"Hello, love." "Fancy some eggs today?" "Oh, not today." "Thank you, though." "'In the late 1950s, 'the East End of London was a closely woven world." "'A vibrant community, defined by ties of blood 'and sustained by threads of friendship.'" "What?" "Yeah, and don't come back then." "'We were part of the fabric of the district, needed, liked 'and usually respected.'" "Are these avocado pears?" "Heard that?" "She had to check!" "With all her education!" "I'm not a greengrocer, I'm a midwife." "It looks as though we'll be seeing you at the clinic soon." "What's it to you?" "We don't hold with no clinics." "Oh." "Are you seeing your GP?" "We don't hold with them neither, do we, Meg?" "Mr Culpeper, he's our doctor." "Nicholas Culpeper?" "The herbalist?" "He was writing 300 years ago!" "Yeah." "Old wisdom." "We don't need nothing newfangled, do we, Mave?" "Never have done yet, and we don't now." "And not from Nursey No Brains who don't know an avocado" "Uh..." "I'll take four." "Two and eight." "Two and eight?" "Eightpence each." "Do you need a pencil?" "No." "The clinic's at All Saints parish hall on Tuesday afternoons." "You can just drop in." "We're on the stall Tuesdays." "Sid!" "Sid!" "Get them apples over here." "Then get us a tray of tomatoes." "Then mind out the way, in case he mistakes you for a swede." "Sid?" "Get over 'ere and earn your keep." "I'm coming." "The usual gift from a grateful patient." "But I'm trying to sweeten a pill." "Oh?" "The London Hospital is short-staffed again, and we've been asked to offer a nurse up for secondment." "But we're short-staffed for the next six months, until Chummy gets back from Sierra Leone." "But we have reinforcements coming, and they don't." "They've had staffing problems on men's surgical." "It's two years since I was on men's surgical." "Then you can use this as a chance to refresh your skills." "Sometimes these arrangements can benefit both parties." "Take two." "Matron expects you at half-past one." "And next week you're on night duty." "Can I help you?" "Jane Sutton." "I'm expected by Sister Julienne." "I'm Cynthia Miller." "I'll take you to her office." "Thank you." "I wouldn't mind a stint on male surgical." "I got ear, nose and throat when I was seconded last year, it was one set of adenoids after another." "How's Mrs Ritson?" "Little boy." "And look - avocado pears." "They were eightpence each." "Not near my sterilised equipment, thank you very much." "And I've just taken someone to Sister Julienne's office." "She had a case with her." "I think we might be getting someone new." "You're going to need them." "I've just been seconded to the London." "No!" "This is Jane Sutton, who joins us today." "Jane, you've already met Nurse Miller, but this is Nurse Lee, Sister Bernadette and Nurse Franklin." "Hello." "Greetings." "Another midwife, how perfectly marvellous." "I'm not a midwife." "I'm sorry." "Jane joins us in a new role, as medical orderly." "She comes with plenty of experience, from assisting at St Gideon's Home." "That's an asylum, isn't it?" "Yes." "Mental cases as well as incurables!" "I take my hat off to you - that must be perfectly gruelling." "I'm sure it's very rewarding." "Nurse Franklin will show you to your quarters." "And when you've freshened up, go to the kitchen." "Perhaps Nurse Miller will have made a cup of tea." "Is this yours?" "Gosh, you must hardly have anything in it." "Oh." "Fred, can you show Jane the way?" "She's in Chummy's old room." "A pleasure." "Course, it's a big pair of shoes to fill," "Nurse Noakes'." "She was head and shoulders above the others." "She didn't see eye to eye with everyone." "But we all looked up to her, in many ways." "Now, one moment, please." "There we are." "All yours." "It says here the thing for scourge of the bladder is marshmallow." "I wouldn't mind a few of them." "They've got them down the pick'n'mix in Woollies." "I don't mean the sweets, I mean the herb!" "We'll have to get down Hackney Marshes, it grows there." "They might have pills for it, at that clinic." "The maternity clinic?" "It'd all be free." "This book tells us all we need to know." "Or it would, if you'd let me concentrate." "Can't we just ask to go and see that nurse?" "The little one." "Nursey No Brains?" "She didn't look like she'd be much bother." "We'll go." "But just so you can see you're not missing anything." "Yes?" "I was looking for the kitchen." "Ahh, oh, might I venture to hope that you are in fact a cook?" "We are abandoned by the esteemed Mrs B every Tuesday, and must make shift for