bus?â said Cindy. âIâll never forget that bus.â
There was a little pause as all three of them never forgot the bus.
âI blame the restaurants,â said Sharon. ââSpecially in Leicester. Flipping great pictures of shiny white palaces, blue sky, pink flowers. Little man comes over, brushing the crumbs up. Oops thereâs a crumb, we canât have that. That isnât like home. We donât have crumbs lying around. Just mangy dogs all over the street, heaps of garbage, cows every bloody where and total head-case drivers trying to kill you. But you wonât see crumbs. Cause all the bloody beggars have eaten them up! That hotel, yeah? wherever it was, I go for a stroll, out jumps a monkey. I run for my bloody life, ants this big, fricking mosquitoes, like my legâs got acne.â She took a breath. âTandoori sodding Paradise!â she said finally, leaning back again.
âYeah, but they love us,â said Martina, dryly, glancing at Cindy.
âThey love me in Hamburg,â said Sharon. âThey love me in Hammersmith. I donât need the squits to be loved. I donât need to get eaten alive by a million crawly things to be loved. I donât need to get woken up at four in the bloody morning by some lunatic shouting down a megaphoneâ¦â
âThatâs the call to prayer,â interrupted Cindy. âItâs spiritual.â
âWell, you go pray, then,â said Sharon. âWhile I shove the megaphone up his ââ
âOkay, okay, girls, right, yeah, okay. Weâre all a bit you know,â said Hendrix, closing the box and straightening up. âBut thatâs how it is, alright, thatâs where we are in the end and⦠well, you know.â
âWhat?â said Sharon.
âWell, whatever. It is what it is. I lost half me cables, you donât hear me complaining.â
âThat wasnât you, then?â said Sharon.
He grimaced slightly, smoothing his pony-tail with a hairy hand. âSo youâre the Doc around here?â he said.
I glanced at Pol who looked as if he was about to say something.
âWhy do you ask?â I said quickly.
âWell, only cause, ah, I mean, if thereâs any chance of a word some timeâ¦â said Hendrix, eyes darting at everything except Sharon who seemed to be staring fixedly at him.
âI shall be in the clinic tomorrow,â I said.
âWell, by âsome timeâ, I was thinking more like now,â said Hendrix,
Pol grabbed my arm. âPerhaps I could have a word, first,â he said, dragging me into the corridor. âWhat are you doing?â he hissed.
âItâs not what Iâm doing,â I said. âItâs what Iâm not doing.â
âYou mean not telling them who you really are?â
âPossibly similar to that,â I said. âBut donât worry. I have no intention of deceiving them. I will merely offer such advice as I can and if I canât, Iâll refer them to Dev. That is precisely how we function on a daily basis. There is nothing unusual or untoward in this.â
âYou think she wonât marry you if she finds out youâre a Clinic Skivvy,â he said.
âClinical Assistant,â I mumbled.
âThen what faith do you have in her?â he asked.
âInfinite. Except for that.â
Hendrix came to the door. âOnly, I do get a bit of medication from time to time,â he said. âAll above board. You know. Bit of this. Bit of that. I was just wondering what you could, maybe, do for me.â
âRabindra!â said Pol, shaking my shoulders.
âPlease excuse my friend,â I said, trying to pull free. âHe is a little over-excited. But if you tell me the nature of your concern, Iâm sure I can find the appropriate remedy.â
Pol moved off to clutch his head.
Hendrix leaned in close. âConcern, you see, thatâs just it.
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