Behind Sanity

Chapter Eleven

                                                                      Behind Sanity 

                                                                    Chapter Eleven 

                                                                                 1 

                “Doctor!” came the call from the long, dark hallway. 

                Dr. John Robertson turned his head to find a nurse running towards him.  The very definition of urgency, wasn’t it?  She halted directly before him and paused, trying to catch her breath.  She’d perhaps been searching for him diligently, and to do so in a place as large as Rutledge’s was not an easy task.  Though he understood her exhaustion, he deeply wished she would make her purpose known.  He didn’t like to be kept waiting long, especially if this was going to be about Alice, which he was almost certain that it was.

                 “What it is?” he asked patiently, trying to urge her on. “I have checks to make and–”

                 “The patient has woken up, doctor,” she said, blatantly interrupting him. “Alice Liddell; she wants to see you.”

                 John felt a chill at the girl’s mention and became more than a bit anxious.  It had been his intention to have the nurse follow him down the hall for a while as he asked her numerous, unimportant questions, but now he could not quite bring himself to do so.  He began off down the hall, notes in hand.  The grey-haired biddy of a nurse walked closely behind him.

                 “Did she say what she wanted?” he inquired.

                 “She didn’t say, doctor.  But she sounded very urgent.”

                 Robertson chuckled despite himself.  “Miss Liddell?  Sounding urgent?  You must have misinterpreted her.”

                 He remembered meeting Alice for the first time, and every meeting afterward was the same.  She didn’t want to talk and yet she wanted him to listen.  She would begin leisurely but then became quite insistent.  Urgent?  Yes, always sounding urgent.  Yes, this is what I want, and I want it now!  Crazily demanding sort of woman.

                 The nurse gave his back an appalled look, managing to misinterpret him. 

                 “Doctor, she’s a very sick woman!  You shouldn’t make jokes.”

                 “You’re quite right, Harriet,” he said, humoring her. “Where is my mind?”

                 Robertson walked on in mild annoyance, touched with humor.  There it was – the door in front of him that led to Alice.  He took the last steps to it hastily, attempting to outrun the meddling nurse in the last stretch.  He pulled open the unlocked door.

                 “Thank you, Harriet.  That will be all,” he said, stepping inside and making the motion to shut her out.

                 “But, don’t you need me to…”

                 “Thank you, Miss Jones,” he said, dismissing her and closing the door, breathing a sigh of relief in the sanctity of the silent room, waiting for her footsteps to fade down the hallway.