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“Stuck in the dunny.” An elderly man throws a thumb over his shoulder. “Just hope it ain’t contagious.”
I don’t bother explaining. Instead, I march down the passage and find my colleague groaning on the bathroom floor. She’s a small woman, so it’s easy enough to pick her up and take her to the treatment room.
“Here.” I hand her hand a vomit bag. I work quickly and hook her up to an IV. Movement at the entrance of the treatment room catches my attention. Simmi! An odd expression flashes across her face before she straightens her shoulders and walks in.
With her hair all bundled messily up on her head, and curlier than usual, she smells of ocean and sunshine. Her ass hugged in a snug pair of denim short shorts, almost turns me into an uncouth caveman as she sashays past me. The crest of her breasts peeks cheekily at me from a bright blue bikini top poorly camouflaged by a branded, sleeveless t-shirt.
“What are you doing here?” I roll Cindy onto her side when she starts retching.
Her head rises slightly, and she looks at me through a veil of long dark lashes. Her eyelids close and open as she inhales, and those plump breasts tease even more.
Shit, get your head in the game.
“I ran into Max, who mentioned she heard from Peggy that Simon, Cindy’s husband, had asked her daughter to babysit the kids as he had food poisoning. I went around to check on him, but he seems to be over the worst, and he asked if I would pick Cindy up as she was also sick. Something to do with a bad curry.”
“Well, it’s good to know the town’s grapevine is good for more than gossip.” I scoff.
“Ah, I also heard what you did at Doris’s store. Anna was down on the beach, too.” She smiles, and the treatment room lights up.
“Yeah, well.” I rub a hand across the back of my neck. Suddenly I feel like a schoolboy and not a man determined to make this goddess his.
“I’ll take care of her if you want to see Mister Dougal out front?” She nods toward the door.
“Erm, yeah. Thanks. If you don’t mind looking after her until the worst has passed.”
I glance at Cindy who even in the haze of nausea and stomach cramps notices the chemistry.
“Perhaps also give her hyoscine butylbromide?” I advise when I see Cindy’s face contort a second time.
“On it.” Simmi nods.
Unfortunately, none of the cases can be rescheduled to later in the week as many are urgent including three more cases of food poisoning. I make a quick call to our local cops to shut down the takeout joint until we can notify the health department on Monday and then return to the patient list.
It’s close to late afternoon when I finally show my last patient into my office.
“It’s good to see you.” I shake Rhett’s hand.
“And you. Sorry to call in on your day off. I saw Simmi and Cindy on their way out. Poor thing looks like a bus hit her.”
The local golden boy, dressed in boardies and a t-shirt looks like he’s just crawled out the ocean and jogged up to the practice.
“Yeah. I’d stay away from that new restaurant that’s opened. Gave Cindy and a few more people a bad case of food poisoning. Her husband and kids came in for some meds earlier, upset their stomachs, too. I’ve contacted the Department of Health and reported them,” I say closing the door behind me.
“Reckon that’d make you even more famous after your stand up in the supermarket this morning?” Rhett chuckles.
“Yeah, the joys of small-town living.”
“Hey, I wish I could’ve seen it. Anna says you spoke for at least half of the Bay and have many secret admirers now.”
I wipe a hand over my face. “Great.” I smile, “Now how can I help you?”
“I missed my check up with Mark this week. Saw the clinic was open and thought I’d take a chance?”
Rhett gives me a sheepish glance. The man was a volunteer, like most locals in the SES. He’d been involved in a misfortunate event when a huge fire had burned most of the farms in the area over the last December. It had left him with smoke inhalation damage.
“Glad you did. Smoke inhalation is no joke.” I show him over to the bed. “Please take off your shirt.”
“Surely this must be the last of the checkups? I’ve not had any issues with my breathing.”
