Aidan pressed a button on his key. The lone car in the parking lot flashed its orange lights. "Let me give you a lift back to the hospital."
I considered refusing. I also considered how tired I was. By the time I reached the hospital on foot, my shift would be well and truly over and the sun would have set. I hadn't brought a torch and there weren't any streetlights for most of the way. It'd be pitch dark and I'd be a good target for the Nannup Tiger, if it existed.
"Okay." I tried to keep my face expressionless. It wasn't difficult, as even the effort of forming any expression was exhausting.
Aidan drove a Mini, a very small car that appeared incongruous to his size. He opened the passenger door and started pitching things from the passenger seat into the back, before he gestured for me to sit down. He seemed really nervous, apologising for the mess in his vehicle.
I sat in the passenger seat, carefully placing my feet between a pair of very large sneakers and some muddy gumboots. Noticing something uncomfortable beneath me, I reached for it and pulled out a stethoscope, the head of the chestpiece decorated with a sticker of a three-lobed leaf.
In three strides he rounded the front of his car and folded himself into the space between the driver's seat and the steering wheel. He reminded me of an octopus squeezing itself into a small rock crevice, only more angular and awkward.
When he'd managed to wedge himself inside, I held up the stethoscope, lifting my eyebrows, too.
"Oh hell, sorry. That's my lucky stethoscope. Dad gave it to me before I left Ireland and I forgot to take it off before I left the hospital." He took it from me and stuffed it into the glove box.
He said little and I said less for the start of the drive, until we were forced to stop by a flock of sheep moving across the road from one paddock to another. The farmer shifting them waved to us and walked over to the driver's side window.
He and Aidan discussed sheep and I let my mind wander, not listening, until I caught the words, "...Nannup Tiger..."
I turned to listen to their conversation.
Aidan laughed. "You don't expect me to believe in the Nannup Tiger, do you? That's just something you made up for tourists!"
The farmer shook his head. "The Nannup Tiger's real, mate. It took two of my lambs last week and Pete next door said he's lost three. Pete's missus saw a slinking dark shape by one of the sheds near the house the night they lost two lambs. You watch out for it. I'm shifting my lambing ewes closer to the house, so the dog and I can keep a better eye on them."
He waved again as he closed the gate behind his sheep.
Aidan crunched his car back into gear and accelerated away. "So, do you believe in the Nannup Tiger?" he asked, without taking his eyes off the road.
I replied cautiously. "It's a native species that's believed to be extinct because no one's seen one for a long time, isn't it? With all the forests and big farms around here, anything could be hiding. It wouldn't surprise me if there are still some around, even if no one sees much of them. Aren't there plenty of undiscovered species in the world, even in Australia? What's one more?"
Aidan's laughter died. "Some stories say it's a thylacine, some sort of big native cat, but others say it's a black panther that escaped from a circus. No one seems to know what it is." He looked nervously into the trees on either side of the road.
I made myself smile. "Well, if you're scared of it, don't go out at night, then," I said lightly.
He shivered and continued driving, this time in silence.
When we reached the hospital, my shift was over. I thanked Aidan for the lift and headed inside to collect my bag. I lifted the bag onto my shoulder, without pausing, and turned on my heel to head out the way I'd come. I heard the clink of keys inside and thanked Helen in my head, hoping I'd remember to thank her properly when I saw her next.
Aidan was talking to one of the receptionists at the front desk when I stepped into the entrance lobby. Tired and unwilling to engage in further conversation with the intern, I crossed the lobby as quickly as I could to the front door.
The automatic doors slid open to reveal darkness and rain. I didn't mind water falling from the sky, but I did mind the way my clothing stuck to me when I was drenched. Environmental water and clothing is a bad combination. It seemed far more practical to me to go naked in the rain.
I braced myself for the uncomfortable restriction of my wet pants clinging to my legs when a hand touched my arm. Aidan stood beside me, screwing his nose up at the rain.
"It's times like this that I realise why I left Ireland for Australia," he told me with a big smile.
"Why did you leave Ireland, then?" I asked.
"For the beautiful, sunny Australian climate!" He laughed and started to open an umbrella, again reminding me of an octopus. This time, the octopus appeared to be jetting through the water to evade something unpleasant, unable to find a rock cleft to hide in. I knew how it felt.
After two or three tries, Aidan managed to keep his umbrella open. He waved his hand toward the raindrop-free zone created under its expanse. "It's a golf umbrella, with room for two. I'll walk you to your car, if you like."
For the second time that day, I permitted the intern to do me a favour. He didn't say anything while we walked to the car. I opened the door and glanced at the back seat, but the strong smell of cleaning chemicals alerted me before I turned my head. The reddened seat had returned to plain grey, much like the skies above and my own thoughts. Helen had truly taken care of my car and I doubly owed her my thanks.
He waited without moving until I sat in the driver's seat. My fingers curled stiffly around the door handle to pull it shut.
"Come to dinner with me?" the intern asked, in a rush.
I raised my eyebrows, but didn't reply.
His face turned red, making his fiery red hair look pale for the first time. "I mean, if you want to, it would be really nice if you came with me to the pub to have dinner tonight. After a long day like this, the last thing I want to do is cook, and your day was harder than mine."
For a moment, I wondered if this strange man could read my mind. I'd intended to stop for some takeaway fish and chips on my way home. Perhaps it might be pleasant to eat in a restaurant for once, instead of in my small house by myself.
I stared at him a moment, before I heard the word spoken with my voice. "Okay."
His face faded from red to pink to white and he smiled, looking slightly stunned. "So, meet you at the Tanglehead?"
It took me a moment to remember this was the name of a brewery near the port. For the third time, I replied, "Okay."
Two beers and a very filling meal later, Aidan admitted that he owed me.
"Why?" I asked diffidently, sipping my beer.
"Your patient today should have been mine. If you hadn't been there, I would have stuffed up and I don't know what would have happened. I'm terrified of babies." From his wide-eyed expression, I judged that this was not a joke but the truth.
For the first time, I smiled. "How can you be afraid of babies?"
He looked embarrassed. "I'm the youngest of eight kids back in Ireland. One of my aunties moved over here and married an Australian, so I came over to do my internship, when I finished my medical degree. I've never delivered a baby and this one would have been my first. Mum never let me hold any of my nieces and nephews, because she was afraid I'd drop the babies. I guess I got scared I'd drop them, too. They're so tiny!" He spread out his big hands, wide enough to cradle the premature baby I'd delivered this afternoon.
"Ah." I nodded, understanding. His fear was like that of most first-time fathers, or at least the few I'd seen. Most of the babies I'd delivered never knew their fathers. This was probably for the best. It was the ones who never knew their mothers that made me...
I hurriedly gulped down the last of my beer as he drained his second. Coming from such a fertile family, he'd surely never experienced the loss I'd suffered. He wouldn't understand.
We both stood up at the same time. Together, we walked to the cashier and paid for our meal.
Outside the pub, he thanked me for joining him for dinner.
I replied in kind and headed into the darkness toward my car before he could follow. My tears dripped silently to the blackness of the parking lot, unseen and unheard by any but me.
Belinda's story continues in Water and Fire which you can get for FREE HERE.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish.
She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below.
Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world.
The Ocean's Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by her suspense thriller Nightmares trilogy. She swears the Mel Goes to Hell series ambushed her on a crowded train and wouldn't leave her alone.
Want to know more? You can follow Demelza on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ , YouTube or her website, Demelza Carlton's Place at: www.demelzacarlton.com
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Ocean's Birth Page 9
