Chapter 2
CHAPTER
Anna heard the car pull up outside the vet clinic and glanced out the window.
She recognised it immediately; Carol Turner’s rescue operations had prompted the building of the small native wildlife clinic adjacent to the veterinary practice she owned.
Anna had seen news about the bushfire burning a bit further up the valley towards Tamworth so Carol’s appearance was not unexpected.
When fires burned, there were always victims for Anna to treat.
Anna stroked the cat she was about to vaccinate and smiled, feeling the skin on the left side of her face pull across the scar as it always did.
She had been out in the sun yesterday, checking an alpaca herd, and the skin was tighter than it usually was.
She would put something on it this evening, but she would still feel it every time she smiled or frowned or even spoke.
No amount of face creams or oils would make the scar less than it was. Anna had come to terms with that.
‘This really won’t hurt her at all,’ she told the little girl who was closely watching every move Anna—or the cat—made.
The cat gave a small plaintive mew as Anna eased the needle into her skin.
Then the job was done and the cat was back cradled in the arms of her young mistress.
Anna filled out the animal’s vaccination card, and left the cat, girl and her mother in the care of her receptionist, Liz.
Reception was empty of further patients, so Anna went outside to meet Carol.
‘What have you got?’ Anna asked as she crossed the driveway towards the car.
‘Koala. It has burns.’ Carol removed a cardboard box from the back of her car.
Anna opened the wildlife hospital and waited for Carol to bring in her new patient. When Anna looked into the box, a pair of unfocused eyes blinked up at her from a face ringed with singed fur.
‘You poor thing,’ Anna said as she carefully lifted the koala out of the box and unwrapped the sooty and bloodstained blanket.
She reached behind her to get a bottle, which she filled with water, pressing a soft lid on it.
She squeezed gently and water spurted through a hole in the lid.
She handed the bottle to Carol, who knew exactly what to do with it, holding the bottle near the injured animal’s nose to let water drip onto its face.
Within seconds, the koala was lapping up the drops as fast as they fell.
Anna examined the koala. Her ears had been burned, but her thick fur had protected most of her body from the fire. She looked at her paws. The pads were burned and it was likely she’d lose some of her claws.
‘No tree climbing for you for a little while, my girl.’
There was some burned skin on the koala’s back legs, and it was bleeding in places where the skin had split. Anna checked the animal’s pouch, but there was no sign of a joey. That was probably a good thing. The koala would need all her strength to heal.
‘She’ll recover,’ Anna said.
Carol didn’t reply and Anna cast a quick look at her.
The woman seemed to be running on automatic as she continued to minister to the koala.
Her face was rigid, her eyes staring at the wall, as if, in the distance, she could see something that Anna couldn’t see.
There was a hint of tears in her eyes, and streaks in the soot and ash on her face that suggested these weren’t the first tears she had shed.
‘Carol? Are you all right? You weren’t hurt, were you?’
Carol started, as if the sound of Anna’s voice had torn her from some other place.
‘No. No. I’m not hurt.’
‘Are you sure you’re all right?’
‘Yes.’ Carol’s voice trailed off. She looked at Anna with such a mix of fear and joy that Anna almost took a step backwards. ‘I’m just a bit shaken.’
‘From the fire? I keep telling you to be careful out there.’
‘So did he.’
‘He who?’
‘My son. I saw him today. At the fire.’
Anna blinked in surprise. ‘I didn’t know you had any kids.’ The two women weren’t close but they saw enough of each other that Anna would have expected to know if Carol had family. Anna had always assumed she was alone.
‘I have boys. Twin boys. I haven’t seen them for fifteen years. We … we lost touch when they were seventeen.’
‘And they were at the fire?’
‘I only saw Justin. The oldest. He’s a firefighter.’ There was something like awe in Carol’s voice. ‘Ben was probably there too. They are inseparable. Or at least they were as kids.’
‘Did you speak to him?’
Carol half grinned. ‘He yelled at me for putting myself in danger to rescue this little girl.’
Anna pushed her long hair back behind her ear with one hand, brushing the scar with the back of her fingers. She had a similar memory of her father saying the same to her as he struggled with the shock of the injuries her foolishness had caused.
‘Just like my dad. It was his way of telling me he loved me.’
Carol’s face fell. ‘I’m pretty sure that’s not the case with Justin. But at least I know he’s fine. That’s some comfort.’
Anna lifted the koala into a large cage and placed her in a blanket-lined basket.
‘That’s all we can do for her for now,’ she said.
‘She’s going to be a very sad and sorry girl for a few days, and I need to keep a close eye on those burns.
But with luck, when she’s recovered, you can release her back into the wild. ’
Carol took a deep breath and nodded. ‘What about my other girl?’
Anna turned her attention to another koala, which was clinging to a piece of tree trunk, blinking at them as it ate some leaves affixed to the trunk with twine.
‘She’s ready to go.’
‘All right. I won’t take her now, but I’ll drop by with fresh leaf tomorrow and I can take her then. I should be going now.’
‘Sure. If you get any more calls about rescue animals, let me know. I’ll be here all night.’ Anna lived in a small, red-brick house behind the clinic. She didn’t really need to say she’d be home all night. She seldom went out.
Carol said goodbye and got back into her car. It seemed to Anna that she was eager to get away. Maybe she just wanted to be on her own. Anna suspected that today’s encounter with her son had shaken Carol more than she cared to show or admit.
Anna locked the native animal hospital and as she turned to walk back to the main clinic, pulled her phone from her pocket. She had several news alerts pointing her to a piece of video. ‘Woman runs into fire to rescue koala.’ Curious, she hit play.
The woman running into the flames was clearly Carol.
She was surrounded by fire as she darted deeper into the burning scrub, at times disappearing behind swirling clouds of smoke.
The smoke cleared enough to show her throwing a blanket over a koala that was on the ground and obviously injured.
The animal wriggled and fought as Carol tried to pick it up.
Then a man appeared at her side wearing the distinctive bright yellow protective RFS uniform.
He caught Carol around the shoulders as if to help her out of the fire. That must be Justin.
Anna paused the video and zoomed in, hoping to see more of her friend’s son. He was tall and looked strong and confident. He was wearing a helmet and face shield and Anna found herself wishing she could see his face more clearly.
She restarted the video and the camera began to move. The person was obviously filming from the back of a car, now being driven away at speed. The two figures were quickly lost in the smoke haze and the video stopped.
In the few seconds that Anna waited, it replayed. She hit pause when the firefighter appeared. So that was Carol’s son?