by Nikki Buick
‘Pippa,’ Step called. ‘Pull a face … you look like the mud monster.’
Pippa obliged and hammed it up. Sophie and I kind of skulked off into the background.
‘Let’s wash this off,’ she said, laughing as she lay down in the shallows, letting the water gently lap over her, clothes and all. Her bronzed skin looked amazing all wet and glistening.
‘You could definitely win a wet t-shirt competition, Soph,’ I said with a big grin.
‘You sexist pig.’ She laughed and jumped on top of me, wrestling me.
I started getting all excited again but lost it when Pippa jumped on top of us and joined in. Mum and Ranger had moved toward us now and Mum put a hand to her forehead, shielding the sun from her eyes as she looked out into the water. She frowned. ‘Is the water okay? Your dad said …’
‘Oh – Dad’s just a wildlife nazi,’ Sophie said with a grin. ‘He’s a ranger. He’s got to be the big voice of “warning”. It’s spring. It’s fine.’
‘I don’t know,’ Step blubbered as he walked down to join us.
‘Well just stay close to the edge and don’t go far out,’ Mum said, nodding.
The water was as warm as a bath so it was like lying in a really shallow tub. The sun burned down onto my face. I could have just floated there forever, the water dancing a tango with my hair. I looked across to Sophie and her blonde hair looked like an octopus around her head.
‘Let’s dig a pool and a trench,’ she said and sat up, dripping like a homeless mermaid.
We dug a tunnel from the water back a few metres and then began digging a big dam, so that the water would flow from the ocean into our hole.
Pippa was in charge of building a fortress around the water. ‘We could make a castle in the middle and a moat.’
‘Good idea, Pippa,’ Sophie agreed. ‘Get out, Hunter. We need to make this even bigger.’
The girls seemed to be hitting it off really well. I knew Sophie was just being nice, but I wish she’d told Pippa to rack off and play with Ranger. I just grinned and went along with it, digging and hauling wet mud over to my sister. Sophie’s trench was long and deep and the water came rushing into our dam. Eventually it was about as deep as a baby’s paddling pool.
As I dug my arms further into the sloppy quicksand, which sucked at my skin, and chucked armfuls of mud out of the pool, it got deeper still.
‘The muddy moat.’ Pippa laughed and lay down in it, completely soaking herself.
Tendrils of mud dripped from the soggy ends of our hair and the afternoon sun caked the dried stuff onto my back like concrete.
‘Oh. There’s sealice,’ Pippa said, jumping back up out of the mud. ‘You know, little itchy things.’ She stood up and scratched at her arms and her shoulders.
‘What is it, love?’ Mum called.
‘Just sealice,’ I called back.
‘Show me where it’s itchy,’ Sophie said and went to look at Pippa’s arms. She leaned in real close and touched the raised red rash that was appearing under Pippa’s fingernails that were still scratching.
‘Well get out of the water now,’ Mum said and started dusting the sand off Ranger’s arms and legs. ‘I’ll get some pawpaw cream on it.’
‘There’s vinegar up at the park,’ Sophie said. ‘I reckon we should get some of that. It’s good for any stings – little or big.’
We all trudged up to the dry sand, jamming our feet into the softer sand, which made little squeaky noises as we did.
‘Are you gonna write to your dad?’ Sophie whispered into my ear.
I shrugged. ‘Probably.’
A cool breeze blew in from the Coral Sea.
‘Mum?’ Pippa said in her whingeing voice. ‘I feel funny. Oh – I feel sick.’
Sophie stopped and turned and went to Pippa who was suddenly throwing up onto the sand. She grabbed Pippa’s shoulders and looked into her eyes.
‘Does your head hurt?’
‘Yeah … right here.’ Pippa pressed on her forehead.
‘Oh that could be bad,’ Sophie whispered. ‘Shit!’ And then she put her hand over her mouth.
‘What?’ Mum said really violently.
I thought she was angry that Sophie had said a swear word, which was pretty hypocritical coming from Mum, but I realised there was something more going on. Something heavy.
‘Oh, Mum,’ Pippa cried and began to shake like she was cold. ‘What’s happening?’
