Summer Down Under

by Pensy, Alison

  “There you are,” Mr. Miller said, spotting Daniel. “Come on. Lunchtime’s over, we need to get back to work.”

  “Be there in a minute, Dad.” Daniel responded with just a hint of panic in his voice. “I need to get dressed first.”

  “Well, hurry up,” his father snapped, and then added as an afterthought, “Oh, G’day, Sam. I trust you are feeling better.”

  “Hello, Mr. M.” Sam called over the top of her book. “Yes. Much better, thank you.”

  “It’s Mr. Miller, Sam. I do not appreciate nicknames.”

  Daniel stifled a laugh and turned to look at her safely hidden behind her book. Sam rolled her eyes and tried to shoot him a playful smirk. Unfortunately, it probably looked more like a grimace.

  After a few minutes had passed, Daniel was restored to his original state. More by the shock of his father’s intrusion than anything else. He stood up and threw on his clothes.

  “I’ll see you tonight,” he said leaning down and planting a kiss on the young jillaroo’s cheek. He started off in the direction his dad went.

  “Oh, I see,” Sam joked. “Just leave me here with Arthur. Thanks, Daniel.”

  “Arthur is good company, he’ll look after you. Won’t you, Arthur?” Daniel called over his shoulder as he walked out of view.

  Sam suddenly felt a bit empty.

  She looked over at Arthur. “I’m in serious trouble, aren’t I?” she stated.

  The scaly creature looked back at her and licked his eye.

  “Yeah, great help you are.” Sam sighed and dropped her head on the table.

  ***

  It must have been about half an hour later when Sam heard Mrs. Miller calling for her.

  “Sam? The lads need your help,” Mrs. Miller called through the poolroom to where she was still sitting by the pool. Sam sensed a hint of anxiety in her voice.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We just got a call over the radio that someone put out a distress call. Apparently, they are on our property somewhere. Paul told the authorities that he will take the plane up and go look for him, but they could use another pair of eyes. There’s a lot of dense brush out there.”

  Sam was excited at the thought of going up in the plane again. She grabbed her book and started in the direction of her room.

  By the time she got outside, Mr. Miller was already starting up the plane. Daniel was waiting by the door to help her up into the back seat.

  “In you get,” he said. “Apparently, there’s a man on our property somewhere. He crashed his truck into a tree and called a distress on his radio. He doesn’t know where he is and now he is not answering. We reckon he’s either hurt or has walked away from his vehicle. Either situation is not a good one. We have a lot of land and it may take a while to find him. There are wild boar out there, too.”

  “So,” Mr. Miller continued, “we just need to keep our eyes open and see if we can spot him or the vehicle.”

  Sam nodded her understanding and accepted Daniel’s help to get up into the back seat.

  A few moments later, they were taking off. Sam felt the familiar lurch in her stomach as the plane’s wheels left the ground. She still couldn’t get used to the fact that they used a plane like any normal person would use a car. Once in the air, they flew over to the other side of the property, where Paul thought it would be a good place to start. There was where a large section of road cut through on that side and it made sense to start looking there. They were swooping and turning for what seemed like an eternity and Sam’s eyes were scanning the ground constantly. Other than the odd flock of sheep, and lots and lots of trees, she hadn’t spotted anything yet. She was starting to feel a bit hopeless. Sam had never gotten motion sickness before, but after about an hour of Mr. Miller maneuvering the plane in every direction possible, she was beginning to feel more than a little nauseous.

  “Over there.” Sam shouted, when out of the corner of her eye something glinted in the brush below, catching her attention. “That looks like a truck down there.”

  Mr. Miller angled the plane around and circled over the vehicle a couple of times. Sure enough, the vehicle was wrapped around a tree.

  “What on earth would someone be doing all the way out here?” Sam asked.

  “Probably hunting,” replied Mr. Miller.

  There were no signs of life from the air. Mr. Miller landed his pride and joy in a clearing that was not too far from the disabled truck. It was a bumpy landing, but Daniel’s dad knew what he was doing. They came to a safe stop at the edge of the clearing nearest the vehicle. Not a moment too soon, as far as Sam was concerned. Daniel grabbed the first aid kit before exiting the plane, but when they arrived at the vehicle, it was empty.