ourselves." "This arrangement is very far from satisfactory." "The stench of last week's spam is still clinging to my three-ply." "That's very clever." "Is it Pinky, or is it Perky?" "I have yet to ascertain." "Well, it'll all become clear once you've knitted the clothes." "Perky wears a hat in the general way." "I would suggest we divert ourselves with cake." "But since it is a Tuesday there will be nothing in the tin." "'Would Dr Jones please make his way to outpatients." "'Dr Jones to outpatients.'" "Matron?" "I'm Nurse Lee." "As you seem to have invited yourself to enter, Nurse Lee," "I suggest you wait until I have attended to my task." "Sister Julienne informs me that all your credentials are in order, and that you are diligent and hardworking." "Yes, Matron." "Have you ever scrubbed for theatre?" "Yes." "Supervised, or unsupervised?" "Only supervised, I'm afraid." "That is less than optimal." "The theatres are exceptionally busy at the London, especially with regard to general surgery." "Yes, Matron." "Take this to the laundry, so that you can be fitted with the proper uniform." "And you needn't look askance." "They were designed by Norman Hartnell - they're practically couture." "Yes, Matron." "We can't manage without Nurse Lee!" "Nurse Noakes has only just left us, and Jane, who is most welcome, is neither use nor ornament without some proper training." "The London's need is greater than ours, Sister." "And I can assure you, Jane will be very useful indeed." "Luncheon is served." "Now that looks rather novel." "Avocado pears." "I found the serving suggestion in a magazine." "It's a dressing of olive oil." "What if someone gets earache, and we've used up all our medical supplies?" "I bought this especially." "From Boots." "And the pears are from the market, the stall run by those twins." "Meg and Mave?" "I think the surname's Carter." "One of them is pregnant." "I don't know which." "One imagines their husband is equally perplexed." "THEIR husband?" "It was the most unusual of weddings." "Singular, in fact, in its very doubleness." "The sisters walked up the aisle together, as though each was giving the other sister away." "And their egress was not dissimilar." "Except a man was walking in between them." "I am of the view that on the balance" "I should prefer spam." "Don't worry." "We don't eat like this every day." "I don't mind it." "I say!" "You're not the girl we've borrowed for male surgical?" "Yes, I am." "I'm Jenny Lee." "Patsy Mount." "I was on late lunch and they had the porter fetch me." "Mr Tracey's brought his ward round forward, and there won't be a" "Isn't it visiting time?" "It would appear he's forgotten." "Or, more likely, he simply doesn't care." "This way." "Come here, let's have a little look, see what you've got." "We're looking for a nurse." "The small one." "Hello." "It's Mrs Carter, isn't it?" "Yeah." "She's got scourge of the bladder." "Well, it's very nice to see you." "There's a cubicle just come free." "Step this way." "We don't want nothing meddled with." "Why don't you help your sister onto the bed and I'll pop and fetch a doctor?" "You seen this?" "Yes, Meg." "Same as you have." "All lined up." "They're just waiting for their chance." "Give those wheels a kick, we need to have them all pointing forwards." "And there's to be nothing whatsoever on the lockers." "What about ashtrays?" "Mr Gillespie!" "You know the rules." "You can only smoke during visiting hours." "If I don't smoke, I can't clear my catarrh." "I'll end up on the chest ward." "Just make sure you take me" "Nurse Mount, where's the patient from B?" "Khazi." "I thought he had the trots, but he says it's the other way around." "Even after that suppository." "I'll give you a suppository if you don't button it!" "Any luck?" "I've told you." "When I get lucky, I'll come out of there doing a victory roll!" "Jimmy?" "Hello, Jenny." "Do you come here often?" "Ward round." "Why is this patient out of bed?" "I shall examine this patient in the classic way - inspection, palpation, auscultation, percussion - whilst enquiring about his symptoms." "Any further abdominal pains?" "They've eased a bit." "Any vomiting?" "Not since yesterday." "Any bowel movement?" "No." "Any wedding nerves?" "No." "It has been known for the prospect of the altar to bring on the" "Nurse!" "I shall spare you the knife." "It'll waste my time, and make you late for church." "You may pack your bags." "I recommend castor oil, and a stiff Scotch for your nerves." "You're going ahead with it, then?" "The decent