Survivors of the Sun

by Kingslie, Mia

  She chased the others out of the room as she bathed him. The swelling on his face was going down, but still looked terrible. His skin where the sun had savaged it, was painful looking, the color of bruised concord grapes, and the gash had started bleeding again. There was nothing for it, it would have to be stitched. Once he was clean, Georgia remembered the dressing gowns hanging in the master bedroom closet and gave him one of those to wear.

  She gave him another Ibuprofen and found the sewing kit. She decided to boil several lengths of cotton, not willing to take any chances, and sterilized the needle as well. Now she just had to get up the courage to actually use the needle. As she sat in front of a stoically, determined to be brave, Josh, the needle and thread on a plate, ready to use, Ruby bustled into the room.

  She took one look at Georgia, summing up the situation immediately. ‘You go and make us all a nice pot of tea dear, ‘ she said, ‘and I will do this, after all, I have done this sort of thing before.’

  Georgia needed no persuading, she practically leapt to her feet, handing over the needle and thread and headed for the kitchen with almost indecent haste. By the time the tea was ready and she carried it in on a tray, the deed had been done. She examined the stitches, and was very relieved to see that Ruby really did know what she was doing. Who would have thought? The jagged edges had been brought neatly together, and the wound had even stopped bleeding. If she hadn’t known better she would have thought a real doctor had done them.

  As they sipped their tea, Deedee and Jamie chattered nonstop about the bear. Now finding the whole affair terribly amusing as they recounted over and over again how the bear had rushed out of the barn. The way he had flung the barn door open, groaning as it loped up the hill, and the terror on Lola and Georgia’s faces.

  ‘Probably had a sore tummy from all the camp bread Lola fed it,’ Deedee giggled.

  Ruby sniffed. ‘There was nothing wrong with that bread.’

  ‘Not for us, but maybe it was bad for the bear,’ Deedee replied undeterred.

  It was only much later, that Josh, sitting gingerly on a kitchen chair, looking vastly improved from the day before, but still exhausted, assured them that it was only a black bear.

  ‘Only?’ Georgia exclaimed, her eyebrows raised so high that they disappeared under her bangs.

  ‘Yeah, and it wasn’t a cub, Lola, I promise you. You’re thinking of grizzly bears, they don’t even have them down here. Black bears are smaller and way less aggressive.’

  Even so, Georgia was not entirely convinced, as far as she was concerned, a bear was a bear (and sometimes a bar), and the sooner they found the gear they needed, and got out of there, the better.

  Chapter Fifty Nine

  Ruby had found a dozen canning jars in the empty pantry and come to Georgia with the suggestion that she make blackberry jam.

  ‘I know you at least know what I mean by ‘jam’,’ she whispered conspiratorially, even though there was no one else in the kitchen. ‘Here they call it jelly, which is just confusing because what you and I know as jelly, they call jello.’

  Georgia couldn’t help but laugh. Soon after her arrival in the States someone had offered her toast and jelly for breakfast and her mind had struggled with the whole concept. She had wondered how that would even work, surely the toast would have to be cold. Otherwise the scoop of jelly wobbling on top of the toast would melt.

  It had never occurred to her to wonder if they had meant something else. After all she had earlier witnessed her aunt eating scones (which she had called biscuits), liberally covered in a runny white meat sauce. The sight of which had left her struggling to control her stomach’s disbelieving reaction to this appalling combination. So she had believed anything to be possible, and here in America they put Jelly on their toast. Different cultures, different foods.

  While the combination had sounded terrible, she had been willing to give it a go and was very much relieved when the toast had arrived, buttered and spread with strawberry jam.

  ‘You are right there,’ she whispered back, ‘but won’t that use up a lot of sugar?’

  Ruby nodded. ‘Yes, but we will still have it, just in another form, and it will add to those supplies you keep talking about.’

  She couldn’t argue with that, so shortly after midday, Jamie, Deedee and Lola were sent off with a plastic bucket to collect as many blackberries as they could find.

