Post by Katrina on Jan 25, 2010 22:47:42 GMT 1
This is a one parter but it is quite long. I hope that it is alright and that you enjoy it because it is quite different but I couldn't resist writing it. I hope that you are able to stick with it until it's conclusion.
Enjoy!
And a big thanks to JB - for helping me with characters and ideas.
“Are you absolutely sure that you’ve got everything?” Lisa Torres asked Daniel for what seemed like the ten thousandth time. She casted unsure glances in his direction as he tried to balance Isobel on his hip and the ten ton bag she had supplied him with. To the best of his knowledge he had never carried this much with him during the time he had cared for his daughter solo and as she was now older, he had presumed would come with less equipment so to speak.
“Relax Lisa – She’s staying with me for two days. It’s not like your leaving her with me for over a month without supplies” His words were tinged with an acidic bite at the reference to how he had initially come to know his daughter. She recoiled slightly from him – his words hitting home. For a brief second she considered removing her child from his arms and taking her home but she was getting desperate for some time to herself and Daniel was, she had to admit, a good father even if his past was rather unsavoury in her eyes.
“Alright,” she relented, stepping closer and giving her daughter a kiss “I’ll see you in two days time sweetie – and Daniel any problems you ring me straight away” She gave her daughter one last look feeling a tug at her heart before stepping out of the house. As the door closed, Daniel began to walk through the living room of the house dumping the bag down on to the floor. Before sitting down on the sofa with Isobel on his lap, he smiled at her.
“Well Miss Izzie – it’s just you and me now so what shall we get up to?” He grinned at her, and watched with delight as she stared back at him with her quizzical, innocent expression. He had missed her a great deal. She gave him a grin.
“Beebies” She spoke the word clearly and with obvious pride at being able to answer his question. Daniel beamed too at hearing his daughter speak to him. It excited him to an extent the idea of being able to hold something resembling a conversation with his little girl although in a way it scared him as well because he had heard many horror stories of little ones repeating the wrong word or phrase at very inappropriate times. Beebies however was not a word Daniel was entirely familiar with. Twisting on his knee, Izzie turned so she was facing away from him and so that she was looking in the direction of the television. Daniel said a quick, silent thank you to the powers that be for the clue that his daughter had given him. Daniel reached for the television remote which rested on the arm of the sofa and pressed the guide button followed by the button which would lead him to the children’s channels. With a smile he found CBeebies which was what he believed his daughter had asked for. He pressed the button and prepared himself to watch Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies which seemed to him a rather sensible title for a children’s show given that most of those surrounding it were rather unusual.
The show seemed to drag for an eternity for Daniel and even Isobel seemed a little restless on his knee. But finally the next show seemed lined up to be aired and with a sinking sensation Daniel waiting for it to begin certain that it was going to be just as horrific as the last. As the opening starting, Izzie bounced a little on his lap – a high pitched squeal emitting from her mouth. It was a sound which if any higher would not have been audible to the human ear. And as the opening continued she started to bounce with even more rigour shouting names with an excitement Daniel did not believe any human could physically feel.
As the show continued Daniel felt himself feeling tired. His eyes were drooping lower and lower and he was finding it very difficult to be able to keep them open. Isobel was slouching against him she too was getting a little bit sleepy but she was still watching the show. Finally Daniel could fight it no longer and he slipped in to a very deep sleep.
It was until hours later that Daniel awakened. The television was talking to itself two cooks – one who was normal sized and one who was quite small – were on the screen acting in a way which Daniel found very bizarre. Isobel was still asleep on top of him but she seemed to weigh very little even though she was pressed quite close. He raised himself in to a more upright position and felt a little bit strange. There was a strange tingling sensation in the palm of his hand which he just could not put his finger on. He raised his arm and rubbed at his eyes trying to correct his vision. There wasn’t the normal blur to his sight that came after he’d just woken up but instead everything just seemed far too bright. He watched as he taught stirred and then woke, looking up at him with a strange expression and for the briefest of moments he expected her to cry for her mum. Instead she grinned at him in a still sleepy way.
“How about we go and visit some of daddy’s friends?” He asked his daughter, wanting to get out of the house and prove to himself that the world was still its normal colour. Besides he was certain that Julia would like to see Isobel again and to coo over how much the little girl had grown. In fact he expected much the same from all of his female colleagues who seemed to go completely gaga whenever a young child was nearby – particularly if that child had the blood of one of their own coursing through his or her veins. Without waiting for a reply, he scooped his daughter up and balanced her on his hip. He looked at the large bag but decided that he would survive without it he couldn’t face lugging it around with him.
