by Tanya Allan
Bose, who was one of Russak’s many grandchildren, was a constant visitor to Ed’s bedside. He would simply come and stand beside the big man as he slept, often for hours at a time, staring at him, saying nothing. When Ed awoke, Bose would grin and run out of the tent.
I went to speak to Russak and asked him what the boy was doing.
“The boy owes his life to your man,” Russak explained. “It is his duty to watch his spirit as he sleeps, so that no evil spirits can come and harm him.”
“Oh!” I said. “Is that likely?”
“One can never tell with the spirit world. Your man has a troubled spirit in any case, as have you. So it is best that Bose keeps watch,” Russak said, staring at me.
“I have a troubled spirit?” I asked, confused.
The old man grinned, but said nothing else. I left him, and was feeling more worried now.
I bumped into Roger, who was fussing about with some of the medical supplies.
“What I really need is a mobile X-ray machine. I really don’t know the damage that he has done,” he said.
“Ed told me that there is more plastic and steel in his knee than bone. He has been injured and wounded in it several times,” I said.
“I’d guessed as much. If it starts to heal badly, then he may never walk again!” he said. “And now Russak wants to do some witch doctory on him. I can’t let him. who knows the damage he will do?”
I suddenly felt very calm, and it was weird, as I was one of life’s worriers.
“Why don’t you let him, Roger? After all, you operated on the child, while he let you. Trust him, I do,” I said.
Roger looked at me, “But what if it goes wrong?” he asked.
“Which are more scared of, it going wrong, or actually going right?” I asked, and he laughed, shortly, and with little humour.
“If it goes wrong, then you can take him to a hospital, and hopefully they will fix him up. But if it goes right, you’ll have your medical sensation,” I told him.
It was taken out of our hands, as five men came and picked Ed up, bed and all, and carried him into Russak’s hut. Roger tried remonstrating with them, but to no avail. I followed, and they even let Roger in as well.
Ed was placed in the middle of the floor. All Russak’s usual clutter had been moved to the side of the hut, so the whole of the floor was cleared. They had taken him off the bed, thrown it outside, while he lay on the dried earth floor.
Russak beckoned for me to go forward, and before I knew what was happening, he bound my right hand to Ed’s left hand with palm string. I had to sit on the floor, while Ed, bless him, was blissfully out of it. His horribly swollen knee was still covered with the orange inflatable splint, and he was still doped up to keep the pain at bay.
There was a small fire in the corner, onto which Russak kept throwing funny smelling herbs. I started feeling very strange, and found myself giggling. I realised that it was a mild dope of some form.
Russak was being helped by his daughter Kali, and she was mixing some potion in a small clay pot. Russak took it from her and tasted it by dipping his finger into it. I noted he didn’t take much. Then, he poured some into Ed’s open lips. He swallowed it, making a face in his slumber. Roger moved forward to try to intercede, but I put my hand out and pulled him back.
Russak passed me the pot, so I sniffed the concoction. I sipped a little. It tasted pretty foul, so I went to put the pot down. Russak grinned, indicating for me to take more, so reluctantly I did.
Russak gave a little more to Ed, who was showing signs of coming round. He swallowed again and opened his eyes. I had to smile at the expression of distaste on his face. He lifted his hand and found it tied to my hand. He looked at me and grinned.
“Hey, babe, is this it?” he asked.
“Is this what?” I asked, thinking he was confused because of the drugs and the atmosphere.
“Is this where our questions get answered?” he said, closing his eyes again. He had a big smile on his face.
Russak started chanting, and I found everything very hypnotic, so I had to shake my head to try to prevent myself falling asleep.
Then, I focussed on the smoke, as figures seemed to be formed from within it. I recognised faces and parts of bodies, it was really weird.
Time seemed to sort of stop. I have often tried to describe what happened next, and for the life of me, I just can’t! I must have gone into some form of hypnotic state, which enabled me to have an out of body experience. Because I remember looking down and seeing Ed and me tied together by the hand. I saw Russak, Kali, and a very worried looking Roger in the corner. I was just sitting there, with my head slumped forward, while Ed looked peacefully asleep.
I found that my hand was tied, while Ed was standing beside me, or rather his other self was. His shape shifted and he turned into a stunningly beautiful woman. She grinned at me, and I noticed both knees seemed fine. The smoke was swirling round, and we just got caught up in the smoke and everything started to spin.
Russak leaned over Ed’s bad leg and he stripped off the orange splint. Roger was asleep now, and unaware of anything. The old man held his hands over the bad knee and was chanting away. I tried to watch, but it was very hard.
I heard a sound of scrunching metal and bone, so I looked at Ed, but he was smiling. I looked down, and saw Russak place a tangled piece of metal, covered in blood, into a small pot. Kali wiped the blood off Ed’s knee, and I saw the swelling had gone, in fact the knee looked fine. There was not a mark on it. I had seen his knee before and there had been a livid scar where the surgeons had gone it to undertake the replacement surgery. Even that scar was gone!
That confused the hell out of me. I knew the mangled wreckage was Ed’s artificial knee, and yet there was no a mark on his skin.
