Sam got up and wandered into the bathroom. When she stepped in front of the mirror, she gasped. Holy cow! Daniel wasn’t kidding. A big black and blue bruise covered the left side of her face from just below her eye to underneath her chin. When she leaned in for a closer look, she could see there was even see some purple thrown in for good measure.
Hesitantly, she brought her hand up to her face, allowing her fingers to softly touch the damaged skin. She winced. Half of her lips were swollen, and they, too, had a purple tinge to them, not to mention the nasty split that was now scabbing over. With caution, she opened her mouth to see how far it could open. Not far, she found out, before a stabbing pain kicked in and she screwed up her eyes. Her attempt at brushing her teeth failed miserably, as every time the brush moved in the direction of her injury, the pain was too much to bear. She gave that up as a bad job and resigned herself to having to suck on a breath mint to get rid of the awful taste in her mouth.
She had to say she was not quite convinced that nothing was actually broken, but Mrs. Miller seemed to know what she was talking about. Sam didn’t particularly want to go all the way into town to see a doctor, so she took Mrs. Miller’s word for it.
After finishing the halfhearted attempt on her teeth, she wandered through to the kitchen. Daniel had once again beaten her to it and was talking with this father.
As soon as Sam walked into the kitchen, Mrs. Miller swooped down on her. The matronly lady took her chin gently in hand and looked at the damage.
“Ooh, that is a nasty bruise, young lady,” she clucked like a mother hen. “At least the swelling has gone down a good bit.”
Sam gave her a pathetic attempt at a smile.
“You’ll be right as rain in a few days, but you’re not going out to work today. You can stay inside and rest. That was quite a knock you took. You were out for an hour, you know.”
No, Sam didn’t know. She hadn’t thought to ask Daniel how long she was unconscious. She was too busy thinking about other things at the time.
Her attention turned to the voices coming from the dining table. As Mrs. Miller had turned back to what she was doing, Sam proceeded in their direction. She felt nervous about seeing Daniel again after pushing him away, yet again, just a short while ago. She hoped he wouldn’t be too annoyed with her, but couldn’t blame him if he was.
Once again, as soon as she entered, both men stood up, thrusting their chairs behind them. Sam gave them a weak smile, feeling just a tad embarrassed by her appearance.
“Looks like you took quite a beating, my girl,” Mr. Miller stated. “Maybe I was a bit hasty sending you in there without first telling you what to do. We’ll rectify that when your face is better.”
Sam goggled at him. Was that an attempt at an apology? Daniel said he had never heard him apologize for anything, so she decided that was probably as close to one as she was going to get. Sam nodded her understanding.
Sam strolled over to her place beside Daniel’s at the table.
“Hi, Lucrecia,” Sam said on her way around the table. The friendly little bird bobbed her head and squawked a greeting.
Daniel, as always, had already pulled Sam’s chair out and was waiting behind it for her to sit. Sam looked at him and threw him a sheepish smile, half expecting him to ignore her as he did the day before. To her surprise, he beamed back a bright happy smile. Daniel, obviously noticing the bewilderment in her eyes, widened his smile even more. Sam relaxed her shoulders. It didn’t look like he hated her, after all, and for that she was thankful.
As soon as Sam was seated, and Daniel had settled himself down next to her, Mrs. Miller’s bustling form came through the door bearing their breakfast on a large tray. She had cooked up something special for Sam today, as she knew the poor girl would have trouble eating. Mrs. Miller placed three bowls of soft warm oatmeal sweetened with honey on the table in front of them.
Mr. Miller glared at the bowl placed before him.
“What’s this rubbish?” he grouched at his wife.
Mrs. Miller glared back at him and growled a warning. “Don’t even start with me, Paul.” She looked over at Sam and smiled. “You should be able to eat that with no problems, dear.” After giving one last glare to her husband and a wink in Sam’s direction, the portly woman turned on her heel and went back to work in the kitchen. Sam fleetingly wondered why Daniel’s mum never sat and ate breakfast with them, but decided there must be a good reason behind it. It really wasn’t any of her business anyway, so she started to attempt to eat her breakfast instead.
