by Maya Linnell
‘Give it a break, you two,’ said Angie, resting a hand on each of her sisters’ arms.
Lara flinched at the touch and jerked her arm away, as if she’d been zapped with an electric prodder.
‘Telling Dad not to do something is like a red flag to a bull—I thought everyone knew that.’
‘It’s nobody’s fault, Lara,’ Diana warned.
Penny saw Tim look up from his tatty car magazine, his attention darting between the four sisters. Eddie’s attention pricked up too. Judging by the dark circles under his eyes, Penny figured he was as tired as she felt. Pete remained quiet, glued to the muted television in the corner, lips moving to the teletext.
‘Bet she was too busy packing her bags and updating her Facebook status even to notice he was missing. Hashtag: leaving today. Hashtag: bring on the city. Hashtag: city slickers anonymous.’
Penny stood up abruptly, the chair scraping beneath her as she stood over Lara. She felt her fists bunching at her sides, fingernails biting into her palms as they trembled with fury.
Tim couldn’t help but overhear the conversation and felt guilty that he’d been working on his ute while Angus was lying in the paddock, drifting in and out of consciousness. The paramedics had been the epitome of calm as they’d forced fluids into his system with an IV and got his blood pressure up to one hundred. He hadn’t been much use at the scene, apart from helping Pete lift the quad bike from Angus’s battered body, and there wasn’t a great deal to do inside the waiting room, apart from wait. But he wasn’t going to sit there and let Lara heap blame on Mac. That just wasn’t right.
‘Chill out, Lara. It’s useless throwing blame around now.’
Tim dropped the car magazine onto the seat beside him and walked towards the McIntyre sisters. Penny’s freckles were even more prominent against her pale skin, interspersed with flakes of black mascara. Her eyelashes were clumped together as she looked up at him, the pain in her eyes raw. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, shield her vulnerability and take her pain as his own. He shoved his hands into his dusty pockets instead.
‘I should’ve been there helping him today. But we can’t change what’s happened, so how about everyone calms down?’
He nodded his head at the security guard who was walking towards them. Penny resumed her seat between Angie and Diana, while Lara sat back in the chair, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. The burly guard returned to his post at the front counter, his gaze remaining on the quartet of sisters. Tim stole a quick look at Penny as he returned to his chair and his heart constricted as she gave him a sad smile. Eddie’s drooping chin lowered and a snore slipped from his open mouth. I should’ve run him back to Nanna Pearl’s house instead of dragging him up to Horsham. But shock and a frenzied need to keep the ambulance in his sights had robbed him of logic, and darned if he was going to ask Nanna Pearl to drive in the dark to collect Eddie or miss an update because he was back at a motel room with his brother. He picked up the car magazine and forced himself to be patient.
Penny stared at the double doors every time a nurse entered or exited. Tim had finally decided to leave at midnight after the initial update, but she knew his few hours in a crappy motel bed wouldn’t be much better than her fitful sleep in the plastic waiting room chair. The doctor had been circumspect, saying they’d know more after the operation.
Activity in the waiting room had slowed around 3 a.m. but started picking up as soon as first light crept in through the windows. Tensions and volume levels had run even higher in the half hour since Pete had returned, their four boys and Evie bouncing with energy and questions.
When’s Grandpa coming out? Can I have a chocolate? What does this button do? Can I have another squirt of the hand gel? Penny reached into her handbag, fished out a packet of chewing gum and dispersed it among the children.
‘Good thinking, Pen. Should buy us a minute of peace, at least,’ said Angie. She leaned in closer, talking from the side of her mouth. ‘See that nurse near the admissions desk? She comes in for the full monty every month. Hairy as a yeti, she is. Takes twice as long to wax her …’
‘Angie!’ Penny poked her sister in the arm, her head swivelling to catch a glimpse of the tall woman wheeling a patient across the waiting room. ‘She might hear you. And what about client confidentiality?’ She turned in her plastic chair, noting a hint of mischief in Angie’s red-rimmed eyes. As much as Penny appreciated the mood-lightener, she could sense the slight hysteria behind Angie’s inappropriate aside.
