Frontier - 16. FR Chapter 16

Less than five minutes later, Neale was loaded into the ambulance, and they were on their way. I dashed to my bike on the marina, and started peddling like mad towards the medical centre, having already lost sight of the ambulance. When I arrived at the medical centre, there was no sign of the ambulance, so I presumed it had already been and gone, so I dashed inside, where I saw Dr Hunt talking to a nurse.

“So where is the ambulance?” Dr Hunt said to me.

“What do you mean? The ambulance left the marina before me, and I just rode here on my bike” I replied now very worried about my brother.

Dr Hunt picked up a nearby phone and dialled 000. When it was answered, he asked to speak to the dispatch supervisor.

“This is Dr Hunt from Jurien Bay Medical centre. We had a priority one call that was meant to deliver the patient Neale Wallis directly to the medical centre. Where is it now?” Dr Hunt said.

“We diverted it to the Jurien bay airfield. An RAAF rescue helicopter is on its way from Lancelin, where it has been on manoeuvres,” came the reply.

“Now you listen carefully. That boy has a suspected ruptured spleen, which means he needs immediate surgery, so you get that ambulance to this medical facility right now, or I will have you fired for incompetency. Do you hear me?” Dr Hunt said in a raised voice.

“But the ambulance officers on scene say it’s not a critical case,” the ambulance supervisor said.

“Get that ambulance back to the Jurien Bay medical centre right away. That boy will not survive a trip to Perth in a helicopter. Do it now,” Dr Hunt said. When the supervisor refused to comply, Dr Hunt slammed the phone down.

“Dr, I have the senior sergeant on his way to the airfield to get the ambulance back to here,” the nurse said just as she hung up another phone.

“That’s good to hear. Thanks for doing that. Can you get surgery ready, and make sure Dr Lakes is on her way please,” Dr Hunt said with a smile.

By now I was very worried, and I was shaking all over. Dr Hunt saw me and quickly raced to my side.

“Come with me, Anton. I need you to lie down. You are suffering from shock,” Dr Hunt said to me as he guided me into the treatment area of the centre.

Meanwhile at the airfield, the senior police officer came to a screeching halt just metres away from the ambulance, that was parked beside the runway. He pulled open the driver door.

“You have two seconds to get out of that chair before I rip you out,” he said to the ambulance officer, who was about to complain, when he found himself being pulled out of the ambulance, and shoved to the ground. The police officer jumped into the driver’s seat, and started it up.

“Buckle up. We are going to the medical centre, where you should have taken this patient as ordered by the doctor,” the police officer announced as he put the ambulance into gear, hit the sirens and lights buttons, and raced back to town.

When I heard the sirens of the ambulance approaching, I tried to get up, but the nurse told me to stay, and that my brother would be well looked after, so I lay down and I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, I had a blanket over me, and Simon was sitting in a chair nearby.

“Hey there, Buddy. How do you feel?” Simon said with a smile.

“Good. What’s happening with Neale?” I asked as I slowly sat up.

“You have been asleep for two hours, and he has just come out of surgery. It all went well. Dr Hunt said another fifteen minutes and Neale would have died,” Simon said to me.

“Those bastard ambulance officers,” I responded.

“Don’t blame them. They were ordered to go to the airfield, even after they both expressed concern that the patient was in a critical condition. The police officer went back to the airfield, and apologised to the ambulance officer, who sat in the police car waiting for their return. The senior sergeant suggested to them to write a full and detailed report on what happened, and to submit a copy to him, and send a copy to Ambulance HQ in the city,” Simon said.

Dr Hunt arrived with a big smile on his face. “Hello, Anton. Thanks to our local senior police officer Neale is alive and he came out of surgery ok. We have a RFDS plane on its way to take Neale to the children’s hospital in Perth where he can be properly looked after. He has woken up from surgery, but he is sleeping now,” Dr Hunt said to me.

As we walked to the room where Neal was recovering, we saw Mum enter the room, and I followed, while Simon remained in the hallway.

“I am going down with Neale on the RFDS plane. Can you look after Jedd for me please,” Mum whispered to me.

“Yes sure, Mum. Where is he now?” I replied.

“He is being looked after by one of the nurses,” Mum replied with a smile. The same two ambulance officers from earlier arrived, and they apologised for what happened earlier, explaining they were under orders from the dispatcher at headquarters.

A nurse appeared and let us know that the RFDS plane was moments away from landing, and so the ambulance officers carefully loaded Neale onto a stretcher and took him to the waiting ambulance outside, and with Mum joining them they set off to the airfield, while Jedd came up and hugged me.

“It’s ok, Buddy, our brother is being well looked after,” I said to him, as I placed my arm around him.

Once they had gone, I took a deep breath, before I started to think about what next, as I looked at Simon’s and my bikes.

“Jedd, do you think you can sit on the bar of my bike for the trip back to the yacht? I asked my brother.

