CHAPTER 57
My birthday came along as it does every September, and that was another watershed, as Amina and I danced closer each day. She treated me to another meal at the Brazilian place before we waddled off to the obvious pub for full and proper refreshment.

Marlene had put up one of those individual letter bunting things over the usual bar, ‘Happy Birthday Jen’, and that Rubicon was that we entered the bar as a confirmed couple, no longer as a potential pairing. Lil was grinning happily at us from behind the bar, a bottle of the usual fizz in each hand, Marlene made her usual filthy remarks, and half the gar came over fir hugs and more. Even Elf was there, with a younger woman in her colours, blonde hair cut short and spikey, eyes everywhere but still with a smile for me.

“You not working tonight, Elf?”

“Na; benefit of being management. Someone else can have the joy. Brought Rockrose here instead. You met?”

“Not properly, I think”

The woman’s grip was more than firm, and I tried not to be too obvious as I shook life back into my hand. Elf was grinning happily, so of course I had to ask why.

“Party coming up, woman. One of our regulars, over by Swansea. Decent band on, sensible host club, so not too many wankers, wannabes or bus stoppers”

“Bus stoppers?”

Rockrose smiled, at which point I decided never, ever, to get on her wrong side, for there was much the same energy in her face as I had seen in those of Rae and Tania: dormant dog; awake at own risk.

Dog? Dragon, maybe. She started to explain.

“Bus stop bikers. All the gear, no idea. Some rallies, we get a lot of them, which is why a decent party has a ‘no cars’ rule. Ride there or don’t go”

“What if, you know, injury? Broken leg, say?”

“Then you can explain. What I’m talking about—Elf, that letter?”

“Yeah. Jen, letter to a proper lifestyle mag---no, not fucking ‘Homes and Gardens’, biker lifestyle, eh? Anyway, someone wrote in about ‘no cars’ rules”

“Wankers”

“Ta, Rockrose. It was just the bit where they said, ‘So we pull in, park up, change into our biker gear…’, and that’s what they mean by bus stops and wannabes. Give the mag credit; they simply said that if the wankers couldn’t see the problem, there was no point in explaining”

Amina slipped an arm round my waist.

“I’m a little girl of limited brain, so please explain. Short words are best”

That hard focus turned to her, as Rockrose kept it short.

“You’re either a biker or you’re not. It isn’t a costume. Some of us take offence at people who take the piss. At…”

Suddenly, she was laughing, her own face suddenly softer, Elf looking puzzled. As Rockrose caught her eye, she just pointed at Amina, the laughter peaking once again, before Elf’s eyebrows rose.

“Ah! Going to take a guess here, Sis. The S-word?”

Rockrose nodded frankly, wiping her eyes as she fought the laughter down, and Elf turned to me and my lover.

Oh… Hold that thought for later, Jen.

Elf was doing her best to keep a poker face, but the smirk was waiting its moment.

“Amina, we have a word for non-bikers, but, well, in your case it wouldn’t exactly fit”

My lover (yes, it was beginning to fit) asked, “What word?”

Elf’s tone was as dry as she could manage,

“Straight”

I ended up having to slap Amina’s back after her drink went down the wrong way, but sanity, of a sort, finally returned, if only for a few moments, as Marlene started the karaoke. It was a good night, but extremely silly; often, those are the very best.

I held tightly to those memories a few days later, as that trial started. The driver had gone not guilty to everything, and at his plea and direction hearing had opted for Crown Court and a jury. Deep joy; I needed no advice to understand that this was not going to be like the inquests, so listen to the question, answer the jury, keep it short.

I didn’t get called in that morning, nursing a cuppa over the lunch break before returning to our little waiting room for part two.

“Jennifer Medi hein-mao Bradley to Court two”

Not the worst stab at our name, but concentrate, woman. I entered and was led to the box, and it was wigs and robes rather than suits this time.

“Do you wish to swear or affirm?”

“Swear, please”

“English or Welsh bible?”

“English please”

I put a hand to the book, read the words off the card, and was asked to state my full name and date of birth, which I did without mangling our name. The first wig stood up.

“Ms Bradley, what is your profession?”

“I’m a paramedic with the Welsh Ambulance Service”

“Do you recall the events of…”

“I was on duty that evening”

“Did you attend a road traffic collision on Ocean Way in Cardiff?”

“Yes I did”

“Who were you working with that evening?”

“Tom Sellers”

“Can you describe what you saw on your arrival?”

“Er, it was dark, a marked police car on the road, blue lights on. Another car was against a tree, and there was a trail of damage that suggested---can I say what I thought?”

