Falsely Accused - 4. FAL Chapter 4

After a bit of a tidy up, I had a shower and changed, before making my way down the street to mum and Lionel’s place for dinner. As John let me into the house, Mathew came running down the hallway, and wrapped his arms around my legs, “Hello you two, have you both had a good day?” I asked as I bent down to pick Mathew up. “Not too bad thanks Edward” John replied as he followed me down the hallway, and as I entered the dining room, I was surprised to see James Carter there, chatting to Lionel, with both enjoying a cup of tea, Mum as always was keeping busy with preparing dinner.

“Hello Edward, please come and sit down, we have something we would like to discuss with you” Lionel said to me with a smile, and as I sat down, Mum placed a cup of tea in front of me and continued with her work. “When I was doing your job at the prison, I was working half a day, five days a week, with Thursday and Sundays off, I believe that are the hours which you have been offered? James said to me, and I nodded my head to confirm what he had just said.

“About halfway between this place and your cottage, but one block over on the main street, there is a house for lease that would be ideal for what we are proposing, that being opening a medical practice with three doctors” James said. “What about the job that you had been offered in Perth?” I asked James knowing that he had given his job at the prison to take up the new position.

“That my dear doctor, ended up being a total flop, I learnt that the hours were long and I would be on call, 6 days a week when not at work, and the pay was dismal for the number of hours that I would be working, so I find myself without a job, and it was your step father here who came up with this idea of setting up a practice here in Fremantle” James said.

“This would keep your mum happy with my practice not being in the same place as our home” Lionel added, as he glanced over his shoulder in the direction of his wife, and I saw my mum pause from what she was doing and gave a slight smile, before continuing with the washing up. “How about we go and have a look at the property tomorrow morning and discuss this some more once we have seen it” James suggested, and I said that apart from the delivery of a water tank, I had no other plans for tomorrow, and mum called out to John and Mathew to come to the table for dinner.

The next morning at 9 am we met outside Lionel’s place, and James led the way announcing that he had arranged with the property owner, to meet outside the property at 9.15am. When we arrived, the property was made of stone and mortar, and was set back from the street. The owner let us inside, and we entered the main lounge room, which was quite spacious, and the dining room to the right and opposite was a little smaller and included a store room and a door into the kitchen.

Between the lounge and dining rooms is a central passageway, with a study adjoining the lounge, and two large bedrooms are located to the left of the passageway, and one bedroom and a bathroom is located to the right. A back door leads to an enclosed back verandah, that has lots of large windows and a solid back door leads to a small back yard which is quite bare.

“I think this would be perfect for what we discussed” James said, “I agree and I’m happy for us to go ahead with this” Lionel said before turning and walking towards the owner and speaking to him briefly. We walked back to Lionel’s home and we went into his office to discuss the idea some more. Half an hour later, we walked out of the study, I was pleased to be part of this partnership, and we had agreed to start preparing to get set up, to start the business from the start of next week.

With James currently not working, he agreed to be responsible for getting the furniture required for the practice, including 3 work desks, bookshelves, storage cupboards, examination tables, for each of the examination rooms, chairs and a coffee table for the waiting room, a reception desk, storage cupboards and a bookshelf for the reception area, plus two lounge chairs and a coffee table for the kitchen area, which will be the staff room.

The following day, I returned to work at the Prison, and as expected it was a quiet morning, with just a couple cases of a mild cold, and one case of a severely bruised foot, from a rock being accidentally dropped onto his foot. I arrived at my home shortly after 1.30am, and I made myself a sandwich and ate it as I listened to the gramophone, after I had finished my lunch, I got to work to connect the house gutters to the new water tank, which had been delivered and set up in my absence yesterday.

By the end of the week, I had settled into a more regular routine of work at the prison, and establishing a vegetable garden in my back yard, and I spend every evening with Lionel and family for dinner, and a we discussed the progress of the getting the new medical practice set up. A sign outside the house was already in place, advising current and new patients that the practice was relocating to a new address up the road as of this coming Monday.

James already had a plaque made up for the front of the new practice; “High Road Medical Practice – Open Monday to Friday 9am to 12 noon, 2pm to 5pm & Saturday 9am to 12 noon. Dr Lionel Jamieson - Surgeon & General Practitioner, Dr James Carter - Surgeon & General Practitioner & Dr Edward J Lester - General Practitioner”.

On the Sunday evening, James joined us for dinner, and once we had all eaten, and the two younger members of the family went to have baths before bed, James presented to us a proposed roster for the practice. With all three of us having all of Sunday off, plus we all had one other day off, and one afternoon off each, with Tuesday and Wednesday mornings having just one doctor on duty. I was happy with the roster, as it fitted in with my prison duties, and Lionel also said he was happy with it.

James handed each of us a copy of the roster, and James turned towards mum, who was busy cleaning up. “Would you be able to be our receptionist on a part time basis?” he asked mum who looked at Lionel before responding, “I will discuss it with Lionel and let you know” she replied with a smile. The following morning, I made sure that I was up early, so I could call into the new practice, while on my way to the prison, and I arrived shortly after 8.30am, shocked to see a small line of patients waiting for the practice to open.

