Water and Fire (5 page)

I nodded. "I remember. You
invited me to come fishing and hunt the Nannup Tiger."

He looked sad. "I'd ask you
over for dinner, but I can't cook very well, so we're better off
going to a restaurant if you want something to eat. We could always
get a pizza or something…"

"If we got a pizza from the
place in town, it'd be cold by the time we made it to Elleker," I
replied smoothly, standing up. My break was over, along with our
awkward conversation. So he hadn't used the prostitute's services
after all. "Enjoy the rest of your shift."

I headed off to do the same.
Like the nursing students, my time here was coming to a close, too.
I felt a tiny tinge of regret, but banished it quickly. Once my
exams were over, I could return home as a qualified midwife.
Everything I'd worked for, complete. What more could I ask for?

Cake, speeches, a small gift
and plenty of coffee. It was my farewell morning tea in the
cafeteria. My practical placement was over and my assessment came
with a glowing reference.

The biggest surprise was
Miranda. I hadn't seen her since I'd helped load her into a plane
five weeks previously. A sleep-deprived man had his arm around her
and in her arms was her tiny, sleeping daughter.

"We called her Felicity
Belinda," Miranda told me shyly, as the man handed me a bunch of
pink flowers.

Good luck,
beautiful serpent. What a name for a little girl.
I smiled and thanked them both. I held the tiny
child for as short a time as I felt was polite, before handing her
back to her parents. As soon as I could, I intended to escape back
to the ward to take care of patients. I didn't like being the focus
of so much attention, particularly when I was supposed to blend
in.

I shook hands and smiled back
at people until I managed to retreat into the corridor, where I
bumped straight into Aidan. The crushed pink flowers sent up a
heady cloud of scent.

"I'm so sorry, I wanted to make
it to your morning tea, but I had to finish my rounds and there was
this kid in the ED who broke his arm…" Aidan was at full speed in
voice and motion.

I smiled reflexively and told
him there was plenty of cake. I walked past him, headed back to the
ward and my patients.

"Wait," he said breathlessly.
"When's your last day?"

I stopped. "Today," I
answered.

"Have dinner with me again
tonight?" he asked anxiously.

I shrugged. I had no plans and
I intended to pick up some fish and chips again. "Okay."

"I have to work 'til five, but
I know your shift finishes earlier. Can I pick you up?" He sounded
so eager.

I agreed. I headed up the
corridor to my ward, while he entered the cafeteria in search of
cake.

Just before Aidan was due to
arrive, my telephone rang. I didn't receive many calls, but I
answered anyway.

The voice on the other end told
me that my replacement would arrive early the next morning, and
could I make sure I vacated my accommodation by 8 am tomorrow?

I agreed automatically. We said
goodbye and hung up.

I'd intended to spend the
following day on a boat, viewing the humpback whales in the ocean
near the old whaling station. It didn't matter. I could leave early
in the morning, before my replacement arrived, and have brownies
with ice cream together with my mother tomorrow afternoon.

I began
packing up my few belongings. It didn't take long.
Perhaps I should leave tonight, after
dinner?
Then we could have brownies
tomorrow morning.

I'd lost track of the time, so
it came as a surprise when I opened the door to take my bag out to
the car that Aidan was right outside.

He looked shocked. "Are you
leaving already? Aren't you coming to dinner with me?"

I looked down at the bag in my
hands. "I just got a call saying I have to be out of the house by
tomorrow morning, instead of Monday, as I'd planned. So, I figured
I'd leave after we have dinner."

Aidan's face lit up. "You can
stay with me for the weekend."

I hesitated. I didn't want to
share his house. It was difficult enough appearing normal for so
much of my time – I couldn't manage it all day and all night.

He took my hesitation for
distrust. "I know that sounds bad, but I'm staying at my uncle's
friend's holiday house. It sleeps heaps of people. You'd have your
own room, at the other end of the house from me. It's not like I'm
asking you to sleep with me. I'm just offering you a place to stay,
if you don't want to go home early."

