Lady Lady
Leanne, Newcastle, UK
March 2006
This is a story that happened to my mum quite some years ago while she was working as a nurse in a local children's hospital. I was quite young when it all happened but when she told me about it in later years it gave me goose bumps.
My mum regularly worked a night shift at this hospital which she didn't mind too much as it meant she got to spend some time with me through the day when I was young. As I mentioned before it was a children's hospital and at times had some very poorly children there. On the ward she worked on there was one particular little boy who had his own cubicle at the very bottom of the ward, he was a cheerful little thing but had become quite poorly recently.
On this one night in particular my mum was on shift with another nurse who happened to be one of her friends, they were always joking and having a laugh as to pass the time quickly in the night. They were sitting in their office at the top of the ward whilst one of the other nurses had been doing the rounds, when she came dashing into the office looking rather pale and exasperated. My mum asked her what was wrong but all she kept saying was "lady, lady", they thought it was obvious something that frightened the living daylights out of her or that it was a practical joke, either way they decided to go and investigate.
They stepped out of the office and into the ward, it was in darkness as usual as the children were asleep. They walked slowly down the ward, and as they did so they heard a faint voice shouting "lady,lady" they realised it was coming from the little boys cubicle at the end of the ward. As they walked closer they could make out a tall figure standing right outside his window. Both petrified and gripping each others arm by now they stepped closer. By this time they could make out it was woman who looked to be either an old fashioned dressed nurse with a bunch of keys by her side, or a nun with Rosemary beads hanging down her side, she was almost transparent and had her back to them both. My mums friend shouted to her in a trembly voice "what do you want? please leave him alone" and with that the figure swung round and glared straight at them. My mum said she will never forget the look one her face, it was a look that said How dare you speak to me? who do you think you are? with that my mum and friend turned and bolted up the ward towards the office as fast as they could.
Once inside the office they were shaking like leaves and discussing with the other nurse what had happened, when it dawned on my mum about the poor little boy, she realised the reason he was shouting "lady, lady" was because he was obviously scared and could see the figure too. So they decided no matter how scared, they had to go and see to the little boy.
They once again stepped out the office and began to walk down the corridor but as they neared the little boys cubicle they realised she had gone. Relieved they went into the cubicle and nursed the boy until he had completely calmed down.
After that the little boy recovered and got much better they couldn't believe it as he was very ill at the time. When they spoke to the other nurses at the hospital about what had happened they said that this lady had been seen a few times next to children's rooms, or beds and it was always children who very poorly. So maybe she was an old nurse or nun watching over them and protecting them, I don't know, you can decide. But thank you for taking the time to read my story.