Free Time to Say Goodbye by Katie Flynn

loosen the child’s grip another voice spoke. ‘Jill, it’s me, Debby. Shall I fetch Auntie? She did say to call her if Imogen got worse.’
    ‘Oh, Debby, I wish you would,’ Jill said breathlessly. ‘I think Imogen is running a fever, and I don’t know what to do. But Auntie will.’
    Debby took her dressing gown off the hook on the back of the door, slid her feet into her slippers and in a moment could be heard softly thumping down the first flight, presently returning with Auntie close behind. Jill greeted her aunt with great relief, for although she had managed to detach herself from Imogen’s grasp the child had begun to moan and to complain that she ached all over and could not move without pain. It was clear that she still imagined herself half in and half out of the ditch.
    ‘Rheumatic fever,’ Auntie said in an undertone, as soon as she had examined Imogen, ‘or something very like it at any rate. We’ll have Dr Vaughan from the village up here as soon as it’s light, but in the meantime I think she’d benefit from a couple of aspirin and a long cool drink.’ She turned to Debby, for Rita was still slumbering peacefully. ‘Go down to the bar, dear, and bring me up a bottle of cordial and a glass of water. I’d best mix it myself.’
    This sounded infinitely sensible to Jill, but although Imogen was burning hot she rejected the very idea of a cool drink. ‘I’m cold enough already,’ she said fretfully. ‘I’m freezing, and my hot water bottle’s gone cold . . . oh, how I do ache!’
    This made Auntie look grave, but she still maintained that they should wait until day dawned before getting a message to the doctor. ‘In the meantime I think the three of us had better get dressed so that there’s someone with Immy all the time. I just hope the doctor can give her something to ease the pain and reduce the fever. Aspirin tablets will help because aspirin lowers the temperature.’ She smiled across at Debby. ‘Do you think you could put the kettle on, dear, whilst Jill and I take it in turns to dress? We’ll be a good deal more able to cope with the situation when we have a hot cup of tea inside us.’
    Jill agreed that this was so, and had just succeeded in lowering Imogen on to her pillows when she spoke. ‘I’d like a hot cup of tea,’ she said feebly. ‘One with lots of milk so’s I can drink it straight down . . . oh, I would like that!’
    Jill and Auntie exchanged relieved smiles. ‘If she wants a cup of tea she can’t be all that bad,’ Jill said bracingly. ‘I’ve heard folk often get feverish in the small hours; maybe it’s just that.’
    But the doctor, when Jacky fetched him the next day, put an end to such hopes. ‘If I could get her to hospital then she could have the treatment she needs, but since that’s impossible you and your aunt will simply have to follow my instructions,’ he told Jill. ‘The child’s suffering from exposure, of course, and when I sounded her chest I could hear bubbling. But keep her in bed, keep her warm, make her take the medicine I will give you three times a day and get her to take a great many hot drinks. She won’t be hungry whilst she’s so feverish – her temperature is almost 105 degrees – but broth will help her to keep up her strength. I’m sure Mrs Pilgrim will sell you a chicken, or even a couple of pounds of bones if that’s all that’s available . . .’
    ‘Bones?’ Jill said. ‘What use would bones be?’
    ‘Boil them to make stock, you silly girl,’ the doctor said. ‘If you add a carrot, an onion and half a swede to make it more palatable it will give her strength, and she needs strength to fight the infection. At the moment the main danger is that she may contract pneumonia, but she’s young and strong, so we’ll hope for the best.’
    Auntie and Jill took the doctor’s advice, obtaining a chicken from the sympathetic Mrs Pilgrim, as well as a couple of pig’s trotters which, she told them, when boiled for