by Magro, Mandy
Sarah pushed the door open and put her arm around Lily. ‘Don’t apologise. It’s not your fault. Do you want me to call the doc’s for you?’
‘Nah. It’s probably just a virus or something. I’ve felt really woozy these past few days and my boss was off sick at the beginning of the week, so maybe he’s given me whatever it is he had, the bugger. You go and have a good day with Maggie.’
‘I’ll have my mobile, so just ring if you need me and I’ll come home straightaway, okay?’ Sarah gave Lily’s shoulders another quick squeeze and passed her the packet of tablets. ‘Mum said these’ll help.’
‘Thanks, mate. I’m gonna go lie down now before I chuck everywhere again. Have fun today.’
Lily did indeed look ill, and Sarah helped her upstairs and back into bed, making sure she was tucked in with a bucket beside her before heading downstairs to Maggie.
Jack spent the morning showing Matt around the farm while Daniel got on with the tractor work. Matt was enjoying his time with Jack. Like Sarah had said, Jack was a lot like his own dad, Steve. And with their mutual interest in farming, Matt and Jack had no shortage of things to talk about.
Around ten a.m., Jack pulled up at the dam to check on the pump. Matt went to step out of the ute to help.
‘Just wait here, Matt. All I’ve gotta do is turn the pump on, so it’s a one-man job. It’ll only take a minute,’ Jack explained as he stepped out.
Matt watched Jack walk over to the pump and go about his routine of turning switches and dials. Then, to his horror, a snake raised itself from under a dead tree branch that was lying near the pump. Before Matt could say a word, the reptile lashed out at Jack. Jack jumped back in fright but the snake was so fast that he didn’t have time to get away. It struck at him over and over and Jack’s face contorted in pain and fear.
In panic Matt fumbled for the door handle, desperately trying to get out of the ute. The seconds seemed like hours before he pushed the door open and sprinted to Jack’s side, anxiously scanning the area to make sure that the snake had disappeared.
‘Shit, Jack, are you all right, mate?’ Matt said, tearing his own shirt off. Not waiting for an answer, he started ripping the shirt into strips. He knew he had to get the shirt wrapped around the bites to try and stop the venom from spreading through Jack’s body. He worked fast, wrapping the make-do tourniquet tightly up Jack’s leg from the ankle, knowing full well that time was of the essence. Jack didn’t say a word the whole time, his face still frozen in shock, but Matt could see that he was in pain. Once Matt was satisfied that he had secured the shirt as well as he could, he gently helped Jack up and over to the ute.
‘You have to try and stay calm, Jack. The more you panic, the worse it will be. Take deep steady breaths and you’ll be right,’ Matt said, trying hard not to let his own panic show.
Jack nodded his head, looking dazed. Matt called 000 on his mobile and as he was connected, Jack mumbled woozily, ‘Tell them a taipan. It was a taipan.’
Matt explained the situation to the emergency line operator and watched Jack lean out the car door and vomit. As the venom worked its way through Jack’s body, Matt knew the nausea would only get worse.
Matt hung up and quickly started the ute. ‘They’re sending an ambulance, Jack, but I’m gonna start driving you into town and they’ll meet us on the road.’
He threw the ute into gear and spun the tyres wildly. Jack slumped in the passenger seat, holding his chest. He looked like a lead weight was pressing down on him, and his breathing was strained. Matt pushed his foot down harder on the accelerator and drove like a bat out of hell down the gravel road, feeling the back end of the ute flick out as he swung out onto the bitumen road that led to town. This was one of the times where he couldn’t have given a shit about how fast he was driving. He wasn’t stopping for anything other than the ambulance. As the ute sped down the road, Matt stared straight ahead, willing the red, flashing lights of the ambulance to appear. Time seemed to freeze as the kilometres flashed past, and each glance in Jack’s direction told Matt that he had no time to spare.
Halfway into town he finally saw the lights of the ambulance coming towards him and he frantically flashed his headlights. The ambulance abruptly pulled over to the side of the road as Matt pulled in beside it and ran to the passenger-side door to open it for the paramedics. As he did so, Jack began to convulse, and Matt was horrifed to see the shirt he’d used on Jack’s leg was soaked through with blood. He stood back and watched helplessly as the two paramedics lifted Jack out of the car and into the waiting ambulance.