Mr. Miller looked down at his bowl of oatmeal and glowered at it. Daniel and Sam shot each other a surreptitious glance forcing them to stifle a giggle.
“I can’t do a decent days work on this!” Mr. Miller spat, to no one in particular.
“I heard that, Paul,” came a reply from the kitchen, to which the wiry man huffed and started shoveling the oatmeal into his mouth in defeat.
Sam slowly lifted a teaspoon of oatmeal to her mouth and angled her head to its good side. Not being able to open her mouth very wide, eating breakfast turned out to be a slow process. Luckily, there was no chewing involved. She was amazed at how good the oatmeal tasted. She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday lunchtime and was ravenous. Her stomach gurgled in appreciation for the whole table to hear.
After they had finished the oatmeal, Mrs. Miller brought in three plates of scrambled eggs. Mr. Miller’s expression changed to one of relief, as his and Daniel’s plate also included bacon and some toast.
“Well, you didn’t think I’d actually let you go out working without a proper meal in you, did you?” Mrs. Miller ruffled her husband’s thinning hair.
Sam’s eyebrows rose at the playful gesture. It wasn’t something she had yet witnessed between Daniel’s parents.
“I didn’t want Sam to feel like the odd one out,” Mrs. Miller continued, “and besides, I really wanted to see the look on your face. It was priceless.” Mrs. Miller said with a smirk as she bustled back out of the dining room.
Mr. Miller huffed again, but didn’t say anything. Even though he huffed and puffed a lot, Sam was starting to get a feel for who actually wore the trousers in that household, and she would bet on Mrs. Miller every time. Daniel and Sam exchanged knowing glances at each other before Sam carried on struggling with her eggs.
During breakfast, Mr. Miller started telling Daniel what the plan of action was for the day. Sam felt slightly guilty that she wasn’t going to be able to help them out, but nursing her jaw the way she was, she couldn’t risk hurting it anymore. The conversation then changed to a business deal Mr. Miller had made, and he looked at Sam with a glint in his eye.
“A little bird tells me that you enjoy riding horses,” he said.
Sam’s wide-eyed expression told him that the little bird was correct.
“Well, in a month, we are having nine hundred head of cattle delivered. It could even be as many as two thousand; I’ll find out later. I am going to need all hands on deck to push them on from the gate for about five miles to the paddock I want them in, which also has the nearest watering hole.”
Sam could hardly sit still. They were going to ride horses and drive cattle for a whole day.
“We’re not buying them,” he explained, “they’re coming down from the Northern Territory. They are having a drought up there, and since we had lots of rain this last winter, our grass is plentiful. We decided to rent out some of our land for a few months until the rainy season starts up there again.”
Sam couldn’t believe her luck. She was going to be part of a real life cattle drive. She didn’t care if it was only five miles, it was a real life cattle drive. Daniel looked over at her and caught the excitement bursting from every atom of her being. He smiled and winked.
“Right then, son. Let’s get going. We won’t get the lambs marked sitting here chatting.” Mr. Miller barked, getting up from his seat. He walked out of the dining room.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Duty calls. I’ll see you later.” He looked towards the door to make sure his Dad had truly gone and turned back towards the battered jillaroo, planting a delicate kiss on her bruise. It tingled at his touch sending little shivers of delight down her neck and straight to her heart.
Sam smiled as Daniel got up and headed out the door to follow his father, then she continued eating her eggs. It was going to take her til lunchtime at the rate she was going. Having a dodgy jaw was not conducive to eating at any great speed. Eventually she finished and got up to see if Mrs. Miller needed any help.
“No, thank you,” she answered when asked the question. “You need to go and put some more ice on that jaw. Go and relax today.”
Doing as she said, Sam ambled over to the freezer and grabbed the bag of peas that had been used for the very same job the day before. She carried on to her room to lie down while she iced her face.
