The Homestead Girls

by Fiona McArthur

  After a tense flight into the setting sun, Billie, Daphne, Michael, the two pilots and all their emergency gear were driven the hundred metres to the crash site by Lionel, Barbara’s husband, who shook Billie’s, Rex’s and Daphne’s hands warmly, his big eyes crinkling with a flash of pleasure at seeing them.

  ‘Prefer better circumstances to see you guys,’ he drawled, his expression grave, as he drove speedily along the dirt track to the crash site. ‘Barb and Gwyn are down there to help with the children.’

  He slowed for an emu that dashed in front of the car. ‘Was thinking we might be better moving the ones that are okay to the station and put them all up for the night instead of moving them on, but we didn’t want to move anyone until you could sus them out.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan,’ Billie said. ‘We’ll check with Morgan, who’s liaising with the school as well.’

  They arrived quickly and from a distance the bus looked normal until they got closer and saw the mashed metal on the side wheel from its tangle with a boulder and two scrubby trees.

  A few children were sitting in the shade of a tree with Gwyn and Barbara, who’d come as soon as Morgan had rung her, and was dishing out cool drinks and cake.

  The teacher, Georgina, was much younger than she’d sounded on the phone, and she stood pale and trembling as she waited for them all to get out and take the responsibility from her shoulders.

  Billie and Daphne shook her hand. ‘You must be Georgina. What a day you’ve had.’

  Georgina started to nod, brushed away sudden tears and Daphne stepped forward and enfolded her in a hug.

  ‘There, there. You can relax now. We’ll sort it out.’ She looked around at the ordered chaos. ‘You’ve done really well,’ she said.

  Billie agreed amd the girl threw a grateful peep at Daphne when she stepped back.

  ‘I’m just a wee bit fragile now you’re here.’ She sniffed.

  Billie smiled sympathetically. ‘Best time to be fragile is when help arrives. This would be daunting for anyone.’ Let alone this slip of a girl in one of the most remote places in Australia.

  ‘It got a lot better when Mrs Tomkins from the station arrived.’

  ‘I’ll bet.’ Billie and Daphne followed her over to the bus and Michael and Hector veered off to check out the children, who all looked fairly unscathed from a distance.

  A sheet was slung over the sunny side of the bus to shade the window of the teacher who couldn’t move, and Billie, Daphne, Rex and Georgina headed for the driver.

  The bus driver was sitting on the ground and looked in poor condition, though still conscious. He had a blue tinge to his lips and tongue and he was slumped up against the side of the bus. Billie decided he would be the first to leave and crouched down beside him as Daphne moved on to check the teacher trapped inside, taking Georgina with her.

  Billie opened her kit and removed a tourniquet and two cannulas. ‘Hello there. You must be Bob. I’m Dr Billie Green. I’m going to slip this oxygen mask onto your mouth while I pop a couple of needles in your arm. That okay with you?’

  The man nodded grimly. ‘Sorry for the mess,’ he said faintly.

  ‘Could’ve been a whole lot worse,’ Billie said. ‘You did well. Let’s just get you fixed up enough to fly you out to Adelaide.’ Michael appeared at her shoulder and she nodded towards her patient. ‘I’m thinking you and Hector should take this guy to Adelaide.’

  ‘Yep. No problem. Daphne has another to go, the teacher trapped in the bus. They’re just trying to figure out how to get him out.’

  He pointed to Lionel Tomkins, a no-nonsense ex-miner. ‘Lionel thinks we could cut the side of the bus open pretty easily, so it’s looking like we might be taking two in flight as soon as that’s done. He’s headed back to get the gear and reckons it’ll be a fairly quick job.’

  ‘As long as it is. My friend here isn’t feeling too sprightly.’ She attached ECG leads to his chest as she spoke. The erratic heart rate bounced up on the screen and they both studied the cardiac rhythm with concern.

  ‘Hmm.’ Billie didn’t like the thought of Bob having another heart attack mid-flight. ‘I’ll see what’s happening with the others and I might travel with him myself.’

