Chapter 28 – Best Man

"So, anyway, as I was sayin'," I had to clear my throat, "I was thinkin' since I'm going to the wedding – best man and all – that maybe you could come as well." I was siting next to Clair Davey on one of the Platt benches. I'd seen here sitting there when I was on patrol, so I stopped to chat.

"Oh?" she answered. "Not like I know them at all."

"Well, you've met Al Large; he runs the pub."

"Right. But his fiancée?"

"That's Morwenna Newcross. She's the Doc's, sorry, that would be Dr. Martin Ellingham's receptionist. You haven't met the village GP yet, I suppose?"

Clair shook her head. "Been waiting to see about the job; before we register here for medical care."

"Ah. Right. But it's sorta of a village thing – a wedding, see? Everybody goes – most everybody." I sighed, for it was kind of obvious that she didn't want to come with me.

"It's not that I don't want to. But what if we're gone soon. No job?"

I smiled. "From what you said, the school Governors liked you."

"Mr. Penhale…"

"Now, now. Call me Joe."

"Alright, Joe, it's not about liking. The question is am I up to the job? And besides… oh you may as well know, that moving to Cornwall wasn't exactly part of the plan."

"Mrs. Davey, what was the plan?"

She sat there looking at me while she rubbed the mark of a ring long worn and now gone around her finger. She looked down at her finger with an expression of disgust. "You can call me Clair, please. The divorce papers are filed and I'm just waiting for the final steps."

I nodded. "Clair, I been divorced as well and I know how hard it can be…" I stopped when I saw her eyes grow wet, so, she took out a tissue and wiped them.

"It's not me; I knew our marriage was broken for a long time. But as for Molly, well, her dad, will always be her dad."

I nodded and started to touch her hand, but stopped. I looked down the beach and saw Molly playing at the water's edge. "My ex and I didn't have any kids," I told her. "Wanted 'em I suppose, but it didn't happen, and then when we broke up, well… anyway. We didn't have any little 'uns to worry about."

Clair patted my elbow. "Divorce… yeah, - birds of a feather – we know too much about it."

I nodded. "It was four years ago and I can recall it like it was yesterday. Mags, Maggie I mean - her name is Maggie – told me she wanted to split. So we did." I shook my head to stop myself from spilling my guts about my injuries which lead to a changed personality and behavior. My agoraphobia had receded, luckily, and the narcolepsy, but it was always in the back of my mind, crouching there like a tiger. "And… that was that."

Clair nodded. "I knew that James was tempted to be rover; to go back to the wild life he had before we met. But I thought that he'd love me and Molly enough to leave all that behind." She sighed. "He did change for years and years, but then after the accident, he was different."

I perked my ears up "Your husband had an accident? On the job?"

"Yes. At work. A fire call came in, a bad one. And then a factory wall collapsed. He was barely scratched when it came down but two of the fellows on his squad got injured. Not too badly – but it shook him up. He started staying out late, and so forth."

"And so forth," I repeated. "Tough for you."

Clair tipped her head towards her daughter, who'd pulled her shoes and socks off and was wading up to her knees. "Worse for her. Molly thinks a lot of her dad. He's a heroic fireman saving people and all that. But she doesn't exactly get it how bloody dangerous his job is, but how a lot of what they do is pretty mundane. Waiting for the alarm to ring, right? Polishing the trucks." She nudged me. "Kinda like a policeman."

"Right. Portwenn is quiet, mostly."

"Chasing after sheep on the roadway?" she chuckled.

"More like getting after the farmer who won't keep his fences mended."

She stretched. "I do like it here. Peaceful. Not like Birmingham."

"I do keep it that way."

She laughed. "I'm sure that you do."

I enjoyed looking at her as she laughed. "So, please, Clair, come with me to the wedding? It'll give you something to do next weekend," I asked.

Clair opened her mouth to answer me, just as Molly screamed.

000

"Is it bad, Doctor Ellingham?" Clair asked the Doc while she hugged Molly around the shoulders.