Sam lay for a while thinking of nothing but Daniel and the way he made her feel. Was she falling in love with him? Oh, that would be too complicated. She was consumed by fear whenever there was any hint that their friendship might get past a kiss, and she had no idea how to get past that. She puffed out a sigh.
Twenty minutes of icing slipped by and her jaw was once again devoid of all feeling. She returned the package of peas to the freezer so she could use them in another couple of hours. Sam decided she would use the time to write a letter to her mum and spent a good hour doing just that. Unfortunately, her mum was technically challenged and didn’t possess a computer, so writing an email was out of the question. She decided to leave out the part about her jaw, knowing her mother would only worry. There was nothing her mother could do, and by the time she got the letter, it would be almost healed anyway.
Once the letter was finished and sealed, she decided to take full advantage of her day off and go out to the poolroom to read. She grabbed her book off the nightstand and meandered through the huge house and out to the deck that wrapped itself around the outside of the building. She counted the doors as she walked past them. There were five on the short stretch, which made up only about a quarter of the size of the whole house. The deck came to its conclusion at the door to the poolroom.
The room gave off a relaxing vibe, which, of course, it was supposed to. There were two sets of patio furniture set up inside. The whole room was screened so you could enjoy the feeling of being outside without the bugs attacking you, especially in the evening.
Sam sat down at one of the tables and put her book down. She gazed outside at the pool water sparkling in the sunlight and the surrounding pastures that undulated beyond. There was a slight breeze, which made the acres of silvery green grass look like waves rippling on an enormous pond. A flock of pink and gray galahs sat chirping in the treetops directly in front of where Sam sat watching them as they preened themselves. They were such pretty birds; it was hard to accept that they were as common in this place as sparrows were in her home country.
She pulled up another chair and put it in front of her, put her feet up, and started to read. The chairs were padded and comfortable. The warm breeze was flowing through the screens, ruffling her hair. Within minutes, Sam’s book slipped from her fingers to rest on her chest, as she drifted off to sleep.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, but was woken by a splash. She looked out at the pool to see it was Daniel who had made the splash. He was cutting through the crystal clear water like a fish, up and down the length of the pool. He must have gone in through the outside entrance to the pool because he had not come in through the poolroom. Sam was sure he would have woken her if he had.
Sitting up straighter in her chair, Sam watched him swimming for a while, mesmerized by his long athletic body moving sleekly through the water. His muscles rippled in his back with every stroke he made, his powerful legs propelling him forwards with ease. It was then she realized he was not wearing any swim trunks. A mischievous smile played on her lips. For a second, she thought about looking away. She felt a little ashamed of spying on him like this. It was obvious he didn’t know she was there, he had not acknowledged her at all, or given any indication that he was being watched.
In fact, he looked so free. Free of all the constraints usually associated with polite society. Skinny dipping was almost like eating forbidden fruit, there was always a risk that someone might see, especially during the day.
Several minutes passed and Sam could not pull her eyes from his sleek muscular form cutting through the water with ease. She felt the familiar tingle in the center of her being, something that happened on a regular basis whenever Daniel was near. At that thought, Sam dragged her attention from his body to the end of the pool and her eyes widened. She flew out of her chair and stood by the screen.
“Daniel!” she cried. “Look out, there’s a monster at the end of the pool and you’re headed right for it!”
At the end of the pool, basking without a care in the world, was a green, scaly dinosaur looking creature. Nose to tail, it was almost as long as the pool was wide.
Daniel stopped dead in the water at Sam’s anxious cries, looking perplexed firstly at her, then down to the end of the pool to where she was pointing frantically.
A wry smile curved Daniel’s lips and he looked up at her and chuckled. “That’s not a monster,” he said, with laughter in his voice. “That’s Arthur.”
“That thing has a name?” Sam asked, incredulous.
“He’s not a thing,” Daniel replied. “He’s an Iguana, and, yes, he has a name.” Then he added with a very Aussie twang in the direction of the prehistoric creature. “G’day, Arthur. How ya going?”
“Don’t tell me,” Sam sighed, hands on hips. “You rescued him, too.”