  She stood up and Michael crouched down next to Bob. ‘Tag,’ he said and smiled at Bob. ‘I’m Michael, the flight nurse. She’s the boss.’ He adjusted the oxygen mask, which had started to slip. ‘I’ll do some more obs while we wait for her here, what do you reckon, mate?’

  Billie smiled as she walked quickly towards the bus, thinking to herself how much she loved working with these guys, and climbed inside where Daphne was crouched down talking to a man with his leg wedged under the seat. His leg was at a very unattractive angle and she winced. That’s gotta hurt, she thought, but smiled reassuringly. The man was sucking on the pain relief inhaler and his face began to relax as she watched.

  Daphne said, ‘We’ll get his pain sorted, his observations are also settling, and he’s stable until they can cut him out.’

  Rex was beside Daphne. ‘If there’s nothing you can do until Lionel comes back with his equipment, I can stay with him if you want to check the rest.’

  Daphne looked up at Billie who nodded, and they moved off together to discuss Daphne’s triage of the children. She’d found lots of bruises and sprains but no obvious breaks, and the little boys were more interested in reliving the excitement of the crash while the little girls were fascinated by Gwyn.

  The young teacher was sitting now with a young girl hugged into her as she wiped the blood from her elbow.

  Tom, the cattle truck driver, poked his phone under Billie’s nose. ‘The guy wants to talk to you.’

  She put the phone to her ear and spoke into it. ‘Dr Green here.’

  ‘Dr Fraser here.’ Morgan’s voice was crisp and she might have detected a hint of steel in the tone. ‘If you have had time to assess the situation perhaps I could have an update.’

  ‘Certainly.’ What was up his nose? Though she guessed she should have touched base with Morgan as soon as she’d seen the two critical patients. ‘One suspected myocardial infarct, with inverted T waves on ECG, unstable and critical.’ There was no comment so she went on.

  ‘One trapped forty-year-old male has obvious femur, tib and fib fracture and trauma to the right leg but haemodynamically stable. The plan is to cut out the side of the bus to extricate him. Both critical patients need to be transported to Adelaide for spec­ialist care and it’s my opinion they will need a medical officer to escort them.’

  ‘Planned departure time?’

  ‘Depends on extrication of trapped patient.’

  ‘That could take quite a while. I think you should consider the option of taking the cardiac patient and go ASAP.’

  She’d wondered about that herself but wasn’t used to being ordered to change her plan of care. Then she reviewed what she could see from where she stood, allowed the desolation to sink in, the stretch of flat land in every direction, the red dust, the saltbush and loose rocks of an arid wasteland. There was a man standing beside her who was the sole inhabitant of the nearest town. Of course Morgan was right. She was in the middle of Australia in one of the remotest parts of the country, miles from a major centre. And her patient could deteriorate at any minute.

  ‘Roger,’ she told him, then turned to Daphne.

  ‘Daphne. I’ll take Bob the bus driver to Adelaide. Might see you there later.’

  ‘Sounds good.’ Daphne nodded. ‘I’ll talk to Morgan about the children while you get organised.’

  Billie handed the phone over with relief. She’d thought she was doing well, but it was a first for her to be triaging a large incident so remotely.

  This situation certainly raised her already high opinion of the whole team. The way the pilots were available for support, the way people like Barbara and her husband instantly helped, and the livestock carrier who used his phone and diverted his truck, then stayed to help. Every single one of them selflessly gi
ving. It made her proud to be a part of this far-flung community.

  TEN

  By the time she’d flown to Adelaide and back, Billie’s neck was stiff with tension and her shoulders ached. Her lower back twinged from the crouched position she’d spent so much time in and it was one of the rare times she wished she still lived at the flat and could soak in the bath.

  Bob the bus driver had been very unstable during the trip and she wouldn’t be surprised if he progressed straight to the operating theatre for more than one coronary artery bypass. Michael and Hector had flown the injured teacher to Adelaide as well, and because they had taken longer to get away they’d had to stay overnight.

  Daphne stayed out at Golden Ridge with Barbara in case any complications arose through the night and one of the children needed urgent attention.