The journey to the surgery was as normal as could be. The sky was bright and clear and totally different from the usual climate of Leatherbridge but Daniel was not going to complain about this. The nice weather meant that he would be able to take Izzie to the park later on. He pulled in to the car park at the surgery and almost did a double take for a large bush he did not recall was now residing near to the surgery. He was quite certain it had not been there yesterday but then again foliage wasn’t exactly something he took much note of. Still this bush was rather strangely shaped and seemed for some reason to have holes cut out of it.
Sighing he freed Isobel from her car seat and carried her in to the surgery. The reception was strangely empty of patients but was buzzing with staff. They were all milling around the reception area looking rather panicked. Standing in the doorway, he counted the heads as they moved and realised that now he had arrive only Simon was missing. He stepped further in to what seemed to be a mad house.
“What’s going on?” he asked looking at the frenzied group and wondering whether the sensible people he’d left yesterday had gone. Ok so he expected a degree of eccentricity and strangeness from Heston but the rest of the bunch he actually thought to be sane human beings – although the way they were acting now was seriously damaging this belief.
“Oh Daniel – thank god you are here. We have a very important patient coming and we are just run ragged trying to sort things out” that was Julia who had paused in her search in order to see him. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Isobel and she rushed towards him lifting the baby out of his arms “and Isobel my you have grown” she then rushed off still carrying Izzie to continue her seemingly headless chicken style search.
“This person must be very important,” Daniel mused allowed as he watched the chaos. Julia had place Isobel down on the ground now and was guiding the little girl in the task of panicking. He stepped further in to the rush, wanting to lift his daughter out of fear that she would be crushed by the seemingly unseeing colleagues. “Is there anything I do to help?”
“You can go supervise Simon. It’s his patient and we just aren’t sure how he’s going to cope on his own so you’ll have to help him,” Julia said turning to him once again. She gave a small smile which Daniel struggled to read. “I’ll keep an eye on Isobel. Ruth’ll be with you too our VIP gets rather stressed and that causes problems – he gets on with Ruth though” Daniel nodded.
“I’ll go through to him now” Daniel said softly, gently placing a kiss on Isobel’s forehead before placing her down on the vacant receptionists chair. She waved at him proudly.
“Bye bye” she called as he walked away from her. Daniel turned back and smiled at the sight of his daughter sat proudly behind the reception desk. Already working hard at her young age – he made a mental note to inform Lisa about their daughter’s new career. Daniel walked round to the room used by Simon. He was sat at the desk looking at the screen in confusion. Despite the fact the monitor and base registered as being on the screen was completely black apart from the mouse.
“Looks like it’s you and me Simon” Daniel said in greeting. He watched as the young doctor turned to him pushing his glasses further up his nose. He gave his colleague a smile and Daniel felt a surge of relief – Simon was definitely his normal self. The madness seemed not to have affected him.
“Do you know anything about this patient?” Simon asked, sounding more than a little bit worried, “There’s nothing on the system for his appointment and to be honest a moment ago the screen went mental – all bright colours with flowers unfurling” Daniel almost laughed wondering suddenly whether everyone was in on a joke that he was the butt of but he was almost certain Simon wouldn’t be able to pull it off as skilfully as he was doing at that moment.
“Simon we’ve dealt with so many patients before and cured the majority of them so well I don’t see many of them more than once so in all honesty this one isn’t going to be any problem” Simon relaxed slightly and Daniel took the spare chair at the back of the room and prepared himself to wait. He had a very uneasy feeling about this.
Out in the reception the frenzied panic had calmed considerably. A trail had been laid around the reception area resembling a brick path – Daniel had failed to notice this. The room had been tied considerably and more plants brought in. The staff had also changed their own appearances and appeared to be considerably brighter than the usually did. They had an emergency clothes box behind the desk for occasions such as this although in recent months they hadn’t had much cause to use it. These patients just didn’t come along as often as they used to. Julia still remembered fondly the first time she had been confronted by one of the very special patients. She had of course recognised him but she had found it all to be rather strange the commotion it had caused. But as time had passed it had come to be second nature to her. She could remember the first time for each doctor. She did feel rather guilty that the job had fallen to Simon this time but she knew it could not be helped. The other doctors were needed elsewhere and Michelle and Cherry were no use because the poor bloke was quite scared of them after the diabolical event when they had tried to take a sample from him. It had taken the combined efforts of Heston, Ruth and Julia herself to calm him down. That had been the last time. Daniel turning up was both a curse and blessing she reasoned. He had never been here before when they had had those special patients so she was quite concerned that he wouldn’t react brilliantly. He always was quite a difficulty person. He was very closed off and private. But Isobel may have opened him up a little and besides which it would be useful to have a team of colleagues all trained in this area.
“Are you certain Simon is ready Julia? I could have him” Heston was saying. He was the only staff member who had not required the emergency clothing box instead wearing just his regular outfit. Julia turned to him and smiled.