Walking through the side gate and around to the back door, which I unlocked and stepped inside, “Is that you Lionel?” came James’s voice from near the front of the building, “No, it’s Edward, have you seen the line of patients at the front?” I replied as I walked down the passageway, and I found James seated at the receptionist desk, with a pile of index cards, ready for writing down patient details. There was a knock on the front door, and I went to open it, and found Lionel and mum both holding a spare chair each, and I stepped aside to let them enter, and closed the door again.

After placing the spare chairs in the waiting area, Mum motioned James to move, and she took her position at the reception desk, “Ok Margaret, we will need each patient’s full name, date of birth, and any past diseases on the front of the card please” James said as he moved to the front door, opened it and took one step outside. “Welcome to our new practice, I am Dr Carter, please file in and give your details to our receptionist, then take a seat in the waiting room, and Dr Jamieson and I will see you as quickly as we can” he said loudly, and he stepped back inside and followed Lionel and I into the staff room.

“Looks like you are both going to be busy this morning, I better head off to the prison, I will see you this afternoon” I said with a smile, and I walked to the back door, and walked around to the front of the building, and headed to the prison. When I arrived at the front gate, the warder on duty said that the prison superintendent wanted to see me as soon as I arrived, so I made my way through the administration to the boss’s office.

“Dr Lester, good morning, I just wanted a quick chat” the superintendent said with a smile, and I relaxed a little glad that it was nothing bad, and I sat down in one of the chairs. “I have learnt that Dr Carter, Dr Jamieson and you have started a medical practice on high street, starting today” he said to me, “That is correct sir, I have just come from there, and its already busy, before we are officially open” I replied,

“That’s good to hear. I wanted to speak to you, as I would like for your practice to deal with all health matters for the prison staff, can you ask your partners if that is possible” the superintendent said to me, and I was a little surprised by this request.

“I will put it to them this afternoon, when I see them sir” I responded and I stood up guessing that was the only reason for this meeting, “I have some positive comments from the warders, regarding your work, well done and keep up the good work, that is all” the superintendent said. With it being a quiet morning at the prison, I left at noon, and went directly to the High Street Practice, and stepping inside, there was still two patients waiting to be seen.

Mum smiled to me as I walked in and she handed me a patient card, which I scanned quickly, before facing the waiting room, Mr Henns, would you follow me please” I said with a smile and I walked down the passageway to the end consulting room. Twenty minutes later I stepped out of the room and followed my first patient back to the now empty reception area, “Another appointment for Mr Henns, for early next week please Mrs. J” I said to mum, and I walked into the staff room to grab a cup of tea.

“Did I just hear you call your mum, Mrs. J?” Lionel asked with a little smile, and I nodded my head, as I poured a cup of tea from the tea pot, “I thought it would be best to make it as professional as possible” I replied, and James walked in. Edward took one of the patients, as soon as he walked in” Lionel said to James who smiled and patted me on the back, “Welcome to general practice, young Dr Lester” James said to me as he too poured a cup of tea for himself and for mum, who had just walked in.

“That’s twenty-one patients, in the first morning, and there are five who will be coming back this afternoon, when we reopen” Mum announced, as she accepted the cup of tea from James, “Mum, where is Mathew?” I asked wondering where my half-brother was. “Last time I checked, he was fast asleep on a mattress that Lionel brought over from the house, along with some of his toys” mum replied.

“He is such a very well-behaved boy, I checked on him between patients, and he kept himself entertained with his toys” Lionel added with a smile, and I turned to face mum, “How did you go with the reception work mum? Where you able to handle it ok? I asked her. “Yes, thanks son, I am pleased that I was asked to do it, as I find it very rewarding to be doing something other than house work” mum replied, and she gave me a half hug before sitting down in a chair.

A few minutes later, we all headed to Mum and Lionel’s home, where we had cold meat and pickle spread sandwiches and another cup of tea, before we walked back to the practice shortly before 2pm. With James having the afternoon off, he headed home to do some cleaning of his home as he was a widower with no children and lived in a two-bedroom cottage about a kilometer away.

By mid- afternoon, the number of patients reduced giving Lionel and I a little bit of time to do some reading, regarding cases that we had dealt with during the day, and I spent some time with Mathew, watching him as he played with his toys. John walked into the practice just before 4pm, and Mum had sent him into the staff room to have some afternoon tea and keep an eye on Mathew.

“I was thinking today about everything that you went through in Scotland and London, and the trip here to the Swan River Colony, you should write a book about everything that you went through” John said to me when I entered the staff room to have a cup of tea. “Interesting that you say that, I have actually been thinking about that just last weekend” I replied to him, “And what would you call this book if you wrote it?” Mum said as she walked in.

I thought about this for a little while, before I came up with a suitable answer, “What about calling it – Falsely Accused”.

The End