thing?" "Yes." "Jen, did you think I wouldn't?" "Nurse!" "You're a little bit older than we'd like to be having but we're going to take very good care of you." "Just the usual test for today, then we can plan for delivery in the maternity home." "Oh, no." "We know what goes on in them lying-in places." "Women die like flies." "I think you'll find that in the present day, Mrs...?" "Carter." "Both of them." "Standards of hygiene are higher, and maternal death rates lower, than they've ever been." "We never said nothing about hygiene." "Or death rates." "I've only got scourge of the bladder." "He's just out to petrify you." "Come on." "Excuse me, but you're standing in our way." "All we want is to make sure you, and your baby, receive the best care we can give you." "As long as we let you slice her up with knives?" "Come on." "One of them wants help or neither would have come." "And one of them doesn't, or neither would have left." "They do seem very dependent on each other, even for twins." "Meg was the first born." "She howled like a wild thing until Mave was laid beside her, then both fell silent." "It's as well they clung so close, as neither we nor the doctor had the means to save the mother." "Did she haemorrhage?" "I know not why you're asking me, since you once denounced my memory in a court of law." "We buried her in the snow." "I recollect that." "Nobody is going to be buried in snow or otherwise this time around." "But what we do have is an elderly prima gravida and what sounds like a touch of cystitis." "We could help her if we could only gain her trust." "We must try and visit them at home." "And keep things understated." "Where there is anger, there is always fear." "Yes, Sister." "Knock, knock." "I just have to do your routine checks for the final time." "If you have a fever, we can't discharge you." "That would be a shame." "Open wide." "If it means you can't ask me about my bowels, I'll gladly do it." "I'm not interested in your bowels." "Is someone coming to fetch you?" "Francine." "My beautiful fiancee, soon to be my bride." "When's the wedding?" "Two weeks." "As her mother says, we've got to get married before it becomes obvious that..." "We've got to get married." "It does happen, Jimmy." "I know." "And if it had happened with somebody else I'd be more philosophical." "Hello, Francine." "Oh, it's you." "I go to a different clinic now." "The facilities are better." "If you get a move on we can catch the number 23." "It goes past the caterers' and I need to talk to them about the trifle." "It must be rather fun planning a wedding." "I could do without my leading man being locked up in this place." "Well, he's entirely at your disposal now." "Temperature and pulse are absolutely spot-on." "Maybe if we went back, told them we wanted the baby at home." "They're out to get their claws into you." "At least I'd know what to expect." "Empress reversed." "It's the motherhood card." "I don't like that." "Knives and blood." "Surgery." "And then the tower, which means destruction." "That's enough now, Meg." "Death approaches." "The sky darkens, it's the end." "Shuffle them." "Cut them again." "You can't change what's written in the cards, Mave." "All you have to do is leave the delivery pack with Mrs Carter." "Just the delivery pack." "But don't hand it over on the doorstep." "Just say, very politely, that you have to hand it over inside the house." "Yes." "I see." "Then before you leave, ask very politely if you might use the lavatory." "We need to be sure the facilities are suitable." "Jane does not require you to coach her in the technique of mendacity!" "Her soul is sincere and she will be trusted." "I hope so." "We have chosen our vanguard well." "Poor you, getting Tracey straight away." "I'd offer to swap, but the lure of the prostate in theatre three is just too overwhelming." "Still, it's only an exploratory laparotomy." "You remember your general set?" "Yes, of course." "Oh, dear." "Nerves." "Can't say I blame you." "Look, what I always say is," ""Get the first thing right, you soon calm down."" "Right." "Yes?" "I've brought..." "It's..." "Penguins send you, did they?" "Brown paper?" "What's the use of that?" "Waterproof." "Saves the mattress..." "Don't want it, rubbish." "Don't want it, rubbish." "All rubbish." "And tell your cronies to leave us alone." "You frightened her, Meg." "She's out to frighten you." "Scalpel." "Have I misread the list, Nurse?" "It's an exploratory laparotomy, sir." "Then why have you handed me a 10 blade?" "I thought..." "You're not here to