  As Ruby collected together the pots and pans she would need a thought struck Georgia. ‘So do you know how to can other things? Like meat and fish and I don’t know, um, vegetables if we had them?’

  ‘Of course dear, probably not fish though, that’s best done with vinegar, but I certainly know how to can beef stews and the like. Mind you we would need more preserving jars.’

  Georgia sat down, feeling somewhat stunned. Her mind full of the possibilities this opened up. In her imagination the kitchen became a virtual canning factory, with the Apaches hunting round the clock; hundreds of jars being sealed and packed ready to go. After all, if they had a means of carrying the water they needed, then…,

  The kitchen door swung open, and Rebecca stood there looking pale and scared, ‘I think you need to come and check on Josh, I think he is really sick, he can’t seem to stop shaking and he’s vomited twice.’

  Without a word Georgia got to her feet and hurried after Rebecca. She had been half expecting this, but Josh, typical of any teenager, had insisted he was feeling fine, and didn’t need babying. But as the morning had progressed he had become quieter, and his face had taken on a distinctly ashen pallor. Finally she had put her foot down and settled him down in the back bedroom.

  Now, as Georgia pushed past Rebecca, she was horrified at just how bad he looked. He was on the bed, half up on his side, retching into a waste paper bin which he clutched against his chest. Even from the door way she could see he was shivering uncontrollably, and his skin was slick with a sheen of sweat. He slowly looked up at her as she stepped into the room. His sunburn seemed even angrier than before, the blisters on the side of his face larger, and in places, encrusted where they were beginning to seep. Surely they hadn’t been this bad two hours ago? Had the bath made it worse?

  Taking all this in, she hesitated for the briefest of moments, unable to help herself. What if this was another dreadful disease of some sort? Then she reproached herself. Get a grip! This was nothing contagious, and she knew with absolute certainty that this was the kickback from sunburn, dehydration and overheating.

  ‘I don’t feel right,’ he said weakly as she sat down on the bed next to him. She gently cupped her palm across his good cheek, then nearly snatched it back. He was burning up!

  She was no doctor, but she knew that this had to be bad. Vomiting, violent shivering, high body temperature, were all scary symptoms that his body was fighting something, and not coping. Somehow, they needed to cool him down and fast. Ibuprofen was not going to do it, although it might help but she doubted it would be quick enough. Feeling a sense of panic rising within her she contemplated carrying him down to the river, and partially immersing him in the water, but with the blisters now open, and seeping, that could potentially make matters much worse in the long run.

  ‘Is he going to be alright?’ Rebecca asked.

  ‘Of course he is,’ Georgia replied, a little too quickly, her voice filled with a reassurance and certainty that she did not feel. What she did know for certain was that if they could not cool him, chances were he was going to die.

  Then making her mind up about what needed to be done, she added, ‘I’ll be right back.’ She calmly stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind her, then literally ran to the kitchen, snatching up one of the big pots with cooled boiled water. ‘Bring as many water bottles as you can,’ she said, as Ruby looked up, somewhat startled at her abrupt appearance.

  ‘We have to get Josh into the bath, he is burning up.’

  In the bathroom, she snatched at the bathplug and stopped up the bath, then tipped in the f
irst of the water.

  ‘You should lay a towel down in there, and up across the back of the bath,’ Ruby said, as she started unscrewing the tops of the bottles.

  ‘Good idea,’ Georgia said as she raced back to the kitchen for more bottles. These she hastily dumped on the floor next to Ruby’s feet, then headed back to Josh and Rebecca.

  Despite his rising temperature, Josh was still somewhat lucid. As she indicated to Rebecca that they needed to lift him off the bed and carry him, she asked him what his name was. Then when he answered correctly, she asked him how old he was. By the time they had struggled down the corridor with him, they learned he was fourteen, or possibly fifteen, he had lost track of the days, and thought he might have missed a birthday. She felt herself calming just a little. He was still making sense, and possibly even more importantly, he was still sweating, so he hadn’t reached the stage yet where his body was shutting down, but he was right in the danger zone, time wise, 24 hours after overheating.

