Everyone who’s suffered and braved it out over the weekend attends, plus a few who simply want to extend the break into the weekdays – the Sick Note Brigade with their vague tales of backache, headache, viruses or anything else the doctor can neither prove nor disprove. The waiting room was heaving as Daniel waded through, hardly registering a single face.Except one.The child was ill. He could see that in a minute. Floppy, hardly responding, eyes unfocused and dull. Dehydrated. He felt a prickle of alarm. What had he missed from the previous consultation?‘Take her into the examination room.’Vanda Struel cradled Anna-Louise in her arms and struggled to move as quickly as he.The moment they were in the examination room he started firing questions at her. ‘How long has she been like this?’‘Since yesterday morning, Doctor. When I woke up and went in her room she was like this, takin’ no notice of anything.’He was already feeling the child’s pulse. Thready. Her eyes were sunken, her skin wrinkled like an old woman’s.
