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Stan was on the floor. He was lying on his back in the kitchen, next to the fridge, with the ingredients of his lunch spread around him. The fridge door was open and the light inside was casting a ghostly glow over his still figure.
‘Dad!’ Jack knelt down and started stroking his father’s face. ‘Are you all right? Speak to me!’
Alyssa stepped forward as Jack began to slip his arm beneath his dad’s neck. ‘No. Don’t move him.’
‘I’m making him more comfortable.’
‘We can do that in a moment. But let’s see what’s happened first.’
Alyssa kicked aside a tomato and stooped down beside Stan, who was breathing heavily with his eyes closed.
She gently shook his shoulders. ‘Can you hear me, Stan?’
‘Coursh I can,’ he murmured, opening his eyes. ‘I’m unshteady on my feet, not deaf.’
Jack, kneeling beside her, sighed with relief at his father’s cantankerousness. ‘Thank goodness, he’s all right.’ He glanced at Alyssa. ‘He is all right, isn’t he?’
‘Probably,’ Alyssa answered, noting the slight catch in Stan’s speech. ‘But you’d better ring for an ambulance, to be on the safe side. And mention that his speech is a little slurred. Go on, you make the call and I’ll keep an eye on your dad,’ she urged when he hesitated. ‘Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.’
‘I think I’ve left my mobile downstairs.’
‘Here, take mine,’ she said, pulling her phone from her pocket and stabbing in her passcode.
She turned back to Stan while Jack stood in the corner, her phone clamped to his ear.
‘Do you have any pain anywhere?’
‘Don’t think so.’
‘Can you smile at me, Stan?’
‘Don’t much feel like it,’ he told her, but he smiled all the same.
‘That’s good.’ No sign of facial weakness. ‘Can you raise both your arms?’
Alyssa was relieved when he did so without any apparent trouble.
‘So, what happened? Do you know why you fell?’
‘Tripped over my own feet.’
‘I’ve noticed you’ve been dragging your foot a bit lately,’ said Jack, the mobile phone still glued to his ear. He frowned at Alyssa when she glanced up. ‘What’s the problem? What does that mean?’
‘Probably nothing,’ said Alyssa, though Jack’s words had set off even more alarm bells in her head.
‘He said he was just tired. Didn’t you, Dad?’
‘And that’s probably the case,’ Alyssa reassured him, not wanting to make the situation more alarming than it currently was. She turned back to Stan. ‘But I’d mention your foot, and anything else about your mobility or health that’s changed recently, when you’re checked over in hospital. Now, did you hit your head when you fell?’ Her fingertips gently explored his scalp. There was no blood and no obvious bumps. ‘What about your hips and your back? Any pain there? Try not to move while I’m checking you over.’
‘You’ve turned into a sergeant major,’ said Stan, but he lay as still as a statue while she checked his limbs and abdomen. After a few more checks, to ensure Stan wasn’t in immediate danger, Alyssa sat back on her heels.
‘Is everything OK?’ Jack handed the mobile back to her. ‘There’s an ambulance nearby, apparently, so it shouldn’t be long.’ He knelt down beside Alyssa and stroked his father’s shoulder. ‘You daft old bugger. Maybe have more water with your whisky next time?’ he joked, trying to ease the tension in the room. But when he looked at Alyssa, his face was strained and pale.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I’m glad you were here when this happened.’His hand briefly rested on hers and gave it a squeeze.
‘Me, too.’
‘You said you know what you’re doing, and you certainly seem to.’
