âDad! Dad, wake up.â A stronger shake. âYouâve got to wake up, Dad,â Spencer said clearly, right at his face. âYou need to wake up.â
This time, there was movement across Dadâs face. His eyelids shifted and fluttered.
âDad!â Spencer said urgently. âIâm here. Can you open your eyes?â
They opened, for a nanosecond. Then they rolled back into his head like a bad party trick.
âDad, keep your eyes open! Iâm right with you, Dad. But I need you to stay awake.â
His eyes flicked open again, this time with more focus. Spencer rubbed his hand across his chest, to warm him up and get some blood moving aroundâbut mainly in an effort to keep him awake.
âMmmggh,â Dad grunted.
Spencer thought it sounded like he was in pain, so he moved his hand to his Dadâs arm, and ran it up and down from his wrist right up to his shoulder. He was really quite cold. His jacket. Spencer looked around. Everything had been flung about; there was stuff everywhere. It took his eyes a while to settle in thegloom and begin to make sense of the mess. He grabbed Dadâs fleece and yanked it toward him, copping a zip in the eye. While it watered, he bundled the jacket over Dadâs chest, and spread the softness about him.
Dadâs eyes had closed again.
âDad, Dad,â Spencer said quietly but urgently. âYouâve got to do your best to stay awake.â
âMmmmphaff.â
âI can tell youâre ... in pain. Youâre gunna need to tell me whatâs hurting and what I can do to help you, okay? Youâre the doctor, Dad! You need to tell me what to do, okay?â
âNeefff.â
âWhat?â
âKneef.â
Spencer looked closely at his dadâs mouth. âDid you say âkneeâ?â
It was a breath more than a word: âYesh.â
He looked down at the hideous angle Dadâs lower leg was making. âIt ... yeah, it looks broken to me, Dad. It looks really ... weird. Itâs definitely broken, actually.â
âSlice.â
âWhatâs that? Slice?â
âEysh.â
âIce?â
âMmph.â
âIce! I canât believe you, Dad. Is that the first thing you have to sayâ ice?!â
Dad managed a dry-lipped half smile.
Can you stop being so calm?! Spencer wanted to scream, looking around in a panic. We donât have any stupid ICE, Spencer thought sickly. But ... âThe food bag! The esky bag Mum packed for us, she might have chucked a couple of those frozen cooler things in it. Let me check, Dad. Hang on a sec.â
Spencer clambered over and rummaged frantically behind the seats, using his hands for eyes, breaking out in a sweat as he did so. It was close in the cockpit. He finally felt the familiar canvassy fabric of the cooler bag, and tugged the zip along its rectangular path around the lid. Spencerâs hand thrust in and landed on a wet cold brick.
She did! âYouâre a bloody legend, Mum,â he muttered.
âHumph.â
âTwo ice bricks, Dad, Mum packed two!â Spencer moved back so he was at Dadâs feet. âNow, shall I put them ... on top of your knee, or either side of it?â He felt a little nauseated just looking at the munted angle of it.
Dad lifted one of his hands then, weakly reachingout. His eyes were still closed. Spencerâs hand met his dadâs. They sat there for a moment.
âIce now,â he breathed painfully.
Spencer made his best guess and put the cold blue blocks either side of his knee, and held them lightly in place.
Dad winced, then nodded.
Then he fell unconscious again.
Spencer had no idea what was he was going to do. Dad had broken his leg, that was for sure, and maybe it was really badly brokenâin several placesâbut you didnât lose consciousness from broken bones, did you? It would be painful, yes, but youâd be able to keep your eyes