The doctor´s workplace
(Part 11 of Little Sherlock)
"Do you really need me to do this today? I took off from work for a reason." That was the first time William looked up from his jigsaw. John was on the phone with someone from work. "Yes. Yes, I do understand that it is important."
"Do you need to go to work today John? You can't leave me alone in the flat, I'm too small for that. You have to take me with you or I will be lonely." William was holding on to John's trousers and looking up with doggy eyes already filling with tears while holding Mr. Bee in the other hand.
"No sweetheart I don't have to go to work. I won't leave you alone." John picked William up. "Sorry I'm back." He was on the phone again. "Okay I will come in but I have to bring someone with me.
"John are we going to your workplace?" William looked at John with his huge child's eyes.
"Yes William, would you like that? You get to meet my friend Sara and you could get a look at my office." William nodded his head excitingly locks bobbing. "Good, go get your shoes and coat." As soon as John put him back down William dashed to his coat but suddenly stopped midway.
"Can Mr. Bee come too?" William held his friend close.
"Of course, don't forget his scarf."
"We won't." While getting ready himself John still had one eye on William. The child had an amazing talent to get into trouble. But to his surprise nothing happened this time. William and Mr. Bee were dressed properly. At the door William took John's hand as a signal that they were ready to go outside.
They took the subway, William was excited. They only found one unoccupied seat so William could sit on John's lap from where he could watch the other passengers and ask John things about them.
William turned on John's lap to whisper something into his ear. "John why is the woman next to us sad?" John looked to the side. An elderly woman was sitting with a sad look in her eyes next to them.
"Why don't you ask her?" William, a bit insecure nevertheless turned towards the woman and touched her on the shoulder.
"Madame, why are you sad?" The woman looked up surprised and smiled a bit as she saw William. "Did something happen or did someone hurt you?" William looked really concerned.
"No, darling. No one hurt me. I just brought my daughter to the airport, she is flying back home to Canada. And I'm already missing her." John watched how William and the woman interacted. The child with his toy bee was leaning close to the woman who began to smile for real now.
"When you love someone, they will always be in your heart, as you will be in theirs." Instinctlively when he said that William held Mr. Bee closer and tightened the grip on John's shirt. "You only have to think of them and you will feel warm again. You could tell me something about her so you have to think really hard about her."
For the rest of the ride the woman told William a little bit about her daughter who lived and worked in Canada and could only visit once or twice a year. About the beautiful house she owned with her pet dog and about her little brother who had died very young and reminded her of William.
When John and William had to leave they said their goodbye, William hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "It was nice meeting you. Have a good day." William waved smiling at her until the train was gone.
"That was nice of you to make her feel better." John picked William up to carry him through the crowd. "I think you will get a little treat after we are finished at the surgery. You can start thinking about something you really would like to have or do."
"I don't need a treat but we could go get some ice cream and eat it in the park." Something so easy and small was typical for William. It was like when Sherlock didn't want to take credit for his work.
As they approached the surgery, they could hear a baby screaming from the road. A little child must be in a poor state. John opened the door and walked right over to Sarah, who was working at the reception desk. "Oh John good that you are here. I need a few signatures, our forms were lost in the little water accident we had last tonight. They need to have your signature too." She placed a huge pile of papers in front of him. Only then did she lay her eyes on William. "John who is that child?"
"His name is William and he has been living with me since for a few days now." William hiding behind John's legs stepped out shyly and offered his hand.
"Hallo Sarah, my name is William. Are you the woman from the phone and are you really John's friend?" He looked at her with a challenging look. John had to hide his smile. They had talked about the significance of friends the other day because William had questioned the word and wanted to know the meaning behind it.
Sarah looked at John, probably waiting for help; she wasn't very good with children but he wouldn't help her. She had made him come to the surgery, she could now can attempt to survive the interrogation of a three-year-old Sherlock. "Yes I am his friend and co-worker. Is it alright with you if I borrow him for a little while? You could play with the toys in the waiting room in the meantime." William looked to the open door Sarah pointed at. A few people were sitting on the chairs and the baby's cry they had heard from the street was coming from that room.
William turned to John. "John, can I go and ask the baby why it is crying?" Surprised that William wouldn't stay glued to him, John nodded and William ran to the door. He checked out the people inside before he entered the waiting room.
"Cute child, where did you pick it up?" Sarah asked getting John's attention at the same time. He started to sign the papers.
"He is related to Sherlock, some family problem and he couldn't find someone else to watch the child. William needs a lot of attention and I'm the right person for that, as it seems." Sarah didn't comment on that and continued her work.
The room was filled with strangers and they were all sick in one way or another. The crying was coming from a woman, who was holding a baby, her baby. William walked slowly over to her. "Why is your baby crying?"
The woman looked up from her baby, whom she was whispering words of comfort and love to. "My little one has the flu; it's the first time and he doesn't understand what is happening to him. He doesn't know why he feeling so poorly." William closed the gap between them and looked at the baby in the blanket. A running nose, a bit pale and red eyes from crying were the first signs of the flu William could see.
"Hello little one. One of the doctors here will make it better, because that's what doctors do. Like John, he is a doctor too and works in this clinic. So the doctors will make you feel better." William held the small hand of the baby and stroked over it with his fingers.
"His name is George and I am sure he would say hello to you too if he could speak." The mother told William.
William looked a bit confused. "But he said hello. He talks like Mr. Bee." He held the toy bee up for the mother to see. "Isn't that right George?" The mother smiled at the boys because her baby had finally stopped crying and was looking at William. He let him touch Mr. Bee's hand.
„Mrs. Martins, please." Sarah called into the waiting room.
"Oh that's us. Thank you for talking to George." The woman got up and followed the direction of Sarah's voice to the doctor's office. William followed her too but went back to John who was nearly finished.
"I made a new friend today." William told John who signed the last paper.
"That's great William."
"His name is George and he stopped crying after Mr. Bee and I told him the doctors would make it better. He is really tiny. I like him." William was lifted up into John's arms.
"Would you like to go home now or have a look into my office first before we leave?" William had to think about it for a second.
"I would like to have a peek but then home and in the afternoon a walk with ice cream in the park." William smiled and cuddled his toy.
John and William entered John's office. It looked like any other doctor's office in the building. A desk with two chairs in front of it. Walls with book shelfs and an area for patient examination. In a corner were also some children's toys and in the other corner a life-sized skeleton. "Wow, John, you have a whole skeleton, not just a skull like your flatmate. Can I touch it?" John let William down.
"Of course." William walked over to the skeleton and reached out for its hand. William's fingers touched the skeleton's fingers.
"It feels different then the skull." Of course, John thought, this one is made out of plastic; Sherlock's skull was a real one but he didn't want William to know.
"Because they are made of different materials." John simply answered.
"Okay." It seemed as if William wanted to say something else but then he decided he had had enough. "Bye bye Mr. Skeleton." He waved at the skeleton before he walked out and took John's hand, ready to leave.