right.'
'Perfectly all right Father. If you'd like to take a seat through there I'm sure one of the doctors will speak to you soon.'
Lafferty was joined within minutes by two of the policeman who had been down on the canal bank. When they had finished telling the receptionist their business they came over to speak to Lafferty.
'I didn't realise we had a police escort,' said Lafferty.
'We drew the short straw,' said one of them. 'We've to wait for a statement.'
Lafferty drew in breath. 'Could be some time,' he said.
'That's what we're afraid of,' replied the policeman. 'How about you?'
Lafferty shrugged and said, 'I suppose I'm here for the same reason. I wanted to talk to McKirrop too. I'm waiting to hear what my chances are.'
'Strikes me, if he'd just die it would save us all a lot of trouble,' said the second policeman. 'If a couple of wasters decide to do each other in, it's fine by me and anyone else with any common sense.'
'Kevin is a bit touchy about having his leave cancelled,' explained the first policeman with a sensitivity that obviously wasn't shared by his colleague.
'Really,' answered Lafferty dryly.
'Well what's the point?' "Kevin" grumbled on. 'All this time, trouble and expense over some drunken sod who, when he leaves here, will get smashed out of his mind and do the same thing all over again or worse next time. What's the point?'
Lafferty's philosophical roller coaster started out on a downward slope again.
As time went by, the policeman drifted away from Lafferty as they all ran out of things to say to each other. The hospital had segregated waiting areas for patients and their relatives. The policeman had access to both as 'part of the scenery' in a large A&E department but Lafferty felt obliged to remain with the relatives, not wishing to get in the way of the medical staff and knowing that there was very little he could do in a practical way. He tried reading one of the old magazines that were supplied on a table by the door but the lighting was so poor in the room that he gave up as he felt a headache threaten.
There were several other people waiting in the room. A mother and daughter who huddled together for comfort and kept up a constant whisper of reassurance to each other, creating their own private island in a sea of adversity. There were two teenagers who drank from cans of Cola which they got from the drinks machine in the hallway. They didn't say much to each other and constantly flicked through the pages of magazines without apparently reading anything. An elderly man in a raincoat sat with his hands in his pockets staring at the floor as if deep in thought. A group of four people, three men and a woman, who looked as if they came from the rougher side of town, kept muttering to each other about 'getting their story straight'. One man did most of the talking. He was in his forties and wore a light blue shell suit with yellow diamonds on the sleeves and sides of the trousers. His black hair was slicked back like a rock star of the fifties and his teeth had several gaps in the front. On his feet he had a pair of white trainers with fluorescent green laces.
The man got off his seat to kneel down in front of the other three and lecture them with the aid of a nicotine stained index finger. Lafferty heard him say in a stage whisper, 'If we all tell the same story there's nothing they can do. Nothing. We've just got to stick together. Right?' The two men nodded but the woman looked frightened and doubtful. Lafferty reckoned that she was probably no older than thirty but the lankness of her hair and her sallow complexion made her look much older. He sometimes wondered why no research had been done on poverty-induced aging. In his experience half the women living in the tower block flats suffered from it. So many beautiful brides became hollow-cheeked hags by the time they were thirty. 'Right?' the man repeated for the woman's benefit. She nodded nervously but didn't argue.
The man
'Perfectly all right Father. If you'd like to take a seat through there I'm sure one of the doctors will speak to you soon.'
Lafferty was joined within minutes by two of the policeman who had been down on the canal bank. When they had finished telling the receptionist their business they came over to speak to Lafferty.
'I didn't realise we had a police escort,' said Lafferty.
'We drew the short straw,' said one of them. 'We've to wait for a statement.'
Lafferty drew in breath. 'Could be some time,' he said.
'That's what we're afraid of,' replied the policeman. 'How about you?'
Lafferty shrugged and said, 'I suppose I'm here for the same reason. I wanted to talk to McKirrop too. I'm waiting to hear what my chances are.'
'Strikes me, if he'd just die it would save us all a lot of trouble,' said the second policeman. 'If a couple of wasters decide to do each other in, it's fine by me and anyone else with any common sense.'
'Kevin is a bit touchy about having his leave cancelled,' explained the first policeman with a sensitivity that obviously wasn't shared by his colleague.
'Really,' answered Lafferty dryly.
'Well what's the point?' "Kevin" grumbled on. 'All this time, trouble and expense over some drunken sod who, when he leaves here, will get smashed out of his mind and do the same thing all over again or worse next time. What's the point?'
Lafferty's philosophical roller coaster started out on a downward slope again.
As time went by, the policeman drifted away from Lafferty as they all ran out of things to say to each other. The hospital had segregated waiting areas for patients and their relatives. The policeman had access to both as 'part of the scenery' in a large A&E department but Lafferty felt obliged to remain with the relatives, not wishing to get in the way of the medical staff and knowing that there was very little he could do in a practical way. He tried reading one of the old magazines that were supplied on a table by the door but the lighting was so poor in the room that he gave up as he felt a headache threaten.
There were several other people waiting in the room. A mother and daughter who huddled together for comfort and kept up a constant whisper of reassurance to each other, creating their own private island in a sea of adversity. There were two teenagers who drank from cans of Cola which they got from the drinks machine in the hallway. They didn't say much to each other and constantly flicked through the pages of magazines without apparently reading anything. An elderly man in a raincoat sat with his hands in his pockets staring at the floor as if deep in thought. A group of four people, three men and a woman, who looked as if they came from the rougher side of town, kept muttering to each other about 'getting their story straight'. One man did most of the talking. He was in his forties and wore a light blue shell suit with yellow diamonds on the sleeves and sides of the trousers. His black hair was slicked back like a rock star of the fifties and his teeth had several gaps in the front. On his feet he had a pair of white trainers with fluorescent green laces.
The man got off his seat to kneel down in front of the other three and lecture them with the aid of a nicotine stained index finger. Lafferty heard him say in a stage whisper, 'If we all tell the same story there's nothing they can do. Nothing. We've just got to stick together. Right?' The two men nodded but the woman looked frightened and doubtful. Lafferty reckoned that she was probably no older than thirty but the lankness of her hair and her sallow complexion made her look much older. He sometimes wondered why no research had been done on poverty-induced aging. In his experience half the women living in the tower block flats suffered from it. So many beautiful brides became hollow-cheeked hags by the time they were thirty. 'Right?' the man repeated for the woman's benefit. She nodded nervously but didn't argue.
The man
Similar Books
