One Last Love (9 page)

‘Well, where was I Bonnie? Oh yes, the boys. Well after my first experience at the swimming pool, I wasn’t impressed with this hand holding thing at all. I mean the young boy seemed to be all happy about it, but I have to say it didn’t start raining stars or anything like that for me. But I suppose it was a couple of years later I met Andrew and for a little while, I can’t really remember now, but maybe for two months or so he was the dream love of my life. I remember so clearly going to the movies with him for the first time one Saturday afternoon. Clark Gable was in the movie, and oh I just loved Clark Gable movies. But anyway, just when Clark Gable kissed the heroine towards the end of the movie, Andrew took my hand and wow, then I saw the stars falling from the sky and felt tingly all over. I didn’t want him to let go and decided it was time to forget about my mother,’ she said and laughed at the memory.

‘I bet you were a real ladies man Bonnie. You have that look in your eyes that would’ve probably made them melt into you arms. The first time I saw you in the rose garden your eyes told me you were a good man, but then again with a bit of the devil in you too,’ she laughed again. ‘Oh I mean I know you were probably no angel Bonnie but you have an honesty in your eyes that women always look for in a man. And I can tell you this Bonnie. Very few men have that look you know, so that’s how I know you would’ve had the ladies lining up. Do you remember the first time you held a girl’s hand Bonnie? I bet it was at the movies too just like ……’

‘Hello Madeleine,’ Mary said quietly as she entered the room.

‘Oh, eh, hello. I was just keeping Bonnie company,’ Madeleine said a little embarrassed.

‘That’s’ fine,’ Mary said as Madeleine almost reluctantly moved her hand from Bonnie’s and started to stand up from her chair. ‘No, it’s fine, you can stay if you like. I just want to take Bonnie’s pulse.’

‘No, it’s ok. Time I was off anyway. I’ll catch up with him when he’s feeling better. Could probably do with a rest myself.’

‘Alright Madeleine. He’ll probably sleep for a few hours anyhow.’

When Madeleine had left, Mary took Bonnie’s pulse and blood pressure, then made a note that Dr. McManus should be advised.

‘Hold on Madeleine,’ Madeleine heard as she neared her room and turned to see Angeline wheeling her way towards her.

‘Oh hello Angeline. Feeling better I see.’

‘Yes, thanks. So how’s Bonnie? Heard he had a bad turn or something.’

‘He’s resting. Just had a little pain from what I gathered.’

‘I was hoping to have lunch with Bonnie today seeing I wasn’t feeling up to dinner last night.’

‘Perhaps he’ll be up to it tomorrow, but I was thinking about having lunch in the dining room myself, so maybe I could join you.’

‘Oh yes. I’d like that.’

‘Well I just need to go to the bathroom. Could I meet you there in say, half an hour?’

‘Great. We can have a good girlie chat about Bonnie,’ Angeline smiled.

‘Oh, we’ll make his ears turn red.’

*****

‘He’s really a nice man and I got such a warm feeling about him from the moment I met him. Even if he pretends to be a bit grumpy. Funny isn’t how you can just like someone or not in a few minutes?’

‘I’m a bit like that Angeline but it usually takes me an hour,’ Madeleine laughed.

‘Oh you’re a real slow coach. I read something once about how we like people or not from how they smell.’

‘Well that’s easy then Angeline. I don’t like anyone who smells,’ she smiled.

‘No, it wasn’t about, you know, body odour or anything, but things called pheromones or some word like that. They’re smells that we can’t smell. Sorta invisible smells.’

What, non-smelling smells? So how do we smell something we can’t smell?’

‘Apparently we have some kind of receptors or something in our noses that sends messages to our brains when we smell the right smell that we can’t smell and tells us it’s a good smell.’

‘Right, I see,’ Madeleine said clearly without seeing at all.

‘Well anyway, it said that this’s how we fall in love. When someone has the right smell for us, we’re a match.’

‘So it’s our noses that fall in love and not our hearts then? That’d make for very different cards on Valentine’s Day now, wouldn’t it? I can just see all these cards with little arrows through people’s noses,’ Madeleine laughed and Angeline joined in.

‘Oh I never thought about that,’ Angeline said as she touched the stud in he nose. ‘Do you think the fashion in nose studs had something to do with this pheromone idea?’

‘Well, not having ever had my nose pierced, I’m not sure I would know. But perhaps.’

