1st
October

Who Do I Love?

Trevor, at the age of thirty-six, was still single and enjoyed playing the field. He was undecided in his mind whether marriage was for him as he knew from experience that his looks and physique were always going to ensure he had a woman when he wanted one. Tall, six feet three, a bronze Adonis with jet black wavy hair and a body like Charles Atlas plus his gift of the gab, were his credentials. Being a market-trader, he had to talk to sell and, by God, he could talk. His first love was for himself, closely followed by any female who was of age and available.

 

Waking up in strange surroundings he found his eyes opening staring at a dull white ceiling. Trying to move his head he found it difficult. There was a contraption over his mouth and nose. The tubes running to and from his body were not helping. Panicking, realising he was in a hospital, Trevor freed his mouth of its breathing aid and shouted.

"Nurse! Doctor! Anyone! Where the bloody hell am I? What's happened to me?"

"Not so loud," the body in the next bed said.

"You'll wake everyone up."

"Put that back over your mouth and nose," the soft voice of a nurse added.

"That needs to stay on for a short while longer, and don't talk, just listen. You were brought in early yesterday afternoon, lungs filled with smoke and unconscious."

Hearing this Trevor's brain started to wake up and his memory started to click into action. He continued to stare at the ceiling but was now in deep thought.

"If you need me just press the buzzer," the nurse said, showing him which button to press.

"The caravan, Mary, her husband, what's happened to them?" This time he was talking softly, as per the instructions of the nurse.

"If you put your breathing aid back on I'll tell you," the nurse said returning to Trevor's bedside.

"Unfortunately, there's not a lot left of your caravan, the lady you call Mary is in another ward, in a similar condition to you... but I don't know of anybody else. You and Mary were very lucky. If it was not for fellow campers you would not be here now. They carried you from your van. You've only suffered minor burns and smoke-filled lungs. The equipment is for safety purposes and to help clear your lungs."

"Minor burns! Trevor said in a shocked tone, after once again removing the face mask.

"Put that... the nurse was interrupted as she began speaking in an authoritive tone.

"Don't worry about that, nurse, I'll check Trevor over. I suspect all these aids can come off now but I better check first, we don't want any relapses, do we? The Doctor said jovially.

"Good morning Doctor."

"Good morning Patricia," the Doctor said to the nurse.

"Good morning Trevor," he added as an afterthought. "I see you're awake at last."

Trevor was prodded, pulled, pressed, massaged and mauled for the next ten minutes, whilst Patricia showed an overactive interest in every move the doctor made.

Everything's fine, all the equipment can be removed. Mr Harvey needs to spend the morning with us. I'll visit early afternoon and if he's all right, I see no reason why he couldn't go home today. I'll speak with you later Patricia, bye for now," saying that, he left.

Patricia's goose bumps started to vanish, her breathing eased and her starry eyes returned to normal. She had a crush on the doctor but was completely unaware that he felt the same way about her.

"Right, let's get these bits and pieces off you," she said now she had gained control of herself once more.

Suddenly the dull white ceiling became clear white once more.

"You're back to normal, the electric is working again," a voice at the door said.

"You've been treating us all with no electric?" Trevor questioned.

"Well, yes and no. Yes, we've had no electric, and no, we haven't been treating you without electric. We've been using a generator," the voice said, then disappeared.

 

The next hour went quickly for Trevor because his mind was filled with the events of the previous day. Breakfast and a cup of tea came and went and he could now feel some of his strength returning.

"Hello, what's your name and what you in for?"

"Nosey, aren't you?" Trevor replied to the man in the next bed.

"Not really, just need someone to talk to, the time goes quicker. Me, I'm getting over a cruciate ligament operation. Got a long time off football, six months, still I'm getting paid for it so I can't complain."

Trevor, not a football fan, decided to change the topic by talking about what had happened to him. He was now wide awake and could remember up to the time he fell asleep with Mary in his arms but could not remember anything else.

"I'm in big trouble. I've been practising making babies with a married woman in her holiday caravan. It's now all gone pear shaped."

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday we fell asleep after a bit of rumpy- pumpy in the early afternoon. Next thing I remember was waking up in here and being told I was lucky to be alive. The nurse told me the caravan was destroyed and it was only thanks to other caravan owners, who managed to get us to safety, that I'm here today. The problem is my lady friend's husband doesn't know that she is putting it around. She's in this hospital in another ward and her husband knows nothing, unless the police have contacted him. If they have he'll be after my blood."

"God, you really are in it... up to your neck in it!"

"I think you're right in your observations but I need you to be quiet now as I must speak to Trevor Harvey," one of the two police officers said as they entered the ward and drew the curtains around Trevor's bed.

"Firstly, I need to check that you are who we think you are. Your name, permanent address and age, please.

Trevor gave the information freely then asked for information as to what had happened.

"At the moment, it looks like the sun started the fire that burnt out the caravan. The fire service has informed us that they found a pair of prescription glasses on top of a heap of paper cinders. Tests are still being carried out. We will confirm whether it was the sun on the glasses setting the paper alight as soon as we know. What we need you to tell us is the order of events leading up to the fire.

Trevor was in the process of repeating his previous story when he stopped sharply. Something the nurse had said came into his mind. He remembered her saying something about minor burns.

"Could you pass me the mirror from that table by the bed over there please," he pointed to the table as he spoke.

The female officer fetched the mirror and handed it to him.

 

"Nurse, Nurse! Minor burns! You're bloody joking! What am I going to do? I might as well have died!" he screamed as he saw his face in the mirror, a reflexion of... disaster.

 

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