‘You shouldn’t have unplugged the battery,’ his wife suddenly shrieked, you’re an idiot Ken, you obviously did not reconnected the cables correctly.
‘Hon,’ his tone was soft, but the warning was clear.
‘Don’t you Hon me, this, is all your fault and…,’
Ken finally lost his temper. His face growing red as he bellowed, ‘you know if you weren’t such a bleeding heart liberal and you had let me bring my gun we wouldn’t be in this situation.’
‘Don’t you raise your voice to me,’ Gina hissed, her eyes narrowed to tiny slits. On and on they went, the two of them exchanging insults and ….
Georgia had enough. ‘Shut up the pair of you,’ she shouted over their words. Miraculously, they fell silent. Their eyes riveted in Georgia’s direction. ‘Don’t either of you move.’ She stepped backwards towards where Lola was standing with Rebecca. Still keeping an eye on the couple she asked, ‘what do you think?’ Her voice was low.
‘I don’t dink they have a clue,’ Lola said.
‘I agree,’ Rebecca said, ‘it is as if they have been trapped in some kind of weird time warp.’
Georgia sighed. ‘So I guess we had better tell them then.’ They both nodded. Slipping the bag holding Ant off her shoulder, Georgia handed it to Rebecca. ‘Here, would you mind letting her out, I think she needs to go potty.’ Then she looked at Lola, ‘guess you can let Millie down too.’
She signaled to Jamie and Deedee to relax and as they lowered their weapons, she walked over to Ken and Gina.
‘I think you should both sit down.’
At these words, Gina wailed in terror, ‘she’s going to execute us.’
‘No, I am not going to do that.’ But if you keep that horrible noise up, I might be sorely tempted to. She went on. ‘There is something that you need to know.’ There was an edge to her voice, and without further protest, they hastily sat down. Georgia knelt down as well, keeping her distance and holding her shotgun across her knees as she gave them a brief rundown.
‘No fuckin way,’ Ken exclaimed, ‘no way, nuh uh.’
‘What a load of trash,’ Gina said, and then added, ‘you don’t seriously expect us to believe you?’
‘I am afraid that it is the truth. It is why your vehicle won’t start, and the phone is dead and…’ She stopped. It was obvious that they were not going to believe her. Would I believe a group of strangers in similar circumstances?
At that moment Lola came and stood behind her, putting her hand on her shoulder as Georgia asked, ‘do you have a camera, and how about your watches? They are not working either, are they?’
Ken looked at Georgia sharply. ‘Well uh… in fact, they’re not, but well um… that’s because we uh… tipped up in the river and…’
‘Okay then, how about planes; have you seen any planes, any contrails?’
Gina leaned forward, her hair had come loose from its tie, and with a gesture of irritation she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. ‘Planes? What does that prove? Who even notices planes? I am sure I don’t.’
‘Doesn’d surprise me, Lola said, seems to me thad, you don’t have de sense thad God gave a goose.’
Deedee and Rebecca giggled and Georgia struggled to keep a straight face. Lola had evidently had enough of the woman.
‘How dare you,’ Gina snapped, then looked at Georgia, are you going to let her speak to me like that?’
Georgia shrugged her shoulders, then rose to her feet, ‘It makes no difference to us whether you believe us or not, and to be honest, I really cannot blame you, we found it hard to come to terms with ourselves.’ She held out her hand to Ken. ‘Anyway I wish you well, we have things we need to do.’
Somewhat dazed, Ken stood up and shook her proffered hand, ‘So you are uh… letting us go? We are um… free to leave?’
‘Yep, you are as free as a bird,’ Georgia quipped, ‘in fact I would go as far as to say, that you have never been freer in your entire life.’
She turned to walk away from them, then stopped and looked back. ‘There is one thing that might help you to believe. May I suggest that you just walk up to the top of the road, turn right, and keep walking, about two hundred yards should do it.’
‘Way to go,’ Jamie murmured. ‘That should convince them.’
‘Yes,’ Georgia thought, ‘possibly the sight of all the broken down vehicles and the charcoal remnants of the body reaching for the heavens, would do that.’
