art hospital and medical bases on all outlying islands. We could advertise to medics from Australia initially but we need to organise more of the island kids into medical training. Lily was an exception-there’s been none since. We need island kids thinking about medicine and ancillary services as careers. We also need a helicopter service devoted to medical needs, and staff to run it.’
‘So…’ Sam was regarding his friend in awe. ‘A complete medical service for all the islands. This sounds serious. You’re seriously thinking of setting this up?’
‘Not me. But I can advise.’
‘You wouldn’t be tempted to stay?’
‘It’s not what I do.’
‘You need to establish some sort of relationship with Benjy.’
‘I’ll see him at the farm when I leave here.’
‘For a few days, on your way to the next disaster.’
‘That’s what I do.’
‘Yeah,’ Sam said, still thoughtful. ‘So it is. I forgot.’
‘Just as well I haven’t,’ Ben said, but as he walked away his friend’s eyes stayed on him.
Thoughtful.
Life had slowed to a crawl. The biggest excitement was the impending arrival of Flicker’s foal and after three weeks at the farm Lily was having trouble even sharing that.
She slept long and deeply, untroubled by dreams or nightmares. Benjy slept in the big bed beside her and after the first few days his dreams also seemed to disappear. He had needed this, Lily conceded. Ben had been right.
‘We didn’t need Jacques,’ he confided to Lily, and Lily agreed.
‘He wasn’t a good man, Benjy.’
‘I shouldn’t have gone to him,’ Benjy whispered. It was late at night and he was cuddled against her before sleep-a time when demons could be faced together and dispersed as unimportant.
‘When Kira was killed I was really scared,’ he whispered. ‘I was running toward the beach and I heard shooting. Men were running up the road toward me so I ducked into the trees until they were past. Then I saw what had happened on the beach. I started running back to you but then I saw Jacques yelling at the men, really angry, and they weren’t shooting at him so I came out of the trees and he said come with him.’
He snuggled even closer, trembling. ‘But I shouldn’t have, Mama.’ He hesitated and then he added, ‘Ben’s nicer than Jacques.’
It wouldn’t take a lot to be nicer than Jacques, Lily thought bitterly, but she made herself answer mildly. ‘He is.’
‘Is Ben our friend?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is he a better friend than Jacques?’
‘He is,’ Lily repeated, trying to figure what else to say. How to tell a child that Ben was much more than a friend? How to tell a child that a stranger was his father?
‘He likes me better than Jacques did,’ Benjy murmured.
‘I went to university with Ben,’ she told him. ‘He’s been my friend for a long time.’
‘But he hasn’t visited us before.’
‘He’s been busy, Benjy. He looks after everybody when there’s trouble.’
‘You look after everyone when they’re in trouble.’
‘No, but…’ She hesitated. ‘Benjy, on the island…when those men came…they were friends of Jacques and they wanted our oil. Jacques didn’t know they were going to shoot anyone but they did. I think Jacques wanted to be rich. Ben doesn’t want to be rich. He just wants to stop people hurting.’
‘Like you.’
‘A bit like me, but Ben travels all around the world. We stay on the island.’
‘But you like it here,’ Benjy reasoned. ‘There might be lots of other places that are cool.’
‘One place at a time,’ she whispered, floundering.
‘Doesn’t Ben go to one place at a time?’
‘I guess so.’
‘Then he could still be our friend. We could visit him.’
‘He goes to dangerous places.’
‘Then he could keep visiting us,’ Benjy persisted. ‘We could tell him our place is dangerous and he would come then. It is dangerous.’
‘It was only dangerous once. It’s safe now. You know that.’
‘Then he won’t come and visit?’
‘I don’t know, sweetheart,’ she said helplessly. ‘Let’s just wait and see.’
‘She’s only agreed to take four weeks off. If you leave it any longer, you won’t have any time with her at all.’
‘Maybe that’d be for the best,’ Ben said for the tenth time or more.
‘But what about Benjy? He’s your kid,’ Sam said, letting his exasperation show. ‘Doesn’t he deserve a father?’
Sam talked so much that occasionally he said something sensible. Ben had almost managed to turn off. But that comment… It hit a nerve.
Benjy deserved a father? He hadn’t thought of it like that.
Until now he’d thought of this from his own point of view and from Lily’s. Not from Benjy’s.
‘You can get by without one,’ he said, trying to sound confident.
‘Says you,’ Sam said mockingly. ‘Says the man whose parents tossed you into boarding school at five and paid people to look after you on holidays. You survived, so Benjy should, too? Is that what you think?’
‘Where the hell do you get your information?’
‘I’m a doctor,’ Sam said smugly. ‘We learn by listening in medical school. Plus I looked up your army notes. When you applied to this unit they gave you a psych test. As a medical officer I just happened to look…’
‘You could get struck off for that.’
‘I never look at anything that’s not available from other sources if I had time to look,’ Sam said virtuously. ‘I’m just being time-efficient. But the psych test said you were a loner and listed your background as evidence. Hence you get the frontline work, while good old Sam, who has his Christmas with thirty or so relatives, gets to stay home till you clear up the villains.’
‘So quit asking questions,’ Ben growled. ‘Use those sources of yours to find out what you want.’
‘Med school taught me to get patient profiles from a variety of sources,’ Sam said, still virtuous. ‘The best source of all is the patient.’
‘I’m not your patient.’ His patience at an end, Ben’s voice was practically a roar. They were in the staff quarters of the field hospital. The walls were canvas. There was a startled murmur from outside and Sam grinned.
‘Great,’ he said. ‘That’s started a bunch of rumours. Doctor cracks under pressure. You need a break. A nice family holiday?’
‘Will you cut it out?’
‘I’m playing family counsellor,’ Sam said. ‘It’s my new role, starting now. Go make friends with your son and get yourself reattached to Lily.’
‘You’re single,’ Ben snapped. ‘Go find yourself a family.’
‘Ah, but there’s the rub,’ Sam told him. ‘You’re not happily single. Me, I’m meeting ladies, shortening my list, figuring out where I fit in before I settle down. But you…You’re running in fear, my friend. And I also got to know Benjy. He’s a great kid and he deserves more than you’re prepared to give. So I reckon you should reconsider. You’re not needed here any more. You’ve set up the bones of the new medical service. We can do the rest. There’s a chopper leaving in the morning. You should be on it.’
‘Butt out.’
‘Not until you’re on the chopper.’ Sam eyed him, consideringly. ‘There’s levels of brave, Lt Blayden,’ Sam said
