A 10-part short story about learning in relationship, beginning at part 1/10
Romford gently knocks the door. He hears a faint voice, so he cautiously enters. Louise is lying on the nearest bed, facing him. Her wan features light up.
"Rom!"
He feels a warm rush to hear her call him that. "I came as soon as your mum told me."
"It's really good of you to come... here."
He glances around. "To room twelve?" But he knows what she means. "I have some sad memories of this place, but it was the events, not the place. The hospital is here to help folk – like you." He tries a hopeful smile.
She pushes her arm feebly across the sheet toward him. "What's that?"
He clutches a collection of unusual objects. He lays out his winter treasure beside her hand: a holly leaf (non-jaggy), a smooth pebble, a wooden peg, the obligatory fir cone. "I decided against the blue-tit feather – crawling with germs and mites and all sorts probably."
She fingers each in turn, revelling in the tactile sensation.
He's roasting with the hospital heating and maybe something else. He lifts a chair over, removes his jacket and thick jumper, and sits, watching her.
Summoning some energy, she explains. "Turns out I'm not mental—ly ill."
He nods hopefully.
"Electro-lytes...? Something like that – gone haywire; taking too much calcium, they think."
"How do you get too _much_ calcium?" He almost smirks.
"Antacid tablets." She senses him working it through.
"Which you're taking for... too much acid?"
"The doctor has asked me to think carefully about what might be causing me stress."
He opens his mouth but thinks better of it. Not a disinterested party.
She almost smirks. "I know; it's obvious. Mum wants me to move back here. I could easily get the train through to classes. It'd be cheaper."
"What do you want?"
"To stop having to keep thinking through my life, trying to figure out where I keep going wrong?"
He grabs her limp hand and squeezes. He gazes away, almost filling up, then chooses another way. "Is it true you were havering about the furniture?"
She giggles. "According to my mum, who thought I'd totally lost it. I was insisting the table shouldn't be there, the window was in the wrong place, all sorts. It wasn't like I was confusing her house with my flat; it was just random."
"Do you remember it?"
"Not at all."
He smiles. "Good to know you can get high on calcium."
Romford reaches for a pocket inside his jacket and pulls out a map.
"We have an outing to plan."
"How old is this map?"
"The geography hasn't changed that much."
"Where are we going?"
"The coast."
When the time comes for him to leave, she finds she really doesn't want him to go.
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