‘But you’ve noticed that people that you like, well, just smell good.’

‘Like puppies?’

‘Well, that’s proof then because everyone loves the smell of puppies,’ Angeline said as if this proved her point.

‘But you can smell puppy smell.’

‘Damn, yeah that’s right. Guess I should’ve read the whole article, hey?’ Angeline laughed.

‘Looks like you’re saved,’ Madeleine said their lunches were served.

‘Well, this smells good,’ Angeline said as she passed her nose over her plate of spaghetti carbonara.

‘Mine too.’

‘So, are you from around here?’

‘You mean, am I from the south?’

‘We do that a lot up here, don’t we?’

‘Yes, we do like to stick a label on everyone. But yes, I’m a northern girl. And you?’

‘My dad says you can always recognise someone from the south because they never know anything about the rules of rugby.’

‘Your dad’s a clever man then. I’d never’ve thought about that, but it’s probably very true.’

‘Especially the scrums. The rules are so technical you have to be born with them to understand he says.’

‘So was he reading you the rules about rugby scrums before you were born?’ Madeleine laughed.

‘Well, he must’ve done because I know them,’ Angeline laughed along with Madeleine.

‘You’ve been down south though, haven’t you?’

‘No, never. You?’

‘Oh a few times. Didn’t like it all that much. Too cold.’

‘I would’ve liked to, but well, I got sick when I was about eleven and it made it difficult to travel and all, and well, the cold probably wouldn’t have been all that good for me.’

‘Probably not,’ Madeleine said and paused thinking it might be time to change the conversation. ‘You know what? I think I might even have dessert today. They’ve got apple pie and cream on the blackboard. Yum.’

‘Oh after this huge plate of spaghetti, I don’t think I could fit another thing in.’

‘Well, I’ll order mine, and if you get jealous, I might let you have just a little bit.’

‘Well, maybe get a second spoon. Just in case.’

*****

Madeleine rested after lunch and a short walk with Angeline to the rose garden. She lay on her bed watching daytime television but without the earphones. Just watching the images move and the people with funny expressions on their faces. Her mind on Bonnie. Thinking about what Angeline had said about how some people just had a certain smell that said things to you without you knowing. A nurse arrived with her pills and fiddled about for a while checking her pulse and blood pressure, which she thought was a silly waste of time now. But she lay silently and let the nurse get on with what she had to do.

She woke and looked at the clock on her bedside cabinet; four-twenty. The television still on and full of funny faces above her and the late afternoon sun now filling her room. She blamed the apple pie and cream for making her sleep for so long. With a small groan of exertion, she lifted herself and sat on the side of her bed for a moment and waited for a little light headedness to pass. When it had, she decided she would get changed and freshen up and then pop in and see how Bonnie was doing.

*****

‘You’ve been experiencing more pain nurse Greenslade tells me,’ Dr. McManus said to Bonnie.

‘Oh Mary. Well, yes she gave me a shot this morning to calm it down. Only woke up half an hour ago.’

‘Look Bonnie, I have to be honest with you. The pain will probably continue, but I don’t want to knock you out every few hours, so I’ll put you on some tablets that should ease the pain. You might feel a little groggy with them, but at least they’ll hopefully get through the day. But I think it might be wise to give you an injection in the evening to help you sleep.’

‘So you think the pain’ll get worse?’

‘It’s always hard to tell Bonnie. Sometimes it reaches a plateau for some, while for others it will increase.’

‘And if it gets worse, you knock me out for good.’

‘I know you’ve discussed this with Dr. Phillips Bonnie. All we can do is make you as comfortable as possible.’

‘For as long as possible, I know.’

‘Yes Bonnie. For as long as we possibly can. So, how’s the pain now?’

‘Not too bad. I haven’t tried getting out of bed yet though. Seems to get worse when I move around.’

‘Yes, if you push yourself too much it’ll increase the pain I’m afraid.’

‘So no push ups then?’

‘Probably a good plan. Look, I’ll get your medication organised with the nurses and start you on them immediately. As I said, you might feel a little groggy, so probably best you have dinner in your room this evening and then get some rest. Then see how you go tomorrow.’

‘Alright Doc.’

‘I’ll check on you again late tomorrow morning, alright?’

‘Fine. Thanks Doc.

