LockDown : Day 82

 

Excitement reigned in the Heywood Household. The non essential shops were to open for the first time since late March. 12 Weeks of food shopping – that had been done online, due to the aggravation of shopping under strict controls – had not sated Alice's desire to browse, be inspired by and enjoy the whole experience of just looking round the shops.

On this mid June morning the sun was shining and Maggie, Alice's neighbour, was as excited as she was at the thought of buying something totally useless and likely to live out it's life at the back of a cupboard.

'What are going to do with yourself while Maggie and I are out', Alice asked her best beloved husband, Archie.

'Colin and I are going to mow the lawn', he replied, distracted by the thought that the grass had grown longer than usual and he had not been happy about the sharpness of the blades on his lawn mower at it's last outing. 'However, I think I may need to do a little maintenance on the mower before hand, it's not really up to the challenge'.

Colin, the hybrid mutt, looked up adoringly at his master at the mention of his name. Wherever Archie went, Colin would be there at his side to defend him from all enemies and support whatever task he was set on.  ,However, he hated the lawn mower, which he thought of as the noisy monster that ate the grass and chased away the squirrels, birds and field mice thus making Colin redundant as chief chaser. This was after all his territory and only he should be allowed to police it.

'Well, be careful darling', said Alice, kissing his cheek, ''and don't forget to turn off the power before you fiddle with the mower'.

Archie glared at Alice's departing back. I'm not an amateur you know, I've done this before', he said to no one in particular as Alice shut the front door.

 

Alice and Maggie returned from their jaunt, a couple of hours later laden with bags to the sound of Colin whimpering, accompanied by a stream of the most fundamental Anglo Saxon language emanating from the kitchen.

'We're back!', called Alice, 'Where are you?', she enquired, dropping her purchases and following the sound of whimpering coming from the kitchen where Alice found Archie holding a heavily blood stained tea towel to his forearm.

'The blasted blades were sharper than I thought they were', he said, adding 'and before you ask, no, the power was not on'

'Maggie!', shouted Alice, alarmed by the amount of blood on her best tea towel and glad that her friend was a highly qualified registered nurse.

Maggie appeared at her side, recognising the slight panic in her friend's voice.

'Ah, OK, let's have a look then', encouraged Maggie, automatically going into professional mode.

As she unwound the towel, Colin whimpered a bit louder, barked and ran round in a circle, alarmed at the assault on his best friend by someone he recognised as a friend too. Confusion reigned.

'Alice, take Colin into the living room and then put the kettle on please, we could all do with a cuppa I think'.   Alice, glad that Maggie had taken charge, did as she was bid,  much against Colin's instincts.

'I don't want tea', grumbled Archie.

'That's as may be, but it'll give Alice something to do while we sort this arm of yours out', replied the fast thinking Maggie.

'Good point', conceded her patient.

To the sound of Alice clattering about with tea paraphernalia, Maggie shoved Archies arm under a running tap and examined the laceration.

''It doesn't look as if you've hit anything vital, but it's a nasty wound. When did you last have a tetanus booster?' she asked.

''Years ago', replied Archie, trying to be brave enough to join in the examination and failing at the last post.

'Right!, let's clean you up and phone the Surgery. This is going to need steristrips, a tetanus booster and a decent dressing on it', announced Maggie. 'Where's your first aid kit?, she enquired of a slightly green looking Alice.

Alice reached into one of her kitchen cupboards and pulled out a plastic box containing a bottle of antiseptic, a vial of arnica and a packet of sticking plasters that looked as if they had seen better days.

'I keep meaning to replace it', said Alice apologetically.

'Never mind', said Maggie, giving her friend a look of despair. 'You go and phone the Surgery and tell them you need to see one of the Practice nurses today to assess and dress a wound and if they give you a choice opt for either Mary or Emily – I'd let them near me', called Maggie to Alice's retreating back.

Alice returned 10 minutes later to see Archie holding a clean pad of kitchen roll to his arm and Maggie pouring 3 cups of tea.

'They said you can go down now to see the duty nurse, but you must wear a mask'.

'Right', said Archie, 'I'll fetch my mask and you get the car started. Thank you for your ministrations, Maggie, you're a diamond'.

'No problem', replied Maggie, 'but do me a favour and sort your first aid kit out, would you?'.

'Consider it done', replied Alice, gathering up her car keys and husband.

'Hold on', said Archie, 'What about Colin, we can't leave him worrying?'.

Alice stared exasperatingly at her husband and opened the living room door where upon Colin catapulted out of the room to assess where the enemy was and how best to defend his best friend.

'It's alright old boy', reassured Archie, as the three of them piled into the car. 'Come on, we're off to the quacks to get this war wound sorted out'.

An Hour later they returned. Archie's arm was clean, dressed with a very professional looking dressing, with instructions to keep it clean and dry if possible, and an appointment to return later in the week to check it was healing.

'Well, that went well', the patient announced.

'I can't believe you took your old flying mask, I've rarely been so embarrassed', groaned Alice.

'Well the nurse thought it was very fetching and complimented me on using my initiative', replied her proud husband.

'She was being kind dear. She's probably used to dealing with the daft and demented'.

So ended the 82^nd day.