“Simon is ready Heston and besides he has Daniel to help him. Besides you wouldn’t like this one – you like to interrogate them and that just isn’t an option in this case” Heston slumped a little and sighed deeply. This was an area that greatly interested him.
“Michelle and Cherry are going to be out front right? Making sure we have no other visitors?” Ruth asked looking up from her notepad which she was holding tightly in her hands. She felt a great deal of pride at having been specially picked to look after the patient having developed a good rapport with him in previous visits. She was quite concerned about Michelle and Cherry scaring him and about the surgeries secret being uncovered because she knew that without the Mill these patients would have nowhere else to go.
“We know our job Ruth” Michelle said bitterly. She didn’t like being away from the action but at least she wouldn’t be alone. Before Cherry had arrived at the surgery she had had to do the watch along because Archie wasn’t a threat apparently. In fact Michelle was already plotting her way of making another patient take to her just as Ruth had done in this case it was just a case of that patient arriving and she was very difficult to track down just to the ever moving nature of her home – which was in all fairness just one piece of furniture.
“He’s coming. Action stations” Julia called as the staff jumped to their prearranged positions with Michelle and Cherry darting out of the back door.
Five minutes passed and Simon and Daniel were still seated in their room waiting not so patiently. Finally a knock sounded on the door and Jimmi’s voice called through to them telling them to get ready because the patient was in the building. As he walked away, Daniel was almost certain that he heard his friend laugh. But he couldn’t be certain.
Another few minutes and there was another knock. This time Daniel was very much doubting he was hearing because he was almost certain that on the other side of the door he heard a sound very much like a squeak and then a rattle. Daniel gulped doubting himself and his sanity and wondering how quickly Julia was going to have him sectioned when all this came out. Then the door opened and Ruth stuck her head round and smiled.
“Your patient’s here. This way Mr Piggle” She said turning towards the corridor and reaching out a hand. Daniel raised his eyebrows at the sound of the name because it sounded so very unusual and yet he was almost certain he had heard it only recently. The door opened fully and Ruth walked in, something blue held tightly in her hand. A few seconds later a blue creature followed behind her. It was a strange looking creature it looked almost teddy bear like. In its free hand it clutched a red blanket. Simon was blinking rapidly and looked to be in danger of passing out cold.
“Take a seat Mr erm Piggle” Daniel gulped out. He was very much in shock himself. Ruth, however, did not seem to be in the slightest bit concerned about the fact her patient was not of the same species that she was. The creature sat down and shook his foot a little emitting a rattling sound. Ruth turned her full attention to him and nodded.
“He says to call him Iggle – Nobody uses Mr Piggle” Ruth smiles translating for her patient. She was looking very proud of herself. Daniel nodded and looked to make sure that Simon was still conscious. He still seemed shocked and more than a little scared but he wasn’t unconscious so Daniel relaxed a little.
“What’s the problem?” Daniel started a little at the sound of Simon’s voice. He hadn’t expected his colleague to be able to speak given the apparent state of him. Still it took a lot of the pressure of him. Iggle Piggle was shaking his foot and squeaking something which was possibly his hand but could just as easily be a paw. Ruth was concentrating a great deal as she tried to translate. Daniel couldn’t help but wonder where on earth taught a class on translating Iggle Piggle.
“Iggle is saying that he has been having some feelings towards a friend of his that he doesn’t quite understand – her name is Upsy Daisy but he wants to call her is Daisy doo – or at least I think that is right?” At this Iggle nodded his large head and seemed to smile although it was quite hard to say.
“Is it possible that you love her? As in you want to date her?” Daniel asked, not entirely certain if he was really having this conversation. He watches as something, possibly confusion, passed over the face of the teddy bear creature. Ruth was watching Iggle carefully and seemed entirely unsure of how to proceed.
“I don’t think he understands Daniel. I mean Iggle is rather innocent – how would you ask Izzie?” Ruth asked and seeing the rather stricken look on Daniel’s face she thought for a moment in order to revise the way in which to ask her question. “ok maybe Isobel’s a bit young. How about if Ronnie asked you how to ask Bracken?” Daniel smiled a little.
“I would tell him to find a Chinese speaker in order to get her used to the language” Nobody laughed at his joke and Daniel sighed “ok seriously do you feel like you want to spend lots and lots of time with that person just you and her?” He smiled feeling proud of himself. Iggle nodded and rattled and squeaked.
“He says Daisy is his best friend and that he feels funny around her. Bubbly and funny” Ruth shrugged a little “sometimes these characters don’t have a good vocab. Be thankful you got Iggle.”
“Ok then” Daniel answered, trying to place Iggle because he was still struggling and now Ruth was calling him a character. This was all quite bizarre.
