Thursday

by David Ridgway

  When he was back in the bus, he turned Jackie’s light onto the man with the wrenched shoulder.

  “Are you OK?”

  “You’d never have got her out on your own,” he replied. “And, yes, I’ll live. But the pain is increasing.”

  “I’m going to have to ask you to help me again.”

  “I realise that. Anyway, when you’ve freed his leg,” the man indicated the other passenger, “He’s going to have a much greater degree of discomfort than me.”

  “I expect you’re right.”

  David crouched down to look at the leg. It was under water but bent under the man’s body. David was no expert, but it appeared that the man’s thigh was broken. There would be no easy way of lifting him without causing intense pain, but they couldn’t leave him in the bus.

  “Jackie, his thigh appears to be broken. Before we do anything else, we’ve got to get it splinted.”

  “How can we do that?”

  “First, we must lift him to free the leg and that will be intensely painful. Then we’ve got to support the leg with a splint.”

  “I’m sure I’ve seen a shopping bag near here,” Jackie muttered. “Maybe there’s an umbrella inside. Here it is! No, sorry, there’s nothing here.”

  The lad pulled David’s arm. “I get branch from outside.” And with that, he climbed up the seat and disappeared.

  “Don’t you think it would be better to leave me here?” The man looked pleadingly at David.

  “No. I don’t.” David looked him full in the face. “The tide is still coming in and the water is still rising. If we leave you here, it is very likely that you will drown.”

  “Right.” The man looked frightened and disorientated. “So what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to lift you, with my girlfriend’s help, until we can straighten your leg. That will be extremely painful for you. Then, we are going to splint your leg. After that, I will lift you in a fireman’s lift onto my shoulders, like I did with the unconscious lady. With this man’s help, I will climb up to that window and we will pull you out. After we’ve got you down onto the ground, we will carry you up some steps to the other passengers where you will be well above the surface of the water.” David paused and looked at the man’s frightened face. “I’m sorry. It’s not the best plan, but I don’t think that we have any alternatives. But first, we need to find something to put your thigh into a splint.”

  Suddenly, the lad was back. He had a branch, which he had broken off a nearby tree. It was about three feet long. More importantly, he also had a belt.

  “Put branch next to leg and then tie belt round both legs.” The teenage boy tried to explain in halting English. “We need another belt.”

  “That woman’s coat on the top deck has a belt. Will that do?” Jackie said.

  “Can you see if there are any others on the dead people?” David asked, in a somewhat matter of fact manner.

  “I help.”

  Jackie and the boy disappeared and quickly returned with three additional belts.

  “Right.” David said to the man. “We’re ready to get you sorted. First, we’ve got to lift you, so we can straighten your leg.”

  “Yes, I understand. Please be as careful as you can.”

  “Come on, Jackie. Let’s get to it.”

  He squatted next to the man and, gently, lifted the man’s arm onto his shoulder. “Jackie, as I stand up, can you try to get under his other arm, so that as little weight as possible is being put onto his broken leg?”

  “Yes. I think so.”

  “Are you ready?” David asked the man. The man nodded.

  David took the strain in his own thighs and slowly began to rise. As his bodyweight lightened on the broken leg, the pain returned and the man let out a blood-curdling scream. Jackie now got under his other arm and the lad took hold of the man’s leg, straightening it. The scream suddenly stopped as the man passed out.

  “Right! Let’s do this as quickly as we can,” David said.

  With Jackie keeping his head above water, David grabbed the branch and, helped by the Bulgarian boy; he placed it next to the broken thigh and passed the belt around both thighs. He quickly pulled it tight and made it firm using the buckle. He then tied one of the extra coat belts around both legs, just above the knees, while the lad tied another coat belt just below the knees. Finally, he used the last belt to tie both ankles together. The man’s legs were now completely immobilised.

  “OK. Let’s lift him up, so he’s standing and then get him on my shoulders.”

  They repeated the process they had used with the unconscious lady, although it was considerably more awkward trying to work with the man’s immobilised legs. Finally, after a lot of effort, he was lying across David’s shoulders.

  “You’d better get up top and be ready to pull him up through the window.” David panted.

  Jackie and the lad climbed up the seat and disappeared through the window. With the help of the other man, David began to climb up the seat.

  “David, we’ll have to ease him out with his head and shoulders first,” Jackie said. “He’s too tall with the splint on.”

  “OK,” David panted. “I’ll do my best.”

  He pushed the man’s upper body up and was relieved when he realised that his body was being pulled up from above. Slowly, it disappeared from his view and David was able to climb out.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Jackie looked at him with some alarm.

  “I’ll just catch my breath.” David stayed in a kneeling position with his head hanging down, until his heart rate returned to normal. He turned to the boy. “As soon as we’ve got him off the bus, you’ll have to help me get him up the steps.”

  “OK. I understand.”

  They pushed the man to the back, turned him round so he would go down feet first and then rolled him onto his front. David got off the bus and Jackie and the lad began to lower the man. As soon as David had him secure round the waist, the lad quickly joined him and, together, they supported him under the shoulders and half carried and half dragged him up the steps before laying him gently on the ground next to the others.

