Refined By His Fire

by Cathy Conradie

  Chapter Three

  Very nervously, Adrian and Barry sit on chairs outside Henry’s office. Adrian warned Barry that Henry is a total different man at work than at home, but not even Adrian is sure what to expect. Of course both Adrian and Barry were elated when they received their call up instructions to report at Grabouw and both of them were very excited when Henry and Chrissie gave them their keys to the cottage Chrissie lovingly and carefully refurnished and renovated. When they finished their training at the College and when it was time to go home, everything was finalized legally so that Henry and Chrissie could act as Barry’s guardians.

  Lieutenant October emerges from Henry’s office and some mischievous smile plays on his face.

  “Hm, hm, hm.”

  He clears his throat dramatically.

  “Good luck.”

  Barry shoots Adrian a double take.

  “What’s going on?” Barry whispers.

  “I don’t know. But it doesn’t sound well.” Adrian whispers back.

  “Och, great.”

  Henry emerges from his office and the two students dutifully and immediately stretches him.

  “Come on in, Students. I don’t have all day.”

  They follow Henry into his office.

  “Close the door.”

  Adrian obeys with a gut feeling in his stomach. It was very clear that what Henry told Adrian when he signed Adrian’s forms was going to be the norm, starting right away. Adrian turns around, stands next to Barry and faces his station commander.

  Henry takes his time to fill his pipe and equally takes his time to light it. The smell of Henry’s favorite tobacco mix, rum & maple, cherry cavendish and Fox fills the air. He stares at the two striped students in front of him over his glasses.

  “I have received very impressive reports from both of you from the College. About everything. Your work, your exams, your conduct. You were both described as loyal, honest policemen. So.”

  Henry takes a pull from his pipe and sits back in his chair.

  “I expect exactly the very same hard work, honesty and good conduct here. It’s a small station, with a low crime rate. We’re serving a small town and in small towns, the people know each other and everyone. Which gives them an excuse to gossip about everything. I don’t want any bad reports, no complaints against you from anyone. If you do need to look out for yourself and make yourself count, do it calmly and professionally. It is not the old Police Force or the old South Africa where you can hit or tjoep a suspect to get information. But in the same breath, I’m not saying that you must stand back and stay quiet if you are assaulted. I expect you to be on time for your parades, to be neat at all times and to keep your equipment, especially your pistols, spotlessly clean. Remember your standing orders, especially on the vehicles. Do your inspections before using that a vehicle, note everything down that is out of place and clean the vehicle before garaging it. I don’t tolerate untidy vehicles, unkempt uniforms or appearance. Do you both have state authority?”

  “Actually, Major, I still need to go for me drivers’ licence. I still only have me learners’.”

  “All right, Student Daniels. Organize at Logistics ASAP to rectify that. I have a shortage of drivers on the D-shift where you both are going.”

  “Major, permission to ask something.”

  “Proceed, Student Parker.”

  “Major, I know we must get to know everyone here, but I want to request that Constable Daniels and I work together on the same vehicle.”

  “Student, I can’t allow that for the next six months. You are both students and both of you need someone to teach you and guide you when you work outside. I know it is disappointing, but understand what I am saying. Both of you need to work with a full Constable, Sergeant or Warrant Officer. There is a lot that you need to learn, especially the practical side of the buddy system. Lastly, when you work out there, think very carefully before you draw your gun. Always consider whose life must be saved, not whose must be taken. Do not draw your gun unless you are certain that you are going to shoot. And please, do not shoot someone who is running away from you. If he is supposedly armed and he shows no intention in shooting at you, do not shoot him. You’ll have lots of trouble to prove that your life was in danger. Apart from that, we’ll face a huge civil claim. All right, sermon is over. Any questions?”

  “No, Major.”

  “Dismissed.”

  Adrian never expected this to happen and to happen so fast. He can hardly contain his excitement as he runs down the corridor to Henry’s office. Obviously, he would love to share the news first hand with Barry, but Barry and his driver are standing off at a house breaking complaint.

  Adrian knock on Henry’s office door and Henry looks up.

  “Come in, Student. Is it so quiet outside that you can waste your time at the station?”

  Adrian smiles, ignores Henry and closes the door behind him.

  “Dad, I have just received the greatest news!”

  This is personal, Henry realizes and he drops his station commander guard. His eyes soften.

  “What? What’s going on, my son?”

  “Dad, the coach of Western Province rugby just phoned me! I am making my debut on Saturday at Newlands in the Currie Cup fixture against the Blue Bulls as fullback!”

  Henry jumps up from behind his desk and approaches Adrian. Henry embraces him tightly and kisses him on the forehead.

  “Do you have any idea how proud I am of you?! This is the greatest news I have had all day!”