“I will give it a try,” he replied confidently, and fifteen minutes later we safely arrived back at the yacht. Simon said he would go and start organising dinner, and I took Jedd over to my cabin, to help me gather some of my belongings, so I could sleep in a guest cabin close to where Jedd was sleeping.

By the time that we arrived down in the guest cabins, I had decided that I would sleep in Neal’s twin cabin, just in case Jedd woke up in the middle of the night all alone. Once I had placed my overnight bag and toiletries in the cabin, we headed up stairs and back down to the crew area, where Simon announced that we would be having beef stir fry and vegetables. I grabbed my phone and walked down the double crew cabin, and closed the door, before I dialled Gramps phone number.

After ten minutes of explaining everything that had happened, I told him that I was looking after Jedd, and that I was wondering whether I should take the day off school, or take him to school with us. Gramps suggested that I discuss it with Jedd, and let him decide, depending on if he is feeling well enough to go to school. He said he would see us after school the following day and ended the call. Back in the crew mess, I found Jedd playing Fish with Simon. I sat down next to Jedd.

“I got to ask you something. Can you stop that for a moment please?” I asked Jedd, who placed his cards down and looked at me. “How are you feeling with your back and ribs? Do you think you are well enough to come to school with us tomorrow, or would you like me to stay at home with you?” I asked my little brother.

“I am bored here. Can I come to school with you please?” Jedd said to me, and I smiled.

“You can, but remember you are in year 2 and I am in year 12, so we will be in different part of the school, but if you feel sick or you want to talk to me, just ask a teacher to go get someone to find me, and I will come right away,” I replied to Jedd, who wrapped his arms around my neck and hugged me tight.

“I love you, Anton,” he said to me quietly, which made me start tearing.

“I love you too, little brother,” I replied, as I wrapped my arms around him.

After dinner, I asked Jedd to go and have a shower and get into his pyjamas, before I read him a story. While he was doing that, I helped Simon with cleaning up. Just as we were finishing, my mobile rang. It was an unknown number.

“Hello, Anton Hamilton speaking,” I said cautiously.

“Hello, Son. I’m just calling to let you know that Neale is settled in at hospital and he is resting. I am staying at a motel nearby, and I think I will stay here till Neale is discharged. Will you be ok till then?” Mum said to me.

“Sure, Mum. I have moved to the boys’ cabin, so Jedd won’t be alone, and he is coming to school with us tomorrow. The crew will all be back tomorrow, and Gramps will be over in the afternoon as well, so we will be fine. What’s the motel name and phone number, and I will sort out paying the bill for you,” I replied to Mum. After a short chat, I said goodnight to Mum and ended the phone call.

A few minutes later, Jedd appeared dressed in his PJ’s and I went to the book shelf to find a good story. We headed downstairs to the cabin, where Jedd settled into his bed, and I began reading a story. Once Jedd was asleep, I headed upstairs, and I asked Simon to keep an eye on Jedd, while I went to my cabin to take a shower.

Once I had showered, I said goodnight to Simon and I went down to the guest cabin that I would be sharing with Jedd. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping in a single size bed again, as I was so used to sleeping in a double or queen size bed.

When I woke up at 7am, to the sound of my mobile alarm, I saw that Jedd was waking up too, so I headed to the bathroom first, and on exiting I asked Jedd to get out of bed and get ready as we have school to go to. I exited the cabin and headed over to my cabin, to find some neat casual clothes for school. When I returned, Simon and Jedd were happily chatting, while eating their breakfast, and I sat down to eat as well.

“Remind me to drop by the sports store on the way back from school, so we can get a mountain bike for Jedd, and look for one for Neale, when he gets home from hospital,” I said to Simon.

With the whole yacht locked up, we set off towards school, arriving shortly before 8am. Once the two bikes were locked up, Jedd and I headed towards the Junior school administration area, to get Jedd’s school timetable and any books that he might need. Looking at Jedd’s timetable, I saw that he had 40-minute long classes, while mine were 55 minutes long.

We started at the same time each morning, and finished at the same time at the end of the school day, but he had an extra class period than I did. I saw that the morning breaks were at different times, but the lunch break was at the same time, which I was glad of.

I said to the receptionist, that I would be coming over to check how Jedd was doing at lunch time, but to come and get me if there were any problems, as our Mum was away in the city, dealing with a family emergency. When she asked when Neale would be coming to school, I informed her that Neale was the family emergency, and that he was recovering from surgery at the children’s hospital.

Giving Jedd a hug, I told him to stay strong and brave, and not let any bullies hassle him. I set off to the high school area, where I was already running late for my first class. I stopped by the admin office, and explained the situation, and I was given a permission to be late slip to give to my chemistry teacher.

When I handed over the late slip, the teacher tore it up and threw it in the bin and told me to get out of the class, as he didn’t tolerate lateness.