“Not exactly. Arthur kind of adopted us. He turned up one day about five years ago and has been hanging around ever since. He likes the pool, I think. He’s harmless, come out and meet him.”
Daniel was standing now. The water reached just below his waist and his wet skin glistened in the sunlight. Sam chastised herself for doing what could only be described as ogle the picture of masculinity that stood before her on the other side of the very thin wall. Her eyes lingered on his defined chest for just a moment, then try as she might to stop them, they wandered down his chiseled abs tracing the thin line of dark hair to where it disappeared under the water line. Sam dragged herself back to her senses and forced her eyes back to meet Daniel’s. His expression was undecipherable. Sam’s, however, was probably not. She could feel her cheeks burning.
“You’re sure he’s not dangerous?” she asked, unconvinced.
“Well, they don’t bite or sting to my knowledge, but if they are being chased by something they might see you as a tree to escape up and scratch you. That wouldn’t be so good as they excrete some kind of enzyme which makes the wounds very hard to heal. Just move slowly and he won’t feel threatened.”
Sam wasn’t quite sure whether Daniel’s answer was all that reassuring, and due to her luck with the animals on the job so far, she decided to stay on her side of the screen for the time being.
“No, thanks. I think I’ll pass.”
“Sam, do you seriously think I would put you in any danger?”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t stop me going in with those sheep, and look what happened.” Sam stated bluntly, pointing at her bruised face that was now smarting after shouting her warning.
Daniel hung his head. “I know, I’m sorry. I certainly won’t let anything like that happen again. But this is different. Arthur won’t hurt you, I promise. He’s used to being around humans. You can’t pet him, though. He is still wild, but he won’t mind you getting a bit closer to take a look at him.”
Sam fumbled with his words for a minute, but was intrigued to have a closer look at such a strange looking beast. Curiosity, once again, got the better of her and she opened the door and headed outside.
“By the way,” Daniel asked, one eyebrow raised. “Just how long had you been sitting there?”
“Me?” Sam said, feigning innocence. “Um, err...” Her cheeks reddened in that traitorous fashion they had adopted in recent days.
“That long, hey?” Daniel chuckled again.
“Sorry,” Sam mumbled to her feet.
“I’m not,” Daniel responded, trying to put her at ease. Something the poor man was becoming extremely adept at.
There was another set of patio furniture outside, positioned closer to the end of the pool where Arthur lay in all his finery. Sam moved towards it and sat down on one of the chairs, trying very hard not to make a noise. He was a majestic creature. His bright green scales almost glowed neon in the sunlight. He angled his head to one side so that he could get a better look at her, too. Daniel was right, he didn’t attempt to come any closer to her or make any movements that might suggest that he was nervous of her presence. She stared at him for a few moments, soaking up his uniqueness in the animal kingdom. She only took her eyes off the creature when she saw Daniel’s towel draped over the back of the chair next to the one she occupied.
Sam was distracted by a splash. Her brain responded automatically. She turned her head just in time to see Daniel’s powerful arms push him up and out of the pool. He headed in her direction, all of him, unabashed and completely uncovered. If her jaw could drop it would have. Her heartbeat quickened and the flow of blood rushed to her head.
Realizing she was quite blatantly staring, Sam quickly covered her eyes with one hand, grabbed Daniel’s towel with the other, and held it out for him. All the time wishing she could feel that at ease in her skin. It was hard for her to see a day when she would ever be able to walk around naked in front of anyone, least of all, someone as physically perfect as the Adonis now standing right in front of her. She peeked between her fingers, by which time he had wrapped the towel around his waist and tucked it in at the side. Only then did she exhale, after realizing she’d been holding her breath.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Quite all right,” Sam squeaked, hoping her cheeks didn’t now resemble ripe tomatoes. She looked up at him. He seemed even taller standing over her. His wet chest glistened in the sunlight, droplets of water trickled their way down and over his contoured body. She caught herself thinking what it would feel like to trace those droplets with her fingers.
“Be my guest,” Daniel said with a wry smile.
