Water and Fire Read online

  "Why did you leave Ireland, then?" I asked.

  "For the beautiful, sunny Australian climate!" He laughed and started to open an umbrella, again reminding me of an octopus. This time, the octopus appeared to be jetting through the water to evade something unpleasant, unable to find a rock cleft to hide in. I knew how it felt.

  After two or three tries, Aidan managed to keep his umbrella open. He waved his hand toward the raindrop-free zone created under its expanse. "It's a golf umbrella, with room for two. I'll walk you to your car, if you like."

  For the second time that day, I permitted the intern to do me a favour. He didn't say anything while we walked to the car. I opened the door and glanced at the back seat, but the strong smell of cleaning chemicals alerted me before I turned my head. The reddened seat had returned to plain grey, much like the skies above and my own thoughts. Helen had truly taken care of my car and I doubly owed her my thanks.

  He waited without moving until I sat in the driver's seat. My fingers curled stiffly around the door handle to pull it shut.

  "Come to dinner with me?" the intern asked, in a rush.

  I raised my eyebrows, but didn't reply.

  His face turned red, making his fiery red hair look pale for the first time. "I mean, if you want to, it would be really nice if you came with me to the pub to have dinner tonight. After a long day like this, the last thing I want to do is cook, and your day was harder than mine."

  For a moment, I wondered if this strange man could read my mind. I'd intended to stop for some takeaway fish and chips on my way home. Perhaps it might be pleasant to eat in a restaurant for once, instead of in my small house by myself.

  I stared at him a moment, before I heard the word spoken with my voice. "Okay."

  His face faded from red to pink to white and he smiled, looking slightly stunned. "So, meet you at the Tanglehead?"

  It took me a moment to remember this was the name of a brewery near the port. For the third time, I replied, "Okay."

  5

  Two beers and a very filling meal later, Aidan admitted that he owed me.

  "Why?" I asked diffidently, sipping my beer.

  "Your patient today should have been mine. If you hadn't been there, I would have stuffed up and I don't know what would have happened. I'm terrified of babies." From his wide-eyed expression, I judged that this was not a joke but the truth.

  For the first time, I smiled. "How can you be afraid of babies?"

  He looked embarrassed. "I'm the youngest of eight kids back in Ireland. One of my aunties moved over here and married an Australian, so I came over to do my internship, when I finished my medical degree. I've never delivered a baby and this one would have been my first. Mum never let me hold any of my nieces and nephews, because she was afraid I'd drop the babies. I guess I got scared I'd drop them, too. They're so tiny!" He spread out his big hands, wide enough to cradle the premature baby I'd delivered this afternoon.

  "Ah." I nodded, understanding. His fear was like that of most first-time fathers, or at least the few I'd seen. Most of the babies I'd delivered never knew their fathers. This was probably for the best. It was the ones who never knew their mothers that made me...

  I hurriedly gulped down the last of my beer as he drained his second. Coming from such a fertile family, he'd surely never experienced the loss I'd suffered. He wouldn't understand.

  We both stood up at the same time. Together, we walked to the cashier and paid for our meal.

  Outside the pub, he thanked me for joining him for dinner.

  I replied in kind and headed into the darkness toward my car before he could follow. My tears dripped silently to the blackness of the parking lot, unseen and unheard by any but me.

  6

  The following morning, as I sipped my coffee alone in the hospital cafeteria, the intern slid into the seat across from me.

  "Do you mind if I join you?" he asked with a grin, taking a slurp before clunking his own coffee cup down on the table.

  I shook my head, not lifting my eyes or my lips from the cup. Last night had been a long and lonely one, darker than most, given the memories Miranda had inadvertently stirred. I needed my caffeine more than ever. In fact, I was considering a second cup, if time permitted.

  The man seemed to be waiting for something, but he appeared too eager to practice patience for long. "Look, I haven't been here very long and I don't know anyone. I was wondering if you could help me out with some recommendations on how best to live here in Albany – where to eat and buy stuff, where the best nightlife is...hell, I'd be incredibly grateful. I'd buy you dinner, anywhere you like."

