Chapter 2

After talking with Jessica and Jenny for a while, discussion petered out so they said that they would visit me tomorrow.

Billy, the other patient in the ward had regained conscious but was still very ill from the anaesthetic. I could feel his constant worry about his loss of income and how it would affect his home loan, there was a chance they could loose every thing they had put into renovating the house.

I was still feeling a little out of sorts so I just closed my eyes and relaxed still pondering my predicament. Hearing a sound I looked up to see the local policeman coming into the ward. "Hello there young Jimmy, seems like you are in a spot of bother" he said.

My self preservation instinct kicked in, "how can I be in trouble for defending myself? Also I think my mother should be present if I am to be questioned" I said.

{Jesus, I don't want him scared of me, he's always been a good kid, I've known the family for years and been good friends with most of them}.

"Whoa there young fella, I'm not here to interrogate you, I just want to find out how much you remember about the altercation."

"Unfortunately not very much, nothing at all before I saw Tiltman's boot heading for my head, what happened after that was pure instinct, I was being attacked and I defended myself. Since then I have been trying to remember who I am and why I was being beat up."

"So you can't remember what caused the fight?"

"Nope, I have no idea at all."

"I have spoken to quite a few witnesses and it would appear that young Mr Tiltman was giving your sister a bad time and you stepped in to defend her, he punched you in the face and you went down and banged your head on the pavement. What followed was as you explained. Fr Ryan punched you in the head when he attempted to break up the fight, something he should not have done, that was assault. I suggest you talk to your uncle about having him charged, it's not the first time he's been handy with his fists."

He had been talking in a low voice so that Billy in the other bed couldn't hear him, although I don't think he was in a lucid enough state anyway.

After he had gone I knew that I definitely had to have that meeting with Uncle Ron.

Jessica and Jenny visited again in the afternoon; Jenny looked a lot happier when she saw me sitting up in bed. Jessica gave me a kiss on the cheek and asked how I was feeling.

"A lot better than this morning, but I still can't remember anything before the fight."

"Tiltman was bullying me and you tried to stop him and he punched you in the head, I'm to blame for all the trouble you're in." Jenny sniffed.

"No way Jen, I don't know who I am but I do know that I would defend you from a bully, you are not to think it was your fault 'cause it wasn't."

"I don't want you to get into trouble for defending me Jimmy"

"I'm not in trouble Jen, the local cop was here before Jess and you arrived..."

"What did he want ... he should have told me he was going to ask you questions?" Jessica was quite annoyed the cop had talked to me.

"It's all right Jess, he told me to talk to Uncle Ron about charging Fr Ryan with assault, he shouldn't have punched me."

"Changing the subject, when can I get out of here, apart from a sore head and loss of memory I'm all right."

"Doc Downs wants to keep you in for observation for at least another day and I agree with him, that's a nasty gash on your head."

Jenny wanted me home as soon as possible so she could start filling me in on my past history and I must admit I was pretty keen to find out a bit about myself too.

The bell for visiting time rang so they both gave me a kiss and said they would see me tomorrow.