Given the fierce weather, the plane taxied into a hangar before Alice and her stretcher were unloaded. As she descended on the mechanism, teeth clenched, she watched the drops of water sliding down the hull of the plane. She marvelled at this small, flimsy-looking aircraft that flew through a wild storm, bringing her safely back to earth.

‘Thanks,’ she told Pilot Pat. ‘That was a scary flight. But it was also kind of awesome.’

‘I aim to please,’ he said with a little salute.

‘Um …’ Alice hesitated, not sure if she should ask, and not sure if she wanted to know. ‘Did we get hit by lightning?’

‘Does it matter?’ Pat smiled. ‘We made it down safely.’

Nurse Cameron wheeled the stretcher to the waiting ambulance, Doctor Helen and Grandad walking either side of Alice.

‘Well, that was quite a ride,’ said Grandad. ‘My first flight since my appendix ruptured.’

‘Really?’ said Alice.

Doctor Helen looked at him with mild surprise.

‘I usually take the bus,’ he quipped. ‘Flying is for the birds.’

‘Was that first flight so traumatic?’ asked Doctor Helen.

‘Actually,’ said Grandad, ‘I don’t really remember much about it. I was slipping in and out of consciousness. I have fuzzy memories of being carried onto the plane. Being moved around hurt a lot, so I woke up for that bit. But then I slept. Although I do remember my dad’s voice fading in and out.’ He looked lost in his thoughts, his eyes staring off dreamily at nothing. ‘The doctor told me afterwards that Dad talked to me the whole way. Never stopped. Talked about the farm. Talked about what we’d do when we got back. Talked about taking a holiday. All sorts of stuff. So in case I woke up, it’d be to the sound of this voice. It was very reassuring.’ Grandad’s eyes grew misty. ‘I did the same thing when my son was in hospital,’ he whispered. ‘Sat with him every day and talked.’ His voice broke and he cleared his throat. ‘I miss him a lot.’

‘Yeah.’ Alice reached up to the chain around her neck, her fingers closing around the little lump of gold. She pushed away an image of Dad in hospital, frail and drawn, and focused on the necklace instead. She was scared that she would fall apart if she thought about him too much.

Silence descended until they reached the ambulance.

‘Well, this is where I say goodbye,’ said Doctor Helen a little awkwardly, realising that she was intruding on some very personal thoughts. ‘You have nothing to worry about,’ she told Alice. ‘You are in the best of hands.’

‘AARGH!’

Pain tore through Alice’s insides. Again, she imagined her appendix bursting apart in a geyser of pus and blood. Tears sprung to her eyes as she took one deep breath after another, trying to get through the agony.

‘Her appendix may have ruptured,’ she heard Doctor Helen telling the two paramedics who’d approached from the ambulance. ‘She needs to get into surgery ASAP!’

The paramedics took over the stretcher from Nurse Cameron, who also said his goodbyes. But Alice’s whole world at this moment was pain. She barely noticed being loaded into the ambulance.

Alice overheard Grandad and the paramedic talking, but couldn’t concentrate on what they were saying. And then the paramedic was fussing over her, asking about her pain, checking her pulse and blood pressure, and adjusting the drip. She answered as best she could.

‘I’ve upped the meds,’ said the paramedic, and then Alice felt a tingling warmth spread through her body. The pain began to ease. It was still pretty horrible, but bearable now, at least. She looked around to distract herself.

She was lying in the ambulance, a very young-looking paramedic in the seat next to her. Alice was surprised to see Grandad lying in the stretcher on the other side. He waved awkwardly.

‘You okay?’ she asked.

‘Fine,’ he responded. ‘It was the only available spot.’

She glanced towards the windows in the back doors, rain drumming against them. The droplets of water sliding down the glass, intermingling and reflecting light, were quite mesmerising. She felt herself drifting off. Then the ambulance took a sharp turn, and she rolled slightly, pain searing through her stomach yet again.

Alice took a long deep breath and studied the paramedic. She was sure he was a teenager and, by the expression on Grandad’s face, he obviously thought the same.

‘Name’s Tiggs,’ the paramedic said, smiling at her as he checked the drip. He glanced back at Grandad. ‘And I’m older than I look, Pops.’

‘If you say so,’ said Grandad, crossing his arms over his chest as he lay on his back. ‘And don’t call me Pops. It’s Mr Gleeson to you.’

‘Right you are, sir,’ said Tiggs, bringing his hand up in a salute, then winking at Alice.

Grandad couldn’t help but smile. ‘That’s better.’

‘Twenty-eight,’ said Tiggs, as he continued checking Alice. ‘My age. If you really want to know.’

‘Well, you don’t look it,’ said Grandad.

‘It’s ’cause I moisturise,’ said Tiggs.

Grandad frowned disapprovingly.

Tiggs grinned and talked all the way to the hospital. He talked about how he constantly got asked for identification to prove his age, what it was like being a paramedic, and how he backpacked around Europe after he finished high school. He talked about all sorts of things.

She found the constant sound of his voice a good distraction from the pain. Or maybe it was the painkillers doing their stuff. But she listened, particularly to his travelling tales – stories of foreign sights, sounds and tastes; stories of amazing places and fascinating people.

Before she knew it, they had arrived at the hospital.

Alice was wheeled through corridors, from room to room. But, always, Grandad was with her. In one of the rooms, she was asked to remove jewellery.

Grandad leaned over and unclasped the chain with Dad’s gold nugget from around Alice’s neck. ‘I’ll take good care of it,’ he said. ‘Promise.’

And then she was in another room and a man was introducing himself as the anaesthetist and asking if Grandad wanted to stay until ‘the patient was under’. The anaesthetist disconnected the plastic bag from the IV drip and attached a new one. Alice stared up at Grandad’s face as it slowly went fuzzy …

Then blurry …

And then darkness overwhelmed her.