Tug Turner

by Brian Taylor.

Chapter 3.

As Neil was putting on his coat to go to church, he spoke to his parents. "Mum… dad… is it okay if I visit Tug after church?"
"Of course it is, son." nodded his dad.
"As long as you're back by one for lunch." added his mum.
"Thanks! You … er … don't have anything I could take him do you?" he asked
"I think I might have just the thing." said his mum opening a cupboard and taking out a bottle of Lucozade.
"Mmmm. Not your usual teenage drink. But it'll have to do. I might just buy him a bag of sweets on the way."

When the family got to church, Neil went to sit with his friends from 'Seekers', the Sunday Club for twelve to fifteen year olds. The group left the Service after 15 minutes and went to a room for their own activities. Neil usually enjoyed Seekers enormously, but this Sunday he couldn't get Tug out of his mind. So, it was a great relief when half-ten came and it was all over. Neil said goodbye to his mates and hurried off to catch a bus to the hospital. He noticed it was ten past eleven when he got to the reception desk. "Excuse me." he said.
The security man who was doubling as a receptionist looked up. "And what can I do for you, young sir?"
"Could you please tell me which ward Tug Turner’s on?"
The man turned to look at a computer screen, tapped a few keys then said, "We have a James Turner. Would he be your friend?"
"Yes! I didn’t think…"
"Okay! Your mate's on Hook Children's Ward. Take the lifts down the end of this corridor," he said pointing to his left, "Go to the fourth floor, turn right, and you can't miss it."
"Thanks." said Neil.
Peter Pan scenes painted on the walls of the corridor gave Neil confidence that he was in the right place. On entering the ward, he stopped at the nurses' station and asked the way to Tug's bed.
"Keep going straight on. He's in side ward F. The letters are above the doors and you'll find him on the left hand side in the bed by the window."
Neil slowed his pace as he approached the side-ward. At the entrance, he paused took a deep breath, closed eyes and said a very short prayer and went in. He didn't know what sort of reception to expect and realised that he was just a little scared.
The ward had six beds in it. Each one contained a young boy surrounded by visitors. Each one, that is, except Tug's. He was sitting up in bed, propped up on pillows. Pale blue hospital pyjamas covered his ample frame and a large white bandage covered his eyes. Neil saw him in a new light. Somehow, Tug seemed to have shrunk overnight. He looked anything but a bully. He looked harmless, a sad, frightened little boy - like someone being bullied. A wave of pity came over Neil.
"Hello Tug." said Neil as cheerfully as he could.
"Whose that?"
"It’s me." replied Neil.
"Who’s me?" then after a pause in which Neil could sense Tug's struggle to put a name to the voice, he continued, "It's you God botherer isn't it? Just sod off?’"
"Yeh! Right." said Neil ignoring Tug's instruction to leave, "How are you feeling this morning?"
"How do you think." snarled Tug. "And anyway, what do you care? Just go."
"Whatever you think Tug, I do care … and I'm not going yet, the next bus doesn't go for half-an-hour. I've brought you a bottle of Lucozade and a bag of sweets. I thought you might prefer them to grapes. Sorry I didn't bring a get-well card."
"Suppose you want me to be grateful?" Tug replied grumpily.
"Not at all," replied Neil, "I just want you to get better."
"Is that so? Well the best way you can do that is to go away and stop bothering me"
"If that's what really want."
"It is. Though one thing before you do, tell me what happened last night. I remember skinny Laura thumping my arm, but how come she knocked me over, eh!?"
"She didn't. You let go of me and tried to turn to face her but your foot caught in the drain that runs around the side of the pool. You lost your balance, fell, and hit your head on the railings of the steps. Then you crashed onto the side of the pool and rolled in ending up face down."
"Who got me out?"
"I did … with some help from Dan and Gemma’s dad."
"Why'd you do it?"
"You weren't moving. You started to sink, then there was blood and it looked as if you were going to drown and the rest was just an automatic reaction …I didn't stop to think."
"Most of the kids won't thank you. They'd have been glad if I'd drowned." claimed Tug.
"Not really. I don;t think so. Admittedly no one likes you very much but that's hardly their fault when you think what you do to them. But I'm sure none would have wanted you to …"
Neil didn't finish the sentence. Tug's jaw had suddenly dropped open. His head rolled to the right. The normally red face, at least what could be seen of it, had lost all its colour and was now grey.
"Tug! You okay?" enquired a worried Neil, but there was no response.
"Nurse!" bellowed Neil at top of his voice. "Doctor! Help!"
A black nurse who'd been passing the entrance to the side-ward responded to Neil's cries for help. "What's the matter?" she asked as she ran in.
Neil pointed to where Tug lay motionless. "Something's happened. I think he may have died. Do something. Please!"
The ward went silent. Everyone held their breath. Every eye in the ward was on Tug as the nurse went swiftly to his bedside and began to check him over. After only a few seconds, she turned and smiled as other staff came hurrying in. "It's okay. Panic's over. Looks like we have a faint." The whole ward seemed to heave a sigh of relief and the noise of chatter began again.
A young man with a stethoscope around his neck stopped and spoke to Neil. "We'll need to give him a thorough check … just to be safe. You wait in the corridor for a few minutes."
Neil watched as a nurse pulled the curtains around Tug's bed, then went and sat on a chair in the corridor. He played nervously with his fingers and wondered why these emergencies happened every time he was around.