‘Just one thing,’ Georgia added, ‘be careful, don’t just wander out in the open, and take your kids with you. Best that you all stick together, there has been no law for ten days now!’
‘Do you think we are stupid?’ the woman yelled after her, ‘you just want us away from the R.V. so you can rob us.’
Georgia felt like shouting, ‘whatever,’ back to her, that expression she hated so much, for its dismissively insulting quality and yet right now, it seemed to perfectly sum-up, how she felt. Even so, she held her tongue and just kept on walking, catching up with Lola and the children just as they reached the picnic hut.
They dumped their gear on the concrete floor of the hut, next to the table and benches, and out of the corner of her eye, Georgia noticed the couple heading back towards their campervan. She watched them for a moment, then shrugging her shoulders; she dismissed them from her thoughts as she began searching through her pack for the medical kit. Enough time had been wasted.
Chapter Thirty
It was pleasant in the hut, a cross breeze, cutting through the three open sides of the building cooled them. It felt good to Georgia to sit down on a real seat, the table firm and smooth, beneath her arms as she rested them on the surface. Rebecca and Deedee had given some water and biscuits to the dogs. Badger didn’t want to eat, but Georgia would have been surprised if she had. Now the girls were sitting on the step, talking quietly.
Jamie sat next to Lola, his arm across the small of her back, in what was a very protective gesture. She looked pale, ghostlike almost, beneath the dried blood and the bruising. In the distance Georgia could faintly hear raised voices, the sound almost drowned out by the constant shrill of the Katy-dids. Behind her was the occasional crunch as Millie and Ant ate their biscuits.
Georgia reached across the table, putting her hand over one of Lola’s, ‘how are you feeling?’ The question was virtually rhetorical; it did not really need an answer.
However, Lola answered. ‘In a lod of pain, and I feel compledely done in. I dink he cracked my cheekbone, my face hurds so bad.’
Georgia studied Lola’s face closely, she did not think her cheekbones had been fractured, of course, she had no way of knowing for certain, but as puffy as Lola’s face was, she had the feeling she would look much worse if that was the case. It was the nose, which was clearly broken; perhaps it was some sort of transference of pain, was that possible? ‘I think we need to clean you up, see what we can do about…’
Lola interrupted her, ‘you hab huge bruises,’ leaning forward as she spoke, Lola gently touched the base of Georgia’s throat.
‘That will be where he tried to throttle me,’ Georgia said, then quickly glanced over to where the girls were still sitting, hoping they had not heard. They hadn’t, they had their heads together, whispering to each other, not paying any heed to the conversation at the table.
Georgia continued, ‘but apart from feeling like I have swallowed course grit sandpaper I’m fine, it is your,’ she circled her finger around her own nose, indicating what she meant, ‘that I am concerned about. You need to let me treat it.’
‘Give me a few minudes,’ Lola said, ‘I need to sid for a bid, then I promise I will led you do whadever you wand.’
Unwillingly, Georgia agreed, ‘a few minutes then, but not much longer. She took a deep breath. ‘I know that I suggested we stay here tonight, but now I am not so sure. For one thing, it is much more out in the open than I remembered. I don’t know how you feel about it, but I don’t feel comfortable camping anywhere near that fam
ily.’
‘I was thinking aboud thad,’ Lola said, ‘whad if they ask do come wid us?’
Georgia unzipped the medical bag, ‘I doubt that they would do that, they still seem to think everything is fine and dandy in the world.’ As she spoke, she began emptying the contents out on to the table; the rolls of crepe bandages, scissors, tweezers, ointments and an assortment of pills and capsules in tiny containers.
Jamie suddenly asked, ‘yeah, but what if we did get stuck with them, then what? The little girl can’t be more than four or five; they would really slow us down.’
‘They certainly would,’ Georgia agreed, a little distractedly, picking up several of the containers. Why did they have to have the print so small on these labels?
‘Who would slow us down?’ Deedee asked, as she and Rebecca came over to the table, sliding their legs over the bench as they sat down next to Georgia.
‘That family,’ Jamie answered, nodding in the direction of the campervan.
