Chapter 48 – Mistakes
"You have to drink it!" Martin screamed into Tommy's face as he forced vodka down his throat.
Tommy fought him off or tried to. Martin had dragged him into the Coach and Four, and berated the pub man as he screamed demands for vodka. Tommy was lucky he got this far considering how poorly Martin was able to handle his inert body. The man would be finding bumps and bruises for weeks after the way Martin had dropped him. I'd even accused Martin of doing it on purpose which surely set him off.
After a shouting match in the pub which Martin won in his usual mean way, he was now pouring liquor straight down his throat. Vodka – nasty stuff – I couldn't stand the stuff anymore. There was a time though, back in school it was all the rage. That is until I got into a drinking game one night with my mates and well, that adventure is best forgotten. But I haven't forgotten the dreadful mistake of drinking shot after shot that night. Poor Tommy is going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow.
Tommy tried to push Martin away, turning his head while he gagged on the liquor. He was shouting. "No! No! Don't want to!"
That didn't stop Martin, though with his own unique bedside manner. "You've got to drink it!"
"I don't want to!" Tommy shouted back but he was very weak and Martin pressed on pouring it down his throat.
"You don't have any choice you selfish pig!" Martin added.
Thing were getting out of hand as the pub man caught my eye and he looked very scared. "Maybe you should calm down a little Martin," I said trying to pour oil on the waters.
Martin gave me harsh look. "It's idiots like this that think they can do what they want regardless of the consequences!" He sneered down at Tommy then shouted at me. "So long as they're saving money, leaving people like me to clean up their mess!"
That set me off. "He didn't know this was going to happen!"
Martin answered in his usual way. "He didn't think!"
That's when my fuse went and I saw red. "People make mistakes! People make a mess of things! It's called being human, Martin!"
He started to say something but now I was shouting at full. "Most of them learn from that – unlike some people!"
I opened my mouth to say more when the room swam a bit and I felt dizzy. "I need a seat…"
What happened next changed everything.
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Louisa was shouting at me and I really couldn't blame her. I was applying my own standards of perfection to Tommy and Tasha as well, but they weren't… like me. But who was? I was intelligent, a doctor, and I was… was… an arrogant bastard! There! I said it! Unlike my bloody father, though I could admit it, and that was the difference between me and my blasted progenitor. Maybe I could even benefit from the insight.
Tommy complained to me yesterday morning about his migraine and I should have figured it out. I had failed as I allowed brusque methods to cloud my judgment and that put him and his wife at risk. I looked up at Louisa and knew I was wrong again. Not two people! Four people – I had forgotten Louisa and her baby. Yes, her baby. As much as I had tried to gloss over the fact, it was her baby.
Louisa told me point blank the pregnancy wasn't my problem – she'd take care of it. It tore at me to admit it but of all the women I have ever known, Louisa Glasson, Head Teacher of Portwenn School, my former fiancée, and the woman I once loved will do just that. The world had better watch out for there was nothing that would stand in her way. She'd do quite well – she'd be a wonderful mother. I was proud of her for that future success and she would be so much better with me out of the way.
That was the right thing to do. Just get out of her way. Go to London and slice away on patients in a reboot of my old career. And every second of every day I will regret leaving Portwenn and especially her.
But I'd better think long and hard about my assumptions of right and wrong. On the medical front I'd almost killed four people and I would remember this lesson for a long time. If I sat down and made a list of all the mistakes I'd made in the last few months - Oh stop it Ellingham, there isn't enough paper in the world for that list!
Louisa's face was flushed, her eyes wide, and her words bounced around the low-ceiling taproom. Then she seemed to sway as I heard her softly say "I need a seat."
I sprang off the floor and grabbed a chair. "Here."
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Martin ran over as I began to sit down by a table. But as I sat I fell three feet onto the floor! I screamed as my tailbone hit. "OWWWWW!" I rubbed my backside as I tried to stand.
God that hurt! "I'm fine, I'm fine," I said. But I wasn't! My back, belly, pelvis, everything down there clenched up and it felt like I'd put my finger into a light socket. "No, I'm NOT!"
Martin stood there holding the chair he'd pulled from under me. Oaf!
"Did you hurt your back?" he asked with a confused look.
I grabbed my sides and bent over the table, trying to hold it together. "Ahh! OWWW! The contractions have started!"
"Are you sure?" Martin asked.
"Of course I'm sure!" I got hit with another contraction. "Oww! OWW!" I staggered into the lounge and braced myself on the sofa there.
"Don't panic! Just stay calm!"
I gave Martin the dirtiest look there was as I yelled back. "Don't shout at me to stay calm!" I lowered myself onto the orange fabric and tried to find a comfortable position. "OWWW! Owww…" I whimpered.
Martin wrung his hands together and yelled at the pub owner. "We need a basin of some sort! Come on!" he waved his hands in panic.
Luckily the door opened and the paramedics came in right then. "Got a call about methanol poisoning?" asked the female member of the team.
I leaned back against the cushions and tried to catch my breath. At least help was here.