After what seemed an age but was only few minutes, the black nurse came up to Neil and said, "Your friend's awake again and he's okay. But he needs some rest. The accident did only happen yesterday and he's still in shock. I think it's best if you go home now."
"All right, but can you tell Tug I'll come back to see him in a few days."
"Of course I will." smiled the nurse.

On Monday, Tug's accident was the talk of the school. Opinions differed about what had happened to him. Some thought he only got what he deserved while others thought it a shame that Neil had saved him. One or two said that, whilst Tug was a bully, they wouldn't want him to have drowned. Neil admitted to a few of his more sympathetic classmates that he'd visited Tug in hospital. He told them how Tug was and how he'd fainted while Neil was telling him the details of the accident.
Neil couldn't visit Tug that day, but the following day, Tuesday, he went to the hospital straight after school. Tug was sitting in a chair beside the bed and was now wearing his own clothes. Though the large white bandage still hid his eyes, Neil thought he looked a little better.
Neil picked up chair at the entrance to the side-ward and put it down in front of Tug. When he heard the noise so close, Tug asked, "Who is it? Is it you mum?"
"No! It's me." came the reply.
"Oh! Downsie. I thought I told you I didn't want you around?"
It was clear that Tug wasn't in a much better mood than he'd been on the Sunday. ‘"ou're right. You did. But then I thought you might have changed your mind by now. I don't suppose you have anyone else other than family visiting you and, with not being able to see to do anything, I thought you might be bored enough…"
Tug interrupted before Neil could finish what he was going to say. "Look! Why are you doing this? Why can’t you just keep away?"
"I don't know really." mused Neil. "I can't say visiting you is the most enjoyable thing I could be doing. Especially as you go out of your way to be rude and make me feel unwelcome. I just think it's the sort of thing Jesus would want me to do."
"I wondered how long it would be before your precious Jesus came up." said Tug. "So answer me this. Why did he let me have an accident that left me blind?"
"Look!" said Neil, "It wasn't God or Jesus who caused you to fall."
"No! but he could have stopped Laura."
"And I'd have preferred it if he'd stopped you grabbing me by the neck." retorted Neil. "How far back do you go stopping people doing things that they themselves choose to do?"
Tug didn't answer. Neil continued, "Don't you see that what your asking for? You're asking God to treat us like puppets. What sort of a life would that be?"
"But he's supposed to be a God of love so how can he let horrible things happen?" persisted Tug.
"It's because He is a God of love that he won't force people to act in certain ways. Let's face it, If people behaved the way they should these things wouldn't happen. Think about it. If you weren't in the habit of picking on kids at school they'd probably like you. Then you'd have got an invitation to the party and wouldn't have needed to forge your name on my invite! If you hadn't picked on Kevin … or me … Laura wouldn't have thumped you and so on. My dad always says when we do something wrong, or right come to that, there are always consequences and those consequences can be way beyond what we can imagine. Bet you never thought that the consequences of your decision to gatecrash the party would end up with you being in hospital … blind?"
"Suppose not." admitted Tug.
"That's enough of being serious"’ said Neil, "Just think about what I've said."
"Now I notice you've got a personal CD Player, what have you been listening to?"
After forty-five minutes Neil said, "I must go. I can't come tomorrow because I have a Baptism class. But is it okay if I visit you on Thursday?"
Tug grudgingly said,"‘Suppose so."

To be continued ...

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