‘I agree,’ Rebecca said, ‘they argue way too much. That woman gave me a headache.’ She theatrically pushed the palms of her hand to her temples as she spoke.
‘Me too,’ Deedee exclaimed, ‘and how would we feed them all?’
‘There’s that too,’ Georgia agreed.
‘Speak of de devil,’ Lola murmured, ‘dere dey are.’
They watched in silence as the couple and their children headed past one of the open sides of the hut. Ken had his head low, his shoulders hunched, the children running a little way ahead. As the group went by, Gina slowed and looked over at them, staring directly at Georgia, then she held something up. Keys, Georgia realized.
‘We have locked the R.V. so do not even think about it,’ Gina called out, jiggling the bunch of keys as she spoke.
‘Well, bless your heart,’ Lola muttered, and Ken, giving them a quick nervous look, grabbed Gina’s arm, yanking her along after him. ‘Stop being so confrontational, are you trying to get us killed?’ Ken had spoken in a low voice, but even so, Georgia heard him clearly.
‘Dey are never going do survive,’ Lola said as Gina, Ken, and the two children reached the top of the road.
‘I think you are right,’ Georgia sighed. ‘They probably won’t. Their biggest disadvantage is that they are running over a week behind everyone else’s learning curves. Anyway, at least they are out of our hair for now. She glanced down at her watch. ‘Well we still have at least two hours of daylight, let me tend to your face Lola, then I think we should cross the river and find somewhere else to camp tonight.
As Rebecca slowly, sparingly, tipped water out of one of the drinking bottles, Georgia washed her hands thoroughly, lathering up the soap as best she could. How did one fix a broken nose? Could it even be fixed? She had no idea. She sat on the table, facing Lola, her feet resting on the bench either side of her.
‘How bad is id?’ Lola asked as Georgia began gently wiping her face, using a moistened bandage, to loosen the dried blood.
Georgia hesitated, her inner voice whispered to her, ‘just lie, don’t tell her how bad it is, it might be months before she sees a mirror.’
‘It is not that bad,’ she said aloud, ‘and at least it hasn’t started bleeding again.’ She pressed the damp cloth gently to the cut on the bridge of her nose. Lola shrieked in pain and Georgia jerked back her hand. Millie and Ant came rushing over to see what all the noise was about, both of them trying to get up onto Lola’s lap.
Georgia looked over at girls. ‘Would you mind holding them while I do this?’
‘Do you dink my node is broken?’ Lola asked, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes as the Deedee and Rebecca settled the dogs.
Even aside from the swelling, she could tell, that it was no longer the straight nose that it had once been. Georgia felt nauseous. She knew that somehow she was going to have to grasp it and try to maneuver it back into place.
‘I’m not sure, it might be.’ Georgia replied.
Rebecca’s eyebrows rose fully an inch as she stared at Georgia. She opened her mouth, about to say something, and then shut it again.
‘You’re nod sure?’ Lola asked, ‘how can you nod be sure?’
‘Well…,’ Georgia began.
‘It’s broken,’ Jamie said, ‘no doubt about it, it’s bent over sideways.’
Georgia shot Jamie a look. ‘Well it is.’ he shrugged, ‘and anyway she is going to work it out, when you push it back into shape.’
Lola stared at him in horror. ‘Push id back in do shape?’ She looked over at Georgia. ‘Is he joking?’
Georgia shook her head. ‘No, he’s right, I am sorry Lola, your nose is broken and it is broken badly, and I…,’ Georgia fell silent. Why did she have to add ‘broken badly’?
‘And you whad?’ Lola asked.
‘Well I guess I am going to have to somehow get it back in place, and I think it is going to hurt.’
‘My face will be ruined,’ Lola wailed.
Deedee came and stood next to her, patting her on the shoulder. ‘Yeah, but it will be fine. You look just like Owen Wilson now. His nose is all bent, but everyone still thinks he is really cool.’
‘Owen Wilson? I look like Owen Wilson?’ Her voice was steadily rising.
Georgia bit her lip, with her blonde hair and blue eyes, and her bent nose, Deedee was right, she did look remarkably similar. ‘No, what Deedee was meaning was…,’
‘Who’s Owen Wilson,’ Rebecca asked.
