‘Richard,’ she said, just as I was about to move out of her range.
I looked up with a studiously blank expression.
‘How are you?’
‘Fine,’ I replied quickly. ‘On my way to see the patient.’
She smiled. ‘No, Richard, I mean, how are you?’
‘Fine,’ I repeated.
‘I think this has been harder for you than anyone.’
‘Oh well, not really.’
‘Finding Christo…’
‘It wasn’t so bad…’
‘…And now you have to work up on the island without company, without…support.’
I shrugged helplessly. It would have been quite impossible to explain that, from my point of view, the three days since Sten’s death had been great. Jed’s knowledge of first aid meant he was spending all his time looking after Christo, and that meant I got to spend my days alone in the DMZ.
Alone in a manner of speaking, anyway.
‘But maybe being without company is a good thing, Cassie. It gives me time to think and come to terms with what’s happened.’ From similar encounters, I knew this was the right thing to say.
Cassie widened her eyes as if she hadn’t considered this, but now that she had, yes, it was a good idea and she was impressed I’d thought of it. ‘That’s a positive attitude,’ she said warmly. ‘Well done.’
I felt that was enough for me to disappear without appearing rude, so I made my excuses and continued on my way.
♦
I was aiming for the hospital tent. More accurately, the Swedes’ tent, but seeing as Sten was dead and Karl had started living on the beach, I’d begun calling it the hospital tent. Disappointingly, no one else did. Even though I’d made a point of using the new name at every opportunity, it had stubbornly refused to catch on.
‘Back early today,’ said Jed, when I climbed in. ‘It’s still light.’ He sounded very tired and was sweating like a pig. It was baking under the canvas, even with the flap pegged open.
‘Got hungry, needed a fag. Nothing much going on.’
‘No developments then.’
I looked at Christo.
‘He’s asleep. It’s OK.’
‘Oh…well, yeah, no developments.’ I lied. There had been a very particular development, but not one I could go into. ‘Just the same as always.’
‘So we ‘re lucky again. I wonder how long it will last.’
‘Mmm…I got some more grass by the way.’
‘More? Richard, you…’ Jed shook his head. ‘…We’ve got grass coming out of our ears. Every day you’ve brought some back.’
‘People are smoking a lot at the moment.’
‘We’d need all the hippies in Goa to smoke through your supplies, and if you take too much the guards might notice.’
I nodded. The same thought had crossed my mind, though with a different slant. I’d been hoping that my regular expeditions would get the guards on their toes. They were so pathetically easy to avoid that it made you wonder why they were there in the first place.
‘So what about Christo?’ I asked, changing the subject. ‘Any developments with him?’
Jed rubbed his eyes. ‘Yes. He’s getting worse.’
‘Delirious?’
‘No, just in pain. If he’s awake. He spends most of the time unconscious and he’s running a bad fever. Without a thermometer it’s hard to be sure, but it’s higher than yesterday…To tell you the truth…’ Jed lowered his voice, ‘…I’m getting seriously worried about him.’
I frowned. Christo looked OK to me. When I’d seen him in the daylight, the morning after rescuing him, I’d felt slightly let down by the undramatic nature of his injuries. Apart from a single cut on his arm – the cut I’d mistaken for a mouth – his only wound was a large bruise on his stomach from where the shark had rammed him. The injuries were so superficial that he’d walked around on the first day, trying to find Karl. He’d only collapsed on the second day, which we’d thought was a result of stress or possibly a relapse of the food poisoning.
‘I mean,’ Jed continued, ‘the bruise should be going down, shouldn’t it?’
‘You’re the doctor, Jed.’
‘I’m not a fucking doctor. That’s the point.’
I leant over to take a look. ‘Well, it’s blacker than it was. Not so purple. I think that means it’s healing.’
‘Do you know that for a fact?’
‘Not for a fact, no.’ I paused. ‘I’m sure it’ll be just the food poisoning that’s keeping him low. Jesse is still getting gripes.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘And so is Bugs…unfortunately!’ I added with a mischievous wink that Jed either missed or ignored.’…Well, I’m going to get some food and catch up with Françoise and the others.’
‘OK. Leave a cigarette will you? And come back later. Nobody comes in to check on me apart from you and Unhygienix. I think they’re avoiding having to see Christo…Pretending it hasn’t happened maybe.’
‘Pretty hard,’ I said, chucking him the packet. ‘Sten’s still lying in that sleeping-bag around the back of the longhouse. It’s right on the other side from where I sleep, and I can smell him through the walls.’
Jed glanced at me. There was obviously something he wanted to say so I nodded, to say, ‘Go on,’ but he only sighed. ‘Tomorrow morning,’ he said sadly. ‘Sal said she’s given up on trying to persuade Karl to be there, so he’ll be buried by the waterfall tomorrow morning.’
∨ The Beach ∧
71
Dissent
Sal had been sitting in her usual spot outside the longhouse entrance, which, if you wanted to get to the beach, was unavoidable without an exhaustingly roundabout route via the Khyber Pass. But to my relief she’d moved by the time I left the hospital tent. I assumed she’d gone to the centre of the clearing to talk to Bugs; something I could have confirmed with a simple turn of the head, but I didn’t want to look in the enemy’s direction so I took it on faith. My mistake. I should have confirmed. Just like with Cassie, I was sprung as I thought I was leaving the danger zone – in this case past the longhouse, about to join the path from the clearing to the beach.
‘Richard,’ said a stern voice.
Sal was standing chest-deep in the shrubs beside the track. She’d clearly been hiding there in order to trap me. ‘You were hiding,’ I blurted, surprised into speaking the truth.
‘Yes, Richard, I was.’ She stepped forwards, delicately parting the ferns with a pudgy hand. ‘I didn’t want to force you into one of your ludicrously transparent evasion exercises.’
‘Evasion? I haven’t been evad…’
‘You have.’
‘No, really.’
‘Save it, Richard.’
This was the third time she’d used my name so I knew she meant business. I gave up the pretence with a feeble grin.
‘Wipe that smirk off your face,’ she said immediately. ‘Have you got any idea what trouble you’ve been causing me?’
‘Sorry, Sal.’
‘Sorry doesn’t cut it. You’re a pain in the ass. How simple were your instructions?’
‘Very simple, Sal.’
‘Very simple. But you’ve forgotten them already.’
‘No, I…’
‘Repeat them.’
‘…The instructions?’
‘Yes.’
I had to make an effort to keep a schoolboy’s insolence out of my voice. ‘While Jed is looking after Christo, it’s my responsibility to keep you up to date on…’ I stammered and a cold flush pricked my neck. I’d nearly said Zeph and Sammy’s names.
‘On?’ Sal demanded.
‘…On our potential new arrivals.’
‘Exactly. Now perhaps you can tell me why you’re finding that one little task so difficult.’
‘There was nothing to tell today. No developments, same as always…’