‘Just putting the drip in now, Spencer,’ the nurse said to his closed eyes. ‘A bit of a sting coming up.’
Spencer didn’t care what they did to him. All he cared about was how unbelievably comfortable and warm he finally was. Whoever said that being in hospital sucked?
‘Is Mum coming?’
‘She’s on her way. She was waiting at the airstrip but the police told her to meet you here.’
‘Is ... my dad okay?’ he said to the nurse. ‘He was in the plane—I had to leave him.’
He felt a hand on his. ‘I don’t know. He hasn’t arrived yet. Your mum will know more. How are you feeling?’
‘Good,’ he croaked.
‘We’ll treat those scratches of yours in a moment, get them cleaned up.’
Spencer opened his eyes a slit. She was inspecting his face. ‘They’re fine—really. Just scratches!’ he laughed, and once he’d started, he chortled on and on like someone had told him a great joke.
She smiled gently. ‘You’re exhausted, Spencer.’
His face hurt. Smiling really hurt the scratches. He felt slightly mad. Tears surged into his eyes as suddenly as the laughter had come. They flowed out and down and the saltiness stung the cuts in his skin.
‘Owww,’ he moaned, crying wetly.
‘You’re all right,’ she said quietly, sitting on the edge of his bed. ‘You’re all right, now, Spencer. Everything’s going to be all right.’
Spencer must have been asleep when Mum and Pippa arrived. He woke to the special, familiar voices, but could barely prise open his gluey lids.
His voice was hoarse when he finally spoke, like he’d been shouting for the last couple of days.
‘Mu-um?’
‘I’m here, Spence,’ she said, reaching for his arm and holding it with both hands.
‘Spence!’ Pippa said. ‘You’re in hospital!’
He laughed weakly. ‘I know, Pips.’
‘Are you okay?’ she asked. ‘You walked the whole way down Bluff Knoll, Spence, on your own.’
Spencer said, ‘How’s Dad? Is he here? Is he okay?’
Mum was rubbing his arm over and over. He could barely look at her, because she was trying hard not to cry, and Mum didn’t cry very often.
‘Mum? How is he? Have they got him down? Mum?’
She nodded, whispering, ‘He’s—okay.’ Her tears came, finally, and then just rolled and rolled down her cheeks. ‘He’s having some X-rays done_____’
‘His head. At the back, there’s a hole—a big gash, Mum. It bled a lot ... I didn’t know what to do.’
‘Don’t worry, they’re working on it. He might end up with a bit of a dent in his head there, apparently.’
‘I saw blood in his hair but I didn’t check it straight away because of The Leg_____’
‘The leg?’
‘The Leg. The Knee. It looked horrible. And it totally distracted me. Is it broken?’
‘Oh, yes, I see, yes, his knee is broken in several places. He’ll have to have surgery on it. But they need to rehydrate him and just generally stabilise him before they can operate.’
‘I tried to give him water, Mum, but he was unconscious, so I could only sort of smear it on his lips_____’
She looked at him and wiped her eyes. ‘You poor thing.’ She shook her head and tried to gather herself. ‘I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through this, Spencer. What you did, how you managed_____’
‘I’m all right, Mum,’ he said, giving her an encouraging grin. ‘See? Just a couple of scratches.’
She smiled but looked like she might burst into tears again.
‘Mum,’ Pippa said, rubbing her back. ‘Mum, it’s okay: they’re both safe.’
Dad was okay. He was okay. Once he knew, Spencer couldn’t fight the exhaustion. The pillow cradled his head, and his body sank heavily into the mattress.
Mum and Pippa hugged tightly, sitting on the edge of Spencer’s hospital bed, and watched him as his eyes closed.