Episode 41 - Dykes and Terrorists
As Nan and Olivia were stretchered into emergency, Lee and Helen were emerging through the main foyer after visiting Jules. Lee saw Chloe and her blood stained clothes. She rushed over, more out of curiosity than concern, and then saw Nan being wheeled past.
‘Oh my God, Nan! What happened?’ Lee shrieked as she rushed to her side. When she saw that her dress and the gauze compresses were saturated with blood, she screamed. Helen held her.
‘It’s only a scratch,’ Nan mumbled and fainted.
They rushed her through plastic doors into the emergency ward leaving Lee and Chloe to worry. Helen had no idea what was going on and waited patiently in the background.
Chloe babbled about the bomb, the obsessive Olivia, how Nan had saved her life and that she’d been handcuffed. She grumbled and rubbed her wrists. Lee and Helen stood dumb founded as they listened to Chloe’s amazing story unfold like a bad soap opera. Helen was lost, confused and wondering what she had gotten herself into by travelling to this strange country.
‘Do you have IRA terrorists here too?’ she asked bewildered.
Lee shook her head,
‘Worse,' she explained. 'We have a building full of dykes.’
They left Chloe in the ER waiting room. They considered telling Jules about the drama but thought it best if they just left it until she got home. She’d only bother Nan if she knew she was in the hospital.
When they got home, the street had cleared apart from cops drawing chalk marks on the crime scene and taking statements. The carnival was over. Peace had returned to Carlisle Street. Some of the boi’s rallied together and decided to make a pool party of it.
The bomb squad had taken the sopping package away and found that it was inactive due to the bomber’s stupidity. The squad laughed when they realised that the phone hadn’t been switched on, therefore rendering the explosives useless. Their chief in charge brought them down to earth when he explained that had it gone off, Carlisle Street would have had turned into a body piercing expo.
Jez, Midge, Paulie and Sara sat on the first floor steps looking gloomy. Midge held a phone in her hand, periodically dialling the hospital to get updates on Nan’s progress.
Paulie sniffled and held onto Jez’s hand. He sat sobbing, legs splayed, on the concrete step in his g-string. Sara averted her eyes from a fair portion of exposed genitalia.
Lee told them she had seen Nan and relayed the information that Chloe had given her; that the wound didn’t look life threatening but her hip was the main concern. No one bothered to care about Olivia’s condition.
Midge said she was going down to the station to make a statement and excused herself to get dressed. As she stood up she remembered the state that Jez had been in earlier,
‘What was up with you before, old chook?’ she asked.
Jez shook her head,
‘It seems a bit insignificant now. Maybe another time, Midge.’
Midge shrugged and let it be. She new the old dyke enough to know that she would talk when she was ready. All she knew was that whatever it was, it had rocked Jez to the core.
to be continued... |