  I summoned a smile. "I've only been here a few months myself. I hardly know where would be best to do most things and I rarely see much nightlife, unless you count kangaroos when I'm on early shifts. After yesterday, I'd prefer not to see too many more of those."

  I suppressed a shudder but my smile evaporated.

  He seemed to understand, yet still he persisted. "Even just someone to sit with for coffee and break times. You're the only person here who's spoken more than two words to me that weren't work-related since I arrived a week ago." His smile refused to fade. "Please?"

  I shrugged. "Sit where you like. I don't mind." I drained my coffee and stood to make another. I decided I just had time for it.

  He reached for my cup. "Let me get you another one. I need a second one, too."

  I surrendered the empty mug. "White, one sugar."

  His grin widened. "Same as mine." He strode away.

  I wondered what he saw in my company to attract him. It didn't matter. Whatever it was, he'd probably imagined it and would soon realise this.

  I did not share his fear of being alone. For me, it was simply a way of life.

  7

  The ward was both busy and short-staffed. Too many had succumbed to early colds with the onset of the winter weather. I barely managed to get breaks for the remainder of my week, so in my brief time in the cafeteria I saw nothing of the intern.

  As always, busy periods are succeeded by lulls. I was granted a longer lunch break than usual when an influx of third-year nursing students invaded the hospital. The shortage of staff became a surplus that I was pleased to enjoy, however briefly.

  Lunch came with another unexpected surprise – the first harvest of winter vegetables was in. The menu board proudly advertised this, along with the Return of the Rainbow Lasagne.

  I surveyed the colourful, layered slab on my plate as I sat down at a table by the window, trying to work out what was in each layer. The red meat sauce I recognised, along with the pumpkin beneath it. The squash and zucchini layers I identified after a few moments, but the blue and purple ones left me mystified. I carved up a bite and forked it into my mouth, hoping the taste might help me.

  I admitted defeat as I swallowed, resolving to let it remain a mystery. I opened my eyes to cut another piece, still puzzled.

  "Blue cheese and eggplant," the intern's voice murmured as his lasagne-topped plate landed on the table across from mine.

  I looked up in time to see him sit down.

  "I asked the server at the counter," he admitted with a grin. "Is it good?"

  Slowly, I nodded.

  "Then I get a double bonus at lunch today. Good food and good company." He shovelled a large bite of lasagne into his mouth.

  If he classed me as good company, I felt sorry for the man, but not enough to tell him so. I was certain he'd soon work out there were other staff who'd be far better company than I could ever be. Silence, sadness and all.

  My fork clinked against the plate as I cut another slice with more force that necessary, shoving it into my mouth before I said something.

  My mouth safely full, I dared to look up at his face again, meeting expectant eyes with surprise. Had he said something that I'd missed?

  Evidently so.

  His smile seemed to forgive my rudeness, as he said, "I just asked if you liked fishing, because I seem to have found a really
great fishing spot and it'd be a shame not to share it. Down near my house, on the inlet, I caught a big, fat bream, fishing from the shore a few days ago. I thought maybe if you were free on the weekend, you might like to come fishing with me..." He trailed off.

  I swallowed with difficulty, forcing myself not to choke. "No, thank you," I managed to say. "I don't fish."

  "Ah, that's a pity," he replied. "I could show you, if you like. I have all the gear. All you'd have to bring is yourself. I'd even offer to scale and clean your catch..."

  I shook my head strongly. "No. I'm busy studying this weekend."

  I hurried to finish my meal, yet I wasn't fast enough to head off his reply. "Fair enough." He sounded sad. "If you ever change your mind, just say the word."

  I shot up from my seat, my mouth full. I gave him a curt nod as I passed him, taking my plate to the dish racks in the kitchen.

