Castaway (3 page)

‘Gee, Uncle Mungo gets pretty cranky about things, doesn’t he?’ Sam said to his brother as they wandered over to look at the crushed caravan.

‘Yeah, I guess. There’s a lot of people he doesn’t like. Refugees. Tree-huggers. What’s a tree-hugger anyway?’

‘Someone who likes trees, I s’pose. I hope he’s not gunna to stay too long. I don’t think Jaz likes him much either.’

‘Dad seems pretty happy to see him.’

‘Well, he’s his brother. You put up with a lot from your brother,’ said Sam.

George punched him on the arm and pulled a face at him.

Just then Mac came out of the house with Charles and the pilot, and called out to Sam and George. ‘Hey, guys, Charles is going back to have another look around the Point. You can go along if you promise not to break anything.’

Zooming along at three hundred feet above the flood plains was Sam’s idea of bliss. From the air the potholed
bumpy surface looked as smooth as a bowling green. He could see across almost the whole spread of his home, from the looming sandstone bulk of the Arm in the east, to way across the river that formed their boundary on the west. Ahead of them lay the sparkling blue waters of the bay and from this height, he could see the hazy shadow of the Tiwi Islands to the northwest. Charles had put headphones on them so they could talk, and he asked them about what they had seen that morning.

‘An old black pot and cooking stuff,’ said Sam, ‘and some smashed-up wood. George found a bit with a name painted on it – or some letters anyway.’

‘What about along the beach? Did you see anything unusual washed up?’

‘Not really, just some old fish net, and more bits of timber,’ said George.

‘What about that book you found?’ said Sam.

‘Oh yeah! I found a soggy old atlas, like the ones we have in school. Or used to.’ He smirked at Sam.

‘An atlas, you say? That could be interesting. We might go down and have another look around the beach.’

Charles spoke to the pilot and the helicopter banked to one side, veering off along the shoreline. In a few minutes they were touching down in a clearing beside the campsite. Sam, George and Charles climbed down
the embankment to the beach, leaving the pilot in the helicopter with the engine running. The tide was coming in, and was well up the beach already.

‘Here’re the fish nets and the wood,’ said Sam. ‘Where’d you chuck the atlas, George?’

‘Just here somewhere … that’s funny, I can’t see it now.’ George cast about with a puzzled frown, but the atlas had disappeared. ‘I can’t see my water bottle either. I’m sure I left it around here.’

‘Maybe a crow picked it up, or a dingo or something,’ said Sam.

‘Well, the tide has come in a fair way,’ said Charles. ‘Perhaps the atlas has already washed away. Never mind. We’ll look around a bit more, and make sure there are no shipwreck survivors sending up smoke signals.’

Half an hour later, they were back home. They walked up to the house and, as they moved further away from the noise of the helicopter, they became aware of a commotion coming from the direction of the schoolroom. Voices were shouting above the rumbling of the tractor.

‘Dad must be getting the tree off already. Quick, let’s get there before it’s all over!’

Sam and George ran ahead, with Charles loping along behind. As they reached the crushed van, they realised that something dreadful had occurred. The big
tree was lying beside the caravan. Mac was sprawled awkwardly on the ground next to it, his face white and his eyes closed. Mungo shut down the tractor as Sarah hovered over her husband, crying his name. Jaz knelt beside her, and Old Jock was crouched on the other side of Mac, ashen faced, wringing his hands and looking aghast. Mungo jumped down from the tractor, and rushed over to his brother.

Sam and George halted beside Sarah, not understanding what had happened. She looked up and saw them, her face absolutely stricken.

‘Sam, George! Oh God, he’s hurt!’

At the sight of her sons, she forced herself to calm down, and began checking Mac for signs of further injury. He was unconscious, and his breathing was shallow and uneven. His right arm and leg were obviously broken, but his injuries seemed to be worse than what Sarah could immediately see. Uncle Mungo turned to Charles, who had come to a standstill beside him.

‘I was just pullin’ the tree off the van when it slipped sideways. Dragged the tractor across. Mac was standin’ near the tractor and a branch caught him hard across the body. I just managed to lift the tree enough for the others to pull him out from under it …’ The big man’s voice cracked, and his hands trembled. He knelt down next to Sarah. She looked up at Charles.

‘We’ve got to get him to hospital, and fast.’

‘I’ll let the pilot know.’ Charles ran back to the helicopter, and the two men began taking out the rear seats.

Uncle Mungo shook himself, got to his feet, and said to Sam and George, ‘Fellers, we need to make a stretcher to carry Mac to the chopper. What’ve we got?’