‘I’m only telling you and you’re not likely to blab to anyone, are you, Pen? This waiting is sending me batty.’
Penny stretched, her body begging for some respite. She stood up and strolled across the room before Angie breached any further confidences.
‘For heaven’s sake, Harry, leave the vending machine alone,’ called Diana, frowning as the boys started jabbing at the buttons again. ‘You’ll break it and then there’ll be trouble.’ The edge in her voice sharpened as the twins protested.
Penny reached down and scooped Leo from Diana’s arms, trying not to cringe as her little nephew rubbed a tube of half-eaten yoghurt onto her rumpled shirt.
‘C’mon, Leo. Let’s go see what the big kids are up to.’
Diana shot her a grateful look before stalking off towards the beleaguered vending machine. Penny sat down with Leo next to Cameron and Evie. The older pair were huddled over an iPad, four hands working the touchscreen in unison.
‘What are you guys up to?’
‘Dad just sent me a message on Facebook, so we’re writing him one back,’ said Evie.
Penny’s eyebrows rose. From what Angie had told her last week, Lara had severed all ties with Sam after a final blazing row on Tim’s doorstep.
‘Cool. Where’s Mum now?’
Evie looked up from the screen, waving a hand towards the nurse’s station. ‘Somewhere in there, Aunty Pen.’
Penny jiggled Leo on her knee as she scanned the area. Uniformed staff bustled busily behind the glass doors, but Lara was nowhere to be seen.
It was another half hour before Lara swept through the ‘staff only’ door and back into the waiting room, her jaw set in a hard line. Penny sat on the edge of her seat. She drew Leo closer, holding him like a shield against the news—bad news by the look of it. Different scenarios ran through her head. Did he make it through the operation okay? Does he have to be airlifted to the city? Leo cried out against the sudden constriction and Penny forced herself to relax.
‘He’s out of the operation, should be in recovery shortly. The orthopaedic surgeon is on his way. Apparently, the injuries are worse than they thought.’
Penny chewed her lip, biting back a dozen questions. If it were Angie or Diana with the medical career, she wouldn’t hesitate to push for more information, but Lara … not Lara.
The double doors swung open once again, ejecting a middle-aged African surgeon into the waiting room. Penny stood at the same time as Angie and Diana and walked towards the doctor with a mixture of dread and anticipation. His kind tone was heavily accented.
‘I have good news and bad news. Angus is a strong man. He’s awake now. His pelvic fracture is stable—thankfully no damage to internal organs. We used a plate and pins to secure the pelvis during surgery, similar to the pins used in his ankle. The compound fracture of his fibula is quite complex, and there’s severe swelling where the bone penetrated the tissue. We pulled a large amount of dirt and grass out of the wound, probably where he tried to drag himself out from under the bike, but we’ve cleaned and stitched it as best we could. He’ll have a significant scar there.’
Penny felt faint thinking of the dark-red mass around her father’s left ankle, the technical details reaffirming the agony he must have been in as he waited for them to arrive. And that was the good news … she held her breath, steeling herself for the rest. The doctor looked each of them in the eye, his expression serious. Penny shifted Leo to her other hip, unable to keep still.
; ‘The shoulder is more difficult. We knew it had fractured from the X-ray, but the MRI confirmed a severe brachial plexus injury, meaning the nerves supplying the arm have been damaged high up in the armpit. He can have further surgery at a later stage, such as nerve grafts or nerve transfers, to try to restore function to his right arm, and there’s a small chance this might improve. We’ll know more in a few weeks.’
Penny tasted blood as she chewed on her lip, trying to match the mental image of her active, quietly capable father with the broken man lying in the paddock.
‘He won’t be returning to farming, then,’ said Lara, shooting a look in Penny’s direction. ‘Not with a useless arm.’
Penny bristled as she met her sister’s gaze. Why does she have to insinuate it was my fault? She felt Leo squirm in her arms and swallowed the defensive remark and instead murmured quietly into the child’s soft hair as the doctor shook his head.
‘No. Angus will be in hospital for several weeks, then months of therapy just to get motion back in his hip and ankle. If he was an accountant, perhaps he could learn to type with his left hand. But at his age, with those injuries …’ The doctor paused, his expression sympathetic. ‘Manual labour is highly unlikely.’