His response snapped her from her thoughts. She covered her eyes with the palm of her hand.
“Please, tell me I didn’t just say that out loud. Did I?”
He grinned his mischievous grin, but didn’t need to say a word. Her fears were confirmed. Suddenly, she had forgotten all about Arthur. He could have climbed all over her and she wouldn’t have noticed.
Daniel leaned over and took hold of her hands, easing her up and out of the chair. He pulled her close. She could feel the wetness of his skin through the cloth of her shirt as it grew damp between them. Sam swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat, and every muscle in her body tensed. Her eyes widened with fear but she couldn’t tear them away from his. Daniel leaned in and brushed his cheek up against her good side. His warm breath fanning her ear.
“Why won’t you let me in?” he whispered, so faintly she could hardly hear him, then he drew back until he was looking into her eyes once again. Sam’s breath started to go ragged, and her heart was pounding so hard she was sure it would explode at any second. He must have been able to hear it.
“Relax,” he whispered again, so close to her face she thought he was going to kiss her. She shot a nervous glance at his lips. “I’m not going to kiss you, I couldn’t even if I wanted to.” His intense gaze shifted to look at her bruised, swollen face and a flicker of concern showed in his expression. “I just want you to experience how good being loved can feel.”
His hands roamed around her waist, searching until they found the bottom of her shirt. They slid effortlessly under the thin cotton and glided up her back. The tips of his fingers were drawing feather light circles as they ascended. Sam’s nerve endings ignited. It was the most powerful sensation she had ever experienced. She had no idea that something as benign as her back could unleash such intense feeling. She was sure her legs were going to buckle at any second.
As Daniel’s fingers explored her back, she became aware of every muscle he touched. It was like they ached for him and rippled in exultation as he skimmed over them.
Overwhelmed by the intense pleasure he was creating within her, all conscious thought disappeared. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back, releasing a soft involuntary moan. For the first time, Sam allowed herself to revel in the sheer ecstasy of the moment. Daniel’s hot breath caressed her neck, fluttering over her sensitive skin, sending shivers of desire downwards. Her legs went boneless and were threatening to give way.
Sensing her balance wane, one of Daniel’s hands stopped their worship of her back. He held her steady as she leaned into it, accepting the devotion he was giving her. His fingers pushed open the collar of her shirt and she could feel them explore downwards towards the center of her chest. Again, he was trailing feather light circles, which stopped short of reaching the point between her breasts. Daniel’s hot breath followed his fingers tracing a path downwards. Every atom of her being felt electrically charged.
It became apparent that Sam wasn’t the only one aroused by this encounter, feeling Daniel’s hardness next to her leg. To Sam’s surprise, she was not worried by this sensation, instead she felt flattered that she had done this to him.
“Son, are you out here?” A voice called from around the corner a few seconds before Mr. Miller rounded the end of the house and came into view.
Daniel tore himself away in a heartbeat. To Sam, it felt like he had torn a part of her away with him.
“Oh, bloody hell,” Daniel cursed, looking down at the bulge in his towel.
“Sit down and cross your legs” Sam whispered as she nudged him towards one of the patio chairs. “He’ll never notice.”
Daniel complied. They were both sitting by the time Mr. Miller rounded the corner and saw them. Sam picked up her book and held it at eye level, pretending to read. It was a great cover because her face would surely have given her away at that moment. She was hoping the uncomfortable shift she made in her seat wouldn’t betray her, either.
“There you are,” Mr. Miller said, spotting Daniel. “Come on. Lunchtime’s over, we need to get back to work.”
“Be there in a minute, Dad.” Daniel responded with just a hint of panic in his voice. “I need to get dressed first.”
“Well, hurry up,” his father snapped, and then added as an afterthought, “Oh, G’day, Sam. I trust you are feeling better.”
“Hello, Mr. M.” Sam called over the top of her book. “Yes. Much better, thank you.”
“It’s Mr. Miller, Sam. I do not appreciate nicknames.”
Daniel stifled a laugh and turned to look at her safely hidden behind her book. Sam rolled her eyes and tried to shoot him a playful smirk. Unfortunately, it probably looked more like a grimace.
After a few minutes had passed, Daniel was restored to his original state. More by the shock of his father’s intrusion than anything else. He stood up and threw on his clothes.
“I’ll see you tonight,” he said leaning down and planting a kiss on the young jillaroo’s cheek. He started off in the direction his dad went.
“Oh, I see,” Sam joked. “Just leave me here with Arthur. Thanks, Daniel.”
“Arthur is good company, he’ll look after you. Won’t you, Arthur?” Daniel called over his shoulder as he walked out of view.
Sam suddenly felt a bit empty.
She looked over at Arthur. “I’m in serious trouble, aren’t I?” she stated.
The scaly creature looked back at her and licked his eye.
“Yeah, great help you are.” Sam sighed and dropped her head on the table.
***
It must have been about half an hour later when Sam heard Mrs. Miller calling for her.
“Sam? The lads need your help,” Mrs. Miller called through the poolroom to where she was still sitting by the pool. Sam sensed a hint of anxiety in her voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“We just got a call over the radio that someone put out a distress call. Apparently, they are on our property somewhere. Paul told the authorities that he will take the plane up and go look for him, but they could use another pair of eyes. There’s a lot of dense brush out there.”
Sam was excited at the thought of going up in the plane again. She grabbed her book and started in the direction of her room.
By the time she got outside, Mr. Miller was already starting up the plane. Daniel was waiting by the door to help her up into the back seat.
“In you get,” he said. “Apparently, there’s a man on our property somewhere. He crashed his truck into a tree and called a distress on his radio. He doesn’t know where he is and now he is not answering. We reckon he’s either hurt or has walked away from his vehicle. Either situation is not a good one. We have a lot of land and it may take a while to find him. There are wild boar out there, too.”
“So,” Mr. Miller continued, “we just need to keep our eyes open and see if we can spot him or the vehicle.”
Sam nodded her understanding and accepted Daniel’s help to get up into the back seat.
A few moments later, they were taking off. Sam felt the familiar lurch in her stomach as the plane’s wheels left the ground. She still couldn’t get used to the fact that they used a plane like any normal person would use a car. Once in the air, they flew over to the other side of the property, where Paul thought it would be a good place to start. There was where a large section of road cut through on that side and it made sense to start looking there. They were swooping and turning for what seemed like an eternity and Sam’s eyes were scanning the ground constantly. Other than the odd flock of sheep, and lots and lots of trees, she hadn’t spotted anything yet. She was starting to feel a bit hopeless. Sam had never gotten motion sickness before, but after about an hour of Mr. Miller maneuvering the plane in every direction possible, she was beginning to feel more than a little nauseous.
“Over there.” Sam shouted, when out of the corner of her eye something glinted in the brush below, catching her attention. “That looks like a truck down there.”
Mr. Miller angled the plane around and circled over the vehicle a couple of times. Sure enough, the vehicle was wrapped around a tree.
“What on earth would someone be doing all the way out here?” Sam asked.
“Probably hunting,” replied Mr. Miller.
There were no signs of life from the air. Mr. Miller landed his pride and joy in a clearing that was not too far from the disabled truck. It was a bumpy landing, but Daniel’s dad knew what he was doing. They came to a safe stop at the edge of the clearing nearest the vehicle. Not a moment too soon, as far as Sam was concerned. Daniel grabbed the first aid kit before exiting the plane, but when they arrived at the vehicle, it was empty.
“Stupid idiot,” cursed Mr. Miller.
Sam looked at him raising her eyebrows in question.
“It’s the most basic rule in the book,” he answered her unspoken question. “You never leave your vehicle. Never.” He looked around for a few minutes, scanning the immediate area. “Okay, Daniel, you start looking over there. Sam, you over there and I’ll go this way.”
