"STANDING IN LINE

mamma he’s the best i ever had

The pediatrics ward in Chesterfield Memorial Hospital was filled with the light smell of talc and when the summer wind stirred amidst the trees and flowers of the garden below there came through the open windows the heavy scene of lilac and rich woodland. She sat in her usual bright polyester scrubs with a book in one hand and an arm wrapped loosely around a child of no more than four while several others sat on the floor or on the nearby bed each with a look of tired wonder in their eyes. For the last three weeks Nora had been reading Alice in Wonderland in the afternoons before her shift ended in an effort to settle down the children before dinner and, eventually, lights out. Delicate fingers curled around her dark hair as she turned the page and continued reading. Working with children had never really been part of Nora's game plan in school; her father worked in the police force and her mother ran a florist in the town square but after her nephew Mattie was born Nora had found a talent for children while being interested in nursing. The two interests fused together and after high school the twenty two year old had enrolled hoping to achieve a nursing degree which, after a lot of hard work, she got. Her family had been supportive despite the change and her friends had found that it had been the making of her. Faintly aware of her phone buzzing in her trouser pocket she ignored it, knowing it would be a reply from her brother, and narrated in a softly spoken voice Alice's first encounter with the loveable Cheshire cat. Noah's life always had drama involved and while she loved her brother dearly it never paid to be dragged into while she was at work not after he and Emmaline seperated. Noah and Emma had never been ideal; they shared a love of booze and drugs in high school and after Chesterfield High was over and Noah cleaned up his act to join the police force they drifted further and further apart with few moments in between of intamacy. Nora tried her best to fix the situation, Mattie was born, but it eventually concluded in a court case and occasional visits from her former sister in law yelling abuse on Nora's front lawn.

Cornering the page she closed the book and with a smile the children got up and scattered around the room to return to their beds. Nora had found for most of them she had more sucess when she organised her days and forged a routine for them to follow; bath, medication, doctors rounds, lunch, book, medication, dinner and bed. It was constant and tiresome but they never protests too much and it made the days pass the same as the ones before. Lifting the little boy on her lap up on her hip she bent down carefully as not to disturb him while she picked up a soft woolen blanket off the floor "you've got Juno tonight" she spoke up her tone laced with fondness. Juniper - or Juno- had been one of Nora's classmates and closests of friends during her teenage years and one of the sole reasons Nora kept her head down during training afterwards. Blonde, vivacious, the children loved her and her wild fairytales just as much as Nora did. Tucking each child into their stiff hospital beds she gave them a light wave and called her goodbye as she collected her jacket from the nurses station and went to gather her belongs out of her hospital issued locker.

scrolling through her phone as she made her way to her car she smirked; the thought of Ashton being obese was a joke in itself. Healthy eating, as fit as you could possibly get, a sports man she couldn't remember the last time he'd ever looked slightly chunky but despite this she sent another text off remarking that they could always roll him around if he did. Tucking her phone back into trousers she fiddled with her keys and unlocked the navy fiat parked along side a car that could quite easily fit a family the size of a small tribe in it and a sleek number that probably cost more than her house. Most of the people she worked alongside were either self confessed singletons for life or family men and women who'd been working in the hospital for the last twenty years. She had little in common with either type; sure enough she'd been with her partner for several years but neither were planning on splitting anytime soon or expanding their duo. Tossing her bag on the passenger seat she closed her door and slipped her seatbelt into place before pulling out of the car park and heading out of the hospital grounds with one place on her mind. The drive was quiet, the background to her journey a Florence and the machine cd she'd picked up for a couple of bucks on sale, but she felt an age old fluttering in her stomach. Her mother had always remarked that no matter how old Nora got she still reacted the same way when the possibility of a date with 'the Carter boy' sprung up and Nora had to agree. Changing gears she took a left and travelled down the road a few yards before pulling into her drive the usual chorus of dogs barking sounding as her tyres crushed the gravel. With any luck she'd have plenty of time to shower and change before doing anything. Walking into her home she petted the dog pawing at her thighs grinning down at him "missed you too, buddy" she cooed tossing her keys in the tray on the side table and hurried upstairs.

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