Soldiering on (All Creatures Great and Small, m, flu, 2/2)

[Guest]

I've been watching the recent remake of All Creature Great and Small https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1059006 - about a veterinary practice in northern England in 1937. James Herriot is the young, new vet, Siegfried (who despite the name is very posh and English) is the head of the practice, and Tristan is Siegfried's younger brother, in training to be a vet. Mrs Hall is their housekeeper. Helen Alderson is the daughter of one of the local farmers, and Jenny is Helen's little sister.. She and James look like they might be about to get together, but at James's birthday party, she turns out to be engaged to the local landowner, Hugh leaving James pretty bereft. In the final episode, Siegfried gets flu, and this story continues from there imagining what if James caught it afterwards. There is more to come, although nothing you could even generously call plot!

This is the cast (left to right: Mrs Hall, Siegfried, James Herriot, Helen Alderson, Tristan).

 

A few days after his birthday party, James Herriot went to bed with a slightly scratchy throat, and woke up feeling like he’d been kicked by Mr Sharpe’s horse. His head was throbbing, his throat was on fire, and all his muscles ached as though he’d run a marathon in his sleep.

Blinking groggily, he took stock. The dawn light coming through the little bedroom window told him it was still early, so he tried to keep quiet as he dragged himself out of bed, not wanting to wake Tristan in the little adjoining room.

James crept downstairs in search of a glass of water, but just as he was passing it the hall telephone began to ring. The shrill sound corkscrewed right into his headache, and on instinct, he picked it up.

“Darrowby 2297?” His voice came out as a croak.

“It’s Helen Alderson. Is that James?”

James quickly tried to clear his throat. His nose was itching and he rubbed at it with his knuckles. “Yes. Helen, hullo. What’s the matter?”

“I’m sorry to bother you. Jenny thinks there’s something wrong with Poppy, the kitten you gave her. I can’t see anything wrong with it, but she’s adamant there is. I thought I’d better call and see if you could come out. Me and dad don’t have time to drive into Darrowby today, I’m afraid.”

James glanced at his watch; there should be time. Even with the news of her recent engagement, his heart pounded at the thought of seeing Helen.

“Don’t worry, I can come by now and be back before surgery.” Suddenly needing to sneeze, he held the handset away from him and pinched his nose shut. “NTCH-chu!!” Pain stabbed in his head from the pressure of the sneeze. He put the phone back to his ear and caught the end of what Helen was saying.

“…see you later.”

“Yes, bye,” he managed, and hung up, just as Mrs Hall appeared in the kitchen doorway, housecoat on and mop in hand.

“Morning James, you’re up early. Who was that?”

“Helen Alderson,” he replied, rubbing at his nose, which was itching again. “Jenny thinks there’s something wrong with her kitten, I’m going out there now.”

“Do you want some breakfast to take with you?”

Unusually, the thought of eggs, sausage, bacon and black pudding made James’s stomach turn. “No, no thank you, I’ll have something when I get back.” Unable to stop himself, he turned away and sneezed into his hands. “Huh’ASSHOOO!”

“Bless–” Mrs Hall began, but James hadn’t finished. He gave a slight shake of the head and held up a hand as if in warning, then pitched forward again with a resounding:

“H’ASSSHOOO!!” He raised his head, slightly dazed.

“–you,” she finished. She fixed him with an appraising look. “Are you alright? You’re not coming down with something?"

“No, no, I’m fine, really Mrs Hall.” James tried to smile, although his head hurt so much, he wasn’t sure how successful the attempt was. He turned away to escape upstairs. “I’ll be back before morning surgery.”

Edited April 2, 2021 by Triosk1

[fraggle]

Oh my wow! I love this. It's so in character as he's a sucker for Helen. 

Excuse me while I go read this like a thousand times 😀😀

[Guest]

OK, this might well be it, sorry it's short (but hopefully sweet).

 

James had an unnerving drive to the Alderson’s farm, a few miles out of town. He was finding it hard to focus on the road ahead, and several times had to correct his steering as he veered towards the middle of the dusty highway. Not to mention the risk of not looking where he was going when he frequently had to sneeze or fumble in his pocket for his handkerchief. Finally parking up at the farm’s entrance, he took a moment or two to collect himself. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, he smoothed down his hair and straightened his tie, then ruined the effect by having to sneeze yet again.

“Heh…Huh’ASSSHOOO!!” Groaning quietly, he blew his nose, then braced himself and walked up to ring the doorbell.

Helen answered after a few seconds, looking harried. “Oh, thanks for coming James,” she said as she led him quickly towards the kitchen at the back of the farmhouse.

“No bother.” They went in and found Jenny sitting with her little kitten at the big wooden table. “Now, what seems to be the matter with Poppy?”

“I’ll leave you to it.” Helen left quickly. James’s heart sank; maybe she still felt awkward about the engagement announcement in the pub and would rather not spend time with him.

