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.