  “Stupid idiot,” cursed Mr. Miller.

  Sam looked at him raising her eyebrows in question.

  “It’s the most basic rule in the book,” he answered her unspoken question. “You never leave your vehicle. Never.” He looked around for a few minutes, scanning the immediate area. “Okay, Daniel, you start looking over there. Sam, you over there and I’ll go this way.”

  The three spread out, calling to the person as they walked. He could be anywhere, Sam thought as she waded through the brush that was quite thick on this part of the property. So thick, you couldn’t see very far in front of you. She was hoping that if he was injured, he wouldn’t have been able to get too far away from his vehicle. Thankfully, she was right. Just up ahead, slumped against a tree, the figure of a man came into view. Sam called to the others as she ran over to him.

  “He’s over here,” she called again as she kneeled down beside him. He was out cold. A trickle of blood streaked a path down his face from his temple. Daniel and Mr. Miller ran over to where she was. Sam checked his pulse, it was very weak.

  “He doesn’t look good, he hasn’t got much of a pulse,” she told them when they arrived.

  “Oh, God. He’s stopped breathing. Daniel help me get him on his back.” The CPR training her mum had drilled into her all those years, kicked in automatically. Sam lifted his chin, tilting his head back, and looked for anything that may be blocking his airway. She couldn’t see anything. She knew the next part was going to hurt, but, as much as her mouth protested, she covered the man’s with her’s and blew into him, watching his chest rise with each breath.

  “Daniel, do you know CPR?” Sam asked after blowing a couple of breaths into the man.

  “A little,” he replied.

  “Chest compressions?”

  “Yes.”

  “Start them now, please.”

  “I’m going to run to the plane and tell Mrs. Miller to get the Flying Doctors,” Mr. Miller said. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Daniel’s dad hightailed it off in the direction of the plane.

  Daniel and Sam carried on doing CPR for a few more minutes. To their relief, the man coughed and took a breath on his own. Sam hovered above his face feeling for his breath on her cheek to make sure he could continue breathing on his own. When she was sure the man was breathing by himself, she looked up at Daniel and heaved a sigh of relief. Daniel stopped the chest compressions and gave Sam a look of admiration.

  “You were awesome”

  Sam blushed. “My mum’s a nurse. I knew how to do a bandage before I could walk.”

  With Daniel’s help, Sam rolled the man over into the recovery position and kept a watchful eye on him. Making sure his chest was still rising and falling of its own accord.

  “I think he’s stabilized for now,” she said.

  Mr. Miller ran back to them and explained that there was not enough open space in the vicinity for the Flying Doctors to land. Their plane was much larger than his. They would have to get the injured man back to the homestead in their plane and the Flying Doctors would meet them there. Daniel and Mr. Miller proceeded to carry the man towards the plane while Sam kept her ear close to his mouth so she could feel his breath.

  When they arrived with the wounded man, they all tried to load him in t
he plane. They couldn’t be sure how badly injured he was, but the injury to his head didn’t look good. Sam was worried he would stop breathing again at any minute. She sat in the back next to him to keep a watchful eye. She prayed he would not stop breathing in the plane. She wasn’t sure how effective she could be without being able to lie the man down. Their plane was so small they had no option than to sit him up on the back seat. The plane took off, and, shortly after, they were landing back at the house.

  A few minutes after they had landed, Sam could hear another plane and looked around to see the Flying Doctors coming into land on the airstrip that effectively made up the Miller’s front yard. She sat with the man in the plane until the doctors could get to him, not wanting to cause any more damage than necessity dictated. The Flying Doctor's plane had hardly even stopped before two men in blue flight suits jumped out and headed for Mr. Miller.

  “He’s in the back of the plane,” he told them. “I think he’s pretty bad, but he’s still alive, thanks to Sam.”

  Sam’s eyebrows shot up. Did Mr. Miller just pay her a compliment?

