WHIRLPOOL

WHIRLPOOL  By Tessa Harvey     Esther felt strange and in pain. She knew she must not let go of her son, but rocks or something seemed to be ripping into her belly. She wanted to protect her unborn child, but what about her son?      "Lady," a male voice spoke with calm authority, "your son is safe. You need to concentrate. Your baby is coming. I am a doctor. Can you hear me?" The woman nodded, stunned. "It's too soon," she cried. A nurse held her hand. "Esther, Mrs. Watson, we are here to help, to save your baby." And you, she thought to herself.....Lucas was sat with Thomas. He was tired and bewildered. A male patient wandered past. "You ok?" Lucas blinked, puzzled.     "Talk to him," the man said, "it's not all about you, you know. Tell the boy it's ok."     Lucas was annoyed, but the man had gone. "Thomas," he said softly, "come back, we need you." He looked at the boy's pale f...

WHIRLPOOL  By Tessa Harvey     Thomas felt as though he was still underwater. He kept nearing the surface, reaching for the light, then drifting down again where all was confusion.     He had felt himself lifted into some sort of vehicle, felt his chest being compressed, then a prick in one arm and a mask over his face. He heard his dad talking to him. Where was mum?     He remembered the first wave. It was such fun. The children's pod suddenly flooded with water, sparkling with sunshine. Thomas had whooped with glee, but Susan was nervous, pulling Archie up the bank. She had called him, "Come on, Thomas. Archie's only four. Please come."     Then it went dark. Thunder roared, his eyes dazzled with lightning. Susan was screaming. He couldn't hear. She pointed, terror on her face. Then he saw a big waterfall of water coming. Frantic, he gulped air. There were no trees upstream, no boulders, otherwise he would have died.     He remem...

WHIRLPOOL  By Tessa Harvey     Weary, the young paramedic leaned against his door, sodden and bone-tired. Sandra opened the door for him. Anna shrieked with delight. He smiled. "Dada! Dada! You wet. Eww." His wife handed him towels. "Fresh clothes in the laundry. The heater's on. Soup ready to go."     Anna toddled after, dark curls bouncing. "Soo poo here," she burbled. Archie laughed, "and Arch wee." Archie's bottom lip wobbled.     They were wrapped in too-big clothes, watching cartoons on TV. "Don't be rude, Anna," chided her mum. Anna subsided. She crept close to the couch, snuggling between the other two children.     "Is Thomas saved?" Susan's voice shook. "Yes," called Aaron from the laundry. "Dad and mum went to the hospital with him for a bit."     He came out dressed, the washing machine filling up as he shut the laundry door. He helped Sandra with soup and sandwiches. "I wil...

WHIRLPOOL   By Tessa Harvey     She had her son's hoodie, her feet clenched around roots and bushes, then the dark cruel water flooded back again, whirling in terrifying circles.           "Hold on," a man yelled, "I'm coming." But her grip was slipping. An arm grabbed Thomas, yanking hard with impressive strength. He grabbed the child, the water trying to suck him down and the woman too. Lucas came to help them all, sobbing, but still able to pull his wife and child out with desperation.     Aaron turned the boy so he sloped downwards, put him in the recovery position, pressed his chest.     Thomas looked awful, pale, blue-white. After a few minutes, he spluttered, coughed, cried, jerked - went silent.     Sirens wailed. Within seconds a paramedic and a doctor were there, fighting for the little child.     Esther was racked with pain, struggling. Aaron motioned to another paramedic. Quickly they stretc...

WHIRLPOOL  By Tessa Harvey     The neighbour Johno, Luke? mumbled some fragmented story of a missing child. The paramedic waved him to his own home. "Take the kids there. They need help too. Sandra will help them."      The man obeyed, saying something about his wife, waving to the river, distressingly.     Sandra opened the door to Lucas, Susan and Archie, producing towels, ushering them all in. Toddler Annie peered up at them, delighted to see other children, uncertain about the grumpy man. "I called for help," he said. Anna pulled her thumb out of her mouth. "You aren't a nice man," she declared, "where's my daddy?" Without a word, Lucas headed back out.     Esther had struggled to where her son's jacket was swirling in the fast flowing river. The water was banked near a huge rock, whirling fast. She reached down just as the heaving sea was sending high tide upstream. Everything seemed to pause. The whirlpool seemed to still. Thoma...

WHIRLPOOL  By Tessa Harvey     Aaron's windscreen wipers were struggling with the deluge. Lights stretched endlessly in front and beyond. With relief he saw his turn-off coming up and slowed, indicating. A huge truck honked as it passed, like some massive snorting leviathan and the high tyre wash threatened to captize his tiny vehicle.     I need a new car, he thought, for Anna and Sandra, but money was always needed for other things. He peered ahead and slewed recklessly to one side. His idiot neighbour was flagging him down, standing drenched in the road, hair plastered to his head, water flooding everywhere. Dimly, he saw two children peering out the car window, faces pale and blurred.     Aaron just wanted to go home. His last call-out had been awful. A battered wife, husband drunk, sobbing. "I didn't mean it - she burