Blue Smoke Read Free Page B

here. Is there much damage at home?’
    ‘Not really, not to the house itself, except for one of the chimneys. We must have been too far away. A few things were broken, though, the mirror in the hall and some bits and pieces, and that big dresser in the kitchen fell over. And the river seems to have gone right down, so the generator isn’t working.’
    Keely asked, ‘How did you know to come here, to the race-course?’
    ‘Everyone looking for anyone’s being directed here.’
    ‘Did Joseph come in with you?’
    Owen nodded. ‘He was worried sick until one of the doctors told us you were both still in one piece. He and Erin are talking to the superintendent bloke — we heard quite a few of the nurses were killed at the hospital and Erin’s offering to help.’
    ‘I will be too, as soon as Mam comes around.’
    Owen glanced down at his mother-in-law lying motionless on the narrow cot, her leg enclosed within a heavy metal brace and bandages covering the cuts on her head and hands. A huge bruise dappled the right side of her face and her top lip was split and swollen. Worst of all she appeared somehow reduced , not at all like her usual self. She had never been a big woman, but now shelooked like a child, which Owen found very disturbing.
    ‘She’s pretty grey around the gills,’ he noted hesitantly. ‘Are you sure she’s going to be all right?’
    Keely nodded. ‘Half of it’s dust.’ She waved in the general direction of the grand stand. ‘They didn’t have time to clean her properly. There are four operating teams going at the moment and they’re flat out.’
    Joseph and Erin appeared then; Erin rushed straight to Keely and embraced her.
    ‘Oh Keely, are you all right? We’ve been worried sick !’
    ‘I’m fine, and Mam will be too. We got a hell of a fright, though. I thought she’d been killed! It took four of us to dig her out.’
    ‘My God, were you indoors when the earth quake hit?’
    ‘Outside the draper’s on Emerson Street. The front of the building collapsed right on top of her.’
    Erin stared at her cousin, appalled at how close they had come to tragedy.
    Tamar stirred then and started to say something, but the dryness of her throat stifled her voice.
    Erin bent down. ‘Aunty Tam? It’s Erin. How are you feeling?’
    ‘Ill,’ Tamar croaked.
    ‘It’s the anaesthetic,’ Erin said over her shoulder. ‘Get a bowl, someone.’
    Owen rushed off but was too late; Tamar vomited weakly over the side of her cot and onto the canvas floor while Erin held her hair out of the way.
    Joseph, his brown face pale with concern and his dark hair flopping over his temples, asked uneasily, ‘Is that normal? Being sick?’
    ‘Yes, it won’t last long.’
    ‘Shouldn’t we get a nurse?’
    ‘We are nurses, Joseph,’ Keely said mildly, excusing her half-brother’s unintentional slight because he was so distraught. ‘She’s doing as well as can be expected. She should be properly awake soon.’
    Tamar subsided painfully onto her back and lifted a shaking hand to sweep her hair off her face. ‘I’m properly awake now. And my leg hurts.’
    Joseph bent over her. ‘Don’t worry, Mam, Papa will be here soon.’
    A light flared in Tamar’s puffy red eyes. ‘Is he coming? How do you know that?’
    ‘I don’t,’ Joseph said, ‘but I know my father, and so do you. He’ll be here as soon as he can be.’
    The mention of Kepa had cheered Tamar visibly, and Erin smiled. ‘Right, well, I’ll organise something to relieve the pain. I’ve been assigned to the dressing station at Nelson Park, but I’ll be back to see you as soon as I can, Aunty Tam, I promise.’
    Tamar closed her eyes. The idea of sleep was very enticing — she couldn’t recall the last time she had felt so utterly exhausted, ill and sore.
    The others watched her for a moment, then moved outside as another patient was brought in on a stretcher.
    Erin asked Keely, ‘Will she be staying here, do you know?’
    ‘I’m not