  Henry embraces Adrian again.

  The office door opens unexpectedly without warning and one of the other Constables curiously pops in his head. He stares in disbelief at the intimate father-and-son moment.

  Henry lets Adrian go and the same strict station commander guard returns instantly.

  “Damn it, Constable! Can’t you knock?”

  “I’m sorry, Major. I—”

  “Yeah well, come back in five minutes. Never come back into my office again unless you have knocked. I hate it people barging into my office!”

  The Constable blush embarrassed and disappears into the hallway.

  “Sorry about that, Student. I will phone Newlands right now and get tickets. I won’t miss your match for the world.”

  Adrian laughs.

  “No, don’t bother with the tickets. The union gives tickets to the player’s direct family who wants to come. Just phone them and confirm if Barry can sit in the suite with you or if we need to purchase a separate ticket for him elsewhere.”

  Some weeks later. Adrian was on top of his game and fast becoming a household name in rugby, in particular in the Western Cape. The media and everyone else were buzzing about this young fullback who was lightning fast and who had a lethal kick, rarely missing any conversions or penalties. But lots of things were about to change . . .

  Barry struggles for the last half an hour to concentrate on the DVD he is watching. He has never been much into watching movies, but since he and Adrian became friends and stayed together on the farm, he developed a fondness of relaxing by means of watching movies, either by going to the cinema or relaxing at home. Barry looks on his wrist watch. It read 19:00. Something was terribly wrong with Adrian. He knew it. Adrian went horse riding that morning as usual, but as the day progressed, he complained about abdominal pain and nausea. Adrian also didn’t have much of a lunch, which was another worrying factor and went to bed after taking medication Chrissie gave him. That was 13:00 that afternoon.

  Barry gets up and walks to the bedroom they shared. Adrian was still sleeping.

  Barry sits down next to Adrian on Adrian’s single bed and softly lays his hand on Adrian’s forehead and cheeks.

  “Adrian?”

  Barry gently shakes him by the shoulder.

  “Hey old man, it’s seven ‘o clock.” (‘Old man’ is the nickname that Barry uses for Adrian when addressing Adrian, though Adrian is very young)

  Adrian groggily opens his eyes and
yawns.

  “Are ye okay? You are running a very bad temperature. What’s the matter?”

  Just instantly, the same sharp pain Adrian felt since lunch, shoots through his abdomen. Adrian grimaces, gasps for air.

  “Barry . . . please call my mom. Something’s wrong . . .”

  Barry gets up hastily and runs to the main house to call Chrissie, who hastily gathers her equipment.

  “Adrian is running a bad temperature. Been sleeping since lunch and I can see he is a great deal of pain as well.”

  They enter the cottage.

  “Barry, please call Dr. Clarence in the meantime.”

  Chrissie gives Barry their physician’s emergency number and she sits down next to Adrian.

  Chrissie lays her hand on Adrian’s forehead.

  “Everything will be okay, my love. I’m here. We’ll get Dr Clarence to come too.”

  Chrissie takes the stethoscope and listens to Adrian’s racing heart beat and then to his lungs before taking his temperature. She silently panics at the temperature reading 39 degrees Celsius. Something is very wrong . . .

  “Barry said you slept from one ‘o clock. Are you feeling a bit better?”

  “No.”

  Another sharp pain follows.

  “Mom . . . help me, please! It really hurts . . .”

  Chrissie starts to palpate Adrian’s abdomen as gently as she could and when she reaches the lower right area, Adrian cries out in pain.

  “Chrissie, what’s wrong with him?”

  “It’s his appendix, I am afraid. Did you manage to get hold of Dr. Clarence?”

  “He said he’ll be here as fast as he can. What can we do in the meantime to make Adrian more comfortable?”

  “Not much. We’ll have to wait for Dr. Clarence.”

  Chrissie covers Adrian with the duvet again and strokes his hair.

  “Hang in there, my son. Dr Clarence will be here shortly.”

  They didn’t have to wait for too long when the middle-aged doctor arrived. Dr. Clarence has been the physician for the Parker family for many years since they had settled on the farm and he has known Adrian for five years. A very well respected and a well-known physician, he was loved by the Grabouw community and Henry and Chrissie in particular trusted in his knowledge and patient care steadfastly.

  Chrissie gets up to make space for Dr. Clarence.

  “Hello, Adrian. I don’t think I have to ask how you are feeling.”

  Dr. Clarence sits down next to Adrian and assesses Adrian’s vitals and doing a routine checkup. When palpating Adrian’s abdomen, the very same response follows. Dr. Clarence takes up his stethoscope and listens to the bowel sounds before covering Adrian up again.

  “Are you working tomorrow, Adrian?”