‘He’s that dude,’ Jamie explained, ‘you know, the one with the blonde hair, he was in Shanghai Knights with Jackie Chan.’
‘Oh yeah, him,’ Rebecca exclaimed as she turned back to Lola, studying her intently for a moment. She nodded. ‘Yes, Deedee is right; you look just like him now.’
Lola made a sound somewhere between a moan and a muffled scream.
‘I am sure it is only temporary,’ Georgia soothed, ‘now sit still, let me finish cleaning this up.’
She leaned back, even with all the blood wiped away, Lola looked a mess, her left eye was nearly swollen shut, large dark circles, which were definitely going to blacken, under each eye, a split lip, and a huge scrape across her chin.
None of that concerned her too much. The nose did. The deep gash across the bridge worried her, but it the whole resetting of the nose that terrified her. She had no idea how difficult it was going to be. This was not like working on piece of jewelry that needed fixing. Pinch it back into shape with the round nose or parallel pliers. Add a little gold, solder here and there, before filing, sanding and buffing with Rouge and Tripoli, and on the rare off chance that you stuffed up, you can start again. No, this was very different, this was human bone, and cartilage and flesh and blood and…
Her stomach heaved.
Georgia put down the bloodied cloth. ‘I don’t think I can do this.’
Lola gaped at her. ‘You have do, I can’d fix my own node.’
‘Yes, but I might hurt you, and what if I make a hash of it? You will never forgive me.’
‘I will neber forgibe you if you leabe id like thid.’
Somehow, Georgia had a feeling that Lola meant it. She sighed, knowing she didn’t really have a choice anyway. ‘Okay, I will try.’
She hunted through the stuff scattered across the table. First, she needed to get painkillers into Lola, without them she would be in agony, no matter how careful she was. Squinting, she read the labels. Ibuprofen. She dropped the container into the medical bag, No, that’s no good, thins the blood. She found some paracetamol and turned back to Lola.
‘If this were a movie, then right about now, I would be offering you a couple of swigs from a Jack Daniels bottle to help with the pain, but this isn’t a movie, and we are fresh out of JD’s so you have to settle for these. She held out a couple of the pills.
Lola took the white tablets from her hand, reaching for the water bottle. ‘Pidy thad,’ she said, ‘I could do wid a drink.’
Me too, a whole damn bottle. ‘Now we just have to wai
t for them to kick in, then I will start.’
But Lola did not want to wait. ‘No, do id now, get id ober with.’
‘Well if you are sure,’ Georgia said, trying to buy a little more time to get her nerves under control.
‘I am sure, jud do id.’
Georgia sprinkled antibiotic powder across the gash on top of her nose, then grasped the nose firmly between her fingers, she gritted her teeth and then pulled, her fingers slipped. Lola moaned.
‘Shit, I am so sorry. I need something to grasp with.’ Georgia exclaimed, trying to steady her shaking hands.
‘You can use one of my hair clips,’ Deedee offered, holding up the one with the little diamante butterflies.
I don’t think that will work. What she needed was …, her eyes settled on the tweezers. That might just do it. Jamie held Lola’s hands. ‘Don’t move.’ Georgia said, as she carefully slipped the spread ends of the tweezers into Lola’s nose, biting her lower lip nervously. What she needed was a real doctor. Someone who knew what they were doing.
Lola shut her eyes tightly, a look of fierce concentration on her face, as Georgia levered with the tweezers. Lola let out a long piercing scream, and Georgia fought back the impulse to let go of the tweezers, then there was a faint crackle beneath her fingers and the nose was back in place.
Swallowing back bile, she reached over squeezing Lola’s shoulder. ‘The worst is over, you did well.’ Lola nodded, her eyes streaming.
Now what? Does it need a splint? Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had the idea that she should plug up the nostrils with cotton wool, but she could not remember why, and how did you bandage a nose anyway?
As she hesitated, Rebecca looked up at her, seeming to read her mind, for she said, ‘I think you need to put the tape across her nose in an x shape. When Jamie’s friend Eric broke his nose and they took him up to the emergency department that is what they did.’
Survivors of the Sun Page 29