Fifteen minutes later, Sam and George stood on the grass in front of the house as the helicopter lifted off. Sarah had gone in the chopper with Mac, and Sam, George and Uncle Mungo would follow by road. Charles had also left with the helicopter.

‘I’m very glad we were here when this happened,’ he had said to them as he climbed aboard. ‘Don’t worry about Mac – he’ll be well looked after. The hospital’s alerted and we’ll be landing there in twenty-five minutes. Chins up.’

They watched until the Jetranger dwindled to a speck in the western sky and vanished.

Three hours later, Sam and George were in the waiting room of the hospital’s emergency ward. People hurried in and out of doors, or waited on the hard plastic chairs to be seen by a doctor. Occasionally a name would be called, and someone would heave a sigh and follow the nurse through the doors. Uncle Mungo appeared before them, polystyrene cups of hot chocolate looking fragile in his huge hands.

‘Here, you blokes, get this inside ya – we could have a long wait.’

Their mother’s sister Aunty Lou arrived and swept them into a tight embrace as soon as she spotted them.

‘Oh, boys,
boys
, it’s so
terrible
! You have to be strong now, and stay brave for your dad. It’ll be all right, you’ll see. Tess and Darcy send their love, but I left them at home …’ She went on and on, a torrent of well-meant words that Sam and George heard as a kind of background blur.

Aunty Lou dressed quite differently from her sister Sarah, who tended to favour jeans and cotton shirts, and pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail. Aunty Lou’s hair was cut short and spiky, and regularly changed colour. This time it was an odd shade of purplish-red. She was wearing a long, multicoloured patchwork skirt and a bright orange cheesecloth blouse. The jingling of dozens of silver bracelets and necklaces could be heard every time she moved, which was often. Aunty Lou never sat still for very long. Sam usually thought she looked a bit like a demented parrot, but tonight he barely noticed.

She flung her arms around Uncle Mungo and gave him a frantic hug. ‘
Mungo!
It’s been
years
– not since the wedding, I think. My
God
, aren’t we all getting
old
! It’s so good to
see
you. It’s a pity it’s under such dreadful circumstances …’ Sam glanced sideways at George, and they both tuned out as their aunt chattered away to Uncle Mungo, who blinked at Aunty Lou as
if she was the strangest thing he’d ever seen.

They drank two more cups of chocolate before a white-coated doctor called out their names. Sam, George and Uncle Mungo followed him along a corridor to a room full of lights and stainless steel and frightening-looking equipment. Mac was in a bed, with plastic tubes coming out of him everywhere and a bulky white brace around his neck. His eyes were closed, but he didn’t look as deathly pale as he had back at the homestead. Sarah was sitting close to him, holding his hand and talking quietly to him. She looked up as they came in, and tried to smile at her sons.

‘Hey, guys,’ she sniffed, giving them both a hug. ‘It’s okay, he’ll be okay. He’s stable, but they want to fly him to Adelaide – they can’t do the operation here …’ She couldn’t speak any further, and the doctor standing next to them introduced himself.

‘I’m David Petersen. Apart from the broken arm and leg and the superficial injuries, your father has a serious fracture of his spine. He’s asleep now – we’ve given him some medication to keep him quiet and still – but I’m afraid the damage is quite bad. There’s a spinal unit in Adelaide which is much better equipped to handle this kind of injury, and his best chance is to go there as soon as possible. We’re flying him out tonight. Have you got any questions?’

They were both silent for a moment, and then George blurted out the question Sam couldn’t ask.

‘He’s not going to be paralysed, is he? He’ll be able to walk again, won’t he?’ A tear rolled down George’s cheek, and Sarah pulled him to her.

‘Mate, it’s too early to say,’ said Dr Petersen. ‘But your dad is strong and healthy, and that’s a big plus on his side. We’ve got the best spinal surgeons in the country waiting for him, and they’ll operate as soon as they can.’

Sarah and Mac were taken by ambulance to the airport a little while later, and afterwards Uncle Mungo drove Sam and George to the Munros’ house. Aunty Lou gave them both more life-threatening hugs, sat them down to some dinner they barely touched, and put them to bed in the spare room.

‘Tess and Darcy are already asleep, but you’ll see them in the morning,’ she said as she switched off the light. ‘Do try and get some sleep, poor things. Don’t worry about your dad, his angels are watching over him.’

‘Angels?’ said George as her footsteps faded away down the hall. ‘Is she into
angels
now?’

‘Well, it’ll make a change from all the other stuff she goes on about.’

The two boys lay on top of their beds, too dispirited to even get undressed. Neither could voice the worries
they had, so they just lay there in the darkness. The door opened, and two figures slipped silently into the room. Sam flicked on his bedside lamp.

