At last, with my arms almost falling off, I managed to hand the child to Gorran, and as I started to heave myself onto dry land, I felt immense pain in my leg, and I blacked out.
I don’t remember much, but at some point Gorran tried to carry me up a steep slope, so I told him to leave me and get the child to safety. Once there, he could get help to come and get me.
I must have blacked out again, as the pain in my knee was intense. I realised that my Marine days were well and truly over!
I came to when the doc, Roger, had put a splint on my knee. The guys had made a stretcher and had brought me up the hill. Gill was there, as ever, looking so worried, so I smiled at her. The pain was bad, and I was aware that the doc gave me a shot of something, so I passed out.
They kept me pretty doped up over the next few days, but I was able to get the radio working. Mickey was about a week away, but I knew that I was going to have difficulty getting off the island.
I was pretty dopey, but I woke up at one point to find that I was in Russak’s hut, and my hand was tied to Gill. I was lying on the floor, and could see Roger over by the door.
I had a strange feeling of calmness and as if this was what the whole of the trip was really about. I made some comment to Gilly, and she was as confused as I was.
The next thing I know, Gilly and I are spinning around in some smoke, and I felt really odd. One minute I am seeing her, and then I am looking at myself. There was a pain in my knee, and then I must have passed out again.
* * *
Gillian.
Typical bloody hero, Ed Ryan went off in the middle of a Hurricane to save a little child. I sat and waited, while the wind howled and the palm screen shook and rattled. They were ages, so I started to worry. Then Gorran came back with the little boy. He gave the crying boy to Kali, and then he came to me.
My heart sank, as his eyes had the pain in them, so I knew.
“Ed hurt,” he said, and I knew it must be bad.
I was so surprised, but within minutes nearly all the men were gathered, and although the worst of the storm was passed, it was still foul out there. I went with them, noting that Gorran was close to exhaustion.
Half an hour later, we came to a small bank by a torrent of muddy water. Ed was lying on his back, unconscious, and I saw his right foot was rotated an alarming degree.
He was a big man when standing up, but lying down he was even bigger. Poor Gorran had tried to carry 225lbs of US Marine and just had to give up.
They cut poles of bamboo and then they strapped some of his own rope across and made a stretcher, and managed to carry him back to the shelters.
By the time we reached the shelters, the wind had dropped and Roger came to meet us. Poor Gorran collapsed, so Mila took him into her shelter and wrapped him in a blanket. He was soaked and shivering.
Roger looked at Ed, and then his eyes met mine.
“He has completely knackered his right knee. I don’t have the facilities to sort him out here. He needs hospitalisation,” he said.
I felt a degree of anger, frustration and anguish that I had never experienced before. Anger at him for being such a hero, frustration at being so powerless to help him, and anguish as I knew that the injury would end his career.
I sat holding his hand and wept.
Roger gave him some pain-killers, and managed to align the leg properly, as Ed was unconscious, that was a good thing. He inflated a modern splint around the injured joint, and Russell arranged for one of the tents to be put up.
The storm slowly moved away, but it still spat at us in a nasty way, so we stayed at the shelters for another night. I sat next to Ed’s bed, just holding his hand. He lapsed in and out of consciousness, but said nothing.
At about four am, I was dozing, when I felt some pressure on my hand, so I looked at him. He was awake and his blue eyes were looking at me.
“Hi babe,” he said and I cried.
“Oh, Ed, you fool,” I said, to which he grinned. Then he winced, as he tried to move his leg.
“What happened?” he asked.
“You’ve finished off your right knee,” I said. He nodded.
At that moment Gorran came in. He saw Ed was awake, and he grinned at him.
“Hi Gorran. You made it then?” Ed said.
“You save me! Then you save Bose. I cannot leave you to die,” the man said. Ed nodded, and closed his eyes as the pain bit deep into him.
“Do you want me to get Roger, he gave you some pain killers earlier?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“No, if you kill the pain, I will think I am getting better. Are you okay?” he asked, and I cried again. I couldn’t speak, so I nodded, holding his hand tighter.
Roger and Russell came into the now crowded tent, and despite Ed’s protestations, Roger gave him a shot for the pain. Gorran then told us what had happened, and I could believe it, it was just like him, the silly sod.
The sun came up on a glorious morning. Clear blue skies and a calm sea, but the evidence of the hurricane’s strength lay in the devastation all about us. It took us two days to remove everyone and everything back to the village, so Ed was ensconced in his tent next to Russak’s hut, one of the few to pass unscathed through the last few days.
Roger and Russak discussed what to do with Ed, and it became obvious that the two men disagreed as to the best course of action. Ed managed to get the radio working, and eventually managed to get through to Lucky Lucy. But the ship was stuck several days away, so would not get here until at least five days had gone by. There was no hope of a helicopter evacuation, as we were just too far from any mainland. I was worried that we would not even be able to get Ed to the ship, as the rib was probably long gone by now!
Bose, who was one of Russak’s many grandchildren, was a constant visitor to Ed’s bedside. He would simply come and stand beside the big man as he slept, often for hours at a time, staring at him, saying nothing. When Ed awoke, Bose would grin and run out of the tent.
I went to speak to Russak and asked him what the boy was doing.
“The boy owes his life to your man,” Russak explained. “It is his duty to watch his spirit as he sleeps, so that no evil spirits can come and harm him.”
“Oh!” I said. “Is that likely?”
“One can never tell with the spirit world. Your man has a troubled spirit in any case, as have you. So it is best that Bose keeps watch,” Russak said, staring at me.
“I have a troubled spirit?” I asked, confused.
The old man grinned, but said nothing else. I left him, and was feeling more worried now.
I bumped into Roger, who was fussing about with some of the medical supplies.
“What I really need is a mobile X-ray machine. I really don’t know the damage that he has done,” he said.
“Ed told me that there is more plastic and steel in his knee than bone. He has been injured and wounded in it several times,” I said.
“I’d guessed as much. If it starts to heal badly, then he may never walk again!” he said. “And now Russak wants to do some witch doctory on him. I can’t let him. who knows the damage he will do?”
I suddenly felt very calm, and it was weird, as I was one of life’s worriers.
“Why don’t you let him, Roger? After all, you operated on the child, while he let you. Trust him, I do,” I said.
Roger looked at me, “But what if it goes wrong?” he asked.
“Which are more scared of, it going wrong, or actually going right?” I asked, and he laughed, shortly, and with little humour.
“If it goes wrong, then you can take him to a hospital, and hopefully they will fix him up. But if it goes right, you’ll have your medical sensation,” I told him.
It was taken out of our hands, as five men came and picked Ed up, bed and all, and carried him into Russak’s hut. Roger tried remonstrating with them, but to no avail. I followed, and they even let Roger in as well.