Chapter One: Arrangements
Martin starred at the small, white-haired man in his early fifties who was also dressed in a suit. He looked back at Martin across the oval-shaped table that was positioned in the middle of the well-lit room.
"Doctor Ellingham?" Dr Jonathan Bright repeated after the drawn out silence from the question that was not long asked.
The room fell silent again, while Martin gathered his thoughts. Senior medical staff and operators all had their eyes on Martin waiting for the answer.
"Erm…" he looked over at Chris Parsons, who voluntarily gone to the meeting in support of what he would call a friend, "I have my reasons… personal reasons"
Bright took a deep breath and placed his hands conjoined on top of the opened note pad: "Right, OK"
Judith Boatman asked curiously as she was not sure what was going on: "So, really you just changed your mind, like that?" she followed the people's expressions around the table and they appeared to be interested until she got to Martin, who looked down at his hands which were also resting on the table.
"Yes" he answered without real thought.
Chris bowed his head as he knew Martin wasn't going to explain fully so he rose it again and said: "I think what Mart-, sorry Doctor Ellingham is trying to say is that he would rather stay in Cornwall. After all the years he has spent down there as a GP it would be pretty strange to just come back to London like that. In matter of fact a lot of people would prefer the country side to the city"
Martin was appreciative for Chris' response, he supposed it was right after all. Cornwall was much more relaxing than London, not much traffic or noise.
"Would you say this is one of your reasons?" Bright asked
Martin didn't have to think about it, he knew this was at least one way of putting his desire to move back to Cornwall.
"I'd say so" Martin said nodding a little.
However, chief surgeon in the children's department was not so happy with the replies she was hearing from Martin. They were too short and not very informative, which they needed to be to get the approval from herself.
"Basically, you want us to try and find a place as a vascular surgeon in Truro hospital?" Annie Hunt asked, she wanted a thorough explanation.
"If it's possible" was Martin's answer, he wasn't one for explaining the detail of it all.
"Well, there may be a space, but it is highly unlikely to be the head of the vascular department. Although a possibility that you could be one of the representatives. I don't know what you think of that Ellingham since you already have a place here?" Bright asked.
"Yes, this has happened before in some occasions and it normally takes a long time. They either have to wait for a retirement or just try and fit another surgeon in somehow" Judith explained sternly.
Martin knew she was right, but he didn't want to commute everyday back and forth from Portwenn to London it would be a nightmare.
"I know that" he said frowning at Judith, but was thankful Edith wasn't present, "I can travel to London everyday until there is a space or if possible you can see if they need or want another surgeon in that department"
Bright took another deep breath, "I suppose too many vascular surgeons can't be bad idea. I just hope that you are certain with this arrangement"
"I'm up for it" Martin said
"OK, you'll have a bunch of forms to be filled in including a recommendation from me and an application. It could take up to a year to get an agreement" Bright explained
Martin nodded unsure of what to say.
"Don't worry, I'll sort out the placement and alternatives etcetera" Chris announced.
"Right then, are we all in agreement?" Bright asked the various surgeons around the table and most of the raised their hand to show they support the idea.
"Good" Martin said quite pleased that he got this part out of the way.
After even more arrangements were made according to what people were doing making the transfer as easy as possible the meeting was dismissed.
Martin approached the door and stopped when he heard Chris call his name. He turned around.
"Martin, I'll sort it all out quicker than anybody else since you need to get back to Cornwall as soon as possible" he smiled, "So, how is everything there, you and Miss Glasson?"
"Fine thank you Chris" Martin nodded
"I thought you might keep it quiet from everybody"
"Its none of their business!" Martin said raising his tone a little to cover embarrassment.
"Alright, see you later" Chris patted his shoulder and left the room.
Martin stood still for a few seconds before doing the same thing.