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I felt his lance towards her Another prehistoric sound eonizing noise I tried not to flinch The , his head tilted and sunk into his shoulders as he stared at uely angry I realized that where I held , my knuckles had turned white

‘Will! Please’ There was a faint note of hysteria in his ht I’ at

‘I – I’m Lou’ My voice, uncharacteristically tremulous, broke into the silence I wondered, briefly, whether to hold out a hand and then, reave a feeble wave instead ‘Short for Louisa’

Then to htened on his shoulders

Will Traynor gazed atacross his face ‘Good , Miss Clark,’ he said ‘I hear you’rethe footrests He shook his head as he stood up ‘You are a bad rinned, and held out a broad hand, which I shook limply Nathan exuded an air of unflappability ‘I’ot Will’s best Christy Brown iet used to him His bark is worse than his bite’

Mrs Traynor was holding the cross at her neck with sli its thin gold chain, a nervous habit Her face was rigid ‘I’ll leave you all to get on You can call through using the intercoh Will’s routines, and his equipment’

‘I’m here, mother You don’t have to talk across oing to be foul, Will, I think it’s best if Miss Clark does talk directly to Nathan’ His mother wouldn’t look at hiaze about ten feet away on the floor ‘I’ from home today So I’ll pop in at lunchtied as a squawk

Mrs Traynor disappeared We were silent while we listened to her clipped footsteps disappearing down the hall towards the o and talk Miss Clark through your meds, Will? You want the television? So’

We walked through to the kitchen

‘You not had ics, Mrs T says?’

‘No’

‘Okay I’ll keep it fairly simple for today There’s a folder here that tells you prettyyou need to know about Will’s routines, and all his eet a spareyou’ll have a few’

Nathan took a key from his belt and opened a locked cabinet, which was packed full of boxes and sht This lot isis in case of eencies There’s a timetable there on the wall so you can see what he has when on a daily basis Any extras you give him you mark in there –’ he pointed ‘– but you’re best to clear anything through Mrs T, at least at this stage’

‘I didn’t realize I was going to have to handle drugs’

‘It’s not hard He etting them down We tend to use this beaker here Or you can crush them with this pestle and mortar and put them in a drink’

I picked up one of the labels I wasn’t sure I had ever seen so s outside a pharmacy

‘Okay So he has two meds for blood pressure, this to lower it at bedtiets out of bed These he needs fairly often to control his ive hiain at mid-afternoon He doesn’t find those too hard to s, because they’re the little coated ones These are for bladder spasms, and these here are for acid reflux He soets unco, and these are his nasal sprays, but Ibefore I leave, so you shouldn’t have to worry He can have paraceta pill, but these tend to make him more irritable in the daytime, so we try to restrict them

‘These –’ he held up another bottle ‘– are the antibiotics he has every teeks for his catheter change I do those unless I’m away, in which case I’ll leave clear instructions They’re pretty strong There are the boxes of rubber gloves, if you need to clean hiets sore, but he’s been pretty good since we got the air mattress’

As I stood there, he reached into his pocket and handed another key to iven to anyone else Not even Will, okay? Guard it with your life’

‘It’s a lot to remember’ I sed

‘It’s all written down All you need to remember for today are his anti-spasm meds Those ones There’swhen I’m not here, so I’d rather not be called too often but feel free till you feel confident’

I stared at the folder in front of me It felt like I was about to sit an exao to the loo?’ I thought of the hoist ‘I’m not sure I could, you know, lift him’ I tried not to let my face betray my panic

Nathan shook his head ‘You don’t need to do any of that His catheter takes care of that I’ll be in at lunchtie it all You’re not here for the physical stuff’

‘What am I here for?’

Nathan studied the floor before he looked at me ‘Try to cheer hiiven … the circu to have to have a fairly thick skin That little skit thisyou off balance’

‘Is this why the pay is so good?’

‘Oh yes No such thing as a free lunch, eh?’ Nathan clapped me on the shoulder I felt ht You don’t have to pussyfoot around hiht be the only person who did

I followed hi room Will Traynor’s chair hadout, listening to so on the radio