Rescue Nights (8 page)

Three days into the night shift roster, at nine-thirty in the morning, and instead of dreaming the dreams of the righteous in a king-sized bed, Andrew was making his way across a dingy community hall.

Last night, Kate had handed him a leaflet and told him that her local SES chapter were looking forward to meeting him. Like a lemming, here he was.

‘So Kate tells us you are a doctor.’ The woman who was making the observation was in her fifties, wearing the Deputy Commander badge. ‘We can always use a hand with the first aid. Nothing like a fire or cyclone clean-up for minor injuries for our members.’

A surgeon whose consults used to be booked four months out, and she was telling him he could help out with the band aids. He wasn’t sure that this wasn’t a massive cosmic joke.

‘He also has his rescue certification.’ A voice from behind told Andrew that Kate had finally joined them. When he had arrived, all he had received was a vague wave. ‘He can be part of any search and rescue team without any extra training.’

After making non-committal noises to the woman with a clipboard, Andrew joined Kate as they made their way across the crowded room, where desks were being set up for registrations. Today she had replaced her paramedic uniform with her SES one; her status as volunteer this time was clearly marked on the back. Lucky for her, long legs and a shapely body gave definition to a very ordinary look.

‘Don’t you get enough of this sort of thing at work?’ he hissed, out of general earshot.

‘Yeah. I do.’ Kate looked at him quizzically, in a way that implied he had missed the point. ‘But professional rescue is only a tiny part of what needs to be done out here. Come on, you’ve seen that half the rescue sites we get called in for have volunteers on the scene first. Our police and rescue paramedics are great but there are massive distances out here and only so many staff.’

‘But isn’t the purpose of volunteering for people who don’t have to do it every day of the week?’

‘Well that is why I don’t do motor vehicle rescue. Car wrecks can’t be part of both my work and leisure time,’ Kate said. Then she laughed, ‘Don’t look at me like that. I’m not asking you to give up a kidney, or even every weekend. I just think that you might like to come and hang out with a nice bunch of people and do some reasonably interesting work.’

For years, Andrew had counted as reasonably interesting the idea of sitting down with new medical journals and examining the new techniques in micro-surgery. Spending the day hanging out with a dowdy older crowd, who were in the main part discussing the best way to raise enough money to buy another rescue vehicle, was not his idea of intellectual stimulation.

Well, it was only five months before he was heading back to England and if worst came to worst he could always find an excuse to drop this. Anyway, with Kate looking at him with a judging expression in her eyes, it certainly didn’t feel like the best time to say no.

‘I suppose you had better get me some of those damned forms, they probably need me to say that I won’t sue them if a tree falls on my head.’

That was Andrew…gracious to the last. Kate didn’t know what she was doing inviting Andrew to this part of her life. God, it really did come close to being compulsive, the amount of time he seemed to be around. They had survived two nights of night duty together, with each keeping their distance.

‘Happy?’ Andrew asked, as he signed the registration form with a flourish.

‘Thrilled,’ Kate smiled, restraining herself from rolling her eyes along with it. ‘You do know there is a door there and I’m sure that you can snatch that form back, right out of my hands.’

Standing there, slightly sulky, in faded jeans and a pullover, Andrew didn’t look like the buttoned up medical professional he was. At least, until he opened his mouth and the well-modulated plummy tones were apparent.

‘Katie!’ An enthusiastic shout had her turning around in anticipation. A ball of energy in the shape of a four year old came barrelling toward her. Kate crouched down and opened her arms.

‘Hey gorgeous, your daddy promised you’d be here,’ she said to the little girl as she hugged her. ‘Are you about to head off to pre-school?’

Kate smiled at Ben, who was following his daughter. ‘Night shift and kiddy duty. Lucky you love them or otherwise I’d have to feel sorry for you.’

In the moment that Kate and Ben had been interacting, Jane’s attention had been caught by a smiling Andrew.

‘Who are you?’ Jane’s imperious young voice demanded.

‘I work with your dad,’ Andrew answered, even as he looked slightly lost at being confronted by such a precocious child.

‘Why weren’t you there last time we visited?’ Jane stuck out her hip in a gesture that was pure toddler theatrics.

‘I have only been working at the helicopter base a short time.’

Kate intervened in the interrogation by picking up Jane and swinging her around. ‘Sweetie, I haven’t even told Dr. Andrew your name.’ She winked at him. ‘This gorgeous lady is Janie by the way.’

Andrew held out a formal hand. ‘Lovely to meet you, my lady.’ He got a giggling nod from the already charmed child.

‘She’s your youngest, isn’t she?’ he asked Ben. ‘Are the boys here too?’

Kate was amazed that he knew even that much. Childless men didn’t tend to take much interest in the makeup of their co-workers’ families.

‘No, they are thankfully at school,’ Ben replied. ‘Three hours sleep wouldn’t be enough for me to survive the entire clan.’

He reached over and plucked his little girl out of Kate’s arms. ‘This one is about to go off too, but I promised that I would bring her to visit her Aunt Katie, while I put the other nominations on paper.’

The registration information booth would run all day at the community hall. It wasn’t strictly necessary for either Kate or Ben to turn up, but both liked to show their support and make an appearance.

Ben made his goodbyes, leaving Jane with Kate for a final extravagant noisy kiss.

‘Cute kid,’ Andrew said, after the father and daughter team made their exit.

‘Yeah she definitely is something special.’ Kate said, slightly wistful. ‘And Ben and Lydia do such a good job bringing up those kids. After some of the shifts we do, I don’t know how he turns around and manages to show up and parent.’

‘Yeah three days in and already night shift is killing me. I’m almost delirious wanting some sleep. I don’t know how I used to do twenty-two hour shifts into my surgical residency.’

Kate wasn’t as pissed off with his impatience as normal. For a start, she shared his sentiment.

‘I’ve got to make nice and do the rounds, but you’ve done your bit so you can make your move,’ she offered.

Kate wasn’t sure what it said when she felt relief at his reply. ‘No, I’ve got to gee myself up for the drive home. I’ll keep you company for a while yet.’

They made their way to collect their obligatory tea from the kindly Country Women’s Association volunteer.

‘Make sure you leave your uniform measurements with us before you go, Andrew,’ the Deputy Commander reminded him.

‘Certainly,’ he said. He waited until they were out of earshot, before he tugged on Kate’s sleeve. She felt a small thrill in her stomach at the feel of his hand on her arm.

‘I can’t believe that I managed to avoid all official poly cotton uniforms up until this point into my career,’ Andrew exclaimed. ‘In the past month I’ve managed to pick up two different kinds.’

‘You just want to go back to rocking your scrubs,’ Kate laughed.

‘I radiate authority in those clothes,’ Andrew returned, his amusement evident. ‘Even our rescue uniforms aren’t bad, but florescent yellow just isn’t a colour I think I could pull off.’

Kate didn’t think it would be good for his ego if she told him that it would be hard to make him look any less of an alpha male. As he stood there, towering over most of the men in the room, with his strong mouth twisted into a smile, it was easy to forget that anyone else existed.

As they had been talking, they’d been gradually drifting towards the back door of the hall. Stepping out, the fresh air was a welcome relief. The hall was definitely from an unfortunate period in 1950s architecture, but a low brick block wall provided an ugly if convenient place to put down their tea mugs.

‘Do you miss being in England?’ Kate asked, suddenly.

What surprised her was how intently she was interested in his answer. This had quickly become no casual inquiry on her behalf.

‘Yeah I miss the work. Nothing against here, but there is something special at being the best at what you do,’ he replied, and the honesty in his tone was apparent.

Kate could see his point about excellence, but she wanted to protest in favour of rescue work. However, she kept her mouth shut and with her silence encouraged him to continue.

‘I’m not that close to my parents, they live in the country a few hours away. But there is something about knowing that you don’t have the option of driving down for a visit to provide a little bit of nostalgia.’

Kate could share that sentiment. ‘Yeah. That will probably pass, especially if they make a visit and drive you mental.’ They shared a rueful smile. ‘What made you decide to come here?’

‘I came to a personal cross-roads and I wanted a break for a period. I also didn’t get a promotion and someone suggested that diversifying my resume might make me a more valuable management candidate.’

Kate was disappointed at the clinical evaluation of a branch of medicine that she was passionate about. However, it didn’t surprise her that his career had something to do with it. Everything about Andrew screamed a determined path of ambition.