  Longing rose up in me. I wanted to go fishing more than I could say, the taste of fresh fish haunting my tongue, but I wouldn't until I headed home. I had to finish my term as a student midwife and complete my exams before I could fish in the warm waters of home for wahoo and tuna, Spanish mackerel and mahi-mahi. Big fish for which a bream was nothing but undersized bait.

  As I left the cafeteria, I noticed the intern speaking to the server and both sharing a smile. I ardently hoped this meant he'd found a new focus for his friendship. Perhaps another girl might find the burden of his kindness easier to bear.

  8

  "We're short in ED. The agency has no nurses left and we've just had to admit one as a patient, when her fever ran too high and she fainted." The harried-looking Helen bit her lip. "Please, if either of you can be spared from your ward for a few hours to fill in for the ED..." She looked desperately at me.

  I exchanged a glance with Jill. We weren't busy, but if a patient presented, wanting a midwife, that could quickly change.

  "Tell Dr Henderson he can call on us in an emergency if ED absolutely needs another staff member," Jill said finally.

  Helen's face crumpled. "It's not Dr Henderson. He's home sick, too. The only doctor we have is that new intern..."

  Jill's eyes widened. "Did you ask the other wards? Aren't there some nursing students in the general surgery ward?"

  "We have nursing students, too. What we need is an experienced RN."

  I owed Helen a favour for taking care of my car as I cared for Miranda. Perhaps this was an appropriate way to both thank and repay her. "I'll do it. I'll work the full shift in ED instead of here."

  Jill opened her mouth to protest.

  "If we get any deliveries, I'll be the first to know and I'll bring them back to the birthing suite," I promised.

  Jill's mouth closed as she nodded once.

  I marched back with Helen to the Emergency Department. I hadn't worked in one since my days as a student nurse, but even then I'd enjoyed the challenge of triage and the sheer variety of cases that came through. We got all sorts in ED.

  A country ED was no different, though the lack of staffing made this one more chaotic than usual. I heard the screaming as I approached, quickening my step to a trot to reach my destination faster.

  The screaming baby in the waiting room had a broken arm and he'd been waiting for too long, judging by his mother's panicked expression. The man with the bloodied broken nose was drunk and would pass out soon, negating the need for pain relief if he waited much longer.

  The poor student nurse on the front desk had noticed neither of these as she was busy arguing with a woman whose young son was sneezing and sniffling as she screamed hysterically that he had meningococcal and he'd die unless they admitted him, though he had no fever.

  Through the curtains of a cubicle, I saw Aidan tending to another patient, but he'd taken to running his hands through his hair until it stood out in crazy, escaping tufts. His wide eyes were starting to show panic, too, though his voice remained calm.

  All in all, the ED was ready to explode.

  I took charge.

  The student nurse arranged the tests for the toddler with the paranoid mother. "Better safe than sorry," I told her with a grim smile.

  I sent another student to man the desk and check that the drunk was okay to wait until the more urgent patients were seen to, while I ushered the mother and her broken-armed baby into the children's cubicle. "He climbed out of his high chair and I couldn't stop him. I only turned my back for a second – but he was strapped in!" she wailed.

  I said soothing things as I tried to examine the baby's arm. This one I needed a doctor for. Aidan, time to demonstrate your skills, I thought.

  As if I'd said his name aloud, the intern appeared at my side. The mother thrust her baby at him and he backed up as if the child was a live bomb.

  "You should hold him," I told the woman instantly, taking her attention from the intern. "He'll be more comfortable in his mother's arms and the doctor will have both hands free to conduct a thorough examination..."

  Aidan's change of expression from fearful to professional took barely a moment, so that I was the only one to see the change. "How did it happen?" Aidan asked easily as he examined the child, keeping his voice calmer than his panicked eyes until the panic faded.

  The mother's voice gradually calmed to match his as she repeated her story. He nodded as he kept his eyes on the baby, whose noisy crying had quietened to dry sobs.

  I heard something clatter to the floor off to my right. "Oh shit," a female voice said clearly. The clattering continued.

