The Bush Doctor's Challenge

‘Or perhaps there’s not enough to take in?’ Kell asked perceptively. ‘It must seem a bit of a small world here to you.’

‘It’s just not what I’m used to,’ Abby admitted. ‘I’m not saying my way’s better than yours or anything, it’s just different, that’s all.’ Taking a breath, Abby decided to deal with a niggle that had been bothering her. ‘I’m sorry if I came over as snobby or superior when we first met. It was just nerves, I guess.’

‘I was just teasing when I said you were a snob.’ Kell was smiling at her. Even though Abby still couldn’t look, she could almost feel the warmth of it, almost see the wide dark lips breaking apart in an easy smile.

‘I know, and no doubt I’m going to have to get used to it. I’m quite sure there’ll be more than a few embarrassing moments. To date I’ve always lived in the city, always worked in big teaching hospitals, where I just blended in.’

‘I doubt that.’ The beer glass in his large hand seemed tiny, and Abby found herself staring at it as Kell carried on talking. ‘I can’t imagine a woman like you ever blending in.’

She chose to ignore that little gem, casting her mind around frantically for something to say. ‘Do you ever get fed up?’

Kell shook his head. ‘I don’t get the time to get fed up.’

‘And you’ve never thought of working in a city?’

Again Kell shook his head. ‘I did some of my course units there, but it wasn’t where I wanted to be, I was always more than happy to come home.’

‘So you’ve never thought about…’ Taking a nervous sip of her drink, even Abby herself could barely believe the personal nature of her question. ‘About moving away?’

‘Why would I?’ Kell shrugged. ‘I’ve got everything I need here. A great job, my family nearby. They run a large cattle station out of town,’ he explained, ‘so there’s never a chance of being bored, and though there are relatively few people here, at least I know most of them. I could never leave this place, Abby. Tennengarrah isn’t just a town in the middle of nowhere to me, it’s home.’

‘So what made you choose to do nursing?’ Abby couldn’t stop herself. Undoubtedly he was a great nurse, she’d witnessed it for herself today after all, but it just seemed such a strange career choice for a man so in tune with the land, for an almost cowboy!

He didn’t answer straight away. From the cheers and ‘Howzats’ flying around the pub, Australia had obviously taken a wicket and Kell stood up to watch the replay as Abby sat there, feigning interest.

‘Golden duck,’ Kell said, sitting back down with a grin.

‘Sorry?’

‘You’ve no idea what I’m talking about, have you?’ He grinned as Abby shook her head, then leant forward a touch. ‘Mum had cancer.’ His voice was still light, but Abby saw the pain behind the frown that flittered across his face. ‘Every few weeks we headed off to Adelaide for her chemo. I used to go with her and I guess that’s how it started. I’d never even given nursing a thought before, still didn’t then really, but later…’ Abby watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, and Kell took a drink before he carried on talking. ‘When it became terminal Mum wanted to be at home, and why shouldn’t she be? The whole town loved her, wanted to help look after her, be with her…’

‘But there wasn’t anyone?’ Abby ventured.

‘Oh, no, we had the clinic. It was tiny then, one doctor and one nurse, Clara. You’ll meet her tomorrow, she’s great. She made all the difference in the world. Sure, Mum had more friends and neighbours than you could count, all willing to help, but it was Clara who came at two in the morning to up her morphine infusion, Clara who turned her, worked out the meds with the doctor, Clara who made all the difference. I went out on a couple of her clinics, saw the work she was doing and I knew then I’d found what I wanted to do with my life.’