James examined the kitten but couldn’t find anything wrong. Quizzing Jenny, he got the distinct feeling that she had made it up in order to bring him and Helen together. He recalled now her pointed question at the party about Tristan’s nurse friend Connie: “Is she your girlfriend?” and how she’d answered “good” when he’d said no. James groaned inwardly; he didn’t have the time or the mental capacity for this right now. Just as he’d decided to try and make his escape as discreetly as possible, he found he had to sneeze, again. Handing Poppy safely back to Jenny, he groped in his pocket for his handkerchief.

“H’ASSSHHOOO!! H’ASSHHOO!! Heh-heh!…H’ASSSHOOO!!” As he straightened up in his seat, he found Helen had come back in. James coloured, suddenly awkward.

“Bless you. So, how’s the patient?”

“In good health, as far as I can see. Probably just something she ate, it’s common for kittens to get upset stomachs from time to time,” he added. No need to embarrass Jenny.

“Well, that’s good news. I’m sorry to have dragged you out here so early over nothing though.” Helen shooed Jenny and Poppy out of the kitchen. “Run along then, both of you.”

“Not at all, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.” James packed his things into his bag. “Well, I’d better be getting back–” He stood up, and the kitchen suddenly spun around him. He put out a hand, but the table wasn’t where he was expecting.

Helen rushed over. “Are you alright? Your colour’s gone.” She took his hand to steady him.

James lowered himself down to the bench carefully, leaned forward over his knees. Sweat prickled at the back of his neck and he still felt dizzy.

“Sorry, I just…just stood up a bit fast, that’s all. I didn’t have breakfast before I came out…” he tried to steady himself, but his heart was racing.

Helen fetched him a glass of water and he took a sip. Gradually the world righted itself and he started to feel a little better.

“Thank you,” he said awkwardly, embarrassed to have made such an idiot of himself.

“Don’t be silly.” She put the back of her hand to his forehead, then gave him a hard look. “James, you’re burning up.”

“I’m fine. Anyway, I’ve got to get back to the practice.”

“Well, you can’t drive yourself back. I’m amazed you made it here in one piece. Dad’s in the top field, but just let me telephone ahead and I’ll take you back.”

James tried to reason with her. “You said you didn’t have time to come into Darrowby today.” Carefully, he stood up, and managed to stay upright. “Look, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” He spoiled the effect by sneezing again. “Heh..ASSHOOO!!”

“Bless you. Look, no arguments. It’ll take me a minute to get ready, so you may as well go and lie down in the sitting room. I’ll telephone Mrs Hall and let her know. There’ll be someone in town to give me a lift back.”

“What about Jenny?”

“She’ll have to come with us, she won’t mind. Now go on.”

James gave up and did as he was told. In truth, he did feel better lying down on one of the battered sofas in the Alderson’s sitting room. Through a haze, he heard Helen’s voice on the telephone.

“Flu…bringing him back in the car…morning surgery…” He drifted into a doze, until he was woken by Jenny shaking his arm.

“Come on, we’re goin’ into town.”

Groaning, he pulled himself upright and let himself be bundled into the back of the car. He had just enough presence of mind to ask Helen:

“Can you even drive?”

“Once you can drive a tractor, you can drive pretty much anything,” was her stolid response. And it seemed, at least to James, that she was right: apart from the occasional grinding of gears, they made it back to the practice without incident.

“I won’t stay,” Helen said, after she’d locked the car and handed him back the key. “But you look after yourself, alright? No more working until you’re better.” James nodded sheepishly, then stood frozen as she put her hands on his arms and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Behind her, Jenny stuck her tongue out at him.

“Thank you…” he said to her back as she walked off, Jenny in tow.

Still taken aback, James paused outside the front door and searched in his pockets for his key, only to have it opened from within by a stern Mrs Hall.

“Would you like to tell me what exactly has been going on this morning?”

James quailed, his fever-fogged brain completely unequal to the task. Plus, he had to sneeze yet again. He turned away quickly, bracing one hand against the doorframe, the other holding his handkerchief to his face.

“Heh…Heh’ASSHOOO!! H’ASSSHOOO!!”

He was saved, unexpectedly, by Siegfried’s voice from the hall.

“Come now, Mrs Hall, let the fellow in. You can give him a proper telling off when he’s got his strength back.”

Mrs Hall, still grim-faced, opened the door wide enough for James to enter.

“Bed. Now. And drink this.” She handed him a tiny bottle of her special “medicine”.

“Thanks, Mrs Hall.” He took it and made for the stairs. He saw his mentor giving him the once over in the hall and grimaced.

“Sorry about this, Siegfried.” He’d be leaving the practice in the lurch with a full list of appointments in the surgery and house calls out to the local farms.

Siegfried harrumphed, but there was an understanding glint in his eye – he’d been laid up much of the previous week with the same illness. “Well, we’ll soldier on somehow, I’m sure.” Humming, he went back into the examining room. The faint strains of Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘The Soldiers of our Queen’ floated back through the door.

James hauled himself upstairs to bed, amused to find Tristan still snoring in the adjoining room, the early morning’s activity having completely passed him by. A few minutes later, James sank gratefully into his own bed and fell immediately asleep.

[ID2006]

Don't know the fandom but look forward to reading more

[Naraya]

Ah this was so lovely.  I love this show and know that particular episode well.  This was really good - I could hear the accents in the speech.  Bravo!