‘Are you going to follow us, mate?’ one of the men asked. Matt nodded his head swiftly and ran back to the ute.
It was a nerve-racking drive. Matt followed the ambulance at breakneck speed, hoping and praying he’d done enough to get Jack safely to hospital. Luckily, it took only minutes to get there. Matt pulled the ute to a sudden halt in a loading zone, and ran to Jack’s side as the medics wheeled him into the hospital. As they approached a set of large doors, one of the medics stopped him.
‘You’ll have to wait here, mate. I’m sorry, but you can’t come in. I’ll let you know what’s happening as soon as we get him looked over, okay?’
‘He said it was a taipan,’ was all Matt could say, watching helplessly as Jack was wheeled out of sight. Matt could feel tears beginning to sting his eyes. He put his head in his hands and let the tears fall, and prayed with every bit of his being that Jack would be okay.
Sarah was in a clothes shop with Maggie, looking at summer dresses, when she heard her mobile ring. Rummaging through her bag, she pulled it out and saw the caller ID was Matt.
‘Hi babe! Missing me already?’
There was a silence on the other end of the line, and then she heard Matt clear his throat. ‘Sarah, listen to me. Your dad’s been bitten by a taipan.’
Sarah felt her hands tremble and she clutched the phone like it was a lifeline. ‘Oh my God. Is he okay? Where are you now?’
‘I’m at the Mareeba hospital with him. They’ve taken him into the emergency room. I can’t give you any more information than that, babe. Can you come down here as quickly as you can?’ Matt’s voice broke.
‘I’ll be with you in a minute. I’m only just down the road.’ Sarah was finding it hard to get her words out. Maggie had dropped the dress she’d been looking at to stand by Sarah’s side, and as Sarah hung up the phone she almost fell into Maggie’s arms.
‘Dad’s been bitten by a taipan, Mum, and Matt has taken him to the hospital. It’s not sounding good.’ On her last word, her voice cracked and she started sobbing.
Maggie wrapped her arms around her daughter’s shaking shoulders. ‘Oh, Jesus. Oh no, Oh Lord, no. Please, not my Jack.’
Sarah pulled her head up and looked at her mother through tear-blurred eyes. ‘Come on, Mum, we have to get to the hospital.’ She groped in her bag for the car keys as they ran out of the shop and dashed to the car. Sarah drove through town in a daze, while Maggie sobbed uncontrollably beside her. Sarah knew that nothing she said would help, but she stroked Maggie’s leg all the way to the hospital, trying to calm her a bit. Once they arrived they saw Jack’s ute near the entrance and parked beside it. Matt was nowhere to be seen at first, but they spotted him hunched over in a chair with his head in his hands. Sarah’s heart dropped, fearing the worst. Without warning, Maggie collapsed on the ground next to her. Matt looked up and rushed over as Sarah fell to the ground beside her mother, but she was out cold. Two nurses ran to Sarah’s aid, checking Maggie’s throat for a pulse. All colour had drained from Maggie’s face and she lay deathly still on the cold hospital floor. As Sarah stared at her mother in panic, her head started to spin and she felt like she was going to scream.
‘Has your mum got any medical problems?’ one of the nurses asked Sarah in a soothing voice.
Sarah could hear the nurse talking to her but it sounded like she was speaking in a tunnel. She tried to clear her head. ‘My dad was bitten by a snake. I
think … I think Mum has gone into shock.’
On the floor Maggie started to mumble, and Sarah grabbed her hand anxiously. ‘Mum? Are you okay? You just fainted.’
‘Your father. How’s your father?’ Maggie asked in a trembling voice, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
Sarah turned to Matt for the answer. He looked down at the floor, not knowing what to say, the words threatening to get stuck in his throat.
‘He’s been induced into a coma and taken by emergency helicopter to Cairns. They’ll administer the antivenin there. He’s in such a critical condition that they couldn’t wait for you to arrive. I’m sorry, babe.’
Sarah clutched Matt’s arm and let herself go, the tears flowing freely. ‘No, Matt! I can’t lose my dad. Not my dad.’