‘Hey, guys. We knew you wouldn’t be asleep yet …’ Tess sat down on Sam’s bed, and Darcy on George’s.

‘How’s Uncle Mac? Mum won’t tell us anything, just says we shouldn’t worry.’ Darcy looked irritated and concerned at the same time.

Sam sat up and hugged his knees to his chest. ‘We saw the doctor in the hospital before Dad flew out. He’s hurt pretty bad. They said he’s got a fractured spine, and he needs an operation in Adelaide.’

Tess and Darcy were silent for a moment and then Darcy said, ‘A fractured spine? Does that mean he’ll be paralysed … you know, in a wheelchair?’

‘
Darcy!
’ Tess hissed at her brother.

‘It’s okay,’ said Sam bleakly. ‘The doctor said he’s got a really good chance with this operation, ’cause he’s strong and healthy. Mum went down with him on the plane.’

‘So how’d it happen?’ Darcy asked.

George answered him: ‘A tree fell on the schoolroom last night – we had a big storm out there – and they were trying to get it off with the tractor, but something went wrong and Dad got hit by the tree. It kind of fell on him somehow, and he got hurt. And Charles was
there, in a helicopter, so he flew Dad and Mum to the hospital straight away.’

‘Charles was there? How come?’ asked Tess.

‘He’s got some new job, with Customs,’ said Sam. ‘He was flying around looking for illegal boats coming ashore, you know, illegal immigrants, and he saw a boat down at Deception Point.’

George took up the story. ‘We’d already found it, when we were out checking the fence lines with Dad and Uncle Mungo. We found bits of stuff washed up on the beach, and then Sam saw the boat out on the reef. Or what was left of it. It’s pretty wrecked.’

Tess and Darcy absorbed this information, and then Darcy asked incredulously, ‘A tree fell on the
schoolroom
?’

‘Yeah,’ said George, his characteristic good humour resurfacing momentarily. ‘Squashed it as flat as a tack. I was hoping it might’ve been blown away, but this is even better …’ He was quiet then, a bit horrified at what he’d just said. ‘Well, you know …’

The others nodded mutely.

‘Yeah,’ said Tess, ‘we better let you get to sleep. Mum said we can stay home with you tomorrow, too. C’mon, Darce.’

Sam nodded, and when the door closed softly behind them, he switched off the light. George was quiet for
a few moments, and then turned towards his brother. ‘Sam? Everything’s gunna be different now, isn’t it?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Sam, his throat getting tight. ‘I just don’t know.’

At breakfast, Aunty Lou chattered on at Sam and George about how brave they were being, and how they were not to worry. ‘Mac’s a big strong man, he’ll get through this, you’ll see. And he’s got Sarah down there with him, and all of us up here thinking about him. All that positive energy is going to help him. We all have to think positive thoughts and send all that good energy to him …’ She burbled away while they pushed cereal around their plates, neither of them really paying any attention.

The back door opened, and Uncle Mungo’s big frame blocked out the sunlight. ‘Mornin’ fellers, Lou.’ He nodded at Tess and Darcy as if he couldn’t remember their names. He took off his hat when he came in, and stood awkwardly by the sink, as if he didn’t quite know what to do with himself. In spite of how miserable he felt, Sam was intrigued. Where was the big, grumpy, opinionated man who had argued with everyone when he was out at Brumby Plains? Sam felt a rush of pity for him.
He doesn’t really know anyone here except me and
George
, he thought.
He must be really worried about Dad, just like I would be about George, poor bloke.

Sam lifted the teapot. ‘Hey, Uncle Mungo, want a cup of tea?’

Uncle Mungo looked for all the world like he was about to cry, but he didn’t. He sat down at the table as Sam poured a mug of tea and slid the milk and sugar across the table to him.

‘I’ve been out for a walk. Woke up early and couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk along the beach. Pretty place, this,’ he said to no one in particular.

‘Oh, Fannie Bay is just gorgeous,’ said Aunty Lou. ‘It’s right on a ley line, you know? A meridian of energy runs right through the area, and the rocks are really powerful energy beacons. I’ve lived here for years now, and I can just feel the power vibrating around me every time I go down to the beach. There
is
something about living near the sea, too, all those negative ions …’

She carried on like this to Uncle Mungo for another few minutes. Darcy rolled his eyes at Sam and George, who made sure they kept
their
eyes on their cereal bowls.

‘Oh dear, look at the time! I better get ready for work.’ And with that she disappeared down the hallway.

