Inside Grandad Read Online Free

didn't seem to notice.
    "Hi, Grandad," he said. "How's things?"
    There was no answer, of course. Grandad just lay there. He was still wearing an oxygen mask. Clipped to the end of the stretcher was a gray electronic-looking box with a small screen. Three wires ran from it to Grandad's chest. Monitor, it was called, he remembered, just like on a PC, and the pulsing line on the screen was Grandad's heartbeat. There was a drip stand beside the stretcher with a tube going into his left arm. His eyes were still open. Gavin started to worry about that because Grandad couldn't see properly without his specs. Anything that wasn't right in front of his nose would be all blur and mess. He'd think it was all part of the muddled dream Dr. Boone had talked about.
    Wait! The specs were in Gavin's shirt pocket, where he'd put them when he'd picked them up off the floor in Grandad's room, just after the stroke had happened. With a stupid, hopeful feeling that something had at last gone right he took them out and fitted them on. As he did so, Grandad blinked.
    Gavin's heart leapt. He swung round, looking for someone to tell. A nurse came hurrying out of a door further along the corridor.
    "He just blinked!" he told her.
    "Can't help it," she told him, not slowing down. She vanished round the corner.
    Then he just sat there. The hospital was decently warm but he still felt shivery and cold right through. At least the nurse hadn't told him he wasn't allowed there. He relaxed a bit, enough to start feeling hungry again.
    Stuff came back to him, things Mum had said in the car when he thought he hadn't been listening. About people with strokes, how you've got to keep stimulating them, showing them things, talking to them….
    "It's still raining," he said. "We got really wet, getting here from the car."
    He told Grandad about the truck and the pizza disaster, making it as funny as he could. It wasn't fair—none of it had been Mum's fault, but Grandad always secretly enjoyed it when one of her plans came unstuck. Before he'd finished, two nurses came out of another door. They looked surprised when they saw him.
    "Hello," said one of them. "Who are you?"
    "I'm Gavin. I'm his grandson. Gran asked me to stay with him while she went to the toilets. She's probably talking to Mum in the waiting place now."
    "Well, we're ready for him at last."
    One of them took hold of the trolley.
    "Can I come too?" said Gavin.
    "Best not. Why don't you go find your gran and tell her your granddad's gone for assessment and if she asks at the desk they'll tell her where to come."
    "All right. Those are his specs. I had them in my pocket. He can't see much without them."
    "We'll look after them. See you."
    Gavin got off the stool and started back down the corridor. Something very funny was happening. The corridor was moving around, swaying. It must be an earthquake, he thought. Why weren't there any noises? He couldn't keep his balance. He was falling, falling …
    Dark. He tried to open his eyes. Too bright. He couldn't remember where he was, or why.
    "Looks like he's coming round," said a woman's voice. "Just fainted, probably. When did he last eat?"
    "Not since breakfast, I think."
    That was Mum, and she flooded on. "He was with my father-in-law when it happened, and that was before lunch—they're very close, you see, and of course he was terribly upset and he kept saying he wasn't hungry—I'd bought something to eat on the way here, but …"
    And then all about the pizza and the truck and getting soaked and so on.
    Of course. Gavin remembered what had happened and opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor where he had fallen. Mum was kneeling beside him, and a nurse was crouching on the other side.
    "Is Grandad all right?" he whispered. "What happened? I don't remember."
    "Your grandfather's fine," said the nurse, "and so are you. You just fainted. Nothing to be ashamed of. Shock and coldand food shortage—enough to knock anyone out. Now we're going to wrap you up