“Well Iggle I think we can quite clearly say you are in love with Upsy Daisy. Unfortunately there is no medication for this but maybe you could tell her that you love her” Simon reasoned now looking relaxed. He seemed to be much more control of the situation than Daniel was which worried Daniel greatly. Iggle squeaked and rattled rapidly obviously in some degree of distress. Ruth was scribbling with speed on her notepad trying desperately hard to keep her without missing an important word.
“He says that Daisy is a little different than his other friends. She brings her bed with her constantly and is always kissing and hugging anyone because she is so kind” Ruth was struggling to stay serious at this point and even Daniel was a little unsure of whether it was alright to laugh or not. The realisation had now dawned on him. The characters he had watched with Izzie earlier were the ones being discussed her. This teddy bear was THE Iggle Piggle who had Izzie delighted and excited by just being in a boat and going to a garden of the night. Where he appeared to love a woman of rather loose morals given her affinity for kissing and hugging and bringing a bed with her which Daniel was now thinking could possible for ease of service. In fact thinking back there seemed to be a lot of kissing in this garden of the night characters chasing each other around for a rather passionate kiss but they were not Daisy. They appeared younger. For a moment Daniel wonder if they were treated here too. But his mind was whirling and at the heart of this was a flashing light telling him how non of this could be real because all of these characters were from Children’s Television. They were not real.
“You should talk to her Iggle” Simon said with a smile which seemed to signal the end of the appointment for Ruth helped Iggle to stand up. Simon stood too and began to walk out of the room with the pair of them. Daniel followed to as the procession moved to the reception area where the rest of the staff were stood around smiling inanely. Isobel was looking at them like they were insane. She turned and saw the blue creature.
“IGGLE PIGGLE!” She shouted her voice abnormally high and ear splittingly loud and caused everyone, apart from Iggle, to jump backwards. Iggle smiled at the little girl and approached the child rattling his foot and squeaking his hand to her apparent delight. Daniel too smiled seeing the happiness on his little girls face. She appeared to be enjoying this far more than he was. After a moment Ruth gently took Iggle’s hand and lead him to the door out of which Daniel could see his boat was parked in the car park. Iggle exited and got in to his boat holding his blanket tightly. He waved in a friendly manner towards the Mill staff and everyone waved back smiling.
But the happy atmosphere was broken when Michelle and Cherry stepped in to the car park at the wrong moment. Iggle saw them and panicked, his boat lurched and jumped. His face was filled with terrified or as much as it could. The lurching boat rose and seemed not to be following the teddy’s direction which worried Julia and Ruth greatly particularly given Julia worked hard to maintain the surgeries accreditation with the Children Character and Cartoon Doctor Service which allowed them to care for and treat any character and cartoon from the children’s television channels. She was waiting on confirmation of an accreditation from the adult character division. She had dreams of treating the Simpsons because of their high profile. Iggle Piggle and friends she felt were something of short term patients like the Teletubbies but the Simpsons had been around for so long they were almost sure fire long term patients and these characters did pay well. That said though she still had a soft spot for dear old Bungle. It had hurt her greatly to have to have him section but his addiction had gone too far and see knew she could no longer help him but she was certain that George would care for him. Her Teddy Bear Centre seemed to be doing well although it seemed a shame she had to hide it from everyone. Even now Julia couldn’t help but feel that China wasn’t the best of excuses to use.
“That was interesting” Daniel said, giving Izzie a cuddle. The rest of the staff were smiling now seeing another happy character leave the surgery.
“Iggle is easy Daniel. He can at least communicate in a language which is understandable to those trained. George’s centre helped Ruth tremendously” Julia groaned a little at her slip up. But luckily nobody seemed to have paid much heed. “Some of our characters don’t speak at all or they use only a few words – Sooty is the worst but for all the difficult ones there’s the easy ones like Charlie and Lola, Peppa, Tuck, Ming Ming and Linny. Of course vet work is a little more complicated but to be honest most of them have human qualities which sort that out in a way”. Daniel signed believing this was too much to take in.
“I’ll see you all tomorrow. This is too much” he said quickly, walking out with Izzie as fast as he could manage. He drove him in a daze while Izzie sang the Iggle Piggle song to herself in a jumbled but very sweet way. When he got in to the door he suddenly felt very, very tired. He took Izzie back in to the living room and saw that on the TV was non other than Iggle Piggle and he was holding hands with Upsy Daisy and looking very contented. Obviously his jumpy boat hadn’t affected his journey too much. Izzie looked at the Iggle on the screen and grinned as if to say most kids only get to see him on TV but I’ve met him.
Daniel sat down with Izzie on his lap and slowly fell asleep. He awoke almost two hours later. CBeebies was a blank screen the channel having turned off hours ago. His mind whirled and spun as he tried to make sense of his day. Izzie was looking at him smiling a knowing smile. She titled her head and grinned wider showing off her baby teeth. For a moment Daniel wondered if they had shared a dream or a reality then he decided to just forget it for the time being although he did have a sudden urge to ring George to check of the state of an old childhood friend of his.