  She knew from that much from her days back home, when something like 22 percent of all heat stress deaths happen on January 27th; this being the day after Australia Day, when her countrymen traditionally celebrated the day out of doors; notorious for being one of the hottest times of the year. She vaguely recalled parts of an article about those annual deaths, and also the warnings and symptoms, in particular that in dire cases, sweating ceases and the skin becomes dry as the body loses its ability to regulate temperature. He hadn’t reached that point yet, but even so she was still scared for him.

  With Ruby’s help they lowered him into the bath. It was less than a quarter full, but it would be enough. With the heat of the day the water was eternally tepid, which for once was a good thing. Too cold and he might go into shock. Once he was in the bath, leaning back against the wet towel, the water just covering his lower limbs, they covered his upper body with sopping wet towels. How she wished she had a thermometer!

  Unbelievably the heat from his body kept warming up the towels, rendering them useless, so every few minutes they had to be peeled off, re-soaked and then reapplied. But it began to work and gradually over the next fifteen minutes or so his temperature slowly dropped, until finally his skin felt the same to the touch as Ruby’s.

  ‘So how are you feeling by now?’ Georgia asked, as she knelt beside him, relieved to see that the shivering was no longer so violent and a little color was coming back to his face. Now she suspected he was shivering from sitting in a quarter full bath covered with wet towels.

  ‘No longer feel like I am going to pass out or throw up,’ Josh said, his voice still sounding so weak.

  Thinking more clearly now the danger appeared to be over, she sent Rebecca into the lounge to fetch the office chair. While they waited she and Ruby helped Josh out of the water, and then patted him dry as he sat on the edge of the bath. The last thing she wanted was for him to get a chill. Then when Rebecca returned pushing the chair ahead of her, they maneuvered Josh on it and wheeled him back to the bedroom.

  Once he was tucked in bed, she pressed a bottle of the home made electrolyte into his hands, I want you taking sips of this every few minutes, till at least half of this has gone, Okay?’

  Josh nodded, and Rebecca promised she would make sure he did exactly that. Then picking up the soiled waste paper bin, Georgia left the room.

  Much later that evening, twelve jars of blackberry jam lined up in the pantry, a rabbit stew on the stove, they had to repeat the whole exercise. This time though Josh’s temperature did not seem quite so frighteningly high, and she was not nearly as afraid as she had been earlier. The bath had worked before, and she was confident it would work again. And it did. After that second time he slept straight through the night, and Georgia finally felt that the crisis had been averted.

  Over the next few days Georgia took the canoe, the shotgun, and a crowbar that the canoe thief had left behind and painstakingly broke into barns, sheds, outhouses and homes, anything that was definitely abandoned, determined to find at least one bicycle, water containers, any jars suitable for canning and boots, size 10 for Josh.

  She went alone, feeling she was less likely to be seen that way and soon became expert at prying open locked windows and doors. Pulling the canoe up out of the water and hiding it where ever she could.

  She had managed to search five properties the first day. It took much longer than she imagined and although she hadn’t found any bikes, or canning jars, she had come back with various hand tools, including a hacksaw, a hand drill, the sort where you wind the handle round and round to get the drill bit to turn and a hammer.

  ‘I don’t know how you do it,’ Lola said the first night. ‘I would be too scared.’

  ‘Nothing to it,’ Georgia said, lying through her teeth.

  ‘If I can help…,’ Josh began

  But Georgia didn’t even let him finish his sentence. ‘Absolutely not, you’re lucky I even let you out of bed. You have two jobs to do, one is to get completely healed, and the other is to put on weight. We can’t even think about continuing on our journey until you have done that, and the last thing you should be doing right now is going out in the sun!’

  Then feeling she had spoken a little harshly she added, ‘but I really appreciate the offer.’

  Though the truth of it was that she was afraid the entire time she was out there. Worst was just after she had jimmied a door or window open, her heart would be pounding and she would feel a kind of watery sensation in the vicinity of her bowels, never knowing for certain if she wasn’t going to be suddenly greeted by an irate or terrified or heavily armed resident or worse, another bear.

