Pacific by Judy Nunn

Author:Judy Nunn [Nunn, Judy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: C429, Extratorrents, Kat
Publisher: Random House Australia
Published: 2004-01-21T13:00:00+00:00

‘I’d say you got him here in the nick of time,’ the doctor told Wolf, who had been anxiously pacing the waiting-room floor of the English hospital for over an hour since Big Ben had been wheeled away, Jane, too, disappearing with the medical team.

‘Mrs Thackeray can take credit for that,’ Wolf said, acknowledging Jane who had reappeared with the doctor.

He was thoughtful as he drove her home. ‘You saved Big Ben’s life, Jane,’ he said after a moment or so. ‘And I’d like to thank you on behalf of the men.’

‘Just doing my job, Wolf.’

But for once he wasn’t in a frivolous mood. ‘Big Ben’s one of the best. The men are going to love you for what you’ve done.’ He smiled but he was still in deadly earnest. ‘You’re a hero to the local people, and you’re a hero to us.’

He saluted her as he said goodbye. But he was grinning his ridiculously boyish grin as he did so, and she wasn’t sure whether he was joking or not.

He was back the following week. ‘Got a minute to visit the hospital?’ he asked. ‘Big Ben wants to say thanks.’

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them walked into the ward.

‘Hello, Big Ben,’ she said, ‘I’m Jane, remember me?’

The bare, black skin of his arms rested over his massive chest, stark against the white sheets. Big Ben was enormous, and the bed was far too small for him.

‘Oh yes, ma’am.’ Big Ben remembered Jane vividly. In fact she was the first thing he’d remembered when he’d regained his senses only several days previously to find himself in this little bed. The soft, soothing voice, the pretty white face, the damp towel bathing him, he remembered it all. But he remembered before that. He remembered watching her with the islanders. Even as he’d started to feel really sick, he’d kept watching her. How she spoke their language and how they respected her and called her Missus Tack. And then they’d brought their families to say hello. Missus Tack was a saint to his black brothers here in the Pacific, Big Ben thought, and she was a saint to him too.

‘How are you feeling?’ Jane asked. ‘You’re looking good, except you need a bigger bed.’

He laughed. ‘I’m feeling just fine.’ He wasn’t really, he was as weak as a kitten, but the doctor said he’d get his strength back. And it was all because of this itty-bitty white woman standing beside him. He reached out his hand. He wanted to say thank you. But he couldn’t call her ‘Jane’, that wasn’t respectful enough. And he couldn’t call her ‘Missus Tack’. ‘Missus’ was islander talk. He needed something special, something that came from his own people.

‘Thank you, Mamma Tack,’ he said as she shook his hand.

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