Casualty

CHAPTER ONE

Emergency!

'Gail, you must have a rest. Go and have a coffee.'

Gail looked round. Dr Kennedy was standing behind her. She looked down at the man in the bed.

'He's OK,' said Dr Kennedy. 'I'm here now. Go on, you're tired.'

Gail smiled. 'Are you sure?' she said.

'You've been here for five hours. You can't work all night! Come back in twenty minutes.'

'But it's Saturday night. We're always very busy on Saturdays...'

'Go on!' said the doctor.

Gail looked at him. He was tired, too. Saturday was always busy in the casualty department. There were road accidents, fights, and all the other emergencies.

'All right,' she said. 'I'm going.'

She walked to the coffee machine, and bought a cup of coffee. Then she went to the small office for nurses, and sat down. The coffee wasn't very good. She didn't like coffee from machines. Gail took a newspaper from the desk, and opened it. She looked at one or two stories. They weren't very interesting. Then she stopped. There was a big picture of Alex Hayle on the page. She liked his new record... What was it?... Ah, yes, Midnight Party. She read the story.

New Face in Midhurst - Concert Tonight

Alex Hayle is singing in Midhurst tonight! Alex was the singer in the rock group New Face until last year. New Face had six Top Ten hits in Britain, and they have sold over twenty million records in the United States. Alex left the group for a solo career in September. Since then he has had three number one records, and he is the biggest star of the year. He is twenty-three. His concert is at the Midhurst United football stadium at 9 o'clock.

Gail looked at her watch. The concert finished at midnight. It was half past twelve now. It was Sunday morning. Gail looked at the next page. Suddenly she heard the bell. There was an emergency!

She hurried back into the casualty department. Dr Kennedy was running towards the door.

'An ambulance is arriving. There's been a car crash!' he shouted. 'Come on!'

Gail ran after him. Two ambulance men were coming through the door with a stretcher. She looked down. There was a man on the stretcher. She couldn't see his face. There was a lot of blood.