‘It could be Irukandji,’ Sophie mumbled. ‘Come on, Hunter. Run. Get the vinegar!’
‘Like a stinger?’ Mum’s voice was wavering like a violin. ‘What is it? Tell me!’
‘Yes. Like a stinger.’ Sophie’s voice was trembling. ‘Tiny. Almost invisible in the water and real bad. You got a phone? Call an ambulance.’
‘Brad!!!!!’ Mum screamed. ‘Call an ambulance. Now!’
My face went numb and my legs felt like they’d been dipped in lead.
‘The vinegar, Hunter. Go!’ Sophie’s eyes were wide and her tanned face had gone grey.
All I could hear were voices: stingers, vinegar, ambulance, Pippa. Somehow through this fog, I managed to run. My legs pounded in time with my heart and I could hear my pulse bursting through my ears. Stingers. Vinegar. Ambulance. Pippa. The only other noise that perforated my terror was the sound of Pippa screaming in pain. It welled up and swallowed the whole beach.
THE WORST CORNER OF HELL
The vinegar splashed over Pippa’s arms where she’d been scratching. She was on the sand, her back arched as if she was practising gymnastics. Her face was not human. She was a disturbing shade of purple and her eyes were squeezed shut so hard they were almost bleeding. Her mouth was a gaping hole from which the worst sounds came. Her little body trembled and writhed like a fish on a hook and Mum held her and howled, snot and tears running down over her chin.
‘They’re on the way,’ Step stammered and held Ranger tight.
‘It’s all my fault,’ Sophie blubbered softly in the background. ‘We shouldn’t have risked it. I should have listened to Dad.’
I touched her elbow but I felt angry. I was angry at Sophie. She should have known better. And Mum. She let us go in the water. She let us. She shouldn’t have let us take that risk. It was such a big risk. There were bloody signs everywhere warning us of the dangers and Barney had even underlined that risk to her.
I sank into the sand and put my hands over my face, breathing deeply. I shut my eyes and tried to burrow away from the sounds of agony.
‘Here’s another Coke, Hunter. You want another ice-cream? You remember my mate Phil?’
I’d met Phil a few times. He was an okay bloke, older than Dad. He was a fire hydrant tester but called himself a firefighter because it sounded better.
‘Yeah, hi.’ I nodded.
‘Another round before I head off, eh Phil? Same again?’ Dad asked.
‘You right to drive?’ Phil said to Dad. ‘The breathos are out and about this time of day.’
‘Nah, I’m good.’ Dad grinned and headed back to the bar.
That extra beer had been the one that had put him over the limit. No-one might ever have known if he hadn’t swerved to miss a wallaby and ploughed into a van of young kids.
‘He risked your life,’ Mum had cried, over and over again, beside my hospital bed.
I’d broken my collarbone and a rib had bent up and pierced a lung but they patched me up pretty good and I felt not too bad after only a day or two.
I explained to her about the wallaby and that Dad had been driving fine, but she wouldn’t listen. It was just an accident, I argued, but she kept telling me it was a risk he should never have taken.
‘Parents shouldn’t ever take risks that could cost children their lives’. They’d been her words and they echoed in my skull for years, and the more I heard them the more I believed
that Dad had played with my life like the roll of the dice.
Pippa continued to vomit and while that would usually just gross me out, it made me even more terrified than I already was.
‘Why’s she doing that? Can she die of this?’ I hammered my questions at Sophie.
‘I dunno. I don’t think so. It’s not like a box jellyfish. I’ve seen a few Irukandji stings. I think they just hurt like hell and make you sick. But I don’t know … she’s just a little kid … and she’s …’
It seemed like forever before we heard the sirens of the ambulance come screaming toward the beach. Step put Ranger on the sand and ran in the direction of the park, waving his arms like a madman. I saw Barney running down the beach toward us. The ambulance guys were a blur behind him.
‘Oh … you stupid idiots,’ Sophie’s dad roared as he got closer. He glared at Sophie who was standing there like a bedraggled cat. ‘You went in the water. What’d I tell you? Jesus!’ He was really fired up.
