Chapter 40
CHAPTER
Sebastien could have caught the infection in the mess or at the Morrison surgery.
It could have happened during the transfer to the ship, when on board, or in Hobart when a surgeon repaired a tendon.
Whatever its source, his doctors are so concerned that his father Hendrik has flown from Norway to join Kit in Hobart.
Three days after Sebastien is admitted to the hospital, I get a call.
‘Lisse.’ A pause. ‘Sebastien.’
I stand at the side of my bed, the phone clenched in both hands. ‘How are you?’
When he speaks a string of words that I don’t understand, a man interrupts. ‘Snakk p? engelsk, gutten min.’
Mumbled words from Sebastien.
‘S?nn.’ He must be Sebastien’s father. ‘You must speak in English.’
‘Lisse.’
If I cry, I can’t speak. ‘Should I talk instead, Sebastien?’
‘Ja.’
Sebastien’s father clears his throat. ‘Thank you, yes.’
I search for something to say. ‘Angelina won’t let Nate out of her sight. She wakes him up at night to check he’s asleep and not unconscious.’
‘Have I spoken to him?’ Sebastien whispers.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Ja, Sebastien,’ his father says. ‘Ja.’
‘I hope you’re listening to the doctors and nurses and your brother and father and anyone else who tells you what to do.’
A pause. ‘You don’t listen.’
‘This is different. This is—’
A clatter, presumably when he drops the phone. His father’s voice again. Then Sebastien’s: ‘Tomorrow. I’ll call.’
Only he doesn’t call, the following night or the next one. And when I contact the hospital, they tell me he’s in ICU and only his parents and brothers can be put through. The following day, after another sleepless night, Nate finds me in the professor’s office.
‘I got onto Kit,’ he says.
I trip over my feet as I stand. ‘Tell me.’
Nate puts a hand above his head. ‘Seb’s up to here with medications and as weak as a kitten, but he’s turned the corner.’
My knees wobble. ‘What happened?’
‘There’s no nerve damage and the repair went well, but Seb got a multi-resistant bug.’ Nate takes my arm. ‘Sit down, Flick, before you fall down.’
I do as Nate asks, then squeeze my eyes shut. I take a very deep breath and another. Breathe, Lisse.
‘That’s twice in a week he could have died.’
‘Technically, yes, but he didn’t.’
‘He also fell when he was climbing a cliff, which is how he broke his finger. He was hurt when you punched him in the mouth, and he must have fallen hard on the ice or he wouldn’t have injured his ankle. I’ve only known him five months and that’s five times he could have died.’
‘As I didn’t punch him hard enough to kill him,’ Nate says quietly, ‘I’d go with four.’
‘Dying is far more likely if you climb and dive and eject from aeroplanes and parachute and tackle men with guns and—’
‘The night in the mess and the lead-up to it was difficult.’ Nate’s knee creaks when he crouches in front of me. ‘You’ve also kept working, and you’ve had Seb to worry about. That’s a lot to process. Be easy on yourself.’
‘Even before he had the infection, I knew I couldn’t …’
His brows lift. ‘What?’
‘I have to talk to him.’
‘You’ll be the first one he calls.’
A lump lodges tightly in my throat. ‘I have to wait. I’ll wait until he’s stronger.’
Going by the delay between me answering the phone in my room and the time it takes for Sebastien to say hello, he mustn’t be well enough to dial my number.
Our two conversations since Nate told me he’d turned the corner have been short and one-sided because he’s either sleepy or drugged or both, but it’s clear he wants to talk to me.
And even though it hurts, I want to talk to him. This is call three.
‘Lisse.’
‘Are the doctors happier with you today?’
‘The fever is less.’
‘Are you reading yet?’
‘My father brought books.’
‘From Norway?’
‘I’ll read tomorrow.’
‘That’s what you said yesterday.’
‘What is Matilda reading?’
‘On your recommendation, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern. She assured me it was age appropriate.’
‘It’s an old series. No sex.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Where is she for Christmas?’
‘She’s with her mother and stepdad for the next two weeks. Then I’ve enrolled her in the holiday program at school.’
‘She can ride her pony.’
‘And also see her friends Amy and Banh. She’s happy to go back.’
‘When you get home, where will you go?’
‘Martin has offered me my old room in the staff accommodation at Roxburgh Estate. It’ll only be temporary, but I can leave my things there before driving to Brisbane to see my mother. I have things to work out in person.’
‘Her debts, Lisse. I can help. Let me.’
‘No. Never.’
A cleared throat. His father. ‘Du m? hvile, Sebastien.’
‘What is your father saying?’
‘After you visit your mother, what will you do?’
‘I’ll go to the Macquarie Marshes for a few days. It’s a Ramsar site under the UN convention that protects wetlands.’
‘What do you do there?’
‘I monitor a species of migratory bird. I’ve done it for years.’
‘What bird …’ His voice trails off. ‘Which bird?’
‘You should sleep, Sebastien. Is that what your father is telling you to do?’
‘I’m not in bed.’
‘Where are you?’
‘In a chair. This migratory bird. Tell me.’
‘The sharp-tailed sandpiper, a wading bird, nests in Siberia. From August to November, it Flies eleven thousand kilometres along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway to Australia. The birds forage in the wetlands and coastal regions to gain weight, then they fly home again.’
‘This flyway. What is it?’
‘It’s a route for migratory waterbirds. Millions of birds fly from northern breeding grounds, including Siberia and Alaska, through South and Southeast Asia to southern wintering areas in Australia and New Zealand.
Some birds fly the entire distance, but most stop at wetlands on the way.
It’s why it’s important to preserve the world’s wetlands.
Migratory birds need a healthy ecosystem, food and shelter, in different continents to survive. ’
‘How long do the sandpipers stay?’
‘Just a few months, and then they fly home again.’
‘Another eleven thousand kilometres. How do they know the way?’
We can’t be together, but I’d like him to be here with me now. I lie on my side, hug a pillow, wish things were different.
‘Migrating birds use the sun and stars to navigate, also land masses and the earth’s magnetic fields. Around two hundred species breed or feed in the Macquarie Marshes. You’ll find cormorant, stork, pelican, egret, ibis, duck, spoonbill and crakes … They’re just some of the waterbirds.’
‘What are the other kinds?’
‘Raptors, parrots, pigeons and doves.’
‘Seb.’ The nurse with a Scottish accent I’ve heard before. ‘It’s late and your father’s nodding off. Let’s get you into bed so he can go back to his hotel.’
‘Rest, Sebastien.’ I press the phone to my ear. ‘Sleep.’