The Doctor Is Sick Read Online Free PDF Page B

Les.’
    â€˜How do you do? To show Les here——’
    â€˜Come on.’ She began to lead him out. Edwin had the impression – but he might have been wrong – that shemade a quick face to the Stone brothers, a face indicating that her husband was not quite normal, that he mustn’t be encouraged to start talking. He was sure that she did not point her finger to her temple, however. Fairly sure.

CHAPTER FOUR
    They walked back to the hospital, Sheila’s hand firm on his arm. It was not even tea-time yet: his outing had been brief. Only on the steps before the main entrance did Edwin ask her what he’d wanted, yet feared, to ask. Sheila said:
    â€˜I think I’m sure of the way now. Even in the dark. I’ll be able to come on my own.’ A cold breeze suddenly blew, crinkled leaves scuttled along the pavement. Edwin said:
    â€˜What did Railton want to see you about?’
    â€˜Railton?’
    â€˜You know, the doctor. Look,’ said Edwin, ‘it’s cold. Come into the vestibule for a bit.’
    â€˜I’d rather not. Really I wouldn’t. I’ll be so glad when you’re out. I hate hospitals.’
    â€˜What did he say?’
    â€˜I told you, didn’t I? That everything’s going to be all right and that nobody’s to worry.’
    â€˜Come off it. He didn’t have you in just to say that. What did he really say?’
    â€˜There was a bit more, but it was me who did the talking, really. He wanted certain things confirmed, things in the original report.’
    â€˜Such as?’
    â€˜Oh, you know as well as I do. About you collapsing and so on. How much you drank. Our married life. Whether we were happy and so forth.’
    â€˜Well, were we, are we?’
    â€˜Of course we are.’ She didn’t sound too convinced. She put her hands in the tiny pockets of her costume jacket. ‘It’s cold. Thank God I brought my fur coat back.’
    â€˜And about sex, of course?’
    â€˜About sex. Look, it is getting really cold, isn’t it? I don’t think it’s good for you to stand out in the cold.’
    â€˜What do they suspect is wrong with me?’ asked Edwin.
    Sheila hesitated. ‘They don’t know what they suspect. They say that there’s obviously something wrong but they hope soon to find out what. They don’t think it’s too serious.’
    â€˜How can they think that when they don’t know what to suspect?’
    â€˜I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. Look, I’m cold. That’s all that was said, honestly.’
    â€˜Right,’ said Edwin. And then: ‘I’m sorry about the sex-life.’
    â€˜Oh, everything will be all right. I’m sure of that.’ She stamped daintily, dancing up and down in the cold. ‘It was silly of you to come out in your bedroom slippers.’
    â€˜Yes. What are you going to do this evening?’
    â€˜Oh, hell,’ said Sheila, ‘what can I do? It’s not much fun for me, either, you know, stuck here in a cheap hotel, knowing nobody.’
    â€˜You know a window-cleaner and a couple of Jewish twins.’
    â€˜Oh, don’t be silly. You know perfectly well what I mean. They’re half -Jewish, anyway. Leo knows Burma, or says he does. He was in the Navy.’
    â€˜I suppose I’d better go in.’ He wanted the cosy ward, tea brought round by the Italian ward-maids, a read of the article on morphology in the latest Language .
    â€˜It’s no fun.’ She seemed ready to resume at length. ‘What do you want me to do with my evenings?’
    â€˜There’s the cinema, ballet——’ He couldn’t think of anything else. ‘The theatre,’ he remembered. ‘Opera.’ They all sounded dull.
    â€˜I can’t go on my own, you know.’
    â€˜Some women do.’
    â€˜This woman doesn’t. There’s a man with a beard who comes into the