‘Just in a little pool.’ Sophie exercised that lame excuse. ‘We didn’t think … I do it all the time …’ her voice just trailed away uselessly.
Barney dropped down beside Pippa and felt her pulse and tapped her skin. ‘You done the vinegar?’ he asked looking over her skin. Only a faint blur of an almost insignificant rash graced her arm and shoulder. The empty plastic vinegar bottle beside her was answer enough and he nodded.
‘Will she be alright?’ Mum struggled to speak.
‘Who knows? It’s not good,’ he sighed. ‘Not good at all. Poor little thing.’
Pippa was still howling at the top of her voice and her body was convulsing wildly. The uniformed paramedic went to work and Sophie, Barney and I stepped back. Mum stayed holding Pippa. Step held on tight to Ranger who was beginning to cry. He was obviously frightened and couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. I could see that Step was crying too and was murmuring into Ranger’s ear, trying to soothe him.
‘Blood pressure’s 180 on 120 and rising. We’ll need to get her down to Cairns, I reckon. Not risk Mossy.’ I heard one ambo say to the other.
‘Will she be alright?’ Mum repeated the only question that mattered to her.
‘We’ll do all we can, Ma’am. Does she have any other medical condition we should know about?’
Mum looked fully spooked. ‘She’s got Down syndrome but …’
‘Any associated heart defects?’ the ambo asked.
‘No. She’s very healthy. Nothing like that.’
‘We’ll airlift her to Cairns Hospital just to be safe. Her blood pressure could rise high enough to put pressure on her little heart. Trisomy 21 littlies can still have some vulnerability. What’s your daughter’s name?’
‘Phillipa … but she likes Pippa,’ Mum said, smoothing her daughter’s wet hair back off her face.
‘Mum!’ Pippa screamed. ‘Stop the pain. It’s hurting!’
One of the ambulance officers opened a briefcase and prepared a syringe. He jammed it into Pippa’s thigh as if it was a piece of meat. ‘We’ve given you something to help that pain, Pippa. It’ll be better soon.’ He had to speak loud to be heard over Pippa’s wailing.
‘Where’d she get stung?’ Barney asked us, waving a hand out to the water.
Sophie pointed north toward our sandcastle and moat.
‘We’ll need to alert authorities and get all the beaches closed. Do you want your two young fellas to stay with us until … you know?’ Barney said quietly.
Step looked down at Mum. Neither of them looked like they could think clearly.
‘Only one of you will be allowed to travel in the helicopter,’ the younger ambo said while the other went to call for the rescue chopper.
‘I want to stay with Pip,’ I said and the tears began to roll down my face. I felt my arms and legs shaking nervously. ‘I don’t want to stay behind.’ I felt like I was five years old and I wanted Mum to rock me in her arms and sing something.
Mum just buried her head over Pippa, trying to kiss her better, but the medical officer began taking my little sister out of Mum’s arms, lifting the writhing little body onto the stretcher. Pippa had sweat oozing out of every pore like she was melting.
Step went over to Mum, putting Ranger in my arms. He was heavy and I was awkward with him.
‘You go with her, love,’ he said gently to Mum. ‘Hunter and I will meet you in Cairns. We’ll go now. Come on, Hunter.’ He reached down and helped Mum to her feet. ‘It’ll be alright, my darling. Everything will be okay.’
My mother stood up. She seemed smaller and more fragile than normal and she let Step wrap his arms around her, pressing her face into his chest. Step tipped her head back and kissed her gently on the forehead. I looked at him. It hit me hard. He did love her. He really did.
‘We’ll get through this, Al,’ he said before looking over her shoulder. ‘Thanks for the offer, Barney. But Hunter’s a good lad and he’ll help me out with Ranger. We’ll call you from Cairns.’
‘Anything we can do … we’ll do.’ Barney gave a gruff nod.
Sophie dug her feet into the sand and kept her head down.
‘Are you okay to drive to Cairns, Brad?’ Mum cried in little broken sobs.
‘I’ll be fine. I’ve got Hunter.’ Step threw me a tense wink and for the first time I received it with a tremor of gratitude instead of a shiver of repulsion.