  “Yes. First day shift.”

  “I think you must rather stay at home.”

  “I can’t. We have a shortage of personnel and there are not enough drivers for the vehicles.”

  Dr. Clarence sighs.

  “I’m really worried about you, Adrian. At this stage you have severe appendicitis, but it can become worse if you don’t take care of yourself. If you do need to go to work tomorrow, please come and see me if it gets worse.”

  Dr. Clarence takes up a syringe, pulls up some medication in it before injecting it into Adrian’s vein. Adrian flinches.

  “This will ease the pain and is also an antibiotic. It might make you drowsy and you may sleep well tonight, but please, phone me tomorrow if you are not any better. We can’t take any chances.”

  Dr. Clarence gets up, looks at Chrissie and Barry.

  “Chrissie, please give him these before he sleeps. It should break his fever. Please phone me if he doesn’t get any better. You know what the consequences are of a ruptured appendix.”

  “Is it a possibility?”

  “It can happen, but I hope the medication will clear up the infection. Barry, please keep a close eye on him and don’t hesitate to call.”

  “I really don’t like this, Adrian. Ye are doing the wrong thing.”

  “I’m okay, Barry. I had a good night’s rest and you know we will be short staffed this week.”

  “Ye are as stubborn as your Da.”

  Adrian buckles his belt, takes out his firearm from the safe, cocks it and holsters it.

  “Come, Engelsman, let’s go. We are a few minutes behind as it is and can’t be late for the parade.”

  “No can do. Ye haven’t eaten anything.”

  “Don’t see chance to eat anything.”

  Adrian takes up the car keys.

  “Let’s hit the road.”

  They arrive at the station some ten minutes later and also just in time for parade. Lieutenant October, the shift commander of the Delta shift dutifully inspects every member and is on the point to discuss the day’s plans, but he comes to a halt in front of Adrian.

  “Parker, are you okay?”

  “Yes, Lieutenant.”

  “You look ill this morning. What’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing serious, Lieutenant. My doctor visited me last night.”

  “Can you drive?”

  “Yes, Lieutenant.”

  “Okay, Golf Romeo 9 is yours. And Parker, if your illness gets worse, go and see your doctor, please.”

  The usual formalities follow and the drivers of the three vehicles make their way to the Police vans. Barry looks at Adrian, who loads his equipment into the van he was to drive.

  “Ye look like death warmed up, old man.”

  Adrian tries to smile, hands Barry the key to Adrian’s private vehicle.

  “There is the key if you still need to take out your equipment. I’m going to make a couple of turns at the station building. I’ll radio you for our usual coffee rendevous, all right?”

  “Adrian—”

  “I’m okay, Barry. If anything happens, I’ll go to Dr. Clarence, I promise.”

  Adrian turns around and disappears back to the station building. Entering the gents’ room, Adrian closes the door behind him and realizes how ill he felt. He tries desperately to fight back the nausea. They needed him today. There is a shortage of personnel. Adrian’s head spins and he grab to the walls, but his world becomes black and he is unaware of the painful blow when his head hits the floor.

  Henry feels very agitated. Chrissie told him about Adrian’s illness and Dr. Clarence’s diagnosis, but still the youngster decided to pitch up for work. Henry made his usual rounds at the station, checking the cells, charge office, all the registers and now he is inspecting the neatness of the rest rooms to see if anything needed repair. Upon entry in the gents’ room, he notices something strange in the one cubicle. He steps closer and looks down on the picture of his unconscious son. Henry kneels down by Adrian’s side, checks for vitals and he feels the faint and shallow breathing.

  “Adrian? Adrian, it’s Dad. Come on, open your eyes.”

  Barry enters the rest room, freezes.

  “Henry, is he okay?”

  “Barry, please go to the trauma room. Get me a pillow, some water and the first aid kit. Hurry!”

  Henry gently moves Adrian and gathers him in his arms.

  “Come on, my boy. Wake up. Adrian!”

  Henry softly slaps Adrian on one cheek, but no response.

  Barry enters the rest room again and helps Henry to make Adrian more comfortable while Henry tries to give Adrian some water. Adrian chokes slightly, opens his eyes and groans softly. He shivers uncontrollably.

  “Adrian, it’s Dad. Talk to me. Where do you feel pain?”

  Adrian does not answer. The only thing that Henry and Barry can observe is the silent tears flowing freely over Adrian’s cheeks and the soft interval groans.

  “I’m going to call an ambulance.” Barry gets up.

  “No, no. It will take too long.” Henry says and wipe the blood of Adrian’s head, pressing down with a clean gauze.

  “Call Lieutenant October, get the keys of my SC vehicle and bring
the car around. It will be quicker if we take him to Somerset West Medi Clinic ourselves.”