Thirty-two
The swish of the double doors made them all look up. An elderly nurse padded towards them.
‘It’s been a long night for you lot, hasn’t it? Those chairs don’t lend themselves to comfort. Your dad’s just settled into room five. Third door on your left, down that corridor. Make sure you get outside after you’ve seen him though—you look like you could all do with some fresh air. Catch a bit of shut-eye after your long night?’
Penny nodded at the nurse. They’d been camped out in the hospital for almost fourteen hours, but it had felt as long as a wet week. She was pretty sure she wasn’t the only one of her sisters craving a hot shower, a soft bed and a strong drink, but those luxuries paled into insignificance next to seeing their father.
‘He won’t be much company for the next day or two, but at least he’s stable now,’ said Lara, leading the way down the corridor. Penny stuffed a soggy sausage roll into the bin as she followed.
‘Do you think he’ll be angry about his arm?’ asked Angie as they turned into the surgical recovery ward.
Penny shrugged. ‘He won’t be thrilled. But it’s better than a coffin.’
A gasp escaped her lips as she walked into room five. The large window illuminated the abrasions and livid purple bruises along the side of Angus’s face. His skin was otherwise pale, his eyes closed. She watched his deep and even breaths underneath the crisp white bedsheet. The monitors connected to his wires and drips beeped, adding to the noise thumping inside Penny’s head. She walked to his side and smoothed a wayward tuft of hair that stuck out at an odd angle.
‘You gave us a bloody scare, you old hoon,’ she said, fighting to keep the wobble out of her voice. Her lips grazed his rough cheek. His eyelids fluttered, and she watched him struggle to form silent words. She felt Angie behind her, reaching across to hold his bandaged hand.
On the opposite side of the bed, Lara pulled a chair to his knee and Diana sat in the chair by his shoulder.
‘It’s okay, Dad. Just rest,’ whispered Diana, placing a hand on his chest.
Penny bit back tears at his frailness, the way his eyelashes stopped flickering at Diana’s instructions. Before long, his chest fell back into a steady rhythm of sleep. She looked at the bandaged arm that proclaimed no more drenching, no more hauling bags of wool across the shearing shed and no more hoisting injured sheep onto the back of the ute.
‘Knock, knock.’
Penny turned to see Tim in the doorway. He held a machinery magazine and the Stock & Land in one hand, a bunch of grapes in the other.
‘How is he? How did the surgery go?’
Tim’s eyes looked even darker than usual, with a smudge of purple underneath them. He looked from Angus back to
Penny. She wiped her cheeks, sifting through the technical jargon for a succinct wrap-up.
‘Well, it’s not looking good for his shoulder. The nerves are all torn.’
‘Doc said his brachial plexus is stuffed. Possibly paralysed in his right arm. The pelvis and ankle will heal in time, but the arm probably won’t,’ said Lara.
‘Right.’
Penny glared at Lara, irritated by her terse interruption. Eddie’s frightened voice rang through the silence.
‘Angus, Angus, Angus.’ Eddie hovered behind his older brother, alarmed as he scanned the room. His grip on Tim’s arm drew red welts to the surface, and he jumped as a nurse came up behind him.
‘Ahhhh!’ he yelled, looking frantically around the room for an escape route.
‘Shhh, mate, it’s okay. It’s okay,’ soothed Tim.
Although his voice was quiet, Penny could hear the emotion tinging his words, and she realised the extent of Angus’s injuries had also thrown him for a six. She stepped away from the bed and relieved him of his load.
‘Thanks, Mac. Those are from us. The grapes were Nanna Pearl’s idea. Apparently, every patient needs grapes. I’ll get this guy home. The machines are freaking him out, but I’ll call you tonight. You’ll be at the farmhouse?’
Penny paused, her tired brain struggling to work out what time of day it was. For all the hours she’d killed in the waiting room, she hadn’t even thought of cobbling together a plan beyond seeing Angus. If the sky hadn’t been light outside the window, she could have sworn it was almost dusk.
