She glanced across at Flo, whose eyes were glued to the road about a metre in front of her as instructed by Fola, who said there was no point in looking up ahead when what really mattered was the next step she took. And the next. She’d sent him on his way fairly sharpish after that, but it seemed some of what he said had stuck.
Sue tried to think of a joke, something, anything to lighten the mood hunkering around them like the misty cloudscape they were cycling towards. The only joke she could remember was one Dean had told her back when they were about six. It went something along the lines of what was black and white and red all over but she couldn’t remember if a newspaper or a frog in a blender was the answer, so …
‘And will you turn that bloody music off!’ Flo bellowed at Becky who had been trying and failing to hit just the right note with a Sia anthem that, Sue presumed, was meant to be inspiring.
They heard the van screech and then, rather terrifyingly, it surged towards them, sending the three of them flying into the streaming ditches to avoid getting hit by Becky, one of the most generous and kind women any of them had ever met who, it now seemed, was trying to kill them?
Sue pulled herself out of the ditch, wishing Flo’s mood hadn’t gone quite so dark. It was one thing to snipe at her, but at Becky? Really?
‘Everyone alright?’ Raven asked, taking special care to help Flo who was, unsurprisingly, furious.
Sue looked ahead to where the van had skidded to a halt at a cross angle in the small country lane. This was definitely not the way Becky parked, or drove for that matter.
She left her bike in the ditch and ran up to the van.
Becky was sat in the front seat, ashen faced, covered in sweat, arms crossed tightly over her chest.
‘Becky? Is everything—’
‘Sorry, sorry, sorry. My chest. It’s just. God. Sorry. My arm started hurting and then my other one and now I—’ she broke off, sweat pouring down from her temples. ‘I think I—oh, god, I think I’m going to be sick.’
She pushed the door open, sending Sue flying, but had forgotten to take her seat belt off so hung there, wretching onto the step that she had bounced on and off of throughout the journey, happy as a lark.
‘Is everything okay—’ Raven ran up to the van, quickly taking in the scene. ‘Becky!’ She unbuckled her and somehow managed to hoist/carry her out of the van onto the side of the road. ‘Do you have food poisoning? Did you drink something last night?’
‘No – I …’ Becky doubled over, wretching so hard her entire body shook.
When she’d recovered, she began to whimper in short, sharp breaths.
‘She’s having a heart attack.’
Sue and Raven turned to see Flo looking very much like old Flo. Efficient, capable, ready to tackle a challenge.
‘Sue, you ring 999. Raven, lay her out flat in the back of the van, find a blanket or something – we don’t want her out here in the wet.’ Flo pulled open the side door the van. ‘I’ll try to find some aspirin.’
Sue pulled off her backpack, dug into the zippy bag she’d stored her phone in then dialled 999. Nothing. She dialled it again. Nothing.
‘I can’t get any signal,’ Sue hit her phone against her leg as if that would suddenly cause all five bars to pop into life.
Nothing.
She glared at the phone. No. This was not going to happen. Not on her watch.
‘Where’s your phone, Raven?’
Raven pointed to the camelbak still on her back. Sue dug round until she found it. Same thing. No signal.
Flo came round the corner with a bottle of aspirin, tipping one into her hand and instructing Becky, ‘Here you are darling. You’ve got to chew it. It’ll be disgusting but you must do it. Raven, can you get a bottle of water for the lass, please?’
‘Flo, we need your phone.’
Flo dipped into the pocket of her waterproof jacket and pulled it out. The front glass was fogged and the touch screen refused to respond. They all looked at one another in despair. ‘It must’ve got soaked when I went into the ditch.’ Her voice held no accusations. It was just a fact. Becky had begun to have a heart attack and they’d all fallen in the ditch and now they were out here in the middle of a deserted country lane on a miserable Sunday morning with absolutely no one about and no phone signal and a woman’s life entirely dependent upon them.
‘Oh, shit.’ Raven sagged as Becky went limp. ‘She passed out.’
They all shifted her into place in the back of the van. Flo clamboured in and shook Becky by her shoulders, then rubbed her knuckles hard against her chest.
‘Stop! Don’t, please,’ cried Sue. ‘You’ll hurt her.’
‘It’s a sternum rub,’ Flo said matter of factly. ‘Painful stimuli determines whether or not she’s fainted or is unconscious.’
Becky didn’t respond at all which meant ‘…CPR’ they all said.
Sue shook her shoulders and bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. If anyone was well equipped to save a woman from a heart attack it was three 111 call operators, one of whom had also been a flight attendant.
‘Start the van,’ Raven said to Stu. ‘Find her iPod and put on “Staying Alive”.’
Flo gave a quick nod of approval but Sue remained motionless. ‘This is hardly the time to listen to music.’
‘It’s the beat at which you’re meant to do the compressions,’ Raven reminded her.
‘Shouldn’t we be trying to bring her to hospital?’ Sue asked, her voice growing more and more high pitched as Flo began ripping open the many layers of Becky’s earth mother ensemble.
Flo
