Georgie Harvey and John Franklin Collection

Chapter 13

As Franklin rose to leave the café, the woman with the baby spoke. ‘You sorted them out okay.’ She smiled timidly.

He sensed she wanted to chat and relocated to her table. She sat on the edge of her chair and fiddled with her necklace. She slid the gold locket from side to side, shy and mute.

Franklin instigated introductions and small talk about the weather: it began fine but now held the whiff of a cool change and more rain. Cathy loosened up and soon perceived that a paternal streak lurked inside the blue monkey suit. She pushed her three-month-old, Tyson, into his arms. Franklin bounced him as he’d done for baby Kat, and the infant chuckled. Cathy clapped her hands to further excite the bub.

Yet, despite the fun and his attempts to draw out whatever was on her mind, she tucked Tyson into the pram and left.

‘A dog with a bone,’ Georgie said aloud, after Bron hung up. At the word bone, the golden retriever at her feet thumped her tail. ‘Later, Moll.’ She chuckled when the dog sighed and dropped her head. ‘Shall we flick through Susan’s album then?’

boneThe first part contained photographs of Roland Pentecoste, with Susan, with mates or on his own. Many pictured him at work. He drove tractors, strained fences, drenched sheep, fixed machines, assisted calf births and bottle-fed lambs. In all, he looked robust and jovial. His wife’s weathered face was also happy as she mucked in wearing identical overalls. They were two-of-a-kind characters.

Georgie eyed them wistfully. Would she and AJ be together when they were old and wrinkled? She’d wager that Susan hadn’t had doubts.

Snippets from the local paper and a number of thank-you notes, discoloured with age, followed the photos. Roly had apparently spent a great part of his life helping the community.

Molly suddenly leapt up and ran to the back door, then rushed back and snuffled Georgie’s hand.

‘What’s up?’

Molly nudged her, knocked the album from her lap.

‘You can go outside if you want,’ Georgie said. ‘You go in and out that flap three thousand times a day.’

Molly did two full circles with nose bent to tail. She halted and gave her deep warning bark. She seldom used it.

‘Okay, Moll. Let’s see what’s up.’

The dog shot out the door and bolted to the side fence. Georgie followed.

‘Oh, please. Help!’

It was Michael Padley’s voice. ‘Adam, Georgie, are you there? Oh, dear. Anyone?’

Georgie scaled the fence and found Michael bent over the inert body of his wife, sobbing.

‘Ruby, can you hear me? Squeeze my hands.’ She waited, unconsciously holding her breath.

To her relief, she felt faint pressure. She exhaled.

Ruby too released a gasp.

‘Michael, what happened? Have you called an ambulance?’

He shook his head.

Georgie assessed Ruby’s pale, clammy skin, her irregular breaths, clenched neck and facial muscles and dashed inside.

‘Paramedics are on their way,’ the operator told her.

‘Paramedics are on their way,’But that wasn’t good enough; she needed them here now.

now.She numbed. In a blur, she heard the operator’s questions, answered and followed instructions.

‘Give the patient aspirin if it’s on hand. You’re on a cordless phone? Good. We’ll stay on the line and talk you through it. Now, I need you to monitor her vital signs. Commence cardiopulmonary resuscitation if she goes into full cardiac arrest – if there’s no breathing, no pulse. Treat for shock.’

‘Give the patient aspirin if it’s on hand. You’re on a cordless phone? Good. We’ll stay on the line and talk you through it. Now, I need you to monitor her vital signs. Commence cardiopulmonary resuscitation if she goes into full cardiac arrest – if there’s no breathing, no pulse. Treat for shock.’Georgie and Michael were the ones in shock. They watched Ruby, hoping she wouldn’t die.

Georgie sat the man down and folded his gnarled hand around his wife’s. With luck that would help them both. She suppressed her own fear, acted calm and brushed a palm over Ruby’s brow.

The older woman faded in and out of consciousness and didn’t respond to Georgie’s gentle voice, apart from a sporadic flutter of her eyelids. At times, the tendons in her neck went taut, then the pressure eased. Once, she moaned.

Ruby’s eyes rolled and her body slumped just as the ambulance screamed into the one-way street.

Pandemonium followed. The ambos administered oxygen. They loaded their patient into the van as if she weighed fifty kilograms rather than at least one hundred and thirty. They rigged her to machines and slammed doors. The vehicle powered away.

The right indicator signalled and brake lights flickered. The ambulance hooked into Rowena Parade and vanished.

Georgie rubbed her arms. Had the day suddenly turned cold? No, the iciness was internal.

Deemed too frail to travel with his wife, Michael let Georgie bundle him and his walking stick into the Spider, and she raced to the Alfred Hospital.