Chapter 4: A new face

Chapter 4: A new face

It was two weeks later. Gail was working in the office in the casualty department. The telephone rang. Gail picked it up.

‘Casualty,’ she said.

‘Hello, this is Dr Casey. Could I speak to Dr Kennedy, please?’

‘Just a minute,’ said Gail. She went and got Dr Kennedy. He picked up the phone. Gail sat down again.

‘Kennedy here… Oh hello, Josephine… What?… But they can’t!… They have?… When?… No!… And where are they taking him?… Why can’t they tell you?… That’s terrible!… Yes, yes… See you later.’

He put the phone down. He was very angry. Gail could see that. She waited.

‘That was Dr Casey,’ he said. ‘Mr. Tucker has taken Alex Hayle from the hospital.’

‘But he’s in a coma!’ said Gail.

‘Yes. They took him in a private ambulance. They’re going to a private hospital. Dr Casey is very angry.’

Gail often thought about Alex. One evening, a few months later, she was watching television in the Nurses’ Home. It was a rock music programme.

‘And now we’ve got the new record from Alex Hayle! It’s Saturday Night, and here is Alex. He’s going to sing it for us. Alex had a car crash a few months ago, and he’s had plastic surgery… so it’s a new face for a New Face! You remember, Alex was in the group New Face two years ago. And here he is… Alex Hayle!’

The music started. And there was Alex! Well, his hair was the same, his clothes were the same. But it was a new face. Plastic surgery? Yes, he cut his face badly… but what about the broken back? What about the coma? Gail listened carefully. Then she stood up. ‘That’s not Alex,’ she said. ‘It’s not!’

Then she thought. ‘But where is Alex? What’s happened to him?’

When Penny came in that evening, Gail spoke to her about Alex. Penny knew all about it.

‘It was in the newspaper,’ she said. They took Alex to Switzerland. He had plastic surgery from a specialist in Geneva.’

‘But he broke his back! You know that, Penny. You saw him.’

‘Well, he’s all right now,’ said Penny. ‘I’ve seen him on television… He was dancing!