think, you're here to do." "Get me a 23." "Come on, girl, I've got a patient on the table." "Scalpel, sir." "Classic upper midline." "From the xyphoid process down to the umbilicus." "Today, please." "Any thoughts as to which retractor I should use?" "Well?" "No, sir." "Might I have the temerity to suggest a Richardson?" "Does that meet with your approval?" "Oh, step back and let somebody competent take your place." "Gentlemen, please note you are here to learn from me, not Nurse." "Nurse." "Is something amiss?" "No, Matron." "The operation was successful, there were some adhesions..." "I don't require a report from you." "The details will be logged by senior staff." "Now, I suggest you compose yourself and go back into theatre." "You still have work to do." "Yes, Matron." "I also suggest that you pay attention to your tone." "I'm sorry, Matron." "I think I'm too used to midwifery." "No, Nurse." "You're too used to being the expert in the room." "You're not in district practice now." "You're in hospital." "And we respect rank." "Everything is retrievable." "Sister..." "You're all of you too profligate." "It is as though neither war left the faintest mark upon you!" "Sister Monica Joan." "None of these items is sterile any more!" "She just tore them out of my hands..." "Let us put them in the dustbin, and we can dispose of them safely later." "Meanwhile, you might go into the parlour and get on with your handicraft." "Why must you have me fritter my days away?" "You might invite Jane to come with you." "You can keep her company." "Come." "You can advise me on Pinky and Perky's dungarees." "'You know I'd invite you to the wedding 'if I was allowed to, don't you?" "'" "I suppose I shall have to take that as a compliment." "It isn't what I want." "I don't want to hear you say that." "Why?" "Because you're my friend and I want you to be happy." "Then..." "One final spin in Lady Chatterley, before she and I go our separate ways." "Are you selling her?" "Francine wants to put a deposit down on a house." "No wonder you look pale." "I can hear your watch ticking." "I don't think we've ever sat in such silence before." "Tick, tick, tick." "Saturday." "I'll go out with you then." "Hello, sweetie!" "I almost didn't recognise you, out of that beastly uniform." "You've been shopping, too." "New dress." "Going somewhere special?" "Only out with a friend." "On Saturday." "I've just been for a job interview." "New hospital?" "No." "At a florist's, in Chelsea." "It'll pay a pittance, but at least I won't be spending my time biting my tongue and trying not to wallop people." "Do you mean Mr Tracey?" "You've been with us for a week and guessed in a trice." "I think that speaks volumes." "Has anyone ever reported him?" "He's a surgeon, Jenny!" "Nobody knows which way he'll turn, we're all tiptoeing about, never able to say what we think." "Especially not what we think about him." "It's as though we're all involved in some gigantic lie." "And I'm just not dishonest by nature." "Nor am I." "Shall we?" "Evening." "I want to talk to the small one." "She's not here." "You'll have to put up with the big one." "I come on me own." "I slipped out and left Meg sleeping on the couch." "She reckons she gets more tired of a night than I do." "That's all very well, Mrs Carter, but you are the one who is carrying this baby." "And you are the one who's going to have to deliver it." "And the best place for that is in the maternity home." "I don't want her upset!" "But I don't want no disasters neither." "Cos that'd upset her even more." "We go together, Meg and me." "We always have done." "Before we was born, we was a pair and afterwards you couldn't stick a knife between us." "Well, Mother Nature has stuck her knife between you this time." "It's not about you and her anymore." "It's about you and your baby." "And you wouldn't be stood here now if you didn't know that." "All right, look." "When your labour starts, you send for us." "That is the best thing for your whole family." "We will come to you." "No ifs, no buts." "Do you hear me?" "He doesn't want to do it, Cynthia." "He's doing the right thing by her and I so admire him for it." "But it's the wrong thing for him." "But there must be something between them." "Otherwise they wouldn't be in their present situation." "They slept together." "Obviously." "That doesn't mean they love each other." "I suppose not." "Cynthia, the two don't always go hand in hand." "For years and years, Jimmy was your friend and no more than your friend." "You have to let him go." "I'm