Page 15 of Autumn at the Oak Leaf Café
He was lying in a bed near the window propped up on a pillow watching a wall-mounted TV, the only patient in the six-bed ward. She took a deep breath for her nerves and walked up to his bed.
‘Um, hello.’
He looked up at her, frowning. Madeline hadn’t got a good look at him before because he had been too animated with anger, but now that she did, she found he was easy on the eye, his body tight and strong. His eyes were a crystal lake blue, hair a wavy light brown. He looked at her, gave a slight shake of his head, and frowned.
‘Hello? Do I know you?’
‘Um, yes, I’m the hippy who knocked you off your bike.’
His eyes widened. ‘Really? I didn’t recognise you.’
Madeline lifted a hand. ‘It must be the hat.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Yeah, maybe.’
Madeline offered a shy smile. He was still staring at her with a look somewhere between distrust and dislike.
‘Ah, I brought you a get well soon present.’
She held out the box, but he made no move to take it nor even lean forward to get a better look.
‘What is it? A replacement front wheel?’
Madeline winced. ‘Um, no. It’s a walnut and maple cake. I made it myself.’
His expression didn’t change. ‘That’s nice. I have a nut allergy, but maybe you can give it to the nurses out there. The size of some of them, I doubt it would last long.’
She stared at him. He let out a huff and turned back to the TV, smiling thinly at a bland joke on the daytime quiz show he was watching. Madeline, stunned at how badly this had gone, was still standing there when he turned back again, lifting his hands.
‘Four pounds fifty, please.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Ticket price.’
Madeline frowned. ‘What ticket?’
‘For the freak show you seem so desperate to watch. Come on, four pounds fifty. Otherwise, get lost.’
Madeline had to force her feet to turn around, then her stiff legs to move, to propel her out of the room, away from Adam Wright’s unpleasantness. By the time she had made it out into the corridor, she had tears in her eyes and her hands were shaking so much she could barely hold the cake. Like a zombie she staggered down the corridor, into a little waiting room at the confluence of four corridors, empty except for one young man leaning with his head back against the wall.
Tears dripped down on to the box as Madeline stood there, trying to remember which way she had to take to get back to the reception area. Neither her eyes nor her mind seemed to work; everything was a blur and she couldn’t seem to get the words to equate into meaning.
‘Are you alright?’
She looked around. The young man had stood up.
‘What?’
‘You’re crying. Are you alright?’
She was crying too much to make out his face, and for a moment she thought it might be Adam, come to torment her.
‘Leave me alone!’ she shouted, flinging the cake at him, and fleeing into the nearest corridor. She ran and ran, past a handful of bewildered nurses and other hospital staff, not stopping until she had put several corridors and a couple of sets of stairs between them. Then, wiping her eyes and looking up, she realised she had by some miracle managed to find her way back to the entrance.
She must look terrible, but it was a hospital, not Harrods. She could be forgiven for having messy hair and bloodshot eyes. Nevertheless, wanting to throw off her humiliation, she straightened her back, lifted her head, and strode out through the doors, making it as far as the car park wall before she broke down again.
‘It’s all right, dear,’ came a voice from nearby, and Madeline looked up to see a woman in a habit leaning over her. ‘The Lord is indiscriminate in who he chooses, but rest assured, your loved one is now in a better place.’