  Morgan was there, waiting for her and Rex at the base, when she walked back in late in the evening for her bag. He looked tall and unruffled and, she could almost believe, pleased to see her! He probably could have gone home and seen her in the morning, but she acknowledged, to herself at least, that she was glad he was there. It had been a big day.

  ‘How are you?’ There was genuine concern in his voice. And definitely some warmth of pleasure at seeing her.

  This was a nice surprise. ‘I’m fine.’

  He studied her and she must have looked acceptable despite the fact she felt like she could sleep for a week because he nodded, and then shrugged, as if explaining to himself why he was asking. ‘It was your first triage in a major incident. You did well.’

  It was her turn to study him. She felt a little of her tiredness fall away with the relief that he really thought so. She’d wondered, especially when he’d suggested she change her transfer plans.

  ‘We were lucky. There weren’t too many casualties and the young teacher, Georgina, did a great job. And Barbara and her husband were so good. And the truck driver. He was a card. You have to love the way everyone pulls together out here.’ Her tongue was running away with her and she closed her mouth.

  He nodded. ‘The school got off lighter than they could have with the children. Having seatbelts in long-distance coaches is a blessing.’

  They both thought about that soberly. Rex waved and left for home and Billie glanced around, acknowledging that most of the lights were off and Morgan had had a big day as well. ‘I imagine it must be hard for you being at the other end of the phone. Do you wish you were out there with us?’

  He shook his head. ‘Wouldn’t do me much good if I did wish that. Someone has to coordinate the services and be available to escalate. I’m glad it went well. Sorry to call you in on your days off.’

  She thought about that and remembered Lorna. Mia would have spent time with her by now and she’d missed the introduction. Mentally she shrugged. Soretta would have handled it all with her usual aplomb. ‘Have you met Mrs Lamerton? She’s been raising funds for the service for years.’

  His eyebrows jerked. ‘Lorna? Of course.’

  ‘She moved in to Blue Hills today.’

  He laughed and it was a good sound. They were actually having a normal conversation and despite her tiredness she didn’t want it to end. ‘What’s Lachlan think about that?’

  ‘I’m not sure he knows but I think, for us, she’ll be fun. She took our quick departure in her stride, no problem. Said her husband had rushed off all their married life.’

  ‘What a menagerie.’

  ‘Excuse me?’ Billie could almost be offended, but he laughed and steered her towards the door.

  ‘Just stirring you. Off you go.’ Then he frowned. ‘Drive carefully. This is when I’m not sure living out of town is such a good idea.’

  ‘I know the shift-working nurses at the hospital do it all the time. I’ll be fine.’

  ‘See that you are.’

  He shut the door behind them and waited until she’d opened her car door and slid in before he went to his own vehicle. She started the car and drove away but she was thinking about the almost companionable conversation they’d had. She hadn’t expected that. He’d waited to watch her go, too. She’d have thought he’d had enough waiting today.

  By the time she got home things were getting fuzzy with tiredness. It had actually been helpful and quite invigorating talking it through with Morgan and she was too tired to worry about the implications of that. But as she showered and prepared for bed she was glad she had the next day off, and sank into a dreamless sleep.

  Mia was sitting with Lorna at the breakfast table. Daphne was at work and her mother had been called out. Something to do with cover for Morgan, who’d been summoned to Broken Hill for an emergency-department heads meeting and both wouldn’t be back until teatime. That left her with Mrs Lamerton for hours.

  ‘I have a little fundraiser next week. Every year at this time I run it,’ Lorna said as she sipped her tea.

  Mia decided the old lady was looking at her the way her mother did when she was planning on a spring clean of the flat. They hadn’t spent much time together and now she wished she’d gone early with Soretta instead of opting for a later run out to the yards.

  ‘That’s nice,’ she said unenthusiastically.

  ‘It’s for the Flying Doctor Service. I do a doorknock and ask for donations. Raise money for equipment.’

  Mia’s gaze began roaming around. Stinker. She wished someone else was here. Nobody did doorknocks anymore. How embarrassing. Imagine if Trent saw her walking down the street with Lorna knocking on doors.