  "If you'll excuse me, Doctor," I said smoothly to the intern, who turned startled eyes on me. "Just sing out if you need any further assistance, Doctor, but it looks like you have this well under control without any need for me." I forced a professional smile for him and his patients.

  After a few moments, the intern responded with a grave nod. "Of course, Nurse." He carefully avoided meeting my eyes.

  I turned away, before he could change his mind, and crossed to the reception desk. The startled nursing student stood transfixed behind the desk, staring at a ragged hole in the ceiling and the furry creature scrabbling at the edge of the hole to regain its spot in the ceiling cavity. The bushy tail waved around aimlessly as the creature's claws dug into the ceiling foam, bringing down another shower of plaster, insulation and other debris that clattered noisily to the vinyl.

  The girl turned to me. "What's that song you're humming?"

  I hadn't realised I'd been making any noise, but I stopped the moment she mentioned it.

  "Go get Tony, the maintenance man. Tell him another possum's punched a new hole in the ceiling in the ED," I instructed. I paused. "Do you know where Tony's workshop is?"

  She nodded vigorously, her ponytail bobbing, and trotted off down the corridor. I stepped up to her place at the desk. The possum managed to find a clawhold to lift itself into the ceiling without widening the hole further. I caught a glimpse of a tiny hand in her pouch as the mother possum retreated into the roof space. We were spared a possum patient today.

  The drunk had slumped to sleep across the waiting room bench, his snores telling me that his broken nose wasn't impeding his breathing any.

  Behind me, the other nursing student marched off to Pathology with the samples from the sniffling toddler.

  For a moment, I breathed a sigh of relief. From chaos to calm, the Emergency Department was now under my control.

  9

  The student who'd gone to Pathology returned with a smile for her patient and a promise to call his mother when the results came back.

  As if on cue, the intern chose the same moment to release his patients, too, as the baby with the bandaged arm smiled a teary smile at his mother. Aidan stood beside me at the desk, watching them leave the ED.

  When they were safely out of earshot he turned to me. "What in hell did that?" He nodded at the gaping hole in the ceiling.

  "A surprised possum," I responded. I frowned. "I sent one of the students for Maintenance, but neither of them's back yet. I'l
l see if I can find them." I picked up the phone.

  Tessa, the secretary in Engineering, answered after one ring. I asked after either the student or Tony and was told Tony was fixing a tap in a patient's room. The nursing student had ventured into Engineering and spoken to Tessa. Tessa had given her the room number, which she repeated for me as I carefully wrote it on a notepad.

  Tessa promised to page Tony for me a second time, but I decided to go looking for the missing student and maintenance man.

  "I'll be right back," I told the intern and remaining nursing student, who were both staring at the snoring drunk in the waiting room, their only remaining patient. Both nodded, but I wasn't sure if they'd heard.

  I shrugged and strode off. I'd barely be gone five minutes, which was hardly enough time for chaos to reinvade my ED.

  Clutching the paper in my hand, I kept looking at the room number. It was one of the isolation rooms, for contagious patients or those who needed to be kept apart from other patients for whatever reason.

  As I approached the door, I heard a quiet whimpering on the edge of hearing, as if someone inside the room was in pain. The absence of signs or even a name on the door told me there was no patient in there, so my first thought was that the noise came from an injured staff member.

  I pushed the door open, but most of the room was obscured by the curtain around the bed. The sound was louder now and definitely coming from behind the curtain. Worried, I edged around it, holding my breath as I followed the sound of the pitiful moans.

  I saw the student's bored face first, her chin resting on the bed. The moaning came from her mouth, but she didn't look like she was experiencing the slightest discomfort, let alone pain. Behind her, Tony the elderly maintenance man had his eyes closed and a blissful expression on his face.

  I looked more closely, not making a sound. The student's skirt was hiked up to her waist and Tony's pants garnished his ankles as he banged her from behind, oblivious to my presence.