‘You want me to give you a lift back to the farmhouse? Or you’re probably catching a ride with Diana?’
Penny considered the two options. The idea of spending an hour and a half in Diana’s car with four stir-crazy children, a teary Diana and a frazzled brother-in-law was unappealing, but she wasn’t sure she could handle the trip squashed between Tim and Eddie on the bench seat of his WB ute, straddling the gear stick.
‘I’ll work something out. You get Eddie home.’
‘I’ll detour to the farmhouse, drop you off,’ said Angie.
Penny nodded, relieved that someone was capable of pulling a coherent plan together. Tim turned to head out when a nurse walked in.
The nurse clucked her disapproval. ‘Family only for the next few days, thank you very much. Mr McIntyre doesn’t need any excitement or hoo-ha.’
Tim and Eddie took their leave and let the nurse bustle around checking monitors and adjusting the drip.
‘It’s okay, Brenda, we were all just heading out,’ said Lara, walking the nurse out of the crowded room and waiting at the door.
‘We’d better get home too. Pete’s got someone holding the fort at the stock agency, but he’ll be tearing his hair out with the kids,’ said Diana.
‘C’mon, Pen, lets follow them out. At least if I fall asleep at the wheel, Diana and Pete can tow us the rest of the way home,’ said Angie, managing a smile between yawns.
Penny looked down at her father. She wanted to stay longer, but it made more sense to get back to the farmhouse, snatch some sleep and a shower, and return to Horsham in her own car. That way she could come and go as she pleased. Angus’s eyes remained closed. Just a couple of hours, then I’ll be back.
It wasn’t until Penny noticed Diana weaving across the wide hospital corridor, typing into her phone, that she realised she still hadn’t called Vince. She tugged her mobile out and was pulling up his name in her contacts list when Lara broke the silence.
‘That’s it, then. Better sell the farm,’ she said, jamming her hands in her pockets. She said it in the same indifferent tone she’d announced her separation from Sam. Matter of fact, no outward display of emotion, as if she were telling Evie to do her homework.
It’s a miracle my niece knows how to smile and laugh with that type of example, thought Penny.
‘Is that a joke? It’s not even funny. It’s a bit bloody early for these types of discussions, isn’t it?’ Penny looked down the corridor towards Angus’s open door
, hoping he hadn’t heard Lara’s comment.
‘What—you think he’s going to work the farm with one arm and all those injuries? You’re dreaming.’
‘Maybe we can share-farm it, or agist the land,’ said Diana uncertainly.
‘We could hire someone to work it full-time until we figure out what to do. Perhaps Tim?’ Angie’s voice was just as hesitant, as if discussing the farm’s future gave their father’s injuries a finality.
Penny shook her head. Both suggestions were better than Lara’s, but still, neither sat comfortably with her. They walked a little further before Penny broke the silence.
‘We don’t need to rush into anything just yet. A share-farm arrangement or agistment would involve a lot of set-up, and Dad said he’s on the cusp of shearing and lambing. And Tim’s just about to sow the crops. You can’t lump that on someone at the last minute and hope it goes well. Dad’s put a lot of work into this season. It was shaping up to be one of his best,’ said Penny, indignant on Angus’s behalf and surprised at how much she’d absorbed in the last two months.
She looked at her sisters’ faces; each had a different expression—unsure, upset and indifferent.
‘We are absolutely not selling the farm,’ said Penny. Her voice was firm. Determined.
Lara kept walking, arms crossed over her chest. Penny matched Lara’s pace, staring across the corridor at her with an unwavering gaze.
‘Well, let’s ask Dad about that tomorrow then, shall we?’ Lara’s voice held a challenge.
Penny nodded, lifting her chin and increasing her pace a little. ‘Yes, let’s.’
‘Ah-hem.’
Lara was the first to break eye contact and look over Penny’s shoulder at the sound of another voice. Penny twisted and saw the tall nurse Angie had pointed out earlier, walking behind them.
‘Sorry Francine, just a little family walk and talk going on here,’ said Angie.
Penny couldn’t tell whether her sister’s awkward smile reflected the tension crackling through the corridor or her guilt for sharing this woman’s intimate waxing details.