  “Good call.” One of the doctors said as he leaned into their plane examining the still unconscious man.

  “Sam found him,” Mr. Miller continued. “He stopped breathing and she knew what to do.”

  Sam smiled at the doctor as he patted her on the shoulder. She moved out of their way so they could work on him. The doctor’s worked quickly. Soon they had the man on a backboard and loaded onto their plane.

  “Well done, miss,” one of the doctors said as he carried the man away.

  They stood and watched as the plane took off down the airstrip and lifted into the air.

  “Good on yer, girlie.” Daniel whispered as they turned and walked back inside. “You saved that guy’s life.”

  “Thanks.” Sam felt her cheeks warm. She had to admit to feeling just a tad proud of herself.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The next couple of days dragged by. Mrs. Miller was not about to let Sam go and work the sheep until the bruising on her face had gone down to what she considered an acceptable color. It was taking much longer than Sam was able to put up with. Why did the human body have to take so long to heal?

  Bored and restless, Sam had taken it upon herself to do some housework to wile away the hours. This was not something that came easily to her, which proved the point that she was even more bored than she first thought. She even kept Arthur company on occasion while reading a book by the pool. Although, she had to admit, he wasn’t the best conversationalist she’d ever had the good fortune to socialize with. Their conversations were very one sided.

  Daniel and Mr. Miller weren’t unable to come back to the house for lunch either, which made matters worse. Father and son were working sheep on the far side of the property. They left early in the morning and didn’t get home until the sun was setting. Sam did get to spend breakfasts with them, but that was not enough to satisfy her need for human interaction. Mrs. Miller was always busy doing something or other, so she didn’t have time to chat. She wasn’t the chatty type, anyway. To be honest, Sam felt more comfortable talking to Arthur. She had nothing in common with Mrs. Miller. That’s not to say she had much in common with a five foot lizard, either.

  In the evenings, by the time the lads had showered, changed, and eaten dinner, Daniel had been dog-tired and gone to bed early. Sam couldn’t blame him, he did look exhausted, and because they were one ‘man’ down, he was probably picking up the slack, which made her feel even more guilty. Sam hadn’t seen much of him since their encounter by the pool, which now seemed like a long and distant memory, maybe even a dream.

  A couple more days passed and Mrs. Miller finally gave Sam a clean bill of health allowing her to go back to work. She was feeling much better. The bruise on her face diminishing as the days went by. Now it just resembled a dirty smudge along her jaw line. Sam was in the kitchen helping Mrs. Miller prepare dinner one evening when Mr. Miller walked in.

  “Right, then,” he announced looking at Sam. “Do you feel up to a ride on the four-wheeler, young lady?”

  “Am I ever?” Sam’s face lit up with excitement, and she put down the kitchen towel without a second of hesitation. She would have gone back to work after just a day’s rest, if Mrs. Miller hadn’t vetoed it. “What are we doing?”

  “You and Daniel need to go and round up a few stragglers for us to lamb mark tomorrow, then we are done with Gidgee Paddock. He knows roughly where they are, so it shouldn’t take you too long to find them.”

  Sam didn’t care if it took all night. She would, at long last, be on her own with Daniel once more. She could hardly contain her excitement as she headed towards the kitchen door.

  “I’ll go get my boots on.” Sam said, rushing past Mr. Miller with a huge smile across her face. He furrowed his brow as she passed.

  “What’s she so happy about?” he asked his wife.

  “Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” Sam heard Mrs. Miller reply as she ran down the hall to her room.

  Sam threw on her boots, grabbed her coat and rushed out the back door of her bedroom, which led to the front entrance of the house. Daniel was fueling up the four-wheeler as she approached. He looked up when he heard her and a big smile crept across his face.

  “I’m back,” Sam announced. “Your mum signed my bill of health to go back to work.”

  “Well, it’s about bloody time,” he said with a grin. “Your chariot awaits, my lady.” He gestured with a sweeping motion of his hand over the seat of the four-wheeler and followed it up with a bow. Sam doffed him on the arm.