The three spread out, calling to the person as they walked. He could be anywhere, Sam thought as she waded through the brush that was quite thick on this part of the property. So thick, you couldn’t see very far in front of you. She was hoping that if he was injured, he wouldn’t have been able to get too far away from his vehicle. Thankfully, she was right. Just up ahead, slumped against a tree, the figure of a man came into view. Sam called to the others as she ran over to him.
“He’s over here,” she called again as she kneeled down beside him. He was out cold. A trickle of blood streaked a path down his face from his temple. Daniel and Mr. Miller ran over to where she was. Sam checked his pulse, it was very weak.
“He doesn’t look good, he hasn’t got much of a pulse,” she told them when they arrived.
“Oh, God. He’s stopped breathing. Daniel help me get him on his back.” The CPR training her mum had drilled into her all those years, kicked in automatically. Sam lifted his chin, tilting his head back, and looked for anything that may be blocking his airway. She couldn’t see anything. She knew the next part was going to hurt, but, as much as her mouth protested, she covered the man’s with her’s and blew into him, watching his chest rise with each breath.
“Daniel, do you know CPR?” Sam asked after blowing a couple of breaths into the man.
“A little,” he replied.
“Chest compressions?”
“Yes.”
“Start them now, please.”
“I’m going to run to the plane and tell Mrs. Miller to get the Flying Doctors,” Mr. Miller said. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Daniel’s dad hightailed it off in the direction of the plane.
Daniel and Sam carried on doing CPR for a few more minutes. To their relief, the man coughed and took a breath on his own. Sam hovered above his face feeling for his breath on her cheek to make sure he could continue breathing on his own. When she was sure the man was breathing by himself, she looked up at Daniel and heaved a sigh of relief. Daniel stopped the chest compressions and gave Sam a look of admiration.
“You were awesome”
Sam blushed. “My mum’s a nurse. I knew how to do a bandage before I could walk.”
With Daniel’s help, Sam rolled the man over into the recovery position and kept a watchful eye on him. Making sure his chest was still rising and falling of its own accord.
“I think he’s stabilized for now,” she said.
Mr. Miller ran back to them and explained that there was not enough open space in the vicinity for the Flying Doctors to land. Their plane was much larger than his. They would have to get the injured man back to the homestead in their plane and the Flying Doctors would meet them there. Daniel and Mr. Miller proceeded to carry the man towards the plane while Sam kept her ear close to his mouth so she could feel his breath.
When they arrived with the wounded man, they all tried to load him in the plane. They couldn’t be sure how badly injured he was, but the injury to his head didn’t look good. Sam was worried he would stop breathing again at any minute. She sat in the back next to him to keep a watchful eye. She prayed he would not stop breathing in the plane. She wasn’t sure how effective she could be without being able to lie the man down. Their plane was so small they had no option than to sit him up on the back seat. The plane took off, and, shortly after, they were landing back at the house.
A few minutes after they had landed, Sam could hear another plane and looked around to see the Flying Doctors coming into land on the airstrip that effectively made up the Miller’s front yard. She sat with the man in the plane until the doctors could get to him, not wanting to cause any more damage than necessity dictated. The Flying Doctor's plane had hardly even stopped before two men in blue flight suits jumped out and headed for Mr. Miller.
“He’s in the back of the plane,” he told them. “I think he’s pretty bad, but he’s still alive, thanks to Sam.”
Sam’s eyebrows shot up. Did Mr. Miller just pay her a compliment?
“Good call.” One of the doctors said as he leaned into their plane examining the still unconscious man.
“Sam found him,” Mr. Miller continued. “He stopped breathing and she knew what to do.”
Sam smiled at the doctor as he patted her on the shoulder. She moved out of their way so they could work on him. The doctor’s worked quickly. Soon they had the man on a backboard and loaded onto their plane.
“Well done, miss,” one of the doctors said as he carried the man away.
They stood and watched as the plane took off down the airstrip and lifted into the air.
“Good on yer, girlie.” Daniel whispered as they turned and walked back inside. “You saved that guy’s life.”
“Thanks.” Sam felt her cheeks warm. She had to admit to feeling just a tad proud of herself.