‘It’ll be okay, Mum.’ I nodded. ‘I’ll help Step with Ranger.’
I shifted him onto my other hip. The kid weighed a ton. It was weird. He’d been my little brother for ages and yet I couldn’t remember the last time I’d picked him up, if ever. Maybe not since he was really tiny, just home from the hospital.
Pippa just had to be alright. The thought that she might not be made me sick to the guts.
I was angry at Mum but didn’t show it. She’d read the warning signs next to every beach and a glove box full of brochures and pamphlets had spelled out the dangers. Pippa was only ten. She was special. It was harder for her to wrap her head around shit. She trusted Mum just like I’d trusted Dad. I’d nearly died when I was 13 years old and now Pippa was facing the same jagged mountain. Although I was on the fence between Step’s sky-god and Mum’s earth-goddess, I’d never felt like praying more than I did as I stood on that incredibly beautiful beach. If there was a God, I hoped he or she was close by.
THE BEND IN THE ROAD
Barney and Sophie stayed with Mum while the medics put a blanket over Pippa and tried to keep her as comfortable as possible. Step and I didn’t wait for the chopper. We jumped in the Range Rover and took off.
‘Open Mum’s laptop, Hunter.’
I pulled it up out of the footwell.
‘It’s fully charged. Just snap in the dongle.’ Step sounded scared. His voice was small and crackly.
I set up the computer and found the connection.
‘Now google stingers in North Queensland. See what you can find.’
It was strange but I felt connected to Step in a way I never had. We were both rigid with fear and that terror seemed to unite us. He clung to the steering wheel, his knuckles bone-white, and leaned forward staring intently at the road and the signs leading to Cairns.
I tapped away looking for information that might give us some hope. Wikipedia was always my first stop. That site had given me plenty of information on all sorts of topics. I found Irukandji, after a few spelling attempts, and skimmed through the stuff about the history and geography, and then scrolled down to Irukandji syndrome. This was what a victim suffered from after they’d been stung.
The worst news was that the pain was possibly the most horrible kind known, but the good news was that there had only been a couple of recorded deaths in Australia and that both had been connected to previous disorders. The sting could put a strain on the heart and that was where the danger lay. I read aloud to Step
who nodded seriously, his jaw set like stone beneath his fuzzy chin. Behind us, Ranger had fallen asleep in his car seat, his head hanging uncomfortably to one side, his little pink mouth hanging slack, the crackling of piglet noises coming from his nose.
After I’d exhausted all the information, I sat back and stared at the sapphire water that stretched out from my passenger window. It was ridiculous that the most amazing ocean – so beautiful and inviting – was so deadly. Beneath the waves and froth lay invisible, infinitesimal life forms that drifted about, filled with enough venom to be classed as weapons of mass destruction. Box jellyfish. Stonefish. The water was a deathtrap. Roses had thorns. The Great Barrier Reef had stingers.
‘You and Pippa are so important to me,’ Step said suddenly, looking over at me quickly and then back to the road. ‘I know you resent me … bursting in and taking over from your dad. But it wasn’t like that, Hunter. He left a vacant spot in your mum’s heart.’
I wasn’t sure I wanted to have that conversation right then, but he obviously did.
‘I fell in love with your mum because she is a truly amazing woman. Your dad didn’t appreciate how wonderful she was.’
Here we go.
‘You and I both know how much he hurt your mum,’ he went on. ‘Now, what I want you to know is that I don’t want to be your dad. I’m happy to be a friend, a mentor or guide, if you’ll let me. Actually, Hunter, I think it’d be nice for you to still have your dad in your life.’
‘So would I!’ I said. ‘I want to see him or at least be able to write to him. I think it’s rubbish that you and Mum cut him out of my life without asking me how I felt about it.’ It was a relief to say it out loud.
Step nodded and took a deep breath and let it out with a hiss. ‘Your mum and I have talked about that and I’m trying to get her to see that she shouldn’t transfer her feelings for your dad onto you. I don’t think that’s fair.’
I held my breath. I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. Step was actually saying that Mum was out of line keeping me from Dad. Step was on my side. I didn’t know what to say.