Molly was perched on the Doc's examination table, her injured and bare foot propped up while the Doc examined it.

Dr. Ellingham was sitting on a rollie stool, while he prodded the bottom of her foot with gloved hands. "No," the Doc grunted. "It appears to be part a broken fishhook." He stared at Molly. "You were wading."

"Yeah," she blubbered. "And then I hopped down off a rock and this thing got stuck in my foot!"

Clair winced. "Poor baby."

"On the Platt," the Doc harrumphed. "Beaches are dangerous. Cast-off fishhooks, monofilament line which can cut you, plus all sorts of manmade debris from the sea, not to mention any of the bacteria present in seawater as well as harmful sea life!"

"Doc, she was wading," I protested. "She's a kid – having fun."

"What you gonna do for me?" Molly asked the Doc.

"I'll irrigate the wound, give you a local anesthetic at the injury site, and then remove the hook. Topical antibiotic will be prescribed for a week," the Doc pronounced.

"No stitches?" Clair asked.

"In penetrating wounds of the foot it is best to allow the wound to remain open, so that no harmful bacteria become trapped inside. But I will apply a light sterile dressing." He brought over a tray laden with instruments. He looked up at Clair. "Do I have your formal permission to treat your daughter?"

Clair nodded. "Of course."

"Fine," the Doc said. Then he stared at Molly. "Do you have any questions?"

"Do I get a sweet?"

"No. Sweets are bad for you," he intoned.

Molly looked up at her mum, her face quivering, and I saw Clair mouth the words 'ice cream' to her daughter.

Then the Doc looked at me. "Penhale you need to get after the fishermen! Leaving all this junk on the shore! Like planted landmines waiting to explode!"

I gulped. "I will, I will, Doc. Just fix up this citizen, and I'll get on it."

"Citizen?" Clair whispered to me.

"Uh, yes." I said to her. "Standard procedure."

Clair grinned. "Oh, right."

Dr. Ellingham set to work, and inside of two minutes Molly her foot had been treated and bandaged.

Molly said, "That wasn't too bad."

I saw how the Doc's face had turned white while blood dribbled from the slice in Molly's foot, but he carried on and finished the job. "Brilliant, Doc," I told him.

He curled his lip, as he put away the instrument tray and the extracted fishhook. He binned his gloves and washed his hands thoroughly. "When has this child last had a tetanus inoculation?"

Clair told him, "I don't remember."

The Doc opened a cabinet and withdrew a small bottle and syringe. "I'll give her a booster just to make sure."

Molly's face ran tears. "I don't like shots."

Clair hugged her daughter. "Ice cream."

Doc held up the syringe. "This syringe contains a special drug which will prevent the disease caused by the tetanus bacterium. That bacteria is common in dirt and contaminated water, such as beach sand."

Molly sniffled but held completely still while the Doc poked her upper arm. Then he instructed her mother in wound care and to alert him if Molly's wound got sore or red. "Got that?" he asked.

Clair nodded. "You've been very helpful."

I picked Molly up in my arms. "Right as rain now, little one?"

"Yep." She hugged me tightly. "Officer Penhale? Can we ride to the ice cream store in your police car with the siren blaring? Like when you drove me and mum here?"

The Doc gave me a dirty look, as I told her, "Sure. Whatever you want."

"Thanks Joe," Clair told me. "And you too Dr. Ellingham."

The Doc answered, "Call the surgery night or day if her condition changes, such as headache, twitching, irritability, or fever. That could be signs of something more serious."

"Such as?" I asked.

"Tetanus, some call it lockjaw," he said.

"Well we don't want that," I answered.

On the way out I introduced Clair to Morwenna, who we'd breezed past on arrival.

"I hear you're interviewing at the school," Morwenna said to Clair.

Clair answered, "News travels fast."

"Small village," Morwenna chuckled.

As we were having ice creams, Clair told me she would come to Al and Morwenna's wedding with me. All in all, a job well done.