DILEMMA INSOLUABLE.

As David Carmichael regained consciousness a nurse was holding his hand. As soon as he realised where he was he became agitated, telling her he had to get out of the bed in which he lay otherwise there was no hope of saving the life of the girl he’d seen in his vision.

To Susan Savile, the little village of Pennington was paradise. A picturesque place with a few houses, church and a doctor’s surgery and beyond, the woods where she could take her Labrador walking. She’d become tired of London but not as Doctor Johnson would say tired of life. She was just sick of the rat race and the ever increasing speed of the big city which demanded you go faster and faster just to keep pace with your neighbour.

David had felt the aura just as he was closing his surgery and preparing to go on his morning rounds. Quickly he went to lie down on his couch and wait for the seizure to come and go. When he came round he jotted down the details of the dream he’d had while fitting. A dark haired girl, tall and big breasted was being driven off in a blue Volvo towards Pennington Woods and the man behind the wheel was someone well known to him – A loner by the name of Gordon Gill. Since his car accident two years ago David Carmichael had been prone to seizures. He had been prescribed medication for them by his neurologist and of course common sense dictated that he should take it but he was reluctant to do so for one very good reason. During his fits he saw things – Things which mainly concerned his patients. Often he could warn them not to pursue particular courses of action which may be dangerous for or disadvantageous to them and sometimes he was able to ring the police anonymously with tips about the whereabouts of murdered children or with descriptions of suspects in long unsolved criminal cases, all of whom had been shown to him in these prophetic visions experienced during his seizures. He never had any such visions during his normal dreaming state when asleep and knew that if he took his medication he wouldn’t be able to forewarn people or provide the police with their much needed information which they now took very seriously having at first considered him a crank and even a possible suspect in some of the cases he’d told them of. When Rita, his wife asked him if he’d taken his medication he always told her he had when in fact he’d flushed it down the lavatory. She regularly counted his pills arousing her suspicions. He always counselled his patients against throwing away their medication and here he was doing just that.

Gordon Gill wasn’t liked by the villagers. He never joined in any social events; hardly spoke to people when he saw them out and never if he could avoid it, made eye contact with them. He had nothing wrong with him but was just a loner who was disconcerting to be around. He still lived with his mother and had never married. She was now getting on in years and he looked after her and was according to all who knew them domineered by her. If and when he went to the village pub he only ever had one pint, never bought a drink for any of the other regulars and refused all offers from them. He was an “off cumden” as they called outsiders and knew he was not accepted but that suited him as he thought himself above them anyway – These yokels with their rough country ways. He had spotted another “off cumden” – Another outsider like himself and wanted to get to know her and reserved for her one of his rare smiles though his eyes remained cold when he smiled.

“You seem preoccupied today David”, said Rita as they sat together over lunch. He hoped she’d not notice that he’d had another seizure in his surgery. “Yes”, he said. “I’m trying to think where I saw someone who popped into the surgery today. She looked familiar and I’m sure we met before but can’t think where”. “Well new people always stand out in this village. I don’t know of anyone moving in or visiting and Mrs. Briggs at the post office who knows all the gen hasn’t told me of anyone new being around”. He didn’t dare tell her that he’d not seen her in real life but only in his vision. He knew for sure that he must find her because if he didn’t she would die.

Mabel Thorpe had just written the appointment down in the book for a Miss Susan Savile when David came back to do afternoon surgery. It had been a fairly busy day and he was glad that there was not much longer to go. His partner was on night duty tonight and he would be able to put his feet up afterwards and perhaps watch some TV. The first patient to come in for the evening surgery was her – The tall dark girl he’d seen in his vision. “I’ve come to see you Doctor Carmichael because I am suffering with my periods. I feel so tired and think they may be making me anaemic”. He could see by her nails and the state of her eyes that indeed her assumption was right and that she was indeed anaemic. He prescribed a course of iron tablets for her and some others to try and correct her period problems and was trying to work out a way of introducing the subject of the contents of his vision to this new patient who may well think he was crackers when he heard a terrible commotion in the street. Two cars had piled into one-another and the occupants were hurt. Susan, now with her prescription in her hand, hastily beat a retreat so he could attend to the people involved and never got to hear of his concerns for her safety.

