Frosty Wind Made Moan

21

21

The old man was not going to give Toby the opportunity to find out why his Dad had started crying at the phone call. He had seemed so happy with his new wife and baby, to see him collapse so fast into tears made Toby feel as though something terrible in the extreme had happened. Now, flying through the air once more, Toby would not get the chance to find out.

"Now we must go back a short while and someplace else." It felt like the old man clung to Toby harder than before. "You have shown great strength, young Toby, but remember, I cannot allow you to interfere in these events."

"Why? Why these events?" Toby tried so hard to work out what was happening, but he couldn't make sense of it. "I helped Leopold, and you let Tobias see me. Why not these? My Dad, he ... he needed help."

"I cannot say." Lifted to the old man's eye level, Toby could see a determination in the features of that ancient, wrinkled face. "Know that what happens in these events will chart the course of your entire life."

Toby felt the sensation of travelling through time once more, but only for a short while. Soon, the world stopped it's whirl and only the normal landscape passed beneath them and Toby recognised the places below once again. The lights of familiar places, though not as welcome as the ones from the old town.

In the near distance, he could see the tower blocks where he lived with his Mum, but the old man did not direct them that way. They passed a clock that read quarter-to-ten at night, and still on they moved, towards a place Toby had only visited a couple of times. The hospital where his Mum worked. Not that far from the tower blocks, but far enough.

They landed upon the roof and as soon as their feet touched down, the magical chimney stack ground into view. With a hop, the old man carried Toby to stand on the chimney pots and they fell into the fireplace within the hospital below, where Toby saw so many people rushing about in the middle of work.

Toby had never seen a hospital so busy and, for certain not when he had visited with Mum. People filled every seat in the waiting room, with even more standing. Everyone looked forlorn, or in pain. Toby could see injuries on faces, hands cradling broken arms, blood dripping from gashes. And, all around, nurses and doctors busied themselves, moving from one curtained off examination area to another.

He knew his Mum worked in the Accident and Emergency section of the hospital, but she had never talked about what she saw there and Toby felt glad. Here, on Christmas Eve, he saw so many people in need of care that he thought everybody in the world had stopped here for treatment.

None of the nurses or doctors missed a step as they moved around Toby and the old man as they moved towards one of those curtained off areas. Reaching up, the old man pulled the curtains aside to reveal a nurse crouching in front of a young girl. With a scowl, the nurse turned to close the curtain again. Toby's Mum.

"Now, Emily, I want you to tell me if this hurts, okay?" Toby's Mum crouched again, taking the girl's arm gently into her hands. She pressed a thumb onto the girl's forearm and Emily grimaced. "That's okay. I know, it hurts. But, it doesn't feel too bad. I think the doctor will want to do an x-ray. Have you ever had an x-ray? They don't hurt, I promise."

Toby's Mum looked up toward the young girl's mother who had a look of concern on her face. She almost itched to hold her daughter, but she stood back, fingers flexing on the handles of her handbag. Toby's Mum put a hand on the mother's arm, squeezing.

"I looked away for a second and she was up on the wall. Tightrope walking, she said." With the fingers of one hand, the mother wiped away tears from her cheek. "The next thing, she was on the floor."