wiry grey, curly hair, a flushed face and very angry dark green eyes. She had all her stuff with her, a huge suitcase, a walking frame and several other bags.
‘Mrs Anderson—’ Candy started, but already she was wrong.
‘It’s Miss Anderson!’
‘I’m sorry, Miss Anderson. I’m Candy Anastasi, one of the nurses in Emergency, and I’m going to be looking after you today.’
‘But, as I’ve told everyone, many times, I don’t want to be looked after,’ Macey retorted. ‘I want to be taken home.’
It was all pretty hopeless. The more they tried to persuade her to come into the department the more upset Macey became. The last thing Candy wanted to do was wheel her through when she was distressed and crying and so, instead, she tried another tack, wondering if, given that Macey had once been a matron, she might not want to get another nurse in trouble.
‘Dr Steele is already here to see you,’ Candy said. ‘He’s been waiting for you to arrive. Am I to go in and tell him that I can’t get you to come into the hospital?’
Macey looked at her for a long moment and then she looked beyond Candy’s shoulder and Candy knew, she simply knew, that it was Steele who had just stepped into the ambulance.
‘Is there a problem, Nurse? Only I’ve been waiting for quite some time.’ His low voice sounded just a touch ominous and Candy met Macey’s eyes for a brief moment.
‘No,’ Macey answered for Candy. ‘They were just about to bring me in.’
‘Good,’ Steele said. ‘Then I’ll come and see you shortly, Miss Anderson.’
As he headed back into the department the paramedics lowered the stretcher to the ground and Candy found out perhaps why it was that Steele was so sharply dressed. ‘At least he’s not twelve and wearing jeans,’ Macey muttered.
Candy smiled—yes, Steele’s appearance and authoritarian tone had appeased Macey.
They took Macey into cubicle seven, aligned the stretcher with the trolley, and Candy positioned the sliding board that would help to move the patient over easily. ‘We’ll get you onto the trolley, Miss Anderson.’
‘I can manage,’ the elderly lady snapped, ‘and it’s Macey.’
‘That actually means she likes you,’ her niece said, and gestured with her head for Candy to follow her outside.
‘I’ve got this,’ Matthew, a very patient paramedic, said, and Candy went outside to speak with Catherine.
‘It’s taken two days for her GP to persuade her to come in,’ Catherine said. ‘Honestly, I’m just so relieved she’s finally here. She’s got a temperature and she’s hardly eating or drinking anything. She doesn’t take her tablets or if she does she gets them all wrong …’
‘We’ll go through all of that.’ Candy did her best to reassure Macey’s niece.
‘She’s so cantankerous and rude,’ Catherine said, ‘that she puts everyone offside, but she’s such a lovely lady too. She’s always been on her own, she’s never had a boyfriend, let alone married, she’s so completely set in her ways and loathes getting undressed in front of anyone. You’re going to have a battle there …’
‘Let us take care of her,’ Candy said, ‘and please don’t worry about her saying something offensive. Believe me, we’ll have heard far worse.’
‘Thanks.’ Catherine gave a worried smile and they went back inside. The cubicle was pretty full, with Macey’s huge bag and walking frame, and Candy had a little tidy up. ‘Why don’t we first get you into a gown and then—’
‘Get me into a gown?’ Macey shouted loudly. ‘You haven’t even introduced yourself and you’re asking me to take my clothes off.’ Candy said nothing as Steele came into the cubicle. She had, in fact, introduced herself in the ambulance. ‘You’re not a nurse’s bootlace,’ Macey said to Candy just as Steele came in.
‘Hello, Miss Anderson,’ he said. ‘I didn’t introduce myself properly back there in the ambulance. I’m Steele, or Dr Steele, if you prefer to be formal.’
Candy smothered a little smile as he repeated a similar introduction to the one he had given her. He must have to say it fifty times a day.
He ran through a few questions with Macey as a very anxious Catherine hovered.
‘You had a heart attack three months ago?’ Steele checked. ‘And you were admitted here for a week.’
‘All they did was pump me with drugs,’ Macey huffed. ‘Where were you then?’
‘I believe I was in Newcastle,’ Steele said.
‘So how long have you worked here?’
‘Two days,’ Steele answered easily.
‘You’ll be gone tomorrow.’ Macey huffed. ‘You’re a locum.’
‘I am, though I happen to be a very good one,’ Steele said, completely unfazed. ‘And I’m here for six weeks, which gives us plenty of time to sort all this out.’
They went through her medical history. Apart from the heart attack it would seem that Macey was very well indeed. She had never smoked, never drunk, and at eighty still did all her own housework and cooking, with a little help from her nieces, Catherine and Linda. Macey had until a couple of days ago walked to the shops every day.
‘It’s quite a distance,’ Catherine said. ‘I offered to do her shopping weekly at the supermarket for her but Aunt Macey wouldn’t hear of it.’
‘I like to walk,’ Macey snapped.
‘It’s good that you do—exercise is good for you,’ Steele said. ‘Do you have stairs at home?’
‘Yes, and I manage them just fine,’ Macey retorted. ‘You won’t see me with bungalow legs!’
‘Right, Miss Anderson,’ Steele said. ‘I’m going to ask Candy to help you into a gown and do some obs and put an IV and draw some blood. Then I’ll come and examine you.’ He looked at two blue ice-cream containers that were filled with various bottles and blister packets of medication. ‘I’ll take these and look through them.’
As Steele went to go Macey called him back. ‘I’m not having a nurse take my blood. That’s a doctor’s job.’
‘Oh, I can assure you that you’re better off with Candy than you are with me,’ Steele said. ‘I get the shakes this side of six p.m.’
His quip caused a little smile to inch onto Macey’s lips and, after Steele had gone, Candy helped her into a gown while doing her best to keep Macey covered as she did so. But the elderly lady fought her over every piece, right down to her stockings.
‘Leave my stockings on,’ Macey said.
‘Oh, I’ll leave them for Steele to take off, shall I?’ Candy challenged.
Macey
