idea until I start to think about all the variables.
Clive and George both smile and nod in response.
It’s only when I’m on my way home that I start to list all the things that may potentially go wrong.
My boss could find out and I’ll lose my job.
There might be a fire alarm and Clive will be discovered.
Or it might be a real fire and he won’t be found at all.
He might not turn out to be the kind gentleman I think he is and instead he’ll start streaking naked around the campus.
He might be like Lucy and I’ll have to frequently get the first aid bag out.
There are so many things that may go wrong that by the time I’m home I do the only thing I’m able to… I curl up under my duvet and place my fingers on my pulse point, falling asleep to the gentle rhythm of my heart.
Part II
The Right Ventricle
The right lower chamber of the heart that pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs.
In other words, it’s where we start to revive…
18
Clive
Getting to the university facility had been quite the experience. Clive had been officially discharged to Keisha’s address, which had involved being deposited there by the ambulance service. They’d kindly made sure he got in okay and carried his bags in for him.
It made Clive feel a bit bad that it was all a ruse. Keisha wouldn’t be sleeping on her couch like they’d claimed. He wouldn’t be using her bedroom as they’d said.
Instead they had a cup of tea and a satsuma each and waited for George to finish his shift to then take them on the second part of the journey.
Now, for the second time that day, Clive had been deposited. This time George and Keisha had fussed over him and made sure his belongings were safely inside and he had everything he needed. Keisha had supplied him with sandwiches and everything else he would need for a makeshift picnic that evening in his temporary residence.
It was late in the day by the time they’d left. He sent them off saying they’d done plenty for him already. Keisha had given him instructions on all the appliances in the small kitchen. He hadn’t wanted to be rude to the youngster about knowing how to boil a kettle given how often he’d done it in his lifetime. They were doing their best to make sure he was okay.
And he was okay. Mostly.
Now he was alone, there was a new eeriness to the place. He had a certain sense of being somewhere that he shouldn’t be.
Keisha had said he was fine to have the light on in the small kitchen alcove and the bedroom itself, but once it was dark they were keeping the main room’s lights off so as not to attract the attention of anyone unnecessarily. Of course with the cover of Clive being here for a sleep study, it should be fine, but that excuse would only work for him once. The security guards might start to ask questions if they found the same subject wandering around night after night. Instead he had a small torch that he was to use if he wanted to head to the kitchen once it had gone dark.
Right now he was standing in the lab between the bedroom and the kitchen. He kept the torch off, as if he was a burglar on the prowl not wanting to be caught, and for a while he simply appreciated the absence of sound. After his spell at the hospital, where night was as noisy as day, he’d forgotten what it was to experience true quiet.
In the dark, with only green fire-exit signs illuminating the space, it looked like any public building. It could have been a GP’s surgery or a school or a gym. If he didn’t know where he was it would have been hard to identify from the objects alone. There were chairs and desks and a single bar that ran along a wall. Next to an exercise bike there was a wide space with mats on the floor and then five trollies filled with medical equipment. There were gym balls along one side and everything was neatly stacked away as if it had been put to bed for the night.
There were only two windows to the outside world in the laboratory. One near the main desk and the other was at the opposite end. The bedroom that was temporarily his also had a window, but the