not hanging onto him!" "Any more than I hung on to Gerald." "And Gerald was married when you met him, Jenny." "He was never within your grasp." "No." "He wasn't." "Jimmy belongs to someone else now." "Or he will do soon and if you can't accept that, things will all be... ..out of order." "I knew I had it tucked away somewhere!" "Aid To Theatre Technique by Balliere, Tindall and Cox." "And what's more, it still smells of Norman Hartnell's In Love, which was the scent I favoured during training." "It will go with your couture uniform." "Thank you." "Yes?" "I'm sorry, sir, but Sister asked me to do Mr Solomon's routine checks." "Yes, of course." "He'll be a new man by the time we've sent him home." "One of the worst gall bladders I've taken out." "It's all right, Mr Solomon." "He was complaining of thirst." "I'd give him a sip or two of water, just to keep him comfortable." "Yes, sir." "Thank you, Nurse." "'Jimmy?" "'" "Jen." "I can't see you, Jimmy." "'Not on Saturday.'" "Not for a very long time, if ever." "You certainly know how to make a big pronouncement." "'I'm not making a big pronouncement.'" "I'm doing the decent thing." "I see." "'No, I don't think you can see.'" "But I can see... ..if I don't say goodbye now..." "..I'll end up re-living something I want to put behind me." "I can't make the same mistake twice." "All right." "Can I help you?" "It's Mave." "Mave Carter." "She's crying out something awful." "This'll move it on." "You'll see." "Raspberry leaf." "Ain't nothing like it." "I don't want to move it on." "Not yet." "Hello, Mrs Carter, Mrs Carter." "What are you doing here?" "Turning the light on, for a start." "Culpepper says it should be dark in the birthing room." "Yes, but that was years ago." "I'm sure he would have felt differently if he had electric light." "I need to see what I am doing." "Leave it alone." "Hello, Mave." "What you doing that for?" "I'll need to listen to baby's heart." "This is the 1950s, not the 1590s." "Your sister needs to be in bed so we can examine her properly." "She has to be in the birthing chair." "Dr Turner will be popping round soon and if he sees your sister in this contraption he'll drag it out from under her and chop it up as firewood!" "I'll chop him up." "I'm sure you'll do no such thing." "You'll be too busy helping us with preparations." "Who sent for you?" "No-one." "We operate purely on telepathy." "If it was that husband of ours, I'll kill him." "It was me." "I sent for her." "Now please, Meg, hold my hand and let the midwife do her job." "Breathe through it." "That's fine now, you're doing just fine." "You'd better get a trolley loaded." "There's an acute abdomen coming into Theatre 2." "Mr Tracey's been called back." "It's a critical case." "Patient came in by ambulance, the registrar took one look at him and referred him up to us." "He says we're looking at peritonitis if we're lucky." "Or if the patient's lucky." "There's already signs of septicaemia." "That sounds bad." "It's worse than bad." "We had him in last week and Tracey discharged him." "Jimmy?" "Jimmy?" "I'll speak to Sister." "I'll bring his notes, and make sure the anaesthetist's on his way." "It's going to be all right, Jimmy, you'll be all right." "It isn't, Jenny." "It isn't!" "And I knew it wasn't all along." "I just knew." "Just try to breathe for me, Jimmy, and keep calm." "Just keep breathing." "Just keep breathing." "Jenny." "What's septicaemia?" "Evening, Nurse." "Is this the abdomen?" "Mr James Wilson, sir." "He was here last week under observation for a suspected appendix." "Why was he discharged?" "You felt it was unnecessary to keep him in, sir." "Nurse Mount has gone to fetch your notes." "Very well." "I'll need someone to scrub." "I'll do it, sir." "I'd prefer somebody else." "There is no-one else, sir." "If I don't give satisfaction, perhaps one of your students can take over." "Don't leave me, Jenny." "I won't." "I'll stand back, shall I, while you take the floor?" "I don't think that would be very wise, sir." "I spoke in jest, I hope you did to." "Yes, sir." "Because insolence is a dismissible offence." "Scalpel." "Retractor." "They always said they was born with a gap and that they filled it for each other." "But you're going to have a little nephew or niece." "That's her baby." "She won't have a gap no more." "I'll find somewhere of me own." "Leave you three in peace." "You don't have to do that!" "Everything's changed." "Nothing's the same." "It's not the end of the world, Meg, girl." "It's the end of the way that things have