boy,” my nan says to me.
I pick up my plate and kiss Valerie on the cheek.
“Where’s Dad?” I ask my nan.
“Gail drove him to the doctor this morning,” Nan says.
“Gail? Why, what happened?”
“Nothing happened,” she says with a shrug. “He has to go once a week and she takes him. When he eventually can’t make the journey then the doctor will come here. At some point we’re going to need a nurse too but…” She pauses, seeming choked up. “I don’t want to think about that yet.” She sighs. “I would have to move out of the cottage and in here, and she’d have to move in there and then how am I going to rent out any rooms when they’re all taken by you buggers?”
Turns out sadness and annoyance are interchangeable with my nan.
“But I’m here now,” I tell her. “That should be my job to take him to the doctor.”
She gives me a steady look and then says, “If ye like. It’s just nice enough having ye around.”
“But I don’t want to just hang around. I want to help him. You should be using me.”
“Yea, well, that’s something to discuss with yer father.”
“But he’s sick,” I say, because I can’t bring myself to say the word dying. “At this point we should be making decisions for him. Where is his doctor anyway? Surely no one in Shambles can help him.”
“He goes to one in Cork. It’s only an hour away. I’d have taken him if I could but people get so worked up when I drive. I mean, I been doing it for seventy years, for feck’s sake,” she grumbles into her food.
All I know is that Gail isn’t driving him anymore. I don’t trust her for beans and I don’t have much time with my father left. I need to make amends. I need to reach him before it’s too late.
“I can drive him,” the Major speaks up. “I was a brilliant driver until they took my license away.”
“It’s quite all right, Major,” I tell him. Rumor has it they took his license away when he drove right through a barn and into a pile of manure. He used to have a convertible, too.
About two hours later, my dad and Gail come back. I’d been sitting on the couch with Valerie while she goes over her falconry books and looks up videos on YouTube, when I spot them walking through the backyard to the cottage.
I quickly throw on my boots and run outside into the frosty air.
My dad looks totally knackered and leans on Gail as they walk down the gravel path.
I immediately go to his other side to help, putting his arm around me. Christ. This is the first time I’ve been this close to him since I got here, and it’s like holding on to a skeleton, even when he’s bundled up in a coat. I’m afraid if he collapses he might crumble into dust.
“I don’t need yer help,” he says, and tries to push me away but he can’t even move his arm. “I’m not a cripple.”
I know Valerie would cringe at that word but I don’t bother saying anything to my dad about it now. He’s about the most un-PC guy I know.
Still, I help him and tell Gail I’ll take it from here.
“I don’t think you know what you’re doing,” Gail says.
“Walking my dad to his bed?” I say to her over my dad’s head. “I think I can manage.”
“Padraig, just leave me be,” my dad says, wincing in pain. “Knowing yer track record, you’ll probably drop me.”
That was a low blow, even for a guy in a lot of pain.
I somehow manage to swallow my anger, but I don’t step away either. I keep him supported as Gail opens the door, and together we lead him inside and over to his bed.
“Ach, can I get some privacy now?” he says, head lolling against the pillow. “Away with ye.”
“Can we get you anything?” Gail asks.
“Am I allowed more pills?”
“No.”
“Then away with ye. Leave me in peace.”
He closes his eyes and promptly begins to snore, either really asleep or badly faking it.
We exit the cottage and Gail tries to hurry back to the house, but I pull her aside. “How was it? The doctor. What happened?”
“Oh, ye want to know? Do ye know I’ve been helping your dad for months now and I never even heard a peep outta ye.”
Hmmm. It’s possible that Gail isn’t mad at me because I was an arse