I returned to the administration office, and asked to speak to Mr Langton, the deputy principal. Moments later I was standing in his office, explaining the situation, with my brother in hospital, and my mum in the city with him, leaving me to organise for my youngest brother to get to school, and get him settled at the Junior school.

I mentioned that I came to the administration building to explain my lateness, and the receptionist gave me a permission to be late slip, but that the teacher tore up the slip, threw it in the bin and told me to get out of the classroom.

Mr Langton wrote a note, and asked me to give it to my teacher. With the note in hand I returned to the classroom, and walked in, but stopped when the teacher yelled at me to get out. I held out the note, which he grabbed, tore up and threw in the bin, and once again told me to get out.

“Sir, you did not even look at the note. Why are you treating him so badly?” Toby said as he stood up. I noticed Mike and Sam also stood up.

“What you have done is not acceptable behaviour, Sir,” Sam said to the teacher.

“Get out, all four of you. I will not have any of this bad behaviour,” the teacher yelled. I exited the class, with Sam, Toby and Mike following me out. Mike was about to close the door behind him when another student walked out, followed by everyone else in the class.

“Thanks for your support, guys, but I think you better get back inside,” I said to my class mates, who all sat down with their backs to the wall. “Ok, we are heading to the admin building to let the deputy Principal know. We will be back shortly,” I announced, and Sam, Mike and Toby followed me to the admin building.

As soon as the receptionist saw us coming, we saw her head for Mr Langton’s office. He came out as we arrived at the front counter.

“Sir, I entered the classroom, and the teacher once again yelled at me to get out. I held out the note that you wrote and he grabbed it, tore it up and tossed it into the bin and told me to get out,” I said.

“That is when I stood up and asked why he was treating Anton so badly, and not even reading the note,” Toby said.

“That’s when Mike and I stood up and I said that what he had done was unacceptable behaviour. The teacher demanded all four of us get out,” Sam said.

“What we didn’t expect was that the rest of the class would also walk out. We tried to get them to go back in but they just sat down in the hallway in protest,” Mike added. There was a long period of silence as Mr Langton thought about this.

“Wait here,” he said to us, and he left the office, returning moments later with the school counsellor and the principal. We were asked to repeat what had happened. The principal told us to wait in the reception area, and that he would be back soon.

About ten minutes later the principal arrived back at admin reception. “Please go and join your class mates in the library for the remainder of the class period,” the Principal said to us and we did as he asked.

When we got to the library, Aaron, one of our class mates, pulled us aside, and whispered to us that he snuck back outside the classroom, and that he heard the Principal telling our teacher, that he was suspended from teaching until a full enquiry was completed on this incident.

With the teacher suspended, I wondered who would be running the Biology class late morning the next day, as we settled in the library to read till the end of class bell sounded. I had Literature as my next class, and Simon was in this class. He arrived at the same time as I did.

“Was it your class that had their teacher suspended?” he asked me. I smiled and nodded my head.

“Wow, word gets around real fast,” I said to Simon.

“Yes, the whole high school knows about it,” Simon replied, and we both laughed as we stepped into our next class.

At morning break, Finn came up to me and Simon. “Hey guys, just letting you know that we let the trouble makers know that a team of students are now watching them, and we suggested that they stop hassling younger students, and causing trouble.”

“Ok, Buddy. Thanks for that. I will let the rest of the senior team know,” I replied.

My next two classes were Specialist Maths and Geography, so I grabbed my text books for those classes, and told Simon that I would see him in Geography class. I headed off to my next class just as the first bell sounded.

When the bell sounded for the start of the lunch break, there was a knock on the classroom door, and a student aged about twelve years old entered. Right away I knew it was a message for me, so I stood up and walked up to the teacher’s desk, just as he finished reading a note.

“You must be a mind reader, Mr Hamilton,” the teacher said as he handed the note to me. I quickly read the note. “Please come to Junior school admin. It’s regarding your brother – Jedd”.

“If you can excuse me please, Sir, I must go,” I said to the teacher, who smiled and nodded his head. I dashed out of the classroom, with my backpack in hand, and a few minutes later I arrived at the Junior school administration building.

Jedd was sitting down in a chair as I walked in. I walked straight to him. When he saw me he jumped up, and I could see that he had been crying. I gave him a hug.

“Ok, Buddy, tell me what is happening. Why are you upset?” I asked him quietly. I noticed a staff member hovering nearby, and I gave her a small smile.

“An older boy shoved me against a wall, making me drop my backpack. He picked it up and tipped all the books out, then kicked all the books around. When I went to pick up the books, he kicked me in the backside, making me fall face down on the floor,” Jedd said to me softly. He was starting to cry again, and I hugged him again. I noticed the staff member approaching, and I looked up at her.

“You have managed to get out a lot more information, than we could about why he was upset,” the teacher said to me, and I gave her a smile.