The boy was laying in the bed, watching clouds move across the room’s window.
He’d had a restless night. As far as he could remember, he’d been barely conscious when they brought him in. Noises outside seemed to be getting louder. The door swung open and a man in a white lab coat entered.
He smiled and said, “Good morning. Jack, is it?”
The boy said, “Yes.”
“Admitted yesterday, I understand.”
“Yes.”
“Get much sleep?”
“Not a lot.”
“No. You probably wouldn’t. How’s your headache?”
“A bit better, I think.”
The doctor bent over him, examining his head. “I understand you had quite a fall.”
“Yes.”
“Your skull x-ray doesn’t show anything more than a very small fracture.”
He picked up the notes. “I see you also complained of loss of balance. Not unusual in these cases. Some nausea and vomiting. That’s normal too. No blurred vision, I see.” He looked up. “Any stiffness in the neck?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
The doctor nodded. “I think it’s best if we keep you in for another night, just so we can keep an eye on you. I’m told you have a friend here that took a bit of a tumble as well.”
“I wouldn’t call her a friend.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“Well, I don’t really know her. We only met yesterday.”
“Oh! I was under the impression you worked together.”
“Her! No way. She’s completely loopy.”
The doctor looked at the time, then pulled up a chair. “Loopy, you say. I’m intrigued. I understood that you were doing something together at the time of the accident.”
“It wasn’t an accident!”
“It wasn’t?”
“No. The crazy kid hit me with her bucket. I think that’s what did the damage. The ground up there was covered with long grass. Nothing to crack your head on, anyway.”
The doctor showed signs of amazement as he asked, “so, you’re saying that this girl attacked you?”
“Absolutely, she did.”
“And why would she do that?”
The boy wriggled a bit. “We got into an argument.”
“What about?”
“Well, we were supposed to be getting water. That’s what the bucket was for. She asked me if I’d climb the hill with her so that when the bucket was full and too heavy for one person to manage on their own, we could carry it back down between us.” The boy started crying, but went on. “I should have known something was wrong. Who the hell puts a well on top of a hill? I guess I just felt sorry for her.” He took a tissue and blew his nose. He went on, “anyway, it was pretty steep and when we got to the top there wasn’t any kind of well up there, only a dent.”
The doctor, still with full attention, said, “Dent?”
“That’s right, just a dent in the ground, with just a dribble of water in it. It was probably a puddle that hadn’t soaked away after recent rain.” He blew again. “I mean, the kid’s crazy. She just stood there giggling and that’s when the argument started. After her saying that she thought it was such a cool joke and me telling her she was a nutter, she swung the bucket at my head. Of course, I fell over and began falling back down. Next minute she’s rolling next to me still giggling and telling me how much fun it was!”
At this point, the doctor, not being at all sure whether his patient was delusional, looked at the time again and stood up. “OK. Of course, all that is for others to sort out, I really must be moving on.”
At the door he said, “Try to get a better sleep tonight. I’ll see you again in the morning.”
Out in the hallway, he paused for a moment. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but he felt obliged to pay a visit to Jill.