KERRY:

I knew how important it was to get up early that morning, but once again my alarm failed to wake me. As a result, I ended up stumbling out of the house, buttons half done, tights all crooked, hat askew. I didn't even notice the bag I'd left on the telephone table until I heard a familiar voice calling after me. Aunt Olive would never have let me go without a lunch. I was halfway across the village green, just squinting at the bus in the distance. I stopped and saw Aunt Olive rushing toward me, arm outstretched. It then turned into a Chariots of Fire moment, with me sprinting back and grabbing the bag.

"KERRY! Kerry love! You forgot your…"

"Thanks Aunt Olive!" I garbled, rotating around and dashing toward the bus stop.

"You be careful, now. I know what those townies can be like." I heard her words as wisps on the wind.

"I've got to get to work. See ya!" My own words were wasted as I saw the bus stop at the sign and promptly drive away. Buses were a rarity in Saxton. They came every half hour, which would be too late for me. I had a choice whether to walk two miles to Ayton or stick with a half hour recoup in Saxton. Knowing that it was likely that all the old people in Saxton would be out and about within the next few minutes, I took the alternative.

I ran all the way to Ayton. It was a slog, especially up the hill, but I got there. Ayton was already awake, with people milling around outside the village pub, The Jolly Sailors and Christie was unravelling the blinds from the Post Office window.

"Ay up, Kerry lass!" She shouted, "how's your Auntie?"

"She's good!" I gestured to the bus stop. Ayton had a direct bus service straight to Elsinby that didn't involve stopping at any of the neighbouring towns.

Lucky for me, the bus came along barely minutes after I arrived and I changed out of my tights into a fresh pair as we wove through country lanes. Whitby stretched out on the left hand side in all its beauty, little sharp roofs reflecting the light from the sun above. I wasn't great with imaginary things but even In couldn't help but feel inspired by Whitby's quaint scene.

The bus stopped directly opposite the Royal and I jumped off, waving at the driver as I dashed across the road. The clock tower clanged as I ran along Holbeck Road and I felt like Cinderella as I charged through the hospital lobby doors.

MANDY:

An hour had passed and I'd managed to sort most of the paperwork to Lizzie's standards which seemed to consist of her filing them in colour order. We'd just agreed to have another brew when the telephone rang for the first time.

"Hello, The Royal?" Lizzie answered in a professional, upbeat voice, nudging me slightly to get to a notebook and pen set on the counter. "Man unconscious on Elsinby pier. Looks like he might have taken a bit of a tumble…we'll get a doctor out to you as soon as possible. North Pier. Right. Thank you, bye." She turned to me, "that was the coastguard, a man's been found unconscious on Elsinby North Pier. Looks like he's hit his head. Sounds nasty." She pulled a face and pressed a button on the wall.

"Anyway, Doctor'll be out in a moment." I couldn't see which button she'd pressed and was more concerned with making sure I followed the correct procedure but when I saw the doors open, my jaw dropped.

He looked even better than in his photograph. Tall, handsome, with those gorgeous wide eyes, he was like a demi-God. He approached the counter and placed his hand on the top. I resisted the temptation to grab it, still in a state of shock.

"What's the emergency, Lizzie?" he asked. His voice was more posh than I'd expected, like he'd been to private school, but it was also smooth and professional. He didn't smile, but was civil enough, ignoring me and addressing Lizzie directly.

"A man's been found unconscious on Elsinby North Pier, looks like he hit his head. Cut to the head but breathing's normal." Lizzie explained.

"I'll go in the ambulance, did they leave a name?" He spoke briskly.

"No, they're still trying to get his ID."

"Thank you Lizzie. I'll grab my bag." He told her and I heard the door open a few metres away. Lizzie saw my face and waved her hand in front of it. I'd obviously been gawping at him.

"Put your tongue back in Mandy."

"But….he's gorgeous!" I protested. "He's like a chunk of Tony Hadley right on a plate." By the look on Lizzie's face she wasn't familiar with Mr Gorgeous or his band.

"Is he the one from Special Ballet?" She asked, looking thoughtful.