Maggie was sitting up now with the aid of the nurses and had heard Matt. She seemed to gather all the strength she could muster, and stood on her shaky legs.
‘Well, we must get to Cairns. I’ve been by Jack’s side for twenty-nine years, so by hell or high water, I’m going to be there when he wakes up. And I promise you, love, he is going to wake up. Your dad is a fighter.’
Maggie’s eyes were suddenly fiery, and her determination brought Sarah to her feet. Her mother’s resolute words had lifted her spirits, and she realised she couldn’t wallow in self-pity and distress.
Leaving Jack’s ute parked at the hospital, Matt, Sarah and Maggie got in the car and pulled out of the car park for the one-hour drive to Cairns. Matt was happy to drive and focus on the road, giving Sarah and Maggie some time to come to terms with it all.
Sarah rang Daniel from the car and brought him up to speed. As she spoke to Daniel, she could hear Lily wailing in the background. Once she’d hung up the phone Sarah closed her eyes and prayed for her dad whom she loved with all her heart, begging for him to live. She had so much more life to share with him. There were so many more happy moments to come. She clung to the belief that he was going to make it through.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
IT had been an agonising twelve hours. Sarah, Matt, Maggie, Daniel and Lily had sat huddled in the waiting room of the Cairns hospital, drinking coffee and trying to sleep on the hard seats while they waited for news about Jack. Doctors came in and out, keeping them updated. Jack was critical but still alive. The staff had already administered two vials of antivenin, and were looking at giving Jack a third. His heart had stopped twice and both times staff had fought hard to revive him. Sarah was beginning to lose hope. Her eyes were red and swollen from the amount of tears she had cried. It felt like sheets of sandpaper were ripping at her eyelids with every blink, and she just couldn’t cry any more. There were no tears left.
Matt sat by Sarah’s side the whole time. Neither had spoken much. They didn’t know what to say. The silence was beginning to sound deafening. All Sarah could hear was the ticking of the clock on the wall in the waiting room. She felt like ripping the darn thing off and smashing it against the floor. Her nerves were on the brink of explosion.
Just when she was ready to give up, she spotted a white coat floating towards them. The doctor’s face was tired but when she caught his eye he smiled, and she knew from that simple expression that Jack was going to make it.
The doctor spoke to them in a calm, professional voice, measuring his words carefully. ‘Well, I’ve got some great news for you. Jack’s going to be okay. He’s in a lot of pain at the moment, but he will pull through. He’s one tough man. You should all be very proud of him.’
Maggie wept openly now, her determination no longer needed. ‘Can we see him?’
‘Yes, you can, but please remember he’s still very weak. Don’t ask him any questions. Just let him know you’re here for him,’ the doctor answered. He led them down the hall and to the door of the room Jack had been placed in. He nodded and gently opened the door, leaving them be.
As they slowly filed into the room, Sarah put her hand on her heart when she saw her father. He lay in the hospital bed, shrunken and pale, barely recognisable. He had a drip coming out of his arm and his face was hardly visible beneath the oxygen mask. His skin was an unnatural shade of grey, and one of his arms hung limply over the edge of the bed. Sarah carefully lifted it up and placed it back onto the bed.
They huddled around Jack, the floor soon spotted with the tears that rolled off their cheeks. Some cried for pure relief and others at the thought of how close they had come to losing him. But one thing was the same for all: Jack was the heart and soul of the Clarke family, and if they had lost him, nothing would’ve been quite the same ever again.
Jack opened his eyes and slowly scanned the faces in front of him. A weak smile cracked across what little they could see of his face. He turned to Maggie, who was clutching his hand. She ran her other hand over his clammy face.
‘Don’t talk yet, love. You just rest. You had us all scared out of our wits. We love you very, very much. You know that, don’t you?’
Sarah watched a lone tear fall from her father’s eye. She had never seen him cry. She realised he must have believed he would never see any of them again. Her breath caught in her throat at the thought of the narrow escape he’d had.
Jack tried to speak through the mask. His voice was muffled but Sarah could hear what he was saying.
‘I love you too, with all my heart.’
Once he finished speaking, Jack closed his eyes, and it was soon clear that he was asleep.