Enjoy!
And a big thanks to JB - for helping me with characters and ideas.
In The Doctors' Surgery
“Are you absolutely sure that you’ve got everything?” Lisa Torres asked Daniel for what seemed like the ten thousandth time. She casted unsure glances in his direction as he tried to balance Isobel on his hip and the ten ton bag she had supplied him with. To the best of his knowledge he had never carried this much with him during the time he had cared for his daughter solo and as she was now older, he had presumed would come with less equipment so to speak.
“Relax Lisa – She’s staying with me for two days. It’s not like your leaving her with me for over a month without supplies” His words were tinged with an acidic bite at the reference to how he had initially come to know his daughter. She recoiled slightly from him – his words hitting home. For a brief second she considered removing her child from his arms and taking her home but she was getting desperate for some time to herself and Daniel was, she had to admit, a good father even if his past was rather unsavoury in her eyes.
“Alright,” she relented, stepping closer and giving her daughter a kiss “I’ll see you in two days time sweetie – and Daniel any problems you ring me straight away” She gave her daughter one last look feeling a tug at her heart before stepping out of the house. As the door closed, Daniel began to walk through the living room of the house dumping the bag down on to the floor. Before sitting down on the sofa with Isobel on his lap, he smiled at her.
“Well Miss Izzie – it’s just you and me now so what shall we get up to?” He grinned at her, and watched with delight as she stared back at him with her quizzical, innocent expression. He had missed her a great deal. She gave him a grin.
“Beebies” She spoke the word clearly and with obvious pride at being able to answer his question. Daniel beamed too at hearing his daughter speak to him. It excited him to an extent the idea of being able to hold something resembling a conversation with his little girl although in a way it scared him as well because he had heard many horror stories of little ones repeating the wrong word or phrase at very inappropriate times. Beebies however was not a word Daniel was entirely familiar with. Twisting on his knee, Izzie turned so she was facing away from him and so that she was looking in the direction of the television. Daniel said a quick, silent thank you to the powers that be for the clue that his daughter had given him. Daniel reached for the television remote which rested on the arm of the sofa and pressed the guide button followed by the button which would lead him to the children’s channels. With a smile he found CBeebies which was what he believed his daughter had asked for. He pressed the button and prepared himself to watch Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies which seemed to him a rather sensible title for a children’s show given that most of those surrounding it were rather unusual.
The show seemed to drag for an eternity for Daniel and even Isobel seemed a little restless on his knee. But finally the next show seemed lined up to be aired and with a sinking sensation Daniel waiting for it to begin certain that it was going to be just as horrific as the last. As the opening starting, Izzie bounced a little on his lap – a high pitched squeal emitting from her mouth. It was a sound which if any higher would not have been audible to the human ear. And as the opening continued she started to bounce with even more rigour shouting names with an excitement Daniel did not believe any human could physically feel.
As the show continued Daniel felt himself feeling tired. His eyes were drooping lower and lower and he was finding it very difficult to be able to keep them open. Isobel was slouching against him she too was getting a little bit sleepy but she was still watching the show. Finally Daniel could fight it no longer and he slipped in to a very deep sleep.
It was until hours later that Daniel awakened. The television was talking to itself two cooks – one who was normal sized and one who was quite small – were on the screen acting in a way which Daniel found very bizarre. Isobel was still asleep on top of him but she seemed to weigh very little even though she was pressed quite close. He raised himself in to a more upright position and felt a little bit strange. There was a strange tingling sensation in the palm of his hand which he just could not put his finger on. He raised his arm and rubbed at his eyes trying to correct his vision. There wasn’t the normal blur to his sight that came after he’d just woken up but instead everything just seemed far too bright. He watched as he taught stirred and then woke, looking up at him with a strange expression and for the briefest of moments he expected her to cry for her mum. Instead she grinned at him in a still sleepy way.
“How about we go and visit some of daddy’s friends?” He asked his daughter, wanting to get out of the house and prove to himself that the world was still its normal colour. Besides he was certain that Julia would like to see Isobel again and to coo over how much the little girl had grown. In fact he expected much the same from all of his female colleagues who seemed to go completely gaga whenever a young child was nearby – particularly if that child had the blood of one of their own coursing through his or her veins. Without waiting for a reply, he scooped his daughter up and balanced her on his hip. He looked at the large bag but decided that he would survive without it he couldn’t face lugging it around with him.
The journey to the surgery was as normal as could be. The sky was bright and clear and totally different from the usual climate of Leatherbridge but Daniel was not going to complain about this. The nice weather meant that he would be able to take Izzie to the park later on. He pulled in to the car park at the surgery and almost did a double take for a large bush he did not recall was now residing near to the surgery. He was quite certain it had not been there yesterday but then again foliage wasn’t exactly something he took much note of. Still this bush was rather strangely shaped and seemed for some reason to have holes cut out of it.
