Thirty-Seven

 

I leaped to my feet before Aidan, my hand closing over his to pull him up beside me. "What happened?" I asked urgently, striding behind the man as he led the way to the woodshed. I didn't let go of Aidan's hand and I heard his stumbling steps as he followed us.

"I don't know," he said. "I went in and he was just lying there. He's dropped a load of wood all over the floor and he's lying on the ground. I came straight back here for help. After all, Doctor Aidan's closer than the hospital."

I glanced at Aidan, whose face had gone pale. His hand tightened on mine as he realised he'd have an emergency to deal with – the one thing he hated most.

I started humming under my breath, the song a soothing lullaby I'd wanted to sing to my daughter. The same song I sang when I drove my car with Miranda bleeding in the back. It helped to calm me, if nothing else.

Aidan's grip loosened and his strides lengthened so he walked beside me instead of following behind. Both my hands free, I automatically twined my hair into a knot on the back of my head. Practical once more.

We approached the open tin shed and stopped. The barman lifted his hand and pointed. "He's in there, lying on the floor." He didn't seem to want to go back in the shed at all.

I glanced at Aidan again, taking a step forward, but he got there first, ducking his head to go inside. I skittered inside behind him, moving out of the doorway so I wouldn't block the light.

I heard his breathing as soon as I stopped moving, so I knew Ben was alive, but he lay on the ground, his eyes open and unseeing. Aidan knelt beside him, checking for head and spinal injuries or some sign of why the man was paralysed.

I edged around the two men, searching the woodshed. Big chunks of timber were scattered on the floor, as if they'd been swept from the carefully stacked pile that took up more than half the shed. Movement caught my eye and I stepped closer to see better and make sure.

"What's wrong with him?" the barman asked nervously, sticking his head inside the shed door.

"I don't know," Aidan murmured at the same time as I said, "Snakebite."

The barman burst out laughing. "When it's near freezing outside? The snakes are all asleep – too frozen to bite anyone!"

"Can you get the first aid kit from inside, Mark?" Aidan asked quietly. "And call an ambulance, too, mate. If he's not conscious, we need to get him to hospital. If they want more details, bring the phone out here and I'll fill them in on what I know."

"Sure, Doctor Aidan." The barman grinned and trotted off.

"Bel..." Aidan began.

I shrugged. "I'm a midwife, a nurse. You're the doctor. They expect you to take charge and you are. They won't listen to me while they have you."

"No," he said urgently, with a firmness in his tone that made me stare at him. "Why snakebite, Bel?"

"Check his hands, his wrists – he didn't wear gloves and she was probably asleep in the wood. I think he woke her up and she defended herself," I replied.

Aidan stood up, looking around in panic. "But where's the snake?"

I touched the toe of my shoe to the block of jarrah nearest me, a striped tail just showing beneath it, stirring sluggishly. "She's here, trapped under some wood."

Aidan's eyes were wide. "What kind of snake?"

I turned my head to look more closely at her. "Tiger snake, I think."

Aidan's arms pulled at me, trying to put distance between us and the poor stunned snake. I shook my head and pulled away. "Help Ben. Find the bite marks and tell the ambulance officers. Do your first aid and get him safely out of here. When he's on his way to hospital and some antivenin, I'll let the snake loose."

Aidan gave a nod of understanding and attended to his patient. "On his wrist – here. Right into the vein." He pointed at the tiny puncture marks, wiping away a trickle of blood.

Not a moment too soon, for the barman appeared. "First aid kit!" he announced, holding out the box.

Aidan's voice was calm and methodical. "Get me a pressure bandage – I think he's been bitten by a tiger snake that was hiding in the wood pile." He held out a hand expectantly.

The flustered barman fumbled through the first aid kit and held out a bandage, his hand shaking. I crossed the shed in two strides and took it from him, ripping open the packaging to hand the bandage to Aidan.

He wrapped Ben's arm tightly, from the visible bite marks on his wrist up past his elbow, before Aidan demanded and was given more bandages.

The ambulance officers didn't take long, for their station wasn't far away, and it seemed like no time before we heard the sound of the ambulance siren. Mark left to guide them to the shed.

"Tiger snake bite. Swab the area and get some antivenin in him straight away," Aidan ordered. "It's been half an hour since the bite – you need to act fast, as he's already showing some signs of paralysis."

The ambulance officers nodded fervently as they shifted Ben to a stretcher and into the ambulance. Both turned to Aidan, to ask if he wanted to accompany them.

For a moment, Aidan hesitated, but he slid an arm around my waist instead. "No. I'm not on duty this weekend. And I've had a couple of whiskeys. Raise the on-call doctor on the radio and have him meet you at the hospital. I think Lachlan's on today."

The paramedics nodded again, before climbing back into the ambulance with their patient and heading off.

I ducked into the shed while the two men watched the ambulance. I moved to the other side of the block of wood, where I could see the snake's head. I looked into her open eyes. She was short, but fatter than most tiger snakes I'd seen. I nodded carefully at her, humming my daughter's lullaby for luck, as I touched my foot to the log trapping her coils. With a flick of my foot, I rolled the wood toward me, releasing her. She slithered away with difficulty to the darkest corner of the shed. "Take care, little one," I murmured to the small snake, who looked as if she was about to give birth. She'd had a precious burden indeed to defend from Ben the distiller. She disappeared into the darkness beneath the wood pile.

I left the snake in her shed and joined the two men, who hadn't noticed my absence.

"He'll name his next whiskey after you, Doctor Aidan! You saved his life!" Mark beamed at Aidan.

Aidan shook his head gravely. "No, I think Ben should name his next whiskey after..."

"The snake," I interrupted with a forced smile. "He should name the whiskey after the snake that bit him!"

"Tiger snake it is!" Mark laughed, sounding giddy.

Aidan glanced at me and I smiled, moving to his side. His arm circled me again as he kissed me. "Time to go home, Bel?"

I nodded, fighting to hold my smile in place.

We both bade Mark goodbye and walked slowly to Aidan's Mini.