I found my voice. "I did intend
to go whale watching tomorrow. If I leave early, I'll miss out on
the whales." I wavered in my desire to go back to Perth. I missed
the whales so much, and they'd be calving soon.

He perked up immediately. "I've
never seen a whale before. Do they really come close to here?"

I smiled. "Sure they do. There
used to be a whaling station, where people killed them for their
oil. It's closed now, but the whales still come to the bay where it
was. Come with me tomorrow and you'll see." The invitation slipped
out before I'd seriously thought about it.

His joyful smile beamed at me.
"So you'll stay with me for the weekend?"

Realisation dawned that in my
mind, I'd already accepted his invitation. "Okay." I reflected for
a moment. "I'll just put this in the car. Then I can head straight
to your place after dinner."

Aidan looked stunned. I
wondered if I'd said or done something strange.

"Or I could come by in the
morning…" I suggested.

His voice was breathless with
the excitement that shone through his eyes. "You can come over any
time you like. Tonight or tomorrow. Whatever you like."

I studied him for a moment.
"Tonight, then," I decided.

After all, my bag was already
packed. It was a simple matter to transfer it to the back of my
car. I left the key in the meter box, where it had been when I
arrived. It would be as if I'd never been there.

Dinner was over in a blur of
warm food, beer and very little conversation.

"You don't say much, do you?"
Aidan asked at one point.

I concentrated on drinking my
beer. I shook my head, drinking deeply. The less I said, the less
careful I had to be. I put the beer down without finishing it. I'd
need my wits about me tonight.

Aidan dropped his empty glass
on the table. "Do you want to go, or would you like another
drink?"

I shook my head. "It's been a
busy day. I'd like to go to bed early tonight."

We paid for our respective
meals and headed out to the dark parking lot.

Aidan looked worried. "My place
is a fair way along the bay, so it's easiest if you follow me
there."

I nodded, then realised he
couldn't see my response in the dark. "Sure. Lead the way."

We started our cars and I
followed his tail lights along the road to the west, along the bay.
After several turns, past a deli that was closed for the night, we
turned onto an unsealed gravel road. I followed him, a little
concerned at our remote location. He made a quick turn to the
right, through a gap in the bush, and I turned behind him. In the
beam of his headlights, I saw two houses set in a large lawn, which
ended at the water's edge.

I parked my car beside his and
got out, shouldering my bag.

Aidan fumbled with the keys,
but managed to get the door open eventually. He entered first,
turning on the lights, before holding the door open for me.

I stepped inside carefully. I
looked at the country-style kitchen, then through the long
open-plan living area to the lounge with a big open fire. The wall
on one side of the room was mostly windows, facing the inlet. The
wall opposite this was a row of doors, which I learned led to the
bedrooms.

"Pick any room you like," Aidan
said quickly. He pointed at the one closest to the fireplace. "That
one's mine."

For all that he was my work
colleague, I did not know this man, so I chose the room furthest
from his and closest to my car. I turned on the light in a room
with a double bed and one bedside table. I dropped my bag on the
bed and turned the light off again.

Aidan stood outside my room,
already pointing to the room next to mine. "That one's the
bathroom. There's towels in the cupboard, if you need them."

I nodded. I washed up in the
bathroom as quickly as I could and brushed my teeth, before
returning to my bedroom and shutting the door. After a moment, I
pushed the bedside table across the door.

No, I didn't trust this
man.

I slept through the night,
without hearing a bump of the door on the bedside table or much
else besides.

I pulled some clean clothes out
of my bag and made my way into the bathroom for a shower. Aidan
didn't seem to be awake yet – I saw his door was still closed.

I turned on the shower, but the
water had a slightly brown tinge to it, along with a smell that I
associated with stagnant fresh water. This didn't clear, so I
shrugged and took a shower anyway. At least the water was
pleasantly hot.

I dried myself and dressed,
before venturing into the kitchen for breakfast. I'd brought some
bread with me, so I used his toaster and some of his condiments to
make some toast. I settled down on the sofa with my breakfast and a
book I'd picked up from the shelf.