I did not stay confused for long, as Ed and I seemed to be in a dance. I focussed on his face as we spun round and round. I was getting dizzy, and it was so weird. If I kept looking at him, I was fine, but if I looked away, then I felt dreadful. So I looked at him, and we got faster and faster.
I then saw that I was looking at me, and smiled, realising that this must be what Ed could see. My hair was a real mess, and my eyes were streaming, and the smoke had made them all red and puffy. I was very strange seeing myself from someone else’s perspective.
The spinning got so fast that I lost contact altogether, and everything went blissfully black!
* * *
Roger
It was the sound of something falling into a clay pot that brought me out of the trance.
The smoke and the smell of the herbs had caused me to drop off, so that, together with the chanting of old Russak, was enough to send me off.
The first thing I noticed was that Russak had taken the splint off Ed’s leg, so I was about to protest, when I saw that the knee looked remarkably better; almost pristine, in fact. The swelling had gone, as had the bruising and the damaged artificial knee joint. It was then that I saw the artificial joint, lying in the pot next to Ed.
I was amazed, for there was no scar, and no sign that it had come from Ed. I picked it up, noticing that it was a complete wreck. Ed had somehow managed to turn the knee inside out to get this to look like quite so mangled!
Ed was asleep and breathing normally, while Gillian was seated next to him, still tied to him by the hand. She was either asleep or in a trance.
Russak looked at me and grinned. I had to smile, as it seems that he had managed to work a medical miracle, and I had missed it.
As I watched, Gillian became aware of her surroundings. She lifted her left hand, sweeping her hair back in a familiar gesture, and then stared at her hand. She then stared at her right hand, which was still tied to Ed, so it was then she saw him lying beside her.
Her left hand fled to her breast, and she shook her head, but then gently sank to the ground in a dead faint.
Ed groaned and opened his eyes.
“Shit!” he said. Some people don’t change.
I smiled and went over to him.
“How do you feel, Ed, how is your knee?” I asked.
He seemed to have difficulty focussing on me, but then he repeated, “Knee?”
“Yes, Ed. Russak has done something to your knee. How do you feel?” I said.
Ed struggled and sat up, resting on his elbows, looking about him. He noticed he was still tied to Gillian, so he frowned.
“What happened?” he asked.
I untied their hands and made Gillian more comfortable.
“I don’t really know. Russak went through some form of ritual, and it seems he has repaired your damaged knee,” I said.
Ed stared at his knee, touching it with his hand. He then flexed it, frowning.
“It was busted,” he said, he seemed still very confused.
“It certainly was,” I agreed.
He let me examine the knee, which appeared to be perfectly normal. It had a normal range of movement, and I could find nothing wrong with it at all.
He stared at Gillian, but then started to smile, which spread into a huge grin, and then he started laughing.
He sat up and lifted Gillian onto his lap, bringing her round, talking soothingly to her.
She stared at him, reaching out and touched his face. Then, she started to smile, and within seconds, both were laughing, with tears pouring down their faces.
Russak was grinning, so I felt that I had missed a really good joke. I picked up the tangled piece of knee joint, and left them to their mirth.
I went and found Russell and Simon, telling them of the medical miracle that appeared to have happened. Craig disappeared to look for his camera, and we were all astounded. Ed appeared at the door of Russak’s hut, still carrying Gillian in his arms.
Craig must have shot nearly a roll of film, as Ed took Gillian back to their hut, which was close by. Russak then appeared, so I went and asked him to explain what had happened.
“The spirits made them well again,” he said, and went off into the bush, chuckling to himself.
The villagers were all repairing the damage from the storm, so we helped. A short time later, I noticed that Ed and Gillian had reappeared, and were helping to replace a roof that had been blown off. Ed was standing supporting the full weight of the roof, as the others all made it fast.
Little Gillian was as close as she could get to him, and they constantly smiled at each other. It was as if they no longer needed to speak, as they had found some way of communicating telepathically.
I was interested to see that Ed’s knee was behaving as if nothing had been wrong with it, ever. For a man who had been through so much, this was a miracle, and one that I could never explain. I would be fascinated to see the US Navy medics’ reaction to his new knee.
Gradually the village was repaired, and their life got back to normal. Ed was treated like a hero, but just smiled and dealt with it with a degree of humility I found admirable. Gillian was never far from his side, and had taken to wearing an enormous grin on her face virtually all the time.
She had undergone the most profound change. Suddenly, almost overnight, she became amazingly feminine. She took to wearing flowers in her hair, with strings of beads around her neck. Gone were the combat trousers, and in their place were wrap-around skirts, and a bikini top.
Ed was the only person who seemed unmoved by the whole experience. He just took everything in with his smiling eyes, just going about his business. Russell was bursting to return to complete his paper on the village. Simon had so much material, that the pair of them were already planning a return trip in a few months. Craig had no film left, so was dying to return to develop his pictures.
And as for myself, well, Russak had supplied me with various plants and herbs that would keep me busy for a lifetime. However, I still was eager to understand how he had managed that trick with Ed’s knee.
He was enigmatically reluctant to go into details, simply telling me that he hadn’t done anything, but the spirits had done it all.