  Barry leaves and Henry try to comfort Adrian as much as he can. It is very clear that the pain is getting worse and it is very evident that Adrian is very disorientated and didn’t know where he was.

  “Major?”

  “October, please, I need your strength. Please take him to the car for me. Adrian is very light, but I can’t pick up anything above 5 kg after my back op and Barry is outside.”

  “I told him to go to the doctor.” Lieutenant October sighs.

  “He said he was fine.”

  He picks Adrian up and they proceed to Henry’s car where Barry already prepared the front passenger seat for Adrian.

  “You’ll have to get one of the Warrant Officers to go out with Adrian’s driver. I need three vehicles outside.”

  Henry takes the keys of the van out of Adrian’s pocket.

  “Drive safely, Major.”

  “I’ll do. Please ask the SC clerk to cancel all my appointments. I will not be available today.”

  Henry pulls the blanket over Adrian and buckles him up before he gets in behind the wheel.

  “You will have to buckle up there at the back, Barry. I’m going to push this car to its limit.”

  Barry shoots Henry a double take.

  “I’m serious. Buckle up.”

  “But the road at the Sir Lowry’s Pass, Henry . . .”

  “I know it like the back of my hand. Please check Adrian’s pulse on the way. He mustn’t go into shock.”

  Barry has experienced chases to crime in progress before in his very short Police career, but never has he experienced the speed and capability of how a Police car should be driven with like this before. Barry notices the needle resting at 220 km/h and silently hopes that Henry will navigate the pass with lesser speed, but no such luck.

  Adrian cries out in pain and Barry tries to comfort him.

  “Henry, there is a problem . . .”

  Henry allows himself to look at Adrian for a split second.

  “Adrian lost consciousness. I don’t know, but I think his appendix ruptured. What’s our ETA?”

  “Two mikes, tops. Can you still feel a pulse?”

  “Aye, but it is very fast and faint.”

  “Damn it! Adrian! You do everything you can to hold on! We’re almost at the Clinic, just hold on for a second or two!”

  A moment or two later, Henry stops the car in front of the hospital and jumps out. He rushes to the ER.

  “Please help me! My son has a possible ruptured appendix! I need immediate help, please!”

  Two paramedics and a doctor rush out with Henry to the car where they quickly remove Adrian from the car, laying him down on a gurney.

  “Sorry, sir. Did you say he is your son?”

  “Yes!”

  “How old is he? Does he have any medical problems, allergies, medication he takes?”

  “He is 19, an asthmatic and allergic to aspirin. He doesn’t have any other medical problems. He is very healthy in general.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to wait in the waiting room. We’ll come and talk to you soon.”

  Barry gets up from his chair for the umpteenth time and pours himself another cup of coffee.

  “It’s been an hour and half. What if something has happened, Henry?”

  Henry gets up, pours himself a cup of coffee as well and puts his hand on Barry’s shoulder.

  “He’ll be okay, Barry. Adrian is a fighter.”

  “It’s just . . .”

  Before Barry can prevent it, a silent tear slips over his cheek and he hastily dries it.

  “I’ve never seen anyone in so much pain like that and . . . he . . . he is me best friend.”

  Henry smiles reassuringly.

  “I know exactly how close you and Adrian have became. Adrian is not even that close to any of his brothers. You really have a very special friendship.”

  The surgeon appears in the doorframe.

  “Mr. Parker?” he asks hesitantly.

  “I am Dr. Louw. I operated on the policeman you brought in here. I assume he is your son because I see you have the same name tags.”

  “Yes. I am Adrian’s father. Is everything okay?”

  “He is still in the recovery room and then I am going to transfer him to the ICU. He had a ruptured appendix and there are complications. His condition is serious at this stage, but he is stabilized.”

  “How can this be? I . . . I can’t lose him!”

  “Mr. Parker, your son had internally been bleeding and there is a great deal of toxins in his body at the moment. He is very young, strong and fit, but I do need to keep a close eye on him for a day or two. He didn’t take the anesthesia very well and is asthmatic. He will make it. He is young enough. As soon as the lost blood is replaced, it will go much better. He will recover well, it is just going to take a bit longer than usual.”

  “When he is out of recovery, can we go and see him?’ Barry asks.

  “Only family, I’m afraid and then only two people at a time.”

  “Please doctor. I’m his best friend. He is me colleague, me best friend. He is going to ask for me.”

  Henry notices that the doctor is not very keen.

  “Doctor, they are like brothers, believe me. Student Daniels is under my guardianship. He lost his parents last year and he lives with us on the farm. Barry and Adrian are inseparable.”

  “Okay then, but I don’t want any other strangers visiting him while he is in the ICU. His recovery is imperative.”