and Janet’s smile brightened. ‘Good for you,’ she congratulated her.
The front door opened as the telephone rang yet again. Janet hesitated but went back into the office to help Sandy cope for a minute. The new arrival was a woman who was balancing a child on one hip.
‘I’m Ruth Prendergast,’ she told Janet. ‘I haven’t got an appointment and we don’t even live in Christchurch. We’re just down here visiting my mother but Katy has been to see Dr Cooper once before and she’s really not very well this morning.’
‘What’s the problem?’ Janet smiled at the girl who did look rather pale.
‘I think she’s running a temperature and she won’t eat or drink anything. She’s unusually quiet as well. I know it’s probably nothing but Katy has had a heart murmur since birth and I do tend to worry about her.’
‘Did Dr Cooper know of her medical history?’
‘Oh, yes. He was marvellous. He even rang her doctor in Auckland to check up on things.’
‘How long ago would it have been since you saw Dr Cooper?’
‘I think it was about this time last year.’
Sandy had finished her call. Janet pointed at a row of files separated from the main system. ‘See if you can find a file for Katy Prendergast amongst the casuals there.’ Janet turned back to Katy’s mother. ‘We’ll get someone to look at Katy as soon as we can, but I’m afraid you might have a bit of a wait. As you can see, we’re rather busy. Dr Cooper is away on his honeymoon and our locum hasn’t shown up yet.’ Janet heard Sandy groan behind her.
‘Oh, no! I still haven’t rung the agency.’
Ruth Prendergast was smiling. ‘I don’t mind waiting. I feel a lot better just being somewhere close to medical assistance.’
Janet nodded and smiled. ‘Make yourselves comfortable. There are plenty of books and toys.’ She could see Miss Little standing outside the office door. She was clutching a solid-looking handbag. A tight hat was jammed on her head and her thick woollen coat was firmly buttoned. Not quite undressed, indeed!
Janet ushered her patient into the treatment room and closed the door behind them. ‘We’ll need to get you undressed, Miss Little, so I can take the ECG.’ Janet briskly pulled the curtain to screen the bed from the door.
‘Did you know that you have a cat in your waiting room?’
‘Yes. That’s Outboard. St David’s sort of acquired him quite recently. Did you not see him when you came in on Friday? He loves talking to people in the waiting room.’
‘I don’t like cats.’ Miss Little had made no move to start undressing. ‘They carry germs.’
‘We don’t let him come in here,’ Janet said reassuringly. ‘This is the only place we keep sterile equipment.’ She reached out an encouraging hand to relieve her patient of the handbag. ‘Have you been getting some more chest pain?’
Miss Little backed away, a protective arm now enclosing the handbag. ‘Germs travel. They can go a very long way.’
‘Not this far.’ Janet decided to take a firm approach. ‘Just take off everything down to your petticoat for me, Miss Little. Like you did on Friday.’ Janet collected syringes, a vacutainer and tourniquet as she spoke. She opened a small cupboard to extract an ampoule of injectable iron solution. ‘I’ll be back in a minute or two, when you’re all ready.’ Janet moved briskly. She could do Mrs Endicott’s test and treatment in the side room. At least that would be one empty seat in the waiting area.
Mrs Endicott was delighted at the unexpectedly prompt attention.
‘It’s not that I like to make a nuisance of myself,’ she explained to Janet. ‘I don’t even want to go to the hairdresser today. It’s far too nice a day to sit around for hours having a perm.’
‘It is a lovely day,’ Janet agreed. She tied the tourniquet around Mrs Endicott’s upper arm. ‘Just squeeze your hand for me a few times.’
‘A perfect drying day,’ Mrs Endicott continued contentedly. ‘Monday’s always been my washing day.’
‘Every day’s my washing day.’ Janet deftly inserted the needle and clicked the vacutube into the plastic holder. ‘But not today, unfortunately. I turned the washing machine on this morning and the next thing I knew I had a flood on the laundry floor.’
‘Oh, dear! You’ve got two little boys, too, haven’t you?’
‘Yes. Twins. Adam and Rory.’ Janet removed the full test tube and then pressed a cotton ball to Mrs Endicott’s elbow as she withdrew the needle. ‘They’re six. Nearly seven.’
‘You must have a lot of washing to do, then.’
‘Heaps.’ Janet agreed ruefully. She thought of the pile of muddy jeans, track pants and sweatshirts she had walked out on this morning, and sighed deeply. ‘In fact, it’s quite unbelievable how many items of clothing two small boys can go through over a weekend. If I don’t get the machine fixed tonight, they may well have to go to school tomorrow in their pyjamas.’ Janet picked up a syringe. ‘Let’s get this injection over with and that’ll be you. I’ll ring you when we get the results of this sample and let you know when we need to check your levels again. Hopefully, we’re getting your anaemia under control now.’
Miss Little eyed the blood sample Janet carried back into the treatment room for labelling.
‘I hope you’re not intending to take any blood from me.’
‘Dr Spencer hasn’t ordered any blood tests, Miss Little. I think he wants to see the trace of your heart first.’ Janet looked disbelievingly at May Little’s foundation garment. Was it an antique or did they still manufacture genuine corsets? ‘Can we undo this lacing bit on the front?’ Janet struggled to keep her face straight. ‘I need to stick an electrode on just about here.’ She touched what felt like some steel reinforcement.
‘You just never know, do you?’
‘What about, Miss Little?’
‘What they do with the blood. What they really test it for.’
‘Oh, I don’t think they do anything they’re not asked to.’ Janet clipped the electrodes into place on the sticky patches. ‘They haven’t got the time and it’s all too expensive these days.’
May Little looked unconvinced. ‘They already know too much,’ she informed Janet knowingly. ‘They’re not going to get any of my blood.’
‘Mmm.’ Janet ripped off the rhythm strip. If Miss Little needed a blood test Janet was going to make sure it was Oliver who did the deed. ‘Stay here for a moment, Miss Little. I’ll just get Dr Spencer to have a look at this.’
Oliver was pacing around his consulting room. ‘Would you believe it?’ he demanded of Janet incredulously. ‘The locum agency just rang to ask if we’d had the message from Dr Singh. Apparently her mother took ill and she flew back to India yesterday. They wait until 11 a.m. and then ring to ask if we want someone else.’
‘What