"Spandau and yes, I've got a poster of him at home." I added. Just one of many that covered my bedroom wall.

"Either way, he's a busy doctor in an already overstretched hospital…" Lizzie reminded me and poured some more tea. "Here's your brew, Mandy, although I doubt it'll cool you down."

So I looked like some lovelorn teenager with a silly crush? I checked the mirror on the wall; my cheeks were red. Perfect. Lizzie merely laughed, looking at my filing.

"Why have you filed Mr O'Hara under 'H'?"

I would have thought that was obvious, surely the Hara took precedence over the O' part? I rolled my eyes.

"I'll be fine. You'll see." I assured her, but I don't think she was entirely convinced.

"Hmm, do you want to deliver these to the ward sister? This one is for Milner, this one for Fawcett and this one for Carnegie Ward, that's over the other side of the hospital." She placed them into my hand.

"Yes, okay." Little did I know but the wards in The Royal were quite spaced out, with one on each wing. Trouble was, Lizzie hadn't told me which one belonged to which so as I walked around the hospital I had no idea where I was going. I managed to find Milner and Fawcett without any trouble, but Carnegie Ward was virtually invisible. I noticed as I walked through the corridors upstairs that there were portraits of a lot of people that I didn't recognise. Carnegie Ward was at the far end and outside there was a portrait of a stern looking man with dark hair sitting behind a desk. Underneath it read "Mr Adam Carnegie" and the sign next to it read: "This Ward is dedicated to Mr Adam Carnegie, Hospital Administrator 1964-1967, who built a hospital for the future."

I tapped politely on the door of the ward, which was fairly empty; only two patients were in admittance. A nurse came to the door.

"Hello, can I help you?" She asked.

"Yes, I've got the notes for the Ward Sister?"

"That'll be Sister Judy. I'll give them to her. I'm Staff Nurse Nicola Lewis. You must be new."

"Yeah, I'm Mandy Thwaite, Assistant Receptionist." I explained. Nicola shook my hand and took the papers.

"Right, well, welcome, its very busy here. If you need to deliver patient notes its best to do it before the patients get into the wards."

"I'll bear that in mind. Thanks." I wasn't sure how to respond to her. She had a slight hostility to her, something I couldn't decipher. Was it bitterness or just plain rudeness? I used the spare time to look at Carnegie's portrait properly. He was a handsome man, sort of distinguished is what my Granny would have called him. He had dark brown eyes and a strong nose. I imagined that he would have been quite a ladies man. Probably with a flash car.

I hurried back to reception, my feet were in agony from my pinching shoes.

"Blimey, this place is a maze!" I heaved a sigh as I collapsed into a chair at Lizzie's kitchenette table.

"I told you, it wouldn't be comfortable in those shoes!" She reminded me in a very motherly voice, shaking her finger.

"It's not the shoes! It's the stairs!" I pulled off my offending shoes. Lizzie opened the cupboard and handed me the pair of flats she'd stored for emergencies.

"The stairs?" She repeated, bewildered.

"Yeah, I mean, they're bloody steep, en't they?" I cringed as the left shoe scuffed my heel, leaving a blister.

"Can't say I noticed." Lizzie shrugged.

"I'll make us a brew. Looking at this, you come from Whitby?"

Not Whitby exactly, but I wasn't going to put Diston-on-Sea on my CV. It was in the middle of nowhere. So I used my dad's address, 19, Princess Street, Elsinby, instead.

"Yes, Dull-on-Dishwater." I answered.

"I'm sure its not that bad." She replied reasonably.

"Believe me, Elsinby's Las Vegas compared with Whitby." That at least was true. Diston on Sea was slap bang in the middle between Elsinby, Scarborough and Whitby. It had a population of about seventy and most of them were retirement age. It had once helped to serve the harbours and fisheries around it, but now the trade had dried up. Even my dad, who was devoted to the work there, had downed his tools and settled for 'semi retirement' in Elsinby. " "Mustn't have taken you long to get here, then." Lizzie continued.

"No distance at all." My shoulders tensed, I knew what was coming next and I wasn't sure I was ready to answer her.

