Page 36 of Prognosis So Done

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - 2000 HOURS

HARRIET, Katya andSiobhan were cleaning up as Gill accompanied the mother and baby along with Megan back to the medical building. They weren’t HDU candidates and they didn’t require evacuation either so it was back to Kelly and her teams.

The battle was still intense in the distance as Gill and Megan pushed the trolley along the concrete pathway that connected the two buildings. There was no lighting so Gill was thankful for the gentle kiss of the full moon.

‘There’s a bit of a lull at the moment,’ Kelly said, as she

accepted the patient from Gill. ‘I sent Ben a compound scrub of a fractured tib and fib. The leg was pretty messed up. There weren’t too many badly injured in this first lot but, as you can hear...’ she indicated over her shoulder to the noise still raging outside ‘...it’s not over yet. Next batch arriving in about half an hour.’

Gill watched as Kelly took the baby from Megan and made

cooing noises at the little bundle. He rolled his eyes. Funny,

seeing Kelly with the baby didn’t have the same effect as seeing Harriet with her. Now, he could view the baby as a cute but tragic part of war.

But for a little while back in the theatre, with Harriet by his side looking at him with those big brown eyes, he hadn’t been so distant.

‘Biological clock ticking, Kelly?’ he teased.

‘Women’s clocks are always ticking, Guillaume. It’s just that we become more in tune with it. Who wouldn’t want one of these little darlings?’ she said, rubbing her nose against the baby’s forehead. ‘You and Harry thinking of having a baby?’

Gill laughed the question off. He wished he had a dollar for every time they’d been asked since they’d got married when they were going to start a family. Up until two years ago their standard reply had been that they liked their family of two and were too selfish to share, but a lot had changed in a couple of years.

Most people had been horrified by their assertion that babies were not on their agenda, including both sets of their parents and especially Gill’s grandfather. But he and Harriet had remained unswayed, happy to remain childless.

This notion had been reaffirmed many a time when, one by one, their friends had succumbed to their biological urges and had dropped out of sight. Too tired to come to dinner. Too tired to have a coherent conversation. And, even when it had been managed, it was usually one of those frustrating, broken dialogues constantly interrupted by a crying baby or an

insistent toddler.

No, their DINK lifestyle was much cherished. Or so he’d

thought...

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As Harriet scrubbedthe used instruments at the sink at the back of the theatre, she stared absently at the view out the window. A large milky white moon hung from the relentless blackness of the night sky and blanketed the harsh landscape in its glow, softening the ferocity of the desolate terrain. There was a strange beauty to the austerity and it was easy to forget that bad things were happening here.

She looked at the moonlight coating the ancient soil and felt very small and insignificant. Even in a country as divided as this, life still went on. All around, the cycle of life inched onward with glacial patience. Men and women fell in love, babies were born, wars were fought. The barely perceptible forward motion of life made her feel like a tiny cog in a very big wheel.

She had seen the good and bad of the cycle today. The highs and lows. She thought back to how devastated she’d felt only hours ago, witnessing Nimuk’s precarious hold on life and his mother’s anguish as he’d lost the struggle, and how death and life were intimate partners in a never-ending cycle. Someone died. And someone was born. It was the way of the world and in

this big troubled land the cycle was relentless.

She returned her attention to the job at hand. The instruments had to be thoroughly scrubbed to remove any blood or tissue traces before they went into the steriliser. Katya

and Siobhan were on the other side of the door, prepping for

their next case — wiping surfaces down with a chlorhexedine

solution, getting out gowns and gloves and basic packs — and she

was feeling restless after the C-section so scrubbing metal objects gave her something useful to do with her hands.

Harriet’s heart fluttered madly every time she thought about Gill passing the newborn baby to her. She could have sworn he had been affected by the experience, too, and her heart had leapt at the encouraging step forward.

Too little, too late maybe but, oh, what a buzz!

‘Penny for them.’

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