  By the second day though still scared, she no longer felt like a thief, it had become routine. Even so, she returned to stolen canoe point disappointed and empty handed.

  Lola came racing down the front steps of the house as she was pulling the canoe up out of the water

  ‘You have to come and see what we found!’

  ‘What did you find?’ Georgia asked, exhausted, and somewhat downhearted by her day.

  ‘Well you know how we saw that ride on mower, in the paddock next door, nearly lost in the weeds?’

  ‘No,’ Georgia said.

  ‘Oh right, I found it that day you and the kids were away, anyway there is this ride on mower…,’

  Georgia shook her head. ‘I don’t think we would be able to push something that…,’

  ‘No we can’t,’ Lola exclaimed, ‘but Jamie went over to have a closer look and discovered that it had been towing a light trailer. We couldn’t see it because it was completely hidden by the long grass, so Josh helped us pulled it back to the house and cleaned it up.’

  Georgia froze mid step. ‘You had Josh do what?’ she demanded, barely able to believe what she was hearing. ‘What part of...,’ she shook her head in disbelief. ‘You shouldn’t have let…,’

  ‘He was covered up,’ Lola interjected, ‘I let him wear one of my t-shirts and he had a towel over his head.’

  ‘And he looked just like an Arabian sheik from the movies,’ Rebecca sighed, her eyes glued on Josh, who was now sitting in the shade on the front steps.

  At hearing this, Deedee made a snorting noise and walked away, closely followed by Jamie.

  ‘Oh?’ Georgia asked, raising her eyebrows as she met Lola’s sideways glance.

  ‘Don’t ask, let’s just say it’s been a long day and there has been a lot of bickering.’

  ‘Do you want me to talk to them?’

  ‘Nuh uh, I reckon they will sort themselves out eventually.’

  ‘Well then, let’s have a look at this trailer,’ Georgia said,

  It was not as small as she had imagined a ride on mower trailer would be. It was roughly four foot by four foot, with raised sides.

  She kicked thoughtfully at the fat tires, pursing her lips. ‘That could have big possibilities,’ she finally said.

  ‘I thought so, and if we could find even one bike,’ Lola said, we could tow it. You peddling
, the rest of us pushing, or all of us pushing,’ Lola added hastily, mistaking Georgia’s expression.

  ‘No, I think it is brilliant, just need to work out how to attach the trailer bar to a bike, if we ever find one that is.’

  ‘You will,’ Lola said, ‘I just know it, maybe if you go back up the water way, the way we came, a lot of those houses appeared to be empty, plus some of them were backing onto roads, I reckon you would have more chance there. Also don’t know if it makes any difference but the towing bar is a drop down mechanical brake, wheels don’t budge if it is let down.’

  Georgia nodded, a thrill of excitement flaring through her, now they had found this, their plan might actually come together! Tomorrow she would, no doubt, as Lola said, find a bicycle and in no time at all it would be ‘Bethel here we come’, and they would finally be on their way again. One just had to think positively!

  Chapter Sixty

  August 25th, Day 46

  Rebecca woke Georgia just after three, helpfully holding a candle up, as she dressed.

  ‘How’s Josh doing?’

  ‘He good, he’s awake though, says the itchiness is driving him crazy.’

  ‘That’s not surprising and it’s a good sign, he is healing well all considered.’

  Rebecca nodded. ‘Oh yeah, and Lola is on guard duty in the kitchen, she says there’s coffee ready for you if you want some.’

  She took the candle from Rebecca, waiting until she had slipped under the covers then went to find Lola.

  ‘Your turn to watch Josh then?’ Lola asked as she placed a large mug of coffee in front of her.

  ‘Yes, not that he really needs it any longer, but it’s the only way I can get Rebecca to get some sleep. She still scared that he is going to go downhill again.’

  ‘Can’t blame the kid for that, she’s…,’ Lola stopped what she was going to say, ‘oh, before I forget, I went through the phone book again, and I think I have found a place you should check out, ‘Jenkins Automotive Repairs’, here, I wrote down the address.’