherman.
The next day,
however, they were unable to build on that connection as it was a busy day on
the ward for Max and Shirley went into surgery.
The following
day however was a different matter, although when they were on the ward, they
maintained their roles, conscious and sensitive to their surroundings, but when
they met downstairs it was different.
“Hello Mark”
she said as he stepped out of the lift.
“Hello yourself
Doctor Max”
“Very funny”
she said laughing “have you got time for a coffee?”
“I do” he
replied so they went to the coffee shop where they spent a pleasant hour,
helping him to escape his worries.
Because she
knew that although he put on a brave face for his sister and her husband that
he was worried sick, and she also knew that no matter how she tried to reassure
him as a Doctor she wasn’t going succeed but as Max she could divert him, even
if only for the briefest time.
The following
day they repeated the process, twice, and the day after, and when Shirley was
out of the woods and on the road to recovery the day after that, and she
improved with each day that passed they went out for dinner.
Shirley had
made such a good recovery that Doctor Flaxmer was happy to allow Shirley to be
transferred to a nursing home to complete her convalescence.
As they loaded
Shirley into an ambulance Max said
“You know what
this means.”
“Yes, I have to
take you fishing” He said.
“Well, I go
back to the mainland so it will have to be on Thursday” she replied.
“Ok we’ll meet
in reception at nine.”
“Great” she
said, “what should I wear?”
“You’ll look
great in whatever you wear” he replied, “But I would recommend no heels.”
It was an
unseasonably warm sunny March day when they left the hotel and drove up to
Roman Water.
After they
parked by the Lake and he set up the folding chairs on the jetty and once they
had set up he showed her the basic principle of casting and then he said.
“Come and stand
in front of me and look towards the water.”
Max did as she
was told, and he stood behind her, but before he could show her how to hold the
rod she turned around and kissed him and after a full minute he said.
“You didn’t
come for the fishing, did you?”
“Not really”
she admitted, and they kissed again.
They decided
that as she wasn’t interested in fishing, an early lunch was more favourable so
after he’d packed his tackle away they walked back to the car, and he stowed it
in the boot.
They walked up
the steps to the Hotel and she announced.
“I like
fishing, I think we should do it again soon.”
“I’m afraid
that today is the last day of the season” he retorted.
“When does it
start again?”
“The middle of
June”
“Oh dear, what
are we going to do until June?”
“I’m sure we’ll
think of something” he said and kissed her.
No comments:
Post a Comment