been." "Meg came first." "She was no trouble." "Me, I was the wrong way round." "Our mother was our age when she had us." "I was the death of her." "Since then, it's been me and Meg against the world." "And Meg will love this baby just as much as you." "Now it's finally happening, all I can see is trouble." "Oh!" "I really do think that on your next contraction you ought to try a whiff of gas, Mave." "You might find it just takes the edge off." "I want Meg." "Soon." "I should think she's busy making up the cot." "It's going in a drawer." "A drawer out of our mother's old chest, same as we did." "Waters still intact." "All going along like clockwork." "Just the way I like it." "Breathe deeply." "In and out." "Very well, we have an infarction of the bowel." "So we'll have to excise and then resect using end-to-end anastomosis." "I suspect the gangrene was caused by adhesions cutting off the blood supply." "We'll need to start penicillin straight away or the poor bastard won't have a chance." "I'll need two sets of Moynihans." "Moynihans or Parker-Kerrs, sir?" "Well, on the balance... ..Parker-Kerrs might be preferable." "Yes, sir." "Don't push, Mavis, just concentrate on your breathing." "We want baby's head to be born slowly." "And here it comes." "Don't push." "Just breathe." "Breathe." "There we are." "Baby's head is born." "I want Meg." "I want my sister." "Would you like to step forward, Doctor, so you can hand baby to mother when it's born?" "Deep breaths, Mavis!" "Deep breaths!" "Come on now." "You're doing really, really well." "That's it, that's it, that's it, that's it." "And there we are!" "Tiny, and completely perfect." "Congratulations, Mrs Carter, you have a little girl." "Meg'll be pleased." "We never did like boys." "Will you get her?" "There is such a thing as being ready for visitors." "I want my sister." "I'll go through and announce the glad tidings, and then she can come in." "I want Meg!" "Why hasn't she come?" "She must have heard the baby cry." "Sure you won't have a drop of something in that, Doctor?" "Go on, I'll indulge myself as I'm about to go home." "So." "All's well and you have a niece!" "Mave'll be pleased." "We never did like boys." "Doctor, can you come through at once?" "Twins." "It explains the small first baby." "And the slow third stage." "No placenta yet." "There was never any sign of twins." "Never any inkling." "You'll manage splendidly, just as you did with the first." "I won't manage." "Any more than our mother did." "I want Meg." "You'll be absolutely fine, Mave." "I want her." "What's the lie?" "Transverse." "Mavis, I'm afraid baby's misbehaving slightly, and lying sideways on, instead of head down." "No." "Don't worry." "Sister Bernadette's going to have it out in no time." "The waters aren't broken." "The presenting part looks like the right shoulder." "I'm going to have to try an external version." "We're going to need to turn the baby round so that it can be born more easily." "I can't do it again." "I can't!" "We're going to be with you every step of the way, Mavis." "Trust us." "This will hurt but I just want you to hold tight to Nurse Franklin's hand." "Look at me, Mave, look at me." "There's a girl." "There's a girl." "Deep breaths." "Deep breaths now, deep breaths." "Deep breaths." "That's great." "You're doing so well, Mave, you're doing so well." "Nearly there!" "Nearly there!" "Sister's turned the baby round, Mrs Carter." "It's in the correct position now." "We'll need to rupture the membranes so the head can engage." "Lift your legs up for me, Mave." "There's a girl." "And the other one." "You're doing really well, Mrs Carter." "Pitocin, point five of a mil." "Let's see if we can get a contraction going." "The placenta is coming away." "We need to get this baby out now." "Mavis, come to the edge of the bed." "She needs to be in the lithotomy position." "Lift up for us, Mave." "There's a girl." "Knees right up to your chest, sweetie." "Sorry, Mave, there's not much dignity in childbirth." "We're going to give you some help, Mrs Carter." "I'm going to deliver the baby using forceps and you just need to stay as still as you can until we tell you push." "Keep those legs steady for me." "Fundal pressure, please." "Ow!" "Shhhh." "Grab hold of my arm and push with all of your might." "Aaargh!" "Aaargh!" "That's enough!" "Get off me." "No, Mrs Carter, no!" "Deep breaths now, Mave." "Mrs Carter, we are doing all we can for your sister and her baby." "If you interfere again, you will lose one or the other." "I can't rule out that you might lose both." "Come here, Meg." "That's right." "Hold her hand and just try to calm her down." "Mave needs you now, Meg, more than she ever has." "I'm here now." "I'm here." "Push now." