Special Hours

 

Sue put on the nurses uniform and admired herself in the mirror. It belonged to Debbie, her house- sharer who was safely away on holiday and thankful to be so far away in these difficult Coronavirus times. And she was of similar size so it fitted Sue reasonably well not that anyone was likely to notice and so she could sneak into the supermarket on the NHS hours. Shopping was a nightmare at present and anything that could make it just that bit easier was most welcome. OK it was bending the rules but so was everyone else and on the scale of things she took the view that hers was only a minor infringement and most were doing far worse. She looked again in the mirror and went in the bathroom and rinsed away her makeup before adding some dark under her eye-lids. Then she carefully ruffled her hair and then she smiled. Yes Sue, she said to herself .You look suitably tired and weary; they will feel so sorry for you. She did a final check on her smartphone that she had the NHS hour correct and then went to her car and drove to the supermarket.

She parked without any real problems and went in. The security staff all smiled at her when they saw the uniform and she gave what she hoped was a suitably forlorn smile before making a great show of using the hand gel. Then she went round the store. It still had some general shoppers from the previous unrestricted hour but they invariably made way for her and offered to help in whatever way they could. I could get used to this Sue thought and wonder if Debbie might have a spare. But she knew it was unlikely that she would agree to such subterfuge being cursed with a social conscience. Sue sighed; one day Debbie would learn to look after number one as no one else was going to. Things were going well and soon her trolley was full; she made her way to pay. And things got better; an older couple insisted she went ahead of them in the queue.

“Go on love; you look knackered,” the man whispered.

“Thank you; yes it was a very long day yesterday and I’m back later at 2pm.” Sue managed to lie without even blushing but only a little white lie she reasoned. She went through the checkout and paid for her shopping. Then with trolley duly loaded she was about to head for the exit. But there was a sudden commotion a few metres away; it seemed that a man was lying on the ground. A member of staff hurried up to her.

“Sorry; we know you’re off duty but we see you’re a nurse. Please take a look.” Sue realised she had no choice. What the hell do I do? She made a show of checking the pulse; whether it was high or low she had no idea but it looked good. She peered at the eyes and then in the open mouth. She sensed they were watching her in some admiration.

“I really can’t tell anything here. Please call an ambulance.” But then the man sneezed at her twice in quick succession; she felt the droplets all over her face; across her mouth, nose and eyes. She cursed to herself and wondered what to do. 

 

Tony Roberts