After Dr. McManus had left, Bonnie lay in his bed and felt the pain returning. Not nearly as intense as earlier in the day, but enough for him to heed the doctor’s advice and rest. He closed his eyes and dosed until Odele arrived with his tablets.

‘Here you go Bonnie, these should help,’ she said as she handed a small plastic tray with two tablets to Bonnie and then a glass of water.

‘They’re the size of bloody horse tablets.’

‘Yep, they’re big. You can snap them in half if you like. Makes them a bit easier to swallow.’

‘You couldn’t crush ‘em up and mix ‘em with honey like my mum used to do?’ he joked.

‘Swallow Bonnie,’ Odele smiled. ‘I’m a bit young to be your mum.’

‘Alright, alright. But if I choke to death it’ll be your fault,’ he smiled as he popped the first half of one pill into his mouth and washed it down, then did the same with the rest.

‘Just take it easy now. They’ll take about half an hour to start working and if you feel nauseous at all, just give me a buzz, ok?’

‘Thanks, will do,’ he said as he laid his head back on his pillow.

*****

‘Well, hello,’ Bonnie said as he saw Madeleine at his door. ‘Come in.’

‘How’re you doing?’

‘Better thanks. The doc’s given me some pills,’ he said as Madeleine sat down beside his bed. ‘Said I’ll be as good as new tomorrow.’

‘Oh, magic pills then?’

‘Well, by the size of ‘em, they should do something. Said they should kick in soon and I’ll be running around the garden by morning.’

‘Oh Bonnie, you are something, aren’t you,’ she said as she laid her hand on his.

Bonnie looked at Madeleine’s hand, then slowly turned his hand over and held her hand. ‘You too, you know,’ he replied, then they both went silent for a few moments. Madeleine wondering why she felt such a strong closeness to Bonnie, while he was trying to understand why after all these years alone, he was feeling an attraction to a woman he hardly knew. That he enjoyed her company was understandable considering their situation, but it was now obviously more than just a convenient friendship. She brought warmth that he couldn’t explain nor recall having ever felt before.

‘So what did I miss while I was knocked out then?’ he said trying to move from the awkward silence that had them both wondering, and not wanting to say what they were thinking.

‘Oh, I had a lovely time with Angeline. We had lunch together and chatted about silly girlie things. She’s really such a sweet girl.’

‘So what are these girlie things?’

‘Oh it was so funny. She had this idea that we know when we like someone by how they smell but according to her theory, we can’t actually smell these smells.’

‘Now you’ve lost me. How can you have a smell that doesn’t smell?’

‘Oh, I forget what she called them, but apparently our noses can detect smells that we can’t smell, but they send a message to our brain telling us that they’re good and well, if they’re not too I suppose.’

Bonnie lifted Madeleine’s hand to his face and took a little sniff with his nose and smiled. ‘So, now what happens? Does it take long for these unnamed unsmellable smells to go up my nose and into my brain?’ he laughed.

‘Well, I’m not sure Bonnie,’ she said with a just the mildest hint of girlish embarrassment.

‘I’ll take another whiff then hey,’ he smiled as he raised her hand to his nose again. ‘Ok. Now I get it I think ‘cause my brain is telling me something.’

‘And what’s it telling you Bonnie?’

‘Hold on,’ he said knowing he was teasing her a little. ‘It’s coming through loud and clear.’

‘What is?’

‘I’m just decoding it. Won’t be long I don’t think.’

‘Oh you are a card Bonnie,’ she smiled.

‘Here it comes,’ he said and waited.

‘Yes?’

‘It’s coming, it’s coming……, oh here we go. Message from nose received. Non smellable smell confirms your initial assumption that this really is one hell of a woman. Proceed with haste,’ he said and smiled as he gave Madeleine’s hand a gentle squeeze.

‘Oh Bonnie,’ was all she could say as a tear appeared and glistened, followed by another. She waited until she could speak. ‘It’s funny you know. When we first met in the rose garden and chatted there for a little while, I had this very strange feeling that somehow I had met you before. Well, it’s silly I suppose. I knew I hadn’t of course, but there was just this feeling of familiarity about you.’

‘Like we’d met in a previous life?’

‘No, not like that. More that we’d been friends or perhaps neighbours at some time. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was not like meeting a stranger. You know how it is when you usually meet someone for the first time and you don’t know what to say and such.’

‘Oh, like our friend Beatrice.’