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Again." "That's it, that's it." "With the next contraction, Mave..." "I ain't got nothing left." "You ain't giving up now, Mave." "You got my strength too." "And you take it." "Cos it ain't going to be no use to me if I ain't got you." "That's it." "Again!" "That's it!" "That's it!" "That's it, Mave!" "That's it!" "That's it!" "That's it!" "That's it!" "That's it!" "That's it!" "That's it!" "Another girl." "Mucus extractor." "Why isn't it crying?" "Placenta's coming." "Haemorrhage." "Ergometrine, please." "We need to stabilise her then get her to hospital." "She's white as paper." "We're doing all we can, Meg." "You hold on there, girl." "You hold on." "50 mils of Ergometrine, Nurse Franklin." "50 mils, Doctor." "Good." "Now go and ring the hospital." "We need an obstetric flying squad ambulance." "Right away." "I'm going to have to try Eve's rocking." "I'll be as quick as I can." "Praise the Lord." "Give her to my sister." "What you going to call yours, then?" "Little Mave, of course." "Hello, Little Mave." "This here's your sister, Little Meg." "Oh, my goodness!" "Crisis over." "Mother and both babies doing well." "Tick, tick, tick." "Yes." "You're going to be all right, Jimmy." "I promise you." "I should have put up a fight." "What for?" "For you." "No." "I'm standing by Francine." "But you stood by me." "Up there." "I'm a nurse, Jimmy." "You're more than that." "Shh." "You're everything." "Always put up the fight, Jen." "You never know what you may lose." "We're like an officer and a sergeant the morning after the Somme." "And that's not to say I see myself as the officer." "I feel as though I should offer you one." "Just a puff." "Of this?" "Quickly." "Just a wee one." "Ooh, what are these?" "Henleys." "Henleys!" "I loved Henleys." "They were the kind my father used to smoke." "I used to sneak one out of his desk sometimes when I was about 14." "Thank you." "You've earned it." "Come in." "Matron." "I need to talk to you about Mr Tracey." "Is this a complaint?" "No." "But it is a concern." "Mr Tracey is driving people out of that department." "He is irascible and short-tempered." "Nurse." "You may continue only if you have something illuminating to say." "He's making mistakes." "You are referring to the acute abdomen, I presume?" "Mr James Wilson?" "When Mr Tracey discharged him, he missed out one of the stages of abdominal examination." "You are sure of this?" "Yes, Matron." "He missed out auscultation." "If he had listened with his stethoscope, he might have noticed the absence of bowel sounds." "Combined with vomiting and constipation that would have pointed to intestinal obstruction." "It would have made all the difference to Jimmy... to Mr Wilson." "I cannot disagree with that." "He seems to have constant small lapses of memory." "I've also noticed a tremor in his hand." "In district practice, we're used to seeing a wide range of illness and I was reminded of symptoms I've seen in neurological disease." "Including Parkinson's." "I see." "Mr Tracey reported to the hospital board this morning." "He has had his own suspicions." "He has taken a voluntary leave of absence so that he might have tests and receive a diagnosis." "I'm so sorry, Matron." "I know I need not say that this is all in confidence." "No, Matron." "I know, because you have intelligence and sensitivity as well as common sense." "Do you enjoy district practice?" "Yes." "And not just the midwifery." "If, in due course, Nurse Lee, you wanted to come back here and start working your way up the ladder, I'd be very pleased to have you." "'Sometimes only when bonds are tested 'do we understand their strength." "'There are ties that endure for a lifetime 'no matter how frayed by fate." "'We can walk away and pretend that we forget them." "'Pain passes in the end." "'Or we can step into the future..." "'..blessed and stronger than before because, 'when faced with change, our love held fast and did not break." "'Our lives were not severed but woven anew..." "'..and our joy not halved but doubled.'" "And you are...?" "The Reverend Applebee-Thornton..." "Jane." "Is that Ruby's baby or is there something you haven't told us?" "'I knew, one day, I would encounter something like this.'" "But I feel so under-prepared, Sister." "I bet you're a wonderful dancer." "Is Jane agreed?"