  After that, the last guy should be quite easy, David thought.

  The two lads quickly re-entered the bus and, together with Jackie, dropped inside where the last passenger was patiently waiting for them.

  “I’ve been thinking about your shoulder,” said Jackie. “When you are climbing out, you must protect it as much as possible. We don’t really have anything to support it, so we’ll have to disable it somehow.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Well, if you slip and it moves or if you fall on it, you could make your injury much worse. So I suggest that we take off your coat and then, with your arm held across your stomach, we’ll put it on again and do up all the buttons. That should disable your arm pretty effectively.”

  “OK. But how are you going to get the coat off?”

  “Very carefully,” Jackie replied.

  Gently, she reached up and undid the buttons, before easing the sleeve down the uninjured arm. It was then quite a simple task to take the injured arm out of the other sleeve. She carefully placed his arm across his stomach and put his good arm back into its sleeve, before wrapping the coat round his back so that it was lying correctly on his shoulders. She pulled it tight across his chest and belly and did up all the buttons.

  “How does that feel?” she asked.

  “Much better, thanks.” He nodded. “Surprisingly so!” he added.

  “Good,” said David. “I’ll push from below, as you climb up the seat. As soon as she can, Jackie will get hold of your good arm and will pull you up, as I push from here.”

  As a plan, it was pretty basic, but in its execution, it was brilliant. In no time at all, the man was through the window and ready to be let down onto the ground. Very soon, he had joined his companions on the steps, where the two Bulgarians were finally reunited.

  David surveyed his
small group of refugees and muttered to Jackie, “We’ve got to move these people up to the main road. No one will ever see them here.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to be easy. Two of them are still unconscious.”

  “I know. I’ve been thinking about that. I can carry one of the women and I was hoping that you and this lad’s girlfriend could help the guy with the broken leg. The old man and the chap with the wrenched shoulder should be able to help each other. That’ll just leave the other unconscious woman.”

  “The boy’s not strong enough to help her on his own.”

  “I realise that. But he could wait here until I get back. We could move all the others to the top of the steps and I could then come back down to help him.”

  “That’ll work.” Jackie looked at David with admiring eyes, wondering where his strength and ability came from. She realised, with a sudden intense internal shock that she loved him intently and would never want to let him go.

  They explained the predicament to the group and how they planned to resolve it. Slowly, except for the two unconscious women, they got to their feet. With difficulty, Jackie explained the plan a second time to the Bulgarian girl and together they helped the man with the broken leg to his feet. His legs were still firmly bound together and to the splint. Standing either side, they each took one of his arms over their shoulders and holding him firmly around the waist, started to lift him step by painful step, to the road above.

  In a similar fashion, the man with the wrenched shoulder, which was still immobilised by his jacket, with his free hand assisted the old man to his feet. The old man put his arm around the younger man’s good shoulder and, together, they slowly followed the girls. The Bulgarian boy helped David to lift the first unconscious woman onto his shoulders in a fireman’s lift and he followed on, rather more easily than his companions. He reached the top first and walked a little way towards the Strand before putting the woman down.

  There was no traffic at all on the approach road to Waterloo Bridge. David gently put down his burden and, as the others arrived, they all settled down next to the woman. David trotted back down the steps, where he found the Bulgarian boy talking to the second woman.

  “Has she come round?” he asked.

  “Sorry, what … you … mean?”

  “Is she awake?”

  “Yes. Just after you leave, she groan and sit up. I help her. She ask where she is and I explain when you come back.”

  David looked at the woman who was sitting with her knees drawn up to chest and her head bowed over them. “How do you feel?”

  “Bloody terrible. What the hell happened? And who are you?”

  “The river’s flooded. There was some sort of a tidal surge, which has flooded both sides. I think a boat has been freed from its moorings and come over the river wall. It must have hit the bus and knocked it over.”

  “But you weren’t on the bus.”

  “No, my girlfriend and I were in Somerset House. When we came out, we saw the bus and came down to help. All the other passengers are on the road at the top of the steps.” He looked more closely at the woman. “Do you think you can walk?”

  “I don’t know. I think I’m going to be sick.” And with that announcement, she leant over to her left and was sick onto the steps. When she had finished, she looked up at David and asked, “Did you bring out my briefcase?”

  “We didn’t see a briefcase. I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll have to get back in to look for it.”

  “You’ll never find it. The bus is on its side and partly under water. Any papers will have been destroyed.”

  “You don’t understand. The briefcase is waterproof and the documents inside are really important.”

  “Surely nothing is as important as saving your life.”

  “Without that case, my life will be finished anyway. Where’s my handbag?”

  “That’ll also be inside the bus.”

  “My mobile and my house keys are inside it. I can’t leave without them,” she stated.

  She started to look round her and then struggled to her feet. She saw the Bulgarian boy, standing behind her. “Who’s he?”