‘Well six months isn’t that long until you’ll be going back to doing what you love,’ she commiserated, the hardness in her tone not belaying the odd jolt in her stomach at the idea of him leaving.

‘Can’t complain about it,’ said Andrew, as he sat down wedging his hips against the brick wall.

‘You wouldn’t want to in this company,’ said Kate, giving her voice a note of finality that indicated the time for confidences was over.

Kate drained her cup of the final dregs of tea as she watched Andrew run his hand over his close-cropped hair. She wished he wouldn’t do that. It made her palms itch to find out whether the blond strands were bristly or soft.

Before she could make the final move back into the hall, she heard someone call her name with urgency.

‘Thank god, I was starting to get worried that you two had left,’ said Patrice, as she appeared at the door.

‘What’s wrong?’ Kate asked. She was concerned to see the normally stoic woman looking rattled, with her cheeks tinged a flustered red.

‘It could be nothing, but Mr Rafferty started looking unwell, is short of breath and has pain in his left arm.’

As Deputy Commander, Patrice had obviously done enough first aid classes to know what those symptoms could mean.

‘Did you call the ambulance?’ Andrew interjected.

‘Ten to fifteen minutes away,’ Patrice replied.

‘They’ll be fast,’ Kate added. ‘Hell, some of them are our members and they’ll recognise that we aren’t the sorts to send up a false alarm.’

As they had been talking, Kate, Patrice and Andrew had already started moving back into the hall. A cluster gathered at one end of the room told them where the action was. Luckily, a room full of rescue volunteers meant there was limited panic. However, the concern on everyone’s faces was genuine.

Andrew moved with such energy that the crowd around Mr Rafferty parted.

Seeing the man’s colour, Kate raised her voice. ‘Can someone grab the med kit out of the rescue vehicle?’

Knowing this group, Kate didn’t even have to double check that her instructions were being followed. She followed Andrew and got on her knees beside him and Mr Rafferty. Andrew’s hand was on Mr Rafferty’s wrist and he was counting while watching his watch.

‘130 beats per minute.’ Kate wrote the obs on the back of a ripped up form as Andrew verbalized them.

Andrew patiently asked questions, getting the complete focus of the distressed elderly man. Looking at him, Kate realized she no longer believed that he was running from a hideous malpractice suit that he had somehow hidden from the Queensland Rescue interview panel. With each patient, he was meticulous, diligent and skilful.

From Kate’s left, an SES branded med kit was thrust forward. A stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff and an oxygen mask were the equipment Andrew was going to need, so Kate quickly unpacked those essentials.

Andrew had his hand out, ready to use the equipment. However, at the same time he was reassuring the man in front of him. ‘Mr Rafferty. You could have only beaten this place by a hospital as the preferred location to take any sort of turn.’

When he had finished the basics and had his patient sitting with the mask pumping oxygen into his lungs, Andrew motioned Kate for a consult. They moved a little away from the patient and ignored the questions of the onlookers.

‘All Queensland ambulances have a defib machine, right?’ Andrew asked.

‘Absolutely,’ Kate replied. Good equipment distribution was one of the benefits of strong health funding.

‘Then we’ll wait for the ambos,’ Andrew decided. ‘They are better equipped than we are to transport him, especially if his heart stops. If anything happens before they get here we’ll have to be ready to jump into manual CPR.’

Going back to their patient, Andrew kept up a quiet stream of reassurances and a close watch. Kate, meanwhile, organized some men to stand by the door and direct the coming ambulance officers.

‘The rest of the cavalry have arrived,’ announced a volunteer from the door, not three minutes later.

A short while later, Mr Rafferty had been packed and transported in an ambulance. The only evidence of the emergency was the med bag that Kate was repacking and the slightly too hyped voices of those that had witnessed the drama.

With his patient’s obs relatively stable, Andrew had elected to let the ambos handle the situation alone. He was standing next to her, having been inundated with people expressing their gratitude. Looking at him accepting congratulations with ease, Kate knew she couldn’t compete for his attention. Andrew was used to being the most important man in most rooms, and very little seemed to penetrate his bubble of self-confidence.