"So where did you work before?" the dreaded question had been asked and I couldn't ignore it.

"York; I was working in a bar there." I bluffed. "I hated it. Then...I moved into secretarial work at the big new offices in Scarborough. I didn't like it there either. This sounded perfect when I saw it advertised in the Gazette."

" Well, you've certainly got the right attitude, I'll say that much. Its hard work, but there's lots of opportunity for promotion. I certainly can't go on forever. I've been doing this job twenty five years, now. I've seen all sorts." That dreamy look had crossed her face again, revelling in nostalgia for the old days.

"Really?"

"Oh yes. I've seen doctors fall in love, marry, have kids, their kids grown up, administrators come and go, try and shut us down, open us up again, add new wings to the hospital…there's never a dull moment here." She tapped the cabinet I'd opened earlier.

"You've done very well so far Mandy. I think we'll keep with the basics. Filing, answering the phone, that sort of thing. Just until you're a bit more confident and not distracted by a certain doctor?"

I couldn't deny that I found Tom Ormerod attractive, but there weren't many to choose from in Elsinby. The guys I'd gone to school with had either left the town or married off with their sweethearts. I'd had a few teenage crushes but there was something intriguing about Tom Ormerod. His photo showed that he was trying too hard to force a smile, his eyes were too bright and he seemed completely immersed in his work.

"You'll have to show me the computer things." Lizzie suggested.

"I think I can manage that. It'll be so much easier when we get the computer up and running." I agreed, standing up in the flat shoes. She was right, they were far more comfortable but not as pretty.

"Really?"

"Oh yes! Its the future of the office." I was willing to champion the computers, they'd made things so much easier to keep track of at Ashfordly.

"If you say so, love." Lizzie patted my shoulder supportively just as a young nurse burst through the doors.

"Eh eh eh! Where d'you think you're going?" Lizzie reprimanded, motioning for her to stop.

"Sorry, en't got time to stop! I'm late!" She gabbled. Her hat was askew and she looked as though she'd been running for ages.

"What's your name? You can't go through without registering!" Lizzie demanded, pointing at a register book.

"Sorry, no time!" She was gone within a few seconds and I watched her duck into the kitchen Lizzie had pointed out on my arrival.

"Flaming cheek!" Lizzie was quite exasperated. Things like that obviously didn't happen much.

"Did Dr Ormerod get to his emergency call okay?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm sure he did. We'll hear from him soon. I'll let you answer the phone, it'll be good practice." She went on, "must be a nasty accident."

"Hmm," I murmured in reply, imagining Tom racing to the scene with his doctor's bag like a hero in a film.

"By the way, Mandy," Lizzie interrupted my daydreams, "I hope you're okay with blood, the last girl had to take ginger tablets all day."

Ginger tablets? She obviously had a problem with blood. I'd read about it in one of the magazines when I was at Ashfordly and couldn't believe that anyone would take a job at a hospital knowing that they were sick at the sight of blood.

"How many assistants have you had?" I asked Lizzie, hoping that she would excuse my curiosity.

She sighed before answering, "You'll be the third. It's not easy, as I said before. You put the work in, and you'll be rewarded." She picked up another set of notes.

"Could you take these to Fawcett, please?"

Equipped with my replacement shoes I made my way upstairs to Fawcett, keeping my head down as I passed Matron's office. To tell you the truth I was a bit scared of meeting Matron. I'd read that she had a fearsome reputation and that many of the nurses who had trained with her were now at Ashfordly. When I arrived at Fawcett Ward the nurses were doing obs. I knew enough not to disturb them but at the same time I had a task to complete. I approached the friendliest looking nurse and cleared my throat. "Oh, can I help you?" The nurse asked and I realised that she was a Sister on the ward.

"Got these notes for you. Mr…Mr…" I looked at the notes again. Lizzie's writing was little more than a scribble. "Mr Ackley? Oh no, sorry, MRS ATTERLEY."

"That would be correct. I'll take those."

"Oh, right. Um…thanks." I trotted off back downstairs just as the nurse from the lobby came charging along the corridor and dived back into the kitchen.