He had to rest his arms. ‘Shush, don’t be stupid,’ he said steadily, ‘it’s a dox, as anyone can see. Look, out of the way, I’ve got a sick man here.’ Involuntarily Nurse Foran stepped aside, surprised at having been told to shush for the first time in her adult life. She quickly regained her poise and squared her shoulders ready to put this old weasel in his place, but he staggered past her and stumped along the corridor peering into the rooms to his left and right and, before she could stop him, he’d lowered Albert onto a freshly made bed. ‘You can’t …’ Nurse Foran began but the filthy bushman turned on her with mad glittering eyes. ‘Shush,’ he said, ‘this man is nearly dead.’ The nurse wasn’t going to put up with this insolence and was about to deliver Hygiene Lesson Two when she realised that not only did she have two derelict bushmen in her hospital but the fox was in there too, and preparing to bite the patient’s hand.