Uncle Mungo sipped his tea, and then set the mug down on the table. ‘I guess we might hear somethin’
from ’em today, hey, once the surgeons have had a look at him. Yer mum’ll keep us posted.’ He picked his mug up again, and stared into it for a few moments. ‘Yeah, they won’t be home anytime too soon. Once we know somethin’, I reckon we’ll go back to Brumby Plains and keep things goin’ for Mac. It’ll make him feel better, knowin’ things are still goin’ on at home. And we have to finish repairin’ the fences too …’

George piped up, ‘Tess and Darcy are coming out for the holidays. Maybe they can come out now and give us a hand?’

Uncle Mungo looked a bit shocked at the thought of two extra kids to look after, but Tess stepped in immediately. ‘That’s right, Uncle Mungo,’ she said brightly. ‘We’ve done all kinds of work out there before – and lots of fencing. We really could help, you know.’ She paused for a moment. ‘And, well, Dad’s gone away again just now, so it’d be easier for Mum if we went out with you guys.’

Sam looked up at Tess. Something in her voice didn’t sound right. And what did she mean by ‘Dad’s gone away again …’?

‘Well, I don’t know. I s’pose there’s Jaz and Old Jock to help look after you all. And it might be good for these two lads to have some company while their parents are away.’ He considered a moment, and
then nodded his head. ‘Yeah, it’s a good idea. I’ll tell yer mum.’

And he disappeared out of the kitchen to look for Aunty Lou.

‘He makes his mind up quick, doesn’t he!’ grinned Tess. ‘I hope he’s as good at convincing Mum.’

‘Hey, d’you reckon he’ll mind if I bring Horrible out with me?’ said Darcy anxiously. ‘Mum won’t feed her.’ Horrible was Darcy’s pet snake, a metre long green tree snake that his father had brought back for him from a business trip to north Queensland a few months earlier. Horrible was bright green, with magnificent yellow markings along her back, and Darcy was totally in love with her. Tess liked Horrible too, but their mother barely tolerated her, and insisted she live out in the shed in the backyard. Darcy sneaked her into the house as often as he could.

‘Yeah, bring her out!’ said George enthusiastically. ‘Uncle Mungo won’t even know. It’s not like she’s noisy or anything.’

Aunty Lou agreed that, seeing as it was almost the end of term and there were still some responsible adults at the station, Tess and Darcy could go back with them: ‘Only till Mac and Sarah come home, mind. They won’t want four of you underfoot when they get back from Adelaide.’

Sam hoped it would be so quick, but privately he doubted that his father would be coming home anytime soon. He didn’t know much about injuries and backs, but he was pretty sure that something as serious as a fractured spine would take a bit longer than a school holiday to fix.
If it can be fixed
, said a small voice inside his head.

That evening there was a phone call from Sarah. She spoke to Aunty Lou for a few minutes, and then to Uncle Mungo. Sam and George hovered close by, trying to overhear, or to gauge by the expressions on their faces what was being said. Finally it was their turn.

‘Mum?’ said Sam breathlessly, sharing the phone with George, their heads touching above the receiver.

‘Sam – hi, sweetheart. Is George there too?’

‘Yeah, I’m right here, Mum,’ answered George.

‘The surgeons operated on Dad this morning. It took about seven hours, but they think they were successful. They won’t know for a few days, till they do some tests, but it looks good.’

Sam could hear the tension in her voice. ‘Are you okay, Mum?’

‘Yeah. I’m pretty tired, that’s all. Haven’t had any sleep, but I will tonight. The worst is over, I think. We can all relax a little bit. Now we just have to wait for Dad to recover from the operation and then see what happens next.’

‘Mum, how long will you be away?’ George was trying hard not to sound like a little kid, but that was how he felt.

‘Oh, honey, I don’t know. I need to stay here with Dad till we know what’s happening. It’ll be a week at least, I think. Will you be okay?’

George swallowed hard, and said, ‘Course we will. We’re gunna go back home and get everything right for Dad, so he doesn’t have to worry. Uncle Mungo said we’ll leave tomorrow. And Tess and Darcy are coming out to help.’

‘That’s great news. I’m really glad they’re going with you. You guys take care of yourselves though. No heroics, okay? And, Sam?’

‘Yeah, I’m here,’ answered Sam.

‘Look after your Uncle Mungo, won’t you? He’s feeling pretty bad at the moment.’

Sam thought it was a bit odd that he should have to look after his uncle, but he agreed.

They sat around after dinner that evening, watching the news with Aunty Lou and Uncle Mungo. Normally Sam wouldn’t have bothered, but he was too dispirited to do anything else. It was just the usual boring political stuff. However, when the next story started, he sat up and began to take some notice.