BooksBarbecue
Back Going Under Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I BIRTH
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. PART II LIFE
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. PART III DEATH
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. FORTY-TWO
  50. FORTY-THREE
  51. FORTY-FOUR
  52. FORTY-FIVE
  53. FORTY-SIX
  54. FORTY-SEVEN
  55. FORTY-EIGHT
  56. FORTY-NINE
  57. FIFTY
  58. FIFTY-ONE
  59. FIFTY-TWO
  60. FIFTY-THREE
  61. FIFTY-FOUR
  62. FIFTY-FIVE
  63. FIFTY-SIX
  64. FIFTY-SEVEN
  65. FIFTY-EIGHT
  66. FIFTY-NINE
  67. SIXTY
  68. EPILOGUE
  69. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  70. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

‘He had some chest pain this afternoon, just after we landed. It got very bad.’

Suddenly my bedroom becomes very small, the air very thin.

‘It’s okay,’ he says quickly, clearly sensing my distress. ‘He had a heart attack, but he is still alive. He’s in intensive care at Holy Innocents. They flew him there because it’s the closest cardiothoracic trauma centre.’

The seconds tick away. The sound of nothing bounces around my head.

‘He had a heart attack?’ I repeat stupidly. Oh my God, I’m thinking. I’ve given the guy a heart attack.

Waves of nausea start to roll over me. Dr Prince came for dinner, kissed me, and then had a fucking heart attack? That wasn’t meant to happen! That is not how the story is supposed to end!

‘Is he all right?’ I ask finally.

‘He is okay. He had surgery—a CABG. He is being transferred to the ward in a few days.’

Coronary artery bypass graft: open-heart surgery. ‘I see,’ I say. I feel my lips moving but I can’t really hear the words I speak. My head starts to pound. I put my finger on my temple, trying to calm myself.

‘Listen, I don’t know who is meant to know,’ Wolfgang says, sounding worried. ‘I was just saying to Tomas that we had to tell you, but maybe don’t message him yet or tell anybody.’

‘Okay.’

He’s right. The last thing a surgeon wants is for people to know that they’re sick. People would already be talking, but it’s good to minimise damages. Surgery’s cut-throat enough; you don’t want it getting around that you’re physically incapacitated and can’t operate. Plus, his wife will be by the bedside, which makes me feel very awkward. God.

We finish the call, and I walk over to my window and gaze out at the lights of the hospital.

I see Dr Prince standing beside me under the fluorescent lights of operating theatre six.

I see him standing beneath a streetlight, leaning towards me …

Then I see him lying in a hospital bed, completely, unexpectedly, human, all the power and control he normally wields handed to somebody else.

Dr Jack Prince has become the most unacceptable thing of all to any doctor—he’s become a patient.

FORTY-THREE

forty-three

Twenty minutes later I’m sinking low-carb beers with Estelle at the pub on the corner. Usually it’s fun to watch the poor suckers who have to work that night walking past us, giving us evil looks as they drag themselves towards the hospital, although I don’t know how much pleasure I’ll derive from anything tonight.

It’s good to finally catch up with Estelle, though. What with me working crazy hours in emergency and her now being on her surgical term, we’ve hardly seen each other in the past few weeks, just when we need each other most.