  They took off around the poultry runs and headed for the paddock. Sam felt good chasing across the fields again. Although, the light was fading quickly and it was getting harder to see by the minute. Daniel suggested they split up and go around, then meet each other halfway, hopefully sweeping up the stragglers as they did. Sam rode off in one direction and Daniel in the other.

  Within about half an hour, the light had almost completely gone and Sam was beginning to think that this was not such a good idea, after all. She could no longer see or hear Daniel. She didn’t think she had moved out that far. She hadn’t come across a fence line or any sheep yet, either. All of a sudden, Sam started to feel very uneasy. She stopped her four-wheeler and turned off the engine to see if she could hear Daniel’s bike. She couldn’t.

  All she could hear were the crickets singing their nightly chorus. Then it dawned on her that she didn’t have a clue where she was, how far from the house she was, or anything that would give her some bearing as to how she could get back to where she started. She heard a rustle and remembered what Daniel had told her about wild boar being on the property. A wave of panic washed over her. Her breathing started to quicken, her eyes darted in all directions. All to no avail. It was pitch black and she couldn’t see a thing outside of the small strip of land illuminated by the headlight on her four-wheeler.

  Sam tried to calm her nerves and avoid the all-out panic attack that was bubbling just below the surface. She remembered what Mr. Miller had taught her to do if she were ever to get lost out in the bush.

  “What the heck was that?” Sam muttered to herself. “‘Cooee’, that’s it. I need to call out ‘cooee’ at the top of my voice.” Daniel’s dad had told her it was the one sound that could carry for miles, and it wouldn’t make your throat hoarse. In theory, you could keep it up for hours. She was hoping she wouldn’t have to test out that theory.

  Sam started calling at the top of her voice “Cooooooooee! Coooooooee!”

  She kept calling for about ten minutes, pausing every now and then to see if she could hear anything, like, say, Daniel’s motorbike engine flying across the field to come to her rescue. But she could hear nothing. She was starting to feel hopeless and very alone. Tears of fear pricked behind Sam’s eyes. She bit them back in defiance.

  What if Daniel couldn’t find her? She’d have to stay out there all night until sun up before she co
uld find her way back. That thought terrified her even more. She didn’t fancy becoming boar bait. They could tear a human to pieces. It was the reason Daniel carried a hand gun with him when they went out on their bikes. She balanced on the seat and brought her knees up to her chest and scanned the darkness in front of her before dropping her head to her knees. What was she going to do? Not give up, that’s what.

  She lifted her head and called a few more times. This time the words were tinged with panic. Then she heard a sound that made her heart leap into her throat.

  “Cooooee!” It was Daniel!

  Sam called again and Daniel returned it with another call. A few minutes passed and she could hear the faint sound of his motorbike. It got closer and closer until she was illuminated in its headlight. Sam heaved a sigh of relief as Daniel pulled up alongside her.

  “What are you doing all the way over here?” he asked, sounding like a mother who had just found a lost child.

  Sam shrugged her shoulders and lowered her knees, all panic departing her tense muscles.

  “Taking the scenic route?” she said, adding a sheepish smile for good measure.

  “Come on, you. Follow me. I’ve got the sheep over there, we can muster them the rest of the way together.”

  He leaned over and gave Sam’s arm a squeeze. Sam thought there must have been a hint of panic left on her features. She smiled a ‘thank you’ at him and he nodded a ‘you’re welcome’ back. Sam started her engine and followed Daniel’s lead back to where the sheep were waiting.

  Altogether, thanks to her taking ‘the scenic route’, it took a couple of hours to get the job done, but, eventually, they got the sheep to the holding pen, ready to be worked on the following day.

  “Thank you for finding me.” Sam said as they wandered back to the house.

  “You did the right thing,” Daniel said. “Remembering to call that way. I was really getting worried. All of a sudden, you weren’t in sight anymore, and I couldn’t hear your engine, either. I forgot how easy it is to get disoriented out here at night. I’m sorry, Sam, I shouldn’t have told us to split up. That was stupid.”