“What did you think?”

“It looked to me as if the car had rolled over from the road before it hit the tree. What--- the front windscreen was in one piece, but shattered, and lying on the bonnet. There was a lot of damage to the bodywork”

“What did you do?”

“There was one Traffic—police—Officer on scene”

“Do you recall his name?”

“I just know him as Barry”

“Thank you. What did you then do?”

“Barry said his partner was chasing a passenger, but the driver was still trapped”

“So the Officer told you the casualty was the driver?”

“Yes”

“Could you see him?”

“I could see his shoulder between airbags”

“Do you remember anything about his clothing?”

“Um, dark Adidas top, or a knock-off”

“What do you mean by ‘knock-off’, Ms Bradley?”

“Er, counterfeit. Stuff they sell on markets”

“Why say Adidas?”

“The three stripes down the arm”

There was a visible shift in the jury. What had I said? Concentrate, woman.

“Did you then approach the vehicle?”

“Yes. There was a casualty; that’s my job”

“What did Mr Sellers do?”

“He was driving; he parked the wagon—the ambulance—as close as possible before I got my BGB—big green bag, backpack with my emergency kit”

“Did you then approach the vehicle?”

“Yes, Barry was trying to open the driver’s door, which was buckled. He had one foot on the door pillar, both hands on the door. I grabbed the door as well and started to pull”

“What then happened?”

“A fire started in the rear of the car”

“But you continued to heave at the door?”

“There was a trapped person there. I couldn’t leave them”

“Go on”

“The door came free, and I made a medical decision that I needed to move the casualty immediately, without an assessment, as the fire was now serious”

“In essence, you doubted your ability to cure cremation?”

Who had pissed him off?

“Er, exactly”

“Was his seatbelt in place?”

“No, sir. Barry and I dragged him by his armpits as far as we could”

“Where was Mr Sellers?”

“Moving the ambulance away from the fire before it could catch alight”

“Why did you stop moving the casualty?”

“Because the car blew up”

“Were you affected?”

“Yes. I’d lain down to cover the casualty, and got splashed with burning fuel. It was mostly on my BGB—er, big green bag”

“You have already explained that clearly, Ms Bradley. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there are photographs at inclusion thirty-two onward in your bundle. What then happened?”

“Barry pulled the bag off me, then used his jacket to beat out flames on me. Burnt his hands, poor lad”

“Were you injured?”

“Only slightly. My hair caught fire, and I had minor burns to the back of my neck. Tom was out quickly, with a fire extinguisher for the BGB, despite his own injuries”

“What injuries were those?”

“He had blood all over his face; our wagon was a wreck. We had to use a police radio to call another ambulance, and they took over the care of the casualty while the Brigade dealt with the car”

“Thank you, Ms Bradley. No further questions”

The defence woman did her bit, pushing hard on the Adidas bit, but that didn’t last long. I was released, in came Tom, and the process was much the same.

“There was a bang, and then something hit my seat, and my face was full of glass”

“Did you discover what hit your seat, Mr Sellers?”

“Car’s filler cap. Pressure in the tank blew it out, it put out our passenger window, hit the rear-view mirror, rebounded into the centre console. Going to have it mounted as a souvenir when this is done. Face full of splinters, but they missed my eyes”

He was released, after more Adidas questions, and it turned out that we had been the last two witnesses before the hospital triage nurse on duty that day, who was asked about… Adidas. What I was beginning to think of as ‘our’ wig was then invited to sum up his case, and that was when it all fell into place for me and Tom, as at several points in his quiet rant Tom and I found ourselves exchanging quiet nods, and I noticed more than one juror look our way and nod. The driver, in a Nike top, I saw, was slumping further and further in the dock.

“And despite what were unquestionably heroic and selfless acts by the paramedics Thomas Sellers and Jennifer Bradley along with Traffic Constable Barry Hughes, all of whom sustained injury after risking their own lives to save that of the accused, he has persisted in claiming not to be responsible. Now, in each case, from first responder to triage nurse, we have a clear description of an adidas top. His passenger, when caught by other officers, was wearing a plain black puffer jacket. But, ladies and gentlemen, the image caught clearly by the police car’s video recording system, of an obscene gesture made by the driver immediately before the crash, was of an arm wearing an Adidas or similar three-stripe top”

There was more, and a sort of riposte by the Defence, but the jury went off to their room just before we went off to our homes, where I felt a sudden need to shower the day off me, and Amina the urge to join me as I did so.