Hospital Cafeterias and Other Strange Places I tried to smother Sally with as much reassurance as I could but I don’t know if any of it got through. Actually I think I just made myself more nervous. Sally looked so small and so helpless amongst all those grown-ups that ten years of lost love caught up with me like a rocket-powered boxing glove. Actually, that’s not true. My love for Sally was never lost, it had just taken a wrong turning a few years back and had got sidetracked looking through lingerie shop windows. “Right then, come along. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave us now,” the nurse informed me in a way that made me want to suck my thumb. “Say goodbye and then go and get yourself a cup of tea. Don’t worry, your wife will be fine with us and you’ll see her later.” I stopped my bottom lip wobbling just long enough to press it against Sally’s and told her one last time that everything would be okay before I was finally ejected out into the hospital corridor.