  “He was another passenger.”

  “What’s he doing?”

  “He has been helping me to get the injured passengers out of the bus.”

  “OK. I see.” The woman turned back to face David.

  “Right!” she said decisively, “I’ve got to get back down there and find the briefcase. I’ll either do it with or without your help.”

  David turned to the lad and explained quickly that he should go to the others and explain to Jackie what was now happening. He had no choice but to help her find her things. The boy turned and ran up the steps. David put out his hand to help the lady back down to the bus. In her late twenties, she was quite short, with red hair and a pretty face.

  As they reached the bottom of the steps, he turned to her and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t remember. Were you on the top deck or the bottom?”

  “On the bottom. Why? Does it matter?”

  “Yes. To get into the bottom deck, we have to climb up onto the side and drop through a broken window.”

  “Oh! I see.” The lady waded through the water to the back of the bus. “God, this water’s cold!” she exclaimed.

  “You need to climb up, using the top deck emergency exit. I’ll help you. Put your foot into my hands and then pull yourself up. When you’ve got both feet up, I’ll climb to the top and pull you up the last bit.”

  He bent down and as she placed her foot into his clasped hands, he realised that she had no shoes and he could see that her stockings were torn and laddered. He boosted her up and then clambered up, past her, to the top. He turned back, took her hands and pulled her up onto the side of the bus. He took her arm and helped her towards the broken window. As she stepped up to him, he also noticed that, under her jacket and coat, her blouse was torn and dirty. He suggested that he should go in first and then he could catch her if she should slip. He climbed down the chairs and into the water. Looking up, he watched her as she carefully followed until, finally, she was standing next to him with the water round their waists.

  “Where were you sitting?” She closed her eyes.

  “On the left, near the back. I could hear that lad and his girl talking to each other in a foreign language, behind me and to my right. There was a man on the other side of the aisle and someone else in front of him.”

  “We’ve got all of them out.”

  “My briefcase must be quite near here then.” She bent down and started swishing about in the water.

  “Hang on!” David pulled out his mobile and turned on the light. “This might help.”

  “Thanks. Can you shine it there?” She indicated with her finger. The water was dirty, muddy and smelly. They couldn’t see through it. The woman knelt down and the water made her skirt balloon around her waist. Methodically she searched below the surface.

  Kneeling up straight, she announced, “I’ve got something.” She bent forward again and moving slightly forward on her knees, she suddenly straightened up with a handbag in her hand. “Well at least I’ll be able to get into my house.” She smiled triumphantly at David, as she passed him the leather bag, before bending forward for a third time.

  The water was cold and, now that he was basically standing still, David began to shiver. The adrenalin rush that had sustained him throughout the rescue, was rapidly draining away leaving him cold and indecisive. He kept his light shining just in front of the woman, who was soaked, dirty, but exultant. With a triumphant “Yes!” she again knelt upright but, this time, she was holding a silver style briefcase in her arms.

  “Come on,” she said. “Help me up and let’s get out of here.”

  David put his mobile into his pocket and took hold of her arms. Her clothes were soaking and clinging to the curves of her slight body. Once again, he made a step with his hands for her to be helped up the chairs and through the broke
n window. With great difficulty, because she refused to let go of the briefcase, she clambered up, David helping by firmly pushing her bottom. When she reached the top, she lay full length, reaching back to help David. Once again, he suggested that he should get off the bus first and then be able to catch her, should she slip. He told her to come down, on her stomach, feet first. As she slid off the top side of the bus, David reached up first for her feet and legs and then for her waist. At that point she slipped, but David caught her with his arms round her chest and one hand cupping her small but shapely breast. As her feet touched the road below the surface of the water, she turned and, smiling broadly, she kissed him firmly on the lips.

  “Thank you. You will never know how important it was to recover this.” She indicated the briefcase. “But you’re shivering. You must be really cold.”

  “Not as cold as you. Your clothes are all soaked. We must find some shelter and quickly. Come on! This way. Up the steps.”

  David gave her the handbag, took her free hand and pulled her up across the road. They waded to the pavement and started to climb the steps. As soon as they were clear of the water, she stopped. Very quickly she took off her coat and jacket before unzipping her skirt. Standing there in her lacy black bra and matching panties, she twisted her skirt to get rid of the excess water. She then shook it out and the put it on once more.

  Spellbound, David watched this exercise, having never seen a lady wearing stockings and suspenders before. Even in the moonlight, he could see that the panties were very sheer and, despite his shivering, he could feel his masculinity stirring. It was the same with her bra through which David could see the shape of her hardened nipples. The white silk of her blouse was mouldered to her body, leaving nothing to the imagination.

  “Hold these.” She passed over the jacket and coat before quickly stripping off her blouse. Just as quickly, she squeezed out the excess water, before putting it back on and tucking it into her skirt. After repeating the twisting actions with her jacket and her coat, she put them back on, picked up her handbag and the briefcase and started to walk briskly up the steps. David followed behind, hardly believing what he had just witnessed.