Minding Frankie - Maeve Binchy [79]
“He was nice,” Maud whispered.
“Yeah, I hope he won’t go checking up with Cathy on us just now. She’s very upset about Muttie and it would look a bit heartless.”
They decided on chemotherapy for Muttie, and by this stage everyone in St. Jarlath’s Crescent knew about him and had a variety of cures. Josie and Charles Lynch said that in recognition for Muttie’s interest in the campaign for his statue, St. Jarlath would put in a word for him. Dr. Hat said that he would be happy to drive Muttie to the pub any evening he wanted to go. Hat wouldn’t stay, but he’d come back and pick him up later. Emily Lynch managed to distract Muttie by planting winter-color shrubs in his garden.
“But will I be still here to see them, Emily?” he asked one day.
“Oh, come on, Muttie. The great gardeners of history always knew that someone would see them. That’s what it’s all about.”
“That makes sense,” Muttie said, and put aside any thought of self-pity.
Declan’s own parents saw that there was a half leg of lamb left over at the end of the day or four fillet steaks.
Cathy came by every day, often with something to eat.
“We made far too many of these little salmon tarts, Dad. Mam, you’d be helping me out if you were to take them.”
Often she brought her son, Thomas, with her. He was a lively lad and kept Muttie well entertained.
In fact, it was all going better than Declan could have hoped. He had thought that the normally cheerful Muttie would fall into a serious depression. But it was far from being the case. Declan’s father said that Muttie was still the life and soul up at the pub and he had the same number of pints as ever on the grounds that there wasn’t much damage they could do to him now.
Declan wrote to the specialist, Dr. Harris.
You were so kind and gracious when I brought Muttie Scarlet to a consultation. Your gesture about the fees was so appreciated that I thought you would like to know he is making very good progress, keeping his spirits up and generally living each day to the full.
You and your positive attitude have contributed greatly to this, and I thank you most sincerely.
Declan Carroll
Mr. Harris responded by return.
Dr. Carroll,
I was glad to hear from you. I have friends who run a general practice and they are looking for a new partner. They asked me could I recommend anyone and I immediately thought of you. It’s in a very attractive part of Dublin and would come with accommodation, which would be available for purchase, if required. I have attached some details for your interest.
These are very good, concerned people and just because their neighbourhood is affluent does not mean that their patients are rich people with hypochondria. They are sick and worried like people everywhere.
Let me know if it interests you, and send me your CV, and it can be arranged. Sooner rather than later, they tell me.
I will never forget your friend Muttie Scarlet. Only occasionally in life do you come across a genuinely good person like that. Someone with no disguises whatsoever.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
James Harris
Declan had to read the letter three times before it sank in. He was being offered a place in one of the most prestigious practices in the whole of Dublin. A house with a big garden and a posh school for Johnny. It was the kind of post he might have tried for in ten years’ time. But now! Before he was thirty! It was too much to take onboard. Fiona had gone to work when the letter arrived so he couldn’t share the news. Emily had come to pick up Johnny and wheel him up to Noel’s to collect Frankie. Today the children were going to the thrift shop for the morning and back here to his parents’ in the afternoon. The system ran like clockwork and Noel seemed to be back on track also.
Declan’s surgery began at ten so he would have time to call in to Muttie and discuss the palliative-care nurse who was arriving for the first time today. Declan knew the nurse. She was an experienced, gentle woman called Jessica, trained in making the abnormal seem reasonable and quick to anticipate