Magic at Silver Spires (5 page)

“I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now,” said the nurse, arriving at that moment and talking quietly because some people in the ward were already asleep.

Mamma's English isn't all that good so she wasn't sure what the nurse had said and had to get Papà to translate. Then she gave me another hug and lots of kisses while Papà asked the nurse what time they should arrive in the morning. She thought eight o'clock would be the best time so they could sign the consent forms.

“Sleep well, Toni,” said Papà.

“Yes,” said Mamma, blowing me another kiss as they went off. “
Ti amo, cara
.”

That means “I love you” in Italian, and I could still hear the words long after they'd both gone and I was left lying there, in a ward full of people and yet feeling so alone. I found myself thinking about Emerald dorm and my friends. They might be asleep by now, or maybe still reading with their night lights on, or talking. I wondered if it felt funny in the dorm with my empty bed. If only I could phone Nicole to have another chat. But it was too late now. She would have handed her phone in to Matron, like we have to every night.

Then I wondered whether Nicole was missing me. In a way I hoped she was. But that was the lonely part of me. The other part of me wasn't so selfish and liked to think that she was fast asleep dreaming lovely dreams.

And that's what I would do too. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the throbbing in my leg.

The next morning I was woken really early by lots of noises – people talking, nurses wheeling trolleys and things around, curtain rings jangling along their railings, the chink of cups, the rattle of spoons. My eyes were wide open and I was ready for action. This was the day that I was having my operation.

I didn't feel at all nervous, just happy that the pain, which I could still feel despite all the painkillers I'd had, wouldn't last much longer. And also excited that soon I'd be able to act like a normal person again – well, fairly normal, apart from a plastered leg and a pair of crutches. But then I wondered if I'd need a wheelchair to help me get around at school. No, surely crutches would be fine. I imagined myself leaning on them while all my friends signed my plaster cast. It would be fun to see how many signatures would actually fit onto it. I'd start by asking everyone in Forest Ash.

Mamma and Papà were definitely surprised to see what a good mood I was in when they arrived. I think they'd been expecting to see me anxious and quiet, but actually they were the ones being anxious and quiet, and Mamma grew even more anxious when the doctor came to explain the operation. She had to keep asking Papà to translate and it all sounded very serious, talking about realigning the bones and making sure that they were set in exactly the right position.

The nurse took the dressing off my hand and I couldn't believe what a mess it looked on the fleshy part of my palm at the bottom of my thumb, and right across the inside of my wrist and up my arm. I hadn't been able to bring myself to look at it when the doctor had checked it the day before. Now the nurse dabbed at it with antiseptic from a bottle, which stung, and then she put a different dressing back on. “It would have needed stitches if someone hadn't got that wound pad on so quickly,” she said, looking grave.

“My teacher bandaged it up straight away.”

“Well, she knew what she was doing.” The nurse nodded her approval.

Even as I was being wheeled into the anaesthetic room I still felt happy, and another nurse said she didn't think she'd ever seen anyone go in for an operation in quite such a jolly mood. “I think I'd like to give you a job here talking to all the patients and cheering them up!” she joked. “A happy patient gets well much more quickly.”

It felt so strange waking up in my bed in the ward. I didn't know where I was at first, but then I saw Mamma, and everything slowly fell into place.

“There!” she said, clapping her hands together dramatically as though I was a little girl again. “There!” she repeated. “All done!”

I looked down at my leg. It was covered from just below my knee to my foot in a thick white plaster. I'd seen these casts on other kids at primary school occasionally, but this was the first one I'd ever had myself.

I looked at my watch. It said twelve fifty. “Wow! That was a long operation!”

Mamma laughed. “It wasn't so long. Don't you remember waking up in the recovery room?”

I shook my head.

“Yes, I spoke to you there and you seemed wide awake. They checked that everything was fine, then brought you back here. But the nurse told us that patients often drop back to sleep afterwards, and that's exactly what you did!”

I suddenly realized that Papà wasn't with us and was about to ask where he was, but Mamma must have seen my eyes flicking around.

“Papà is…on the phone. He will only be—” She broke into a smile. “Oh, he's here!”

I looked over to see Papà striding across the ward and noticed his face light up when he saw I was awake. But there was something a bit impatient in his eyes too and I wondered whether he was worrying about his work back home in Italy. I changed my mind about that a few minutes later, though, because he sat down in a chair and started talking to me with smiling eyes. “The operation was a great success, Toni. Your leg has been X-rayed and the bone looks perfectly aligned. Once the plaster is off, you'll be good as new!”

I think he was trying to cheer me up by talking about when I'd be all better. He probably thought I was dreading the thought of spending ages not being able to walk without the help of crutches, but I didn't actually mind. All I wanted was to get back to school.

Only then something struck me. “How long does my leg have to stay in plaster?” I asked the nurse, who had just arrived to ask me if I wanted to go to the loo and have a wash.

“Six weeks,” she answered.

I did a quick calculation. Six weeks would take us up to the last week of the Easter holidays. So I'd be in Italy. “Oh, so will I need to finish my holiday early and come back here to have it taken off?” I asked Papà. “Or can we go to a hospital in Italy?”

“Er…” He and Mamma exchanged a look and Papà quickly explained to Mamma what the nurse had said.

“Don't worry,” said the nurse, “you can have the cast taken off anywhere. We wouldn't expect you to come back here specially if you're abroad. You just go to your doctor and he will refer you to the orthopaedic clinic. But before that you'll need your plaster checking for fit in a week or two.” She smiled at me. “Sometimes when the swelling goes down the plaster feels a bit loose.”

