Rescue at Cradle Lake

HE MADE the decision at two in the morning. There'd been no serious car crashes in the last few hours. No appendices or aneurisms, no ruptures, assaults or dramas. Night shift at City Central was deathly quiet. He wanted it to be more so. No less than four nurses and one intern had used the lull to ask him how he was coping. "No, really, Dr Reynard, if you'd like to talk about it..." He didn't. He glowered at everyone who came close, he settled himself in the staff lounge, and he concentrated on his reading. Specifically, he concentrated on reading the 'Appointments Vacant' in this month's medical journal. "Where's Dimboola?" 'My aunty lives in Dimboola," one of the theatre nurses ventured. "It's in North West Victoria. Aunty Liz says it's a great little town." "Right,'he said, and struck a line through Dimboola. There was silence while he checked a few more ads. Then: 'Where's Mission Beach?" "North Queensland," the same nurse told him. "You remember Joe and Jodie?" "Joe and Jodie?" 'Joe was the paediatric intern here last year. Big, blond guy almost as hunky as you. Six feet tall and yummy--every sensible woman's dream." She grinned, but in a way that said her compliment wasn't idle banter but was designed to cheer him up. As was everything anyone said to him at the moment.Let's look after Fergus... "Joe married Jodie Walters from ICU," she continued, as she failed to elicit a smile. "They took a job at Port Douglas last year and that's close to Mission Beach." OK. Fergus sorted the dross and came up with the information he needed. There were people he knew close to Mission Beach. Another line. He knew the next place in the list of advertisements, and the next, and the next. More advertisements were consigned to oblivion. Then: 'Where's Cradle Lake?" Silence. This was hopeful. He gazed around, checking each of his colleagues for any sign of recognition. "Does anyone know where Cradle Lake is?" "Never heard of it," Graham, his anaesthetist, told him. "Cradle Mountain's in Tasmania. Is it near there?" "Apparently not. It has a New South Wales postcode" "Never heard of it, then." 'No one knows it?" Fergus demanded, and received four shakes of four heads in reply. "Great,'he said, and the line became a circle. "That's where I'm going." Ginny got the phone call at two in the morning. She'd known it had been coming, but it didn't make it any less appalling. Richard was ringing from his hospital bed. He hadn't wanted her with him when he was told, and he'd waited until now to call. Who could blame him? Where could anyone find the courage to face news like this, much less pass it on? "They can't do another transplant,'he said, in a voice devoid of all emotion. "The specialists say there's no hope it'll work." "I guessed it must be that," she whispered. "When you didn't call earlier, I thought it must be bad news. Oh, Richard." She sat up in bed, trying not to cry. "I'll come." 'No. Not now." 'What are you doing?" 'Staring at the ceiling. Wondering how I'm going to face what's coming. And whether I have the right to ask..." "To ask what?" 'Ginny, I want to go home. Back to Cradle Lake." She drew in her breath at that. She hadn't been near Cradle Lake for years. Richard had referred to Cradle Lake as home. Home was where the heart was, she thought dumbly. Home surely wasn't at Cradle Lake. "Richard, there are no medical facilities at Cradle Lake. I don't think there's even a doctor there any more." "The time for the clever stuff is over,'he said, so roughly that he made himself gasp for breath. It took him a moment or two to recover, gaining strength for the next thought. "I just need... I just need to know it'll be OK. Surely having a doctor for a sister has to count for something.You can do what's necessary." "I don't know that I can." 'You can keep me pain-free?" There was only one answeLennox, Marion is the author of 'Rescue at Cradle Lake ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373198498 and ISBN 0373198493.