The family slept on the uncomfortable lounges in the waiting room, not wanting to leave the hospital. Sarah woke at the crack of dawn; her back aching badly from tossing and turning all night long. She made her way to the toilets and gave her face a quick wash, rubbing at her teeth with her finger seeing she didn’t have a toothbrush handy. She looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head. Could her life get any more dramatic?
For the rest of the day, the family took turns sitting with Jack, spending the rest of the time getting food, bringing coffee up from the cafeteria or just grabbing a bit of fresh air. Jack came to every now and then for a few minutes, and then would slip back into sleep, giving in to exhaustion. By early evening, Sarah felt like her emotions had been pushed through the wringer. They had all been in the hospital for over twenty-four hours now, and she couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved when Maggie insisted that everyone go home. ‘There’s no point all of us hanging around here. We don’t know how long Jack might be in hospital. Drive home, sleep, and don’t worry. I’ll call you the second I have any more news. You all need some rest.’
Sarah tried to talk Maggie into letting her and Matt stay, but Maggie put her foot down. Sarah grudgingly followed the stern orders and left, getting into the car with Matt. They headed back up the range to Mareeba, occasionally glancing out at the endless blue ocean beyond them. Sarah recalled all the times she had spent out on the aqua-blue water with Jack and her brothers, fishing and catching mud crabs. They were happy times, and she longed for more of them.
The drive seemed to take forever, and Sarah had had plenty of time to think over the last two days. The idea of living away from her parents had suddenly become unthinkable – it was amazing how quickly things could change. She and Matt hadn’t had a chance to talk about the future, but Sarah now knew that she could never live away from her family. What would Matt think? she wondered anxiously. She knew he was close to his family too. She couldn’t walk away from Matt, but she couldn’t leave her family either. She wished there was some way she could have it all, but she knew that to be with Matt meant she would have to live away from all the people that meant the world to her.
Matt noticed the furrow in Sarah’s brow. ‘Are you all right, sweetheart?’
Sarah nodded softly. ‘Yeah. It’s just really scared me nearly losing Dad. Makes me so glad I was back home and not at Rosalee when this happened.’
Matt sighed. He knew it had been hard for Sarah being away from all her family and friends when she worked on the station.
‘Sarah, I have somethi
ng I want to tell you. It may come as a shock.’
Sarah turned away from the car window and her introspection to look at him. She plucked her sense of humour up from within the depths of her misery. ‘Shit, Matt. You’re not gay, are you?’
Matt smiled for the first time in hours. ‘You cheeky bugger! I wanted to let you in on a little secret of mine. I’ve never told anyone else, especially not my family, but I reckon I’ll have to tell them some day soon. I’ve never really wanted to take over the station.’
Sarah raised an eyebrow quizzically. ‘I thought it was your dream, Matt. What are you on about?’
‘You’re right, I’ve always wanted to run my own station, but not Rosalee. Georgia’s there for Dad, and I know how much she wants to take over the place one day. I don’t want to disappoint Mum and Dad, and they’ve always just assumed I’d be the one to take over when they finally decided to throw in the towel, but I’ve never had my heart set on it like Georgia has. She’s definitely got the guts and the strength to do it, and I want her to have the station, not me.’
‘But if you’re not running Rosalee, what will you do?’ Sarah asked.
‘From the very first time I saw the ocean, I knew that I couldn’t live the whole of my life in the outback,’ Matt said, gazing at the road. ‘I have this dream – I’d love to live closer to the coast and breed cattle on my very own piece of dirt.’
‘Are you serious?’ Sarah asked, pleasure shining on her face. ‘I think the shock of the last twenty-four hours has gotten to you.’
‘No, babe. The last few days have just confirmed how short life can be. Like I said to you that day by the dam when we were fishing, you’ve gotta follow your heart and your dreams, and live life to the fullest every second of every day. I love this area, and I know it would mean the world to you to live closer to your family. Maybe we can make both our dreams come true.’
Sarah felt like she was on an emotional roller-coaster. Her heart was still filled with sorrow, but suddenly all the worry lifted, if only for a moment, and her face lit up like an outback star-filled sky.