Sighing he freed Isobel from her car seat and carried her in to the surgery. The reception was strangely empty of patients but was buzzing with staff. They were all milling around the reception area looking rather panicked. Standing in the doorway, he counted the heads as they moved and realised that now he had arrive only Simon was missing. He stepped further in to what seemed to be a mad house.
“What’s going on?” he asked looking at the frenzied group and wondering whether the sensible people he’d left yesterday had gone. Ok so he expected a degree of eccentricity and strangeness from Heston but the rest of the bunch he actually thought to be sane human beings – although the way they were acting now was seriously damaging this belief.
“Oh Daniel – thank god you are here. We have a very important patient coming and we are just run ragged trying to sort things out” that was Julia who had paused in her search in order to see him. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Isobel and she rushed towards him lifting the baby out of his arms “and Isobel my you have grown” she then rushed off still carrying Izzie to continue her seemingly headless chicken style search.
“This person must be very important,” Daniel mused allowed as he watched the chaos. Julia had place Isobel down on the ground now and was guiding the little girl in the task of panicking. He stepped further in to the rush, wanting to lift his daughter out of fear that she would be crushed by the seemingly unseeing colleagues. “Is there anything I do to help?”
“You can go supervise Simon. It’s his patient and we just aren’t sure how he’s going to cope on his own so you’ll have to help him,” Julia said turning to him once again. She gave a small smile which Daniel struggled to read. “I’ll keep an eye on Isobel. Ruth’ll be with you too our VIP gets rather stressed and that causes problems – he gets on with Ruth though” Daniel nodded.
“I’ll go through to him now” Daniel said softly, gently placing a kiss on Isobel’s forehead before placing her down on the vacant receptionists chair. She waved at him proudly.
“Bye bye” she called as he walked away from her. Daniel turned back and smiled at the sight of his daughter sat proudly behind the reception desk. Already working hard at her young age – he made a mental note to inform Lisa about their daughter’s new career. Daniel walked round to the room used by Simon. He was sat at the desk looking at the screen in confusion. Despite the fact the monitor and base registered as being on the screen was completely black apart from the mouse.
“Looks like it’s you and me Simon” Daniel said in greeting. He watched as the young doctor turned to him pushing his glasses further up his nose. He gave his colleague a smile and Daniel felt a surge of relief – Simon was definitely his normal self. The madness seemed not to have affected him.
“Do you know anything about this patient?” Simon asked, sounding more than a little bit worried, “There’s nothing on the system for his appointment and to be honest a moment ago the screen went mental – all bright colours with flowers unfurling” Daniel almost laughed wondering suddenly whether everyone was in on a joke that he was the butt of but he was almost certain Simon wouldn’t be able to pull it off as skilfully as he was doing at that moment.
“Simon we’ve dealt with so many patients before and cured the majority of them so well I don’t see many of them more than once so in all honesty this one isn’t going to be any problem” Simon relaxed slightly and Daniel took the spare chair at the back of the room and prepared himself to wait. He had a very uneasy feeling about this.
Out in the reception the frenzied panic had calmed considerably. A trail had been laid around the reception area resembling a brick path – Daniel had failed to notice this. The room had been tied considerably and more plants brought in. The staff had also changed their own appearances and appeared to be considerably brighter than the usually did. They had an emergency clothes box behind the desk for occasions such as this although in recent months they hadn’t had much cause to use it. These patients just didn’t come along as often as they used to. Julia still remembered fondly the first time she had been confronted by one of the very special patients. She had of course recognised him but she had found it all to be rather strange the commotion it had caused. But as time had passed it had come to be second nature to her. She could remember the first time for each doctor. She did feel rather guilty that the job had fallen to Simon this time but she knew it could not be helped. The other doctors were needed elsewhere and Michelle and Cherry were no use because the poor bloke was quite scared of them after the diabolical event when they had tried to take a sample from him. It had taken the combined efforts of Heston, Ruth and Julia herself to calm him down. That had been the last time. Daniel turning up was both a curse and blessing she reasoned. He had never been here before when they had had those special patients so she was quite concerned that he wouldn’t react brilliantly. He always was quite a difficulty person. He was very closed off and private. But Isobel may have opened him up a little and besides which it would be useful to have a team of colleagues all trained in this area.
“Are you certain Simon is ready Julia? I could have him” Heston was saying. He was the only staff member who had not required the emergency clothing box instead wearing just his regular outfit. Julia turned to him and smiled.
“Simon is ready Heston and besides he has Daniel to help him. Besides you wouldn’t like this one – you like to interrogate them and that just isn’t an option in this case” Heston slumped a little and sighed deeply. This was an area that greatly interested him.