Ed contacted Mickey on the Lucky Lucy, to discover that she was a day away, so we informed the village that we would be leaving soon. There was much genuine sorrow, and a concern that others, who were not as friendly as us would now come.
Once again, Ed stepped in, and with a level of wisdom I was unaware of, he told them about the United Nations and the rights of indigenous peoples. It seems that in their haste to claim the larger islands in the region, the powers of the day had all neglected to claim the little island of Saint Mateus. The Portuguese had named her, but not thought to claim her.
So, logging into the Internet, through the satellite phone and Gillian’s laptop, we managed to register the island in the natives’ name of Narvara, meaning ‘dry land’, and on behalf of them stated that it was an independent nation state in its own right!
The UN acknowledged these facts, bureaucracy took over, and the item was placed on an agenda for action at some point in the future.
There was frenzy amongst the villagers, as they prepared for a farewell feast. We gave them all the remaining stores, and everything that we felt we could give them, like pots and pans, water containers, and even the tents. Lucky Lucy appeared and anchored in the bay, just the other side of the reef.
Ed and Gillian managed to locate and get the rib running, and went out and brought Mickey to the island. He brought with him a crate of beer, for which Ed, for one, looked pleased about.
As the village was decorated with garlands of flowers, I got all my specimens and notes together. I was sad at leaving, but ached for the comforts of home.
* * *
Gillian.
When I came to, I was very disorientated. All that business with the smoke, and the spinning. I was just still giddy and feeling slightly nauseous.
The first thing that I was aware of was I was now sitting, and that when I moved my left hand, it was no longer tied down. I pushed my hair out of my face, and then it hit me. I had so much hair, and I stared at my hand. It was my left hand, and it was far too small.
I looked to my other hand, and found it tied to someone else, and the tall US Marine lying peacefully by my side, looked familiar.
It was then that I recalled seeing the world through my own eyes and through Ed’s too. My left hand went to my chest, and I could feel the swell of my breasts beneath the fabric of my shirt. My mind was a jumble of memories, of Ohio, of Scotland, of being someone called Lady Jane Lambert, a farm, Paris, America, Abingdon, and Vietnam. Then came the memories of Rome, ancient Britain, somewhere called Dacia and lots of fighting. Oh yes, and a man called Gaius.
It was all too much; I no longer knew who I was. I blacked out, very gratefully!
When I came to, I was cradled in Ed’s lap. He was talking very softly to me, and he seemed to be the same as ever, yet I felt very strange. It was as if we had merged in the smoke, to become one. When we had returned to the flesh, we had taken parts of each other with us.
Roger was staring at us, so I realised that the pain in my knee was gone. My knee? Ed’s Knee! Who was I, was I Gillian, or was I Ed? And who was Ed? It was all very difficult. But Ed just kissed me, and was starting to chuckle.
“We both got what we wanted,” he said, very softly, and I swear he had a slight Scottish accent!
I nodded and started to laugh, too. Then old Russak, the old wizard, he was laughing his socks off.
To my surprise, Ed stood up, while I was still in his arms, and it was then I realised that his knee was now fine again. It made me laugh even more.
Ed carried me to our hut, and laid me on the bed. I wanted him so much now, and I no longer cared whom I used to be, I knew who I was now, and I could not take my clothes off quick enough. He stripped off and started to caress me, while I stroked his large, well-muscled arm.
He kissed me, very tenderly, so I pulled him close to me. I breathed in his scent, of power and strength, of sweat and toil.
He looked into my eyes, and I knew what he was thinking. It was as if he spo
ke straight into my brain.
‘You know I love you?’
‘And I love you!’ I thought back at him.
‘Why can I remember things in your life?’ he asked me.
‘I think we have merged so that those parts of us that needed to be something else, are now where they belong,’ I thought, and he smiled.
‘So we are one?’
‘Something like that. That part of me that should have been male is now in you, and vice versa. I no longer want to be a male, and I believe the female in you is now in me,’ I thought.
He kissed my breast, and let my nipple roll against his tongue. I felt the heat of passion spread like a fire from my groin. I pulled him closer to me and kissed him.
I let my hand feel for his erection, grasping it tightly.
‘I want you inside me!’
‘I know!’ he thought, and smiled. He kissed my belly, running his tongue across my moist opening, as I arched my back and moaned with pleasure.
He lifted me up, so I opened my legs for him, as he sat on the floor. I sank down, feeling him slide inside me, so I shuddered with the pleasure. I wrapped my legs around him, as he cradled me, kissing my breasts.
On the boat, we had had sex. In the tent, and in the hut, we had had sex, many times, and I had been satisfied.
But now, we made real love, it was a thousand times better. The feelings I experienced were magnified to the nth degree. I felt what he felt, as our thoughts became as one. He knew what I felt and when I felt it, and we merged in the physical, mental and spiritual plane all at the same time.
When he finally climaxed, shooting his sperm deep into me, I had been on a crest of a wave of pleasure that defies description. The overriding emotion I had was of such love that I never wanted to let him go. I found myself wishing, with all my heart that I would become pregnant and have his child. I started to laugh.
