'Part Six Chapter II\r'

'II\r\nThe policewoman had been gentle and kind, in the cluttered cottage by the river, where dank water now cover blankets, chintzy chairs and worn rugs. The old lady who possess the place had brought a hot-water bottle and a instill of boiling tea, which Sukhvinder could non lift because she was shaking uniform a drill. She had disgorged chunks of information: her own name, and Krystals name, and the name of the all of a sudden poor boy that they were loading onto an ambulance. The dog-walker who had pulled her from the river was rather desensitise; he gave a statement to the police in the next room, and Sukhvinder hated the sound of his bellowed account. He had tether his dog to a tree out boldness the window, and it whined persistently.\r\n then(prenominal) the police had called her parents and they had come, Parminder knocking over a circuit card and smashing unity of the old ladys ornaments as she cross the room with clean clothes in her weaponry. In the tiny bathroom , the deep dirty gash on Sukhvinders leg was revealed, peppering the fluffy bath mat with dark spots, and when Parminder axiom the wound she shrieked at Vikram, who was thanking everyone forte in the hall, that they must take Sukhvinder to the hospital.\r\nShe had vomited again in the car, and her mother, who was beside her in the back rear, had mopped her up, and all the way at that place Parminder and Vikram had kept up a flow of audible talk; her father kept re ramifying himself, axiom things like ‘shell need a sedative and ‘that cut lead definitely need stitches; and Parminder, who was in the back seat with the shaking and retching Sukhvinder, kept saying, ‘You exponent eat died. You mogul open died.\r\nIt was as if she was still underwater. Sukhvinder was somewhere she could not breathe. She tried to cut through it all, to be heard.\r\n‘Does Krystal distante hes dead? she asked through chattering teeth, and Parminder had to ask her to repe at the question several times.\r\n‘I dont know, she answered at last. ‘You index have died, Jolly.\r\nAt the hospital, they made her undress again, still this time her mother was with her in the curtained cubicle, and she realise her mistake too late when she aphorism the fashion of horror on Parminders face.\r\n‘My God, she verbalise, grabbing Sukhvinders forearm. ‘My God. What have you through with(p) to yourself?\r\nSukhvinder had no words, so she allowed herself to subside into tears and uncontrollable shaking, and Vikram yelled at everyone, including Parminder, to leave her alone, but also to bloody well hurry up, and that her cut needed killing and she needed stitches and sedatives and X-rays …\r\nLater, they put her in a furrow with a parent on each side of her, and both of them stroked her hands. She was warm and numb, and there was no disturb in her leg any more. The sky beyond the windows was dark.\r\n‘Howard Mollisons had ano ther heart attack, she heard her mother tell her father. ‘Miles precious me to go to him.\r\n‘Bloody nerve, said Vikram.\r\nTo Sukhvinders deliberate surprise, they talked no more about Howard Mollison. They merely act to stroke her hands until, shortly later onwards, she fell asleep.\r\nOn the far side of the building, in a loud blue room with moldable chairs and a slant tank in the corner, Miles and Samantha were sitting on every side of Shirley, expecting for news from theatre. Miles was still wearable his slippers.\r\n‘I cant believe Parminder Jawanda wouldnt come, he said for the umteenth time, his voice cracking. Samantha got up, moved prehistoric Shirley, and put her arms around Miles, kissing his thick hair, speckled with grey, vivacious in his familiar smell.\r\nShirley said, in a high, suppressed voice, ‘Im not surprised she wouldnt come. Im not surprised. Absolutely appalling.\r\n alone she had left of her old life and her old certaintie s was fight familiar targets. Shock had taken almost everything from her: she no longer knew what to believe, or even what to hope. The man in theatre was not the man she had thought she had married. If she could have returned to that happy place of certainty, before she had read that frightfully post …\r\nPerhaps she ought to shut down the square website. Take away the message boards in their entirety. She was horror-stricken that the Ghost might come back, that he might say the awful thing again …\r\nShe cherished to go home, right now and disable the website; and term there, she could destroy the EpiPen once and for all …\r\nHe saw it … I know he saw it …\r\n exclusively Id never have done it, really. I wouldnt have done it. I was upset. Id never have done it …\r\nWhat if Howard survived, and his first words were: ‘She ran out of the room when she saw me. She didnt call an ambulance straight away. She was holding a declamatory need le …\r\nThen Ill say his brains been affected, Shirley thought defiantly.\r\nAnd if he died …\r\nBeside her, Samantha was hugging Miles. Shirley did not like it; she ought to be the substance of attention; it was her husband who was lying upstairs, fighting for his life. She had wanted to be like Mary Fairbrother, cosseted and admired, a tragic heroine. This was not how she had imagined it â€\r\n‘Shirley?\r\nRuth Price, in her nurses uniform, had come stop number into the room, her thin face forlorn with sympathy.\r\n‘I still heard †I had to come †Shirley, how awful, Im so sorry.\r\n‘Ruth, dear, said Shirley, getting up, and allowing herself to be embraced. ‘Thats so kind. So kind.\r\nShirley desire introducing her medical friend to Miles and Samantha, and receiving her pity and her kindness in front of them. It was a tiny taste of how she had imagined widowhood …\r\n moreover then Ruth had to go back to work, and Shirley re turned to her plastic chair and her uncomfortable thoughts.\r\n‘Hell be OK, Samantha was murmuring to Miles, as he rested his head on her shoulder. ‘I know hell pull through. He did last time.\r\nShirley watched little neon-bright fish darting hither and thither in their tank. It was the past that she wished she could change; the future was a blank.\r\n‘Has anyone phoned Mo? Miles asked after a while, wiping his eyes on the back of one hand, while the other gripped Samanthas leg. ‘Mum, dyou want me to †?\r\n‘No, said Shirley sharply. ‘Well wait … until we know.\r\nIn the theatre upstairs, Howard Mollisons body overflowed the edges of the operating table. His pectus was wide open, revealing the ruins of Vikram Jawandas handiwork. Nineteen people heavy(a) to repair the damage, while the machines to which Howard was connected made fruity implacable noises, confirming that he continued to live.\r\nAnd far below, in the bowels of the hosp ital, Robbie Weedons body lay frozen and color in the morgue. Nobody had accompanied him to the hospital, and nobody had visited him in his metal drawer.\r\n'