Good News, Bad News

Terry walked through to the lounge room, his phone to his ear, and sat on the edge of the sofa.

“Ter, I’ve got news…some good, and some bad,” Dino’s voice sounded hollow in Terry’s ear. He went cold at the mention of bad news and he slid slowly to the floor, phone still in his hand. Dino shouted down the phone, but got no reply. His friend was staring into space, seeing and hearing nothing.

“Fuck!” Dino spat, throwing down his phone and heading for the door. He needed to get to Terry…as quickly as possible.

It was mid morning before Stevo and Jeff pulled up outside the house. “I’ll just pop this in the box, Seb. No need to disturb Terry just to hand him a bill.” Jeff jumped out and trotted to the front door, popping the envelope through the letterbox before jogging back. “I’ll give him a call later and check to see if he has any questions,” Jeff smiled as he buckled himself in before Stevo drove off.

Day changed to night, and still Terry sat in a trance. Jeff called, but assumed Terry was out when he got no reply. It was late the following evening when a rental roared up the drive, screeching to a halt in a cloud of dust. The driver door flew open, and a streak of red rushed to the door.

Dino hammered for a couple of minutes, then tried the handle…locked. He went round the back of the house and found the patio door ajar. Pushing it open he entered the dark house.

“Ter?” he called…no reply. Fumbling around until he found a lamp, he switched t on and looked around. “Shit!” he exclaimed when he saw Terry in a crumpled heap on the floor. Remembering the emergency code for Australia, he dialed triple zero and asked for an ambulance.

Before too long they arrived at the hospital in Coffs. Dino refused to leave his friend’s side, so to stop any disturbance, the doctors didn’t insist that he leave whilst they examined Terry.

Dino explained that he’d called his friend with some news that was not altogether good, and that he began to worry when Terry went silent over the phone. He said he got there as fast as he could.

“How long ago was that?” the doctor asked.

“Day before yesterday,” Dino replied. When the doctor gave him a strange look he added, “ I was in North Africa when I made the call.”

The doctor shook his head in wonder. That was truly a good friend to fly half way around the globe to check on a mate. He turned back to Terry, who was laying on the examination bed staring at the ceiling, and began checking him over.

All was quiet for a while until he barked some orders at the nurse by his side. He turned to Dino and took him by the arm. “Come with me, you look like you could do with a drink; don’t worry, Mr. Thorne is in good hands.”

He led Dino down the hall and through a door that led to his office. Walking over to the bubbling coffee machine, he poured out two mugs, handing one to Dino.

“How is he, Doc?”

“Well, from my initial examination I would say that it’s mainly dehydration. We’ll keep him overnight and get some fluids into him. Depending on how he goes tonight, we’ll most likely let him home tomorrow.”

“That’s good news, Doc. I’ll stay with him, he doesn’t need to be alone right now.”

“No worries. We’ll get him in a room that has a recliner in it, no need for you to be uncomfortable.”

The following morning, Dino was able to take Terry home. Luckily, he’d followed the ambo in his rental so didn’t need to get a cab all the way back to The Glen. He led Terry into his new home and sat him down.

“I’ll put the kettle on, my friend, make you a cup of tea.”

Terry managed a small tired smile before rubbing his face with his hands. He wanted to know what Dino had to tell him, but at the same time he didn’t want to hear it. He waited silently until Dino came in with two steaming mugs.

“Get it over with, mate,” Terry spoke.

Dino took a sip of his coffee and placed his mug on the coffee table, sitting forward resting his elbows on his knees. He looked at his best friend’s tired face and took a deep breath.

“I told you I had some good news and bad news. Well…the good news is that we found M.” He watched as Terry sat up straighter.

“And the bad news?”

Dino swallowed. This was going to be hard for Terry to take, and he was a little concerned at how his friend would react.

“Terry, the bad news is…she’s not coming back…”