  Soretta had left with Klaus at six a.m. to start bringing in the mob from the furthest paddocks to separate another mob of now grown lambs. She wasn’t coming back until well after lunchtime. Mia was supposed to slice the corned beef and take it down to the pens at lunch so she was stuck here for a couple of hours at least.

  She came back to the doorknock thing. ‘Why don’t you just email them for donations? Make up a flier and send it out on the internet?’

  Lorna smiled. ‘Young people. Such good ideas. I know you have a computer, dear. But I really don’t understand the internet. And tell me about email, I never quite got the hang of that.’

  An hour later, even Mia was amazed by Lorna’s quick grasp of the concepts of wi-fi communication. The elderly woman’s shrewd questions had her revising her ‘mad old lady’ label and together they decided that a webpage for their area would be a help, with historical photos and that it, along with a combined monthly newsletter of current events, could be the answer to avoiding the doorknock event.

  The idea of that certainly made Mia feel more comfortable because there was no way she was knocking on some stranger’s door with Lorna and she didn’t trust her mother not to put her in for it.

  While Mia pulled a template from the internet for a website they both liked, Lorna dug into one of her leather cases and pulled out a bound folio of ancient photographs of some of the early aircraft and transport methods the flying doctors from the past had used and all of a sudden it began to take shape. Lorna even found some black-and-white pictures of her own adventures as a nurse.

  ‘Is that you on a camel?’ Mia’s peel of laughter had Lorna’s crinkled face creasing in an indulgent smile.

  ‘Yes, it is, you scallywag, and I’ll have some respect for my skirt, if you please.’

  Mia valiantly swallowed back another giggle. ‘I can’t believe you wore a skirt to ride a camel.’

  Lorna shrugged. ‘It was worse riding the horse in my uniform.’

  ‘So you actually rode a horse all this way when Soretta’s dad was born?’

  Lorna lifted her head and gazed out the window as if seeing a different time. After a few moments she mused, ‘I did. And rode back into town again, of course.’

  ‘It’s bad enough on the bus.’ Mia thought about the horror bus trip. Although, admittedly, it had improved. And one of Trent’s friends had lounged in the seat opposite her and teased her a bit lately. Yesterday’s ride home had been almost fun.

  ‘Is the bus th
at terrible?’ There was no judgement in the question, just interest and, instead of firing up, Mia had to admit the truth of it.

  ‘Maybe it’s not so bad.’

  ‘I think living out here is far nicer than in town. Much quieter.’

  ‘Too quiet.’

  Lorna looked at her. ‘Have you had time to be bored? I’ve noticed you’ve been pretty busy helping Soretta. And the puppies.’ Again there was no judgement.

  Mia had to smile. ‘Okay. I’m not bored. And I do love the animals, though I wish we didn’t have to put the lambs back with the mob when they grow up.’

  Lorna snorted at that. ‘I can imagine a small herd of house-trained sheep waiting for Soretta’s grandfather when he comes home on Sunday.’

  Mia screwed up her nose as she enlarged a copy of a photograph she’d emailed to herself from her phone. Just snapping pics of Lorna’s old photos seemed to work okay for insertion on the web page. ‘That’s going to be weird. Having a man in the house.’

  She heard Lorna sigh. ‘It’s something I’ve really missed.’

  Of course. Lorna was a widow. Had a whole life and husband and family before she was the purple-haired old lady sitting beside her. A bit of a wake-up call, really. Mia said quietly, ‘I’m sorry your husband died.’

  Lorna’s fingers reached across and touched her arm. ‘Thank you, dear. I was blessed for a long time.’ Her smile looked almost normal. ‘And now I have your lovely mother and you and Daphne and Soretta to talk to on my little holiday out here. I’d say I was very blessed again.’

  Mia’s thoughts came back to herself. And the changes that were about to happen. ‘Still, it’ll be weird to have a man in the house,’ she said again. And one who owned it, and wasn’t very well so he wouldn’t be going out onto the station for a while. So he’d be home. All day.