“Michelle and Cherry are going to be out front right? Making sure we have no other visitors?” Ruth asked looking up from her notepad which she was holding tightly in her hands. She felt a great deal of pride at having been specially picked to look after the patient having developed a good rapport with him in previous visits. She was quite concerned about Michelle and Cherry scaring him and about the surgeries secret being uncovered because she knew that without the Mill these patients would have nowhere else to go.
“We know our job Ruth” Michelle said bitterly. She didn’t like being away from the action but at least she wouldn’t be alone. Before Cherry had arrived at the surgery she had had to do the watch along because Archie wasn’t a threat apparently. In fact Michelle was already plotting her way of making another patient take to her just as Ruth had done in this case it was just a case of that patient arriving and she was very difficult to track down just to the ever moving nature of her home – which was in all fairness just one piece of furniture.
“He’s coming. Action stations” Julia called as the staff jumped to their prearranged positions with Michelle and Cherry darting out of the back door.
Five minutes passed and Simon and Daniel were still seated in their room waiting not so patiently. Finally a knock sounded on the door and Jimmi’s voice called through to them telling them to get ready because the patient was in the building. As he walked away, Daniel was almost certain that he heard his friend laugh. But he couldn’t be certain.
Another few minutes and there was another knock. This time Daniel was very much doubting he was hearing because he was almost certain that on the other side of the door he heard a sound very much like a squeak and then a rattle. Daniel gulped doubting himself and his sanity and wondering how quickly Julia was going to have him sectioned when all this came out. Then the door opened and Ruth stuck her head round and smiled.
“Your patient’s here. This way Mr Piggle” She said turning towards the corridor and reaching out a hand. Daniel raised his eyebrows at the sound of the name because it sounded so very unusual and yet he was almost certain he had heard it only recently. The door opened fully and Ruth walked in, something blue held tightly in her hand. A few seconds later a blue creature followed behind her. It was a strange looking creature it looked almost teddy bear like. In its free hand it clutched a red blanket. Simon was blinking rapidly and looked to be in danger of passing out cold.
“Take a seat Mr erm Piggle” Daniel gulped out. He was very much in shock himself. Ruth, however, did not seem to be in the slightest bit concerned about the fact her patient was not of the same species that she was. The creature sat down and shook his foot a little emitting a rattling sound. Ruth turned her full attention to him and nodded.
“He says to call him Iggle – Nobody uses Mr Piggle” Ruth smiles translating for her patient. She was looking very proud of herself. Daniel nodded and looked to make sure that Simon was still conscious. He still seemed shocked and more than a little scared but he wasn’t unconscious so Daniel relaxed a little.
“What’s the problem?” Daniel started a little at the sound of Simon’s voice. He hadn’t expected his colleague to be able to speak given the apparent state of him. Still it took a lot of the pressure of him. Iggle Piggle was shaking his foot and squeaking something which was possibly his hand but could just as easily be a paw. Ruth was concentrating a great deal as she tried to translate. Daniel couldn’t help but wonder where on earth taught a class on translating Iggle Piggle.
“Iggle is saying that he has been having some feelings towards a friend of his that he doesn’t quite understand – her name is Upsy Daisy but he wants to call her is Daisy doo – or at least I think that is right?” At this Iggle nodded his large head and seemed to smile although it was quite hard to say.
“Is it possible that you love her? As in you want to date her?” Daniel asked, not entirely certain if he was really having this conversation. He watches as something, possibly confusion, passed over the face of the teddy bear creature. Ruth was watching Iggle carefully and seemed entirely unsure of how to proceed.
“I don’t think he understands Daniel. I mean Iggle is rather innocent – how would you ask Izzie?” Ruth asked and seeing the rather stricken look on Daniel’s face she thought for a moment in order to revise the way in which to ask her question. “ok maybe Isobel’s a bit young. How about if Ronnie asked you how to ask Bracken?” Daniel smiled a little.
“I would tell him to find a Chinese speaker in order to get her used to the language” Nobody laughed at his joke and Daniel sighed “ok seriously do you feel like you want to spend lots and lots of time with that person just you and her?” He smiled feeling proud of himself. Iggle nodded and rattled and squeaked.
“He says Daisy is his best friend and that he feels funny around her. Bubbly and funny” Ruth shrugged a little “sometimes these characters don’t have a good vocab. Be thankful you got Iggle.”
“Ok then” Daniel answered, trying to place Iggle because he was still struggling and now Ruth was calling him a character. This was all quite bizarre.
“Well Iggle I think we can quite clearly say you are in love with Upsy Daisy. Unfortunately there is no medication for this but maybe you could tell her that you love her” Simon reasoned now looking relaxed. He seemed to be much more control of the situation than Daniel was which worried Daniel greatly. Iggle squeaked and rattled rapidly obviously in some degree of distress. Ruth was scribbling with speed on her notepad trying desperately hard to keep her without missing an important word.
