‘It’s an internal room within the lab I work in. Only Lucy and I go in there. Our line manager is based here at the hospital. He does our six-monthly reviews and lets us get on with it most of the time. Even the cleaners arrive later in the day if there’s a sleep study in the diary.’
I’m not sure why exactly, but I’m glad to think I might be able to help Clive. The enthusiasm in my voice is surprising.
‘So they wouldn’t know I was there? Wouldn’t there be security going through the campus or something?’
‘There would be normally. But whenever there is a sleep study going on we let them know so they’re aware someone is in the building.’
‘Won’t that alert your boss, though?’ George is fiddling with a sugar sachet, his coffee clearly not sweet enough as he adds a second.
‘I’ll just block out the online diary with sleep studies so security won’t bother us. They don’t communicate that kind of thing with my boss. They’d have no reason to question it.’
‘What about in the daytime? You’ll have people coming in and out, won’t you? Will I have to hide in a room all day?’ Clive asks.
‘This was where I was hoping the plan would work to my advantage as well. With Lucy off sick there’s lots of additional tasks that need doing. I was wondering if you’d be happy to do a few things to help out.’
‘Like what?’ Clive asks, not unkindly, but as if curiosity has well and truly caught him.
‘Answering the telephone. Getting hot drinks and biscuits for the study participants. Making sure the equipment is wiped down. Nothing onerous, but all things that take time and I’d struggle to keep up with as well as collecting all the data. Lucy and I usually run a pretty tight ship. If you don’t feel like you can, I’ll be looking to get an undergraduate to volunteer to help.’ It is a lot to ask, I realise as I say it, especially as he is well into retirement now, but I also discover I’d much rather it was Clive than anyone else. I feel a duty towards him and this will help us both. ‘Obviously you don’t have to, but I figured in the daytime we could just say you’re a volunteer and that won’t be questioned if you’re carrying out the odd task or two.’
‘Sounds delightful to me.’ Clive picks up one of the marshmallows that came with his hot chocolate and grins.
‘How long would you be able to have him there for? What will you do when Lucy returns?’ George asks, adding a third stick of sugar to his coffee. His concerns are endearing. His sweet tooth, not so much.
I realise I’ve not thought very far ahead. Clive has a problem and this might be a solution and that is as far as I’ve run with it.
‘I guess we could get away with it for two to three weeks. As for Lucy, I’m only going to tell her if absolutely necessary. They still need to diagnose her and start to get her better before they even think about discharging her. From what she told me today it’ll be about a month before she’s back at work.’
‘A month, poor thing,’ George says into his coffee. ‘So that gives us about three weeks to sort out something more permanent for Clive. Is that doable?’
‘If the back-up plan involves a retirement home, we’re no longer friends I’m afraid, George.’ Clive smiles as he says it.
‘George has got a point. We need to sort out something long-term… If it isn’t your home, what’s the plan?’ Since this idea came along, I’ve not thought about my pulse once. Until now, that is. I force myself to ignore the desire.
‘I have enough savings to rent or buy a little retirement flat somewhere near the allotments. There are those new places that they’ve just finished along the way. Perhaps I can see about getting one of those reserved?’
‘We’ll have to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. It’s not ideal, but it’s workable. But I never heard any of this. Not at all.’
George winks in my direction and it sends a shock through me that is both alarming and thrilling. It causes my stomach to flip like it has before and I’m not able to blame it on food so easily this time.
‘Do you think it’ll be okay?’ Now the doubts are creeping in. It’s a simple