CUT DOWN TO SIZE - BY ANTHONY HEDGER

CUT DOWN TO SIZE
BY ANTHONY HEDGER

Rebecca Stone wanted a divorce. Tom, her husband, pleaded with her to change her mind, but she wouldn’t. ‘It’s too late for that, Tom.’ She said storming out of the house as she left for work.
‘I’ll get even with you for this.’ He called after her. ‘I’ll see you cut down to size one day.’ He slammed the front door and a trace of a smile formed on his face.
On her way to the train station, Rebecca thought to herself that Tom had been too trusting with her over the years and it was a shame that she had ever met Lester Singleton at the firms Christmas party eighteen months ago. But he was good looking, had plenty of money and was half of Tom’s age. Glancing upward Rebecca noticed how dark it was getting. I think we are in for a spot of rain. She thought. Then the sky opened its flood gates, but not with rain as she expected but with snow. She was soaked to the skin by the time she reached the station. All over the platform commuters were talking about the freak storm.
‘It’s very unusual to have snow at this time of the year.’ A man said to her.
‘You got that right.’ She replied.
An announcement came over the tannoy system as though the operator had a peg clamped to his nose. ‘We apologise for any delays but due to circumstances beyond our control all trains will be running approximately one hour late.’
By now the station was very crowded. People were freezing standing outside in the cold; most of them only had summer clothes on. The train finally arrived already quite full. People on the platform began to push and shove trying to get a place on it. Luckily for her, Rebecca managed to squeeze herself inside one of the carriage doors. The whistle blew and the train groaned and creaked under the extra weight as it pulled slowly out of the station. The wheels slipped and span before finally gathering speed, the familiar clackaty clack seemed muffled today as snow started to fall again. All the driver could see from his window was a vast thick blanket of snow covering the tracks ahead which resembled a gigantic Christmas cake. Getting worried he decided to radio through to central command for further instructions, but when he tried the radio all he received back was static.
No one knew what happened next. Some say the driver had had a heart attack, others said it may have been an animal on the tracks or maybe the train had been going too fast. We will never really know for sure. What we do know is the train came off the tracks, turned over and crashed down the side of an embankment.
There was a lot of confusion going on and so much of everything happening all at once. People had been thrown through doors and windows. Some were suffocating under the weight of bodies piled on top of them. There were broken bones, blood, screaming and shouting. Rebecca felt pain all over her body; she couldn’t move her legs because something was stopping her. She tried desperately to grab hold of something to pull herself up but she couldn’t feel anything with her hands, so she gave up and waited for help to arrive.
The rescue services didn’t reach the train for several hours due to all roads being blocked, but they were a welcome sight for those still living when they finally did arrive. Most of the carriages were a jumbled mess of mangled metal and twisted steel but fireman, police and medical teams worked together around the clock to get to the survivors.
Rebecca couldn’t remember much of the rescue as she kept slipping in and out of consciousness. However, she could remember seeing the blue flashing lights and hearing the sirens bellowing out. She also recalled seeing a group of fireman making a fuss around her and she told them not to as there were others worse off than she was. Then she blacked-out. She was taken to the nearest hospital but on the way lapsed into a coma. Tom was contacted as her next of kin and was asked to get to the hospital as fast as he could as they needed him to sign a form in the event of her death.
It was one month later before Rebecca came out of the coma.
Looking down at her body through blurred eyes she could just make out the bandages. She seemed to be covered from head to waist and could only imagine the rest of her was the same.
‘Hello stranger.’ A gentle voice spoke to her. ‘You had me quite worried for awhile. How are you feeling?’
Looking up, Rebecca saw the pale face of Lester staring deep into her eyes. With a croaky voice she said; ‘I feel like a donkey has kicked me all over, how do I look to you?’
‘It’s hard to tell with every part of you covered up. Not to worry though, you are through the worse of it now and on the road to a good recovery.’
‘Lester, be a dear will you, I have an itch on my leg which won’t let up, would you scratch it for me?’
‘Of course, my love, which one is it?’
‘The left one.’
Lester lifted the covers at the bottom of the bed and let out an almighty scream.
‘The, the, the leg!’ He stammered. ‘The leg, it’s gone. This changes everything. I couldn’t marry you now, not looking like this.’ He ran from the ward leaving Rebecca in tears.
‘How could this happen?’ She screamed at a nurse who had come over to see what was wrong with her.
‘Please try to be calm, Mrs. Stone.’
‘How can I be calm? I’ve just found out I only have one leg, where’s the other one?’
‘We had to take it off as it was so badly damaged. I am sorry but we had no choice.’
‘What did my husband say when you approached him?’
‘He readily gave his consent to go ahead and remove it before an infection set in.’
‘That’s just like him to be nasty to me.’
‘On the contrary, he’s been in here every day to see you and the doctor; he’s such a caring person. And I better tell you, it wasn’t just your leg you lost.’
‘What! What do you mean? What else have you taken?’
‘We didn’t take it, the train did.’
‘Took what?’ Rebecca shouted.
‘I’m sorry, but you have also lost your right hand.’
‘My right hand!’ She screamed. ‘Surely you could have sewn it back on? Isn’t it done all the time these days?’
‘We would have, but it was so badly crushed.’
Rebecca went quite white and felt rather sick. ‘Lester has run out on me, I have lost my left leg and right hand, what possibly could go wrong for me now?’
‘I’m sure you will be just fine Mrs. Stone.’ The nurse said as she walked off.
At that moment, Tom came into the ward. He was holding a brown envelope and was with the doctor who had performed the amputations, Doctor April Wheatear.
‘You’re looking better.’ Tom said as he drew near.
Rebecca thought quickly for a moment and decided not wanting to be left with no one in her life, was actually nice to him. ‘Thank you. It’s so nice to see you again darling. I’m sorry about what I said to you that day, can you find it in your heart to forgive me?’
‘Of course, but I’m afraid you’re too late with your apologies. We just called in to see that you were comfortable and for me to agree to the divorce you want, here’s the papers all signed for you.’ He placed the brown envelope on to the cabinet next to the bed.
Rebecca started to cry again.
‘Look!’ Tom said to doctor Wheatear. ‘Look at how happy she is she’s crying for joy. I knew this piece of news would make her happy.’
Rebecca stopped crying and looked at them; they were holding hands and started kissing each other.
‘What are you doing Tom, why are you kissing my doctor?’
Tom ignored her question, then said; ‘The train crash Rebecca, was a natural disaster and a blessing for us. It was the perfect way to get even with you and the good thing about it is we won’t get the blame for it.’
‘What are you talking about, Tom?’
‘April and I have been lovers for many years, she has agreed to marry me. It’s a shame she cut off the wrong leg, your other leg, the damaged one, is due to come off in the morning. Goodbye, honey, I told you I would see you cut down to size one day, and now I have.’

THE END

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affair, anthony, by, crash, cut, doctor, down, hedger, love, size, to, tony and train