The novel proved dull, so I was
bored by the time I'd finished my toast. Wondering why any woman
would want to count cigarettes and calories in her diary, I set the
book back on the bookcase.

I washed up
my dishes and wondered what to do. The whale watching boat was due
to depart in just over an hour
. Should I
drive up to the port early and wait on the jetty?

A door creaked open behind me.
I spun on the spot, in time to see Aidan emerge from his room,
wearing a pair of silky shorts and a t-shirt, scratching his nether
regions with one hand. His eyes widened when he saw me.

"I'm sorry, I forgot you were
here," he apologised, hiding his hands behind his back. He hurried
into the bathroom and shut the door. He emerged soon after,
crossing the living area in quick, wide strides. He disappeared
into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

I heard him muttering to
himself for a minute or two, before he emerged, fully clothed.

"Is this okay for whale
watching?" he asked.

I tried hard not to laugh. "I
don't think the whales care what you wear. You might want to bring
a jacket, though, because it gets cold on the water." I pointed at
my jacket and hat on the couch beside me.

"Right." Aidan looked
determined and marched back into his bedroom.

I agreed to let him drive to
the port. I'd been laughing too hard at him in his ski clothes to
see or drive. I'd never seen so much red tartan in my life. He'd
switched the ski pants for jeans, but the tartan hat and coat
remained.

"I like tartan," he told me
with a wounded look. I wasn't sure if he was serious or joking, but
my levity slowly faded.

We paid our fares and headed
down the jetty to the whale watching boat. Looking from the furled
sail to the small cabin, I judged the catamaran to be a
reasonable-sized vessel, about the same size as a male humpback
whale. I wondered if we would encounter anything larger.

There were only a handful of
people on the boat, presumably owing to the cold, damp and windy
weather. The whales and I didn't mind; Aidan was snug in his bright
coat. The boat headed out of the port, toward the decommissioned
whaling station. The vessel crew gave a commentary as we cut
through the little waves, but I didn't listen to it. I suspected I
knew more about whales than any of them.

I stood in the bow of the boat,
face to the wind, looking for the first sign of a blow. It had been
many months since I'd seen a whale…and I saw it. A blow of hot
condensed air, a back curving above the surface, the dorsal fin… "A
humpback! There!" I shouted, pointing.

Aidan and the rest of the
passengers crowded around me, scanning the water. I watched the
patch of calm water between the waves disappear, before pointing
again. "There." The whale surfaced on cue. This time, his tail rose
up behind him as he dove deep.

"Wow." Aidan's voice behind me
was breathy and awed. I turned and smiled, before surveying the
water again for another whale.

The whales surfaced and blew
around the boat, to the murmured awe of the other passengers. I
looked closely, but all I saw were males and juveniles, none of
them as large as the boat.

The skipper mentioned something
about moving to another spot, where the spotters at the lookout had
seen some more whales.

The other passengers moved back
inside as the boat started to move out of the shelter of the
headland, but I stayed in the bow, dropping to my knees by the
rail. Under my breath, I started to sing, so quiet it was barely
audible to my own acute hearing.

The skipper slowed and pulled
out a little plastic flute, playing a short tune before pocketing
the flute again. I looked out across the water to the horizon,
repeating my song.

I heard her approach, but still
she surprised me. She spied above the surface, her face close
beside the boat, her eye focussed on me. A tiny back broke the
surface next to her, followed by a tail barely bigger than a
dolphin's. Her baby was so young it was still pale grey. I sang
once more and she dipped below the water again.

I held tight to the rail at the
bow as she breached beside the vessel, soaking me with spray as she
twisted in the air and splashed down again. The boat rocked
violently, but stayed afloat. A gust of wind chilled me to the
bone. I couldn't stop smiling, even as my hands turned pale blue.
The other passengers moved out to the bow again and we all watched
as the whale cow breached a little further away. Murmured sighs
echoed around me as the tiny back and tail flicked to the surface
beside her.