Intensive Care1

“I’ll swing for that child, Alice, honest I will!” Alice didn’t need to ask her colleague to which child she was referring. Jimmy Evans had been making life hell for his nurses ever since he arrived in the children’s ward. Constantly pestering them for the most frivolous reasons, moaning endlessly and, worst of all, being rude and upsetting to the other kids. He was missing home, of course, Alice acknowledged. But there were far sicker children than Jimmy – he had only been in to have his tonsils out – and he was making life hell for them while he recovered. It really wouldn’t do. “What’s the matter this time, Sue?” “Little bugger threw a glass of Ribena over my uniform.” replied the staff nurse, almost in tears. “Just ‘cos I said he ought to have eaten his vegetables.” “Oh, he did, did he? It’s about time that boy and I had a little word.”