“He says that Daisy is a little different than his other friends. She brings her bed with her constantly and is always kissing and hugging anyone because she is so kind” Ruth was struggling to stay serious at this point and even Daniel was a little unsure of whether it was alright to laugh or not. The realisation had now dawned on him. The characters he had watched with Izzie earlier were the ones being discussed her. This teddy bear was THE Iggle Piggle who had Izzie delighted and excited by just being in a boat and going to a garden of the night. Where he appeared to love a woman of rather loose morals given her affinity for kissing and hugging and bringing a bed with her which Daniel was now thinking could possible for ease of service. In fact thinking back there seemed to be a lot of kissing in this garden of the night characters chasing each other around for a rather passionate kiss but they were not Daisy. They appeared younger. For a moment Daniel wonder if they were treated here too. But his mind was whirling and at the heart of this was a flashing light telling him how non of this could be real because all of these characters were from Children’s Television. They were not real.
“You should talk to her Iggle” Simon said with a smile which seemed to signal the end of the appointment for Ruth helped Iggle to stand up. Simon stood too and began to walk out of the room with the pair of them. Daniel followed to as the procession moved to the reception area where the rest of the staff were stood around smiling inanely. Isobel was looking at them like they were insane. She turned and saw the blue creature.
“IGGLE PIGGLE!” She shouted her voice abnormally high and ear splittingly loud and caused everyone, apart from Iggle, to jump backwards. Iggle smiled at the little girl and approached the child rattling his foot and squeaking his hand to her apparent delight. Daniel too smiled seeing the happiness on his little girls face. She appeared to be enjoying this far more than he was. After a moment Ruth gently took Iggle’s hand and lead him to the door out of which Daniel could see his boat was parked in the car park. Iggle exited and got in to his boat holding his blanket tightly. He waved in a friendly manner towards the Mill staff and everyone waved back smiling.
But the happy atmosphere was broken when Michelle and Cherry stepped in to the car park at the wrong moment. Iggle saw them and panicked, his boat lurched and jumped. His face was filled with terrified or as much as it could. The lurching boat rose and seemed not to be following the teddy’s direction which worried Julia and Ruth greatly particularly given Julia worked hard to maintain the surgeries accreditation with the Children Character and Cartoon Doctor Service which allowed them to care for and treat any character and cartoon from the children’s television channels. She was waiting on confirmation of an accreditation from the adult character division. She had dreams of treating the Simpsons because of their high profile. Iggle Piggle and friends she felt were something of short term patients like the Teletubbies but the Simpsons had been around for so long they were almost sure fire long term patients and these characters did pay well. That said though she still had a soft spot for dear old Bungle. It had hurt her greatly to have to have him section but his addiction had gone too far and see knew she could no longer help him but she was certain that George would care for him. Her Teddy Bear Centre seemed to be doing well although it seemed a shame she had to hide it from everyone. Even now Julia couldn’t help but feel that China wasn’t the best of excuses to use.
“That was interesting” Daniel said, giving Izzie a cuddle. The rest of the staff were smiling now seeing another happy character leave the surgery.
“Iggle is easy Daniel. He can at least communicate in a language which is understandable to those trained. George’s centre helped Ruth tremendously” Julia groaned a little at her slip up. But luckily nobody seemed to have paid much heed. “Some of our characters don’t speak at all or they use only a few words – Sooty is the worst but for all the difficult ones there’s the easy ones like Charlie and Lola, Peppa, Tuck, Ming Ming and Linny. Of course vet work is a little more complicated but to be honest most of them have human qualities which sort that out in a way”. Daniel signed believing this was too much to take in.
“I’ll see you all tomorrow. This is too much” he said quickly, walking out with Izzie as fast as he could manage. He drove him in a daze while Izzie sang the Iggle Piggle song to herself in a jumbled but very sweet way. When he got in to the door he suddenly felt very, very tired. He took Izzie back in to the living room and saw that on the TV was non other than Iggle Piggle and he was holding hands with Upsy Daisy and looking very contented. Obviously his jumpy boat hadn’t affected his journey too much. Izzie looked at the Iggle on the screen and grinned as if to say most kids only get to see him on TV but I’ve met him.
Daniel sat down with Izzie on his lap and slowly fell asleep. He awoke almost two hours later. CBeebies was a blank screen the channel having turned off hours ago. His mind whirled and spun as he tried to make sense of his day. Izzie was looking at him smiling a knowing smile. She titled her head and grinned wider showing off her baby teeth. For a moment Daniel wondered if they had shared a dream or a reality then he decided to just forget it for the time being although he did have a sudden urge to ring George to check of the state of an old childhood friend of his.