I saw Mamma and Papà exchange another look as Papà translated what the nurse had said.

Then Papà went off for a little walk while Mamma helped me get washed and dressed, which made me feel so much better.

It surprised me when the nurse asked if I wanted some lunch, because it felt as though I'd only just had the operation and it was still early in the morning, but of course quite a few hours had gone by and I'd had a big sleep since then. I said I thought I could manage a little bit, but as soon as I started eating I felt sick and Papà had to rush and get the nurse to bring me a bowl.

“Have a little rest,” said the nurse. Then she turned to Papà and I heard her say something about how patients are sometimes affected by the general anaesthetic in this way and that it would probably be best to keep me in for the night so they could check up on me.

But I was impatient to get back to my friends. “I'm feeling much better now I've been sick,” I quickly told Papà. “Honestly.”

Papà nodded and patted my hand, but he didn't look convinced. Then Mamma put the TV on, only I must have drifted off to sleep straight away because I've no memory of whatever we watched.

It was much later when I woke up, and at first I couldn't remember where I was. Then I saw Mamma and Papà by my bed and it all came flooding back to me.

“Feeling better, Toni?” Papà asked me straight away.

I nodded and sat up. Yes, I really was feeling better. In fact, my mind went straight to Silver Spires and whether I would be able to get back to my friends.

“Maybe you would like a walk around?” said Mamma. “Papà can ask the nurse if there is a wheelchair. Look, here she comes now…”

My thoughts rushed ahead. I knew I'd have to get used to walking around on crutches, so why not straight away? “Er…could I try walking with crutches?” I asked the nurse.

“Well, the physio will be giving you a session on the crutches some time before you go, but it's early days at the moment. Let's give it a bit more time, shall we?”

A wave of disappointment hit me. Time was running away and soon this day would have disappeared completely. But the nurse was getting me a wheelchair, so there was nothing I could do. Or perhaps there was. Yes, I would show her just how much better I felt by leaping out of bed quickly and hopping to the wheelchair. That would surely convince her.

So that's what I did. But I didn't get very far. No sooner had I swung my legs out of bed than I felt dizzy and had to look down, clutching my head in my hands.

“Oh my goodness!” said Mamma. “You're so pale,
cara
!”

There was a sharp edge to Papà's voice. “You need to take things gently, Toni. It takes time to get your strength back after an operation.”

The nurse crouched down and looked up at me as I sat shakily on the side of my bed. “Are you feeling a bit queasy, Antonia?”

I'd never heard the word “queasy” before but I could guess what it meant.

“A bit.”

“Your body is still recovering from the anaesthetic. Look, the doctor's coming round now. Let's see what he thinks, shall we?” She scribbled something on the notes at the end of my bed, then hurried away, but she was back by the time the doctor got to my bed.

“So how's the leg, Antonia? No pain now?” he asked me.

I hesitated. There was a bit of pain, but it was nothing compared to how it had been before. “It's fine, thank you.”

He smiled and gave me the same careful look that the nurse had given me. “But you've had some sickness and dizziness?”

“Yes, just…a bit.”

He turned to the nurse. “I think she should stay at least another night to be on the safe side.”

At
least
another night? This was getting worse with each passing minute. I'd been so looking forward to going back to Silver Spires today, but now it looked as though even tomorrow was doubtful. The doctor was heading off to the next bed, so I knew I had to be quick if I was to manage to get him to change his mind. “If I'm fine tomorrow morning, will I be able to go home?” I asked him in a gabble.

“Well that depends on the circumstances at home,” he said, turning round and giving me what I would call a searching look. “You'll need someone looking after you all the time for a few days at least. It's tougher than you think managing with one leg out of action. Have you got lots of stairs, for example?”

I thought about Forest Ash and my heart started to sink. “Well—”

“There are lots of stairs, doctor,” Papà interrupted in a calm voice. “It's a boarding school.” Then he turned to me. “Antonia, it's much more sensible to stay overnight as you've not been feeling well, and then we'll see about tomorrow.”

The doctor smiled at my father and nodded. “That's right, Antonia. Let's get you in the right state before we throw you out, eh?” He gave a little chuckle and, with another smile at my parents, turned to the patient in the next bed.

The nurse helped me back into bed and I flopped back against the pillows, feeling
abbatutta
. I don't know how to say this word in English, but it's like being tired and depressed.

Later, though, after Mamma and Papà had gone and I was on my own, I tried swinging my legs out of bed again, and this time I didn't have any dizziness. Maybe Papà had been right about it taking time to get my strength back. I was definitely getting better now and I felt sure I would be ready to go back to my friends tomorrow.

Thinking about Nicole and the others reminded me that I hadn't looked at my mobile all day. It was such a good surprise when I found loads of texts. All my friends and Miss Stevenson and Mrs. Pridham and Matron had wished me luck with the operation and then there was a later text from Nicole saying she guessed I'd be all plastered up and ready to go back to school by now and she couldn't wait to see me.

I quickly replied to tell Nicole the bad news, but I promised her I'd definitely be back the next day. Then I flopped back on my pillow again, determined to save every drop of strength so that nothing would stop me leaving hospital at the earliest possible opportunity.

“Right, take your time now, Antonia.” The physio was supporting me as I got the crutches in place under my arms. “Now, try a few steps along the corridor.”