Edna Gill was sulking again. This always happened when Gordon had a date. “I’ll not be late mother. You’ve got your radio and the papers and there’s the phone if you want to ring Auntie Maggie.” “Daresay she’ll be out. Everyone has the chance to go out ‘cept me. The radio’s rubbish. I expect I’ll have an early night and just as I’m dropping off to sleep you’ll come in, slamming the door and waking me up”. Gordon turned a deaf ear. She was so busy ranting on and trying to make him feel guilty that she never noticed the knife he’d taken from the kitchen drawer. She hardly answered him as he wished her a good night and told her not to wait up.

Washed and changed, Susan climbed easily into Gordon’s blue Volvo. They went to the cinema in the nearest town which was about five miles from the village. He’d held hands with her and had hardly concentrated on any of the film. She was thinking how everyone had got him wrong. He never tried to touch her or make a pass at her and neither did he make dirty remarks about the size of her breasts or how big she was. He wasn’t very friendly and chatty like the boys she’d known in London but he was gentlemanly in his own way. He’d insisted on paying for there seats and the ice creams in the interval and although he wasn’t a great conversationalist he said enough to make the silences less awkward than they might have been. As they walked arm in arm to his car afterwards she thought that it had been a pleasant enough evening on the whole.

David was dead dog tired. However there was something more he had to do. Because of the accident he had not told Susan about his concerns for her. She was new to the village and for this reason he couldn’t remember her address. He’d have to go to the surgery and look it up on the computer. “I won’t be long Rita”, he said. “I have just remembered something I have to do”. She looked perturbed and was just about to protest when she saw his retreating back as he went through the door. He was just about to cross the main road when he felt it again – The familiar aura which heralds a seizure. He knew he had about thirty seconds to get to a place of safety which in this case was the pavement on the other side of the road. He just got up the kerb when he went down.

Susan was almost asleep when she woke with a start. “Where are you taking me? This isn’t the road which leads to my house”. “No but it leads to where I want us to go. Surely you don’t think you are going to get home without you pay the debt you owe me. Nobody has something for nothing in this world and tonight you have just had a trip to the cinema and ice cream all courtesy of yours truly who now wants something in return – The only thing a woman is fit to give so I’ll just keep driving shall I”? As they got nearer and nearer to Pennington Woods the people became fewer in number. In fact Susan could see no houses now and nobody about. She wondered how she’d make a run for it when he stopped the car and wondered still more where there’d be to run to. Suddenly he stopped, produced a rope and blindfold, tied her and bound her eyes and then began driving again. Round and round he went like some dobby horse at the fair and then he stopped – She having little idea now where she may be. Finally he dragged her, feet first through the open door of the car, hauling her along the ground like some ungainly parcel. She felt herself bumping along the ground, her head banging up and down, her legs hurting as he held them in his hands. In one deft movement he let her feet go and landed on top of her. At first he lay motionless, breathing into her ear, and then he began to bite her face, sinking his teeth into her nose and upper lip. He tore out handfuls of her hair and beat her with his fists, finally tearing off her clothes and raping her. He then asked her if she’d like him to drive her home. Making as if to help her to her feet, he sought the knife he had brought, found it and stabbed her over fifty times until the life ebbed away from her body. Calmly then, his anger spent, he turned on his heel and strode back to his car and drove home to have the tirade he’d get from his mother.

The crowd had gathered round David Carmichael as he lay on the pavement. Into his mouth they forced an object in order to stop him biting his tongue or swallowing it. This is an erroneous thing to do and just leads to damage to the teeth. The ambulance came as he went into status epilepticus – A prolonged state of fitting without regaining consciousness. By the time he was tucked up in a hospital bed Susan Savile was already dead.

John Dixon knew who to look for in connection with her death. He’d had the anonymous tip off even before her death when the “seer” as he called him had revealed to him the vision he’d had in his last fit. When the police went to see Gill it was his mother who calmly led them into the kitchen saying: “There he is. He’s all yours”. John Dixon nearly had a heart attack as he stared up at the swollen and bloated face of their suspect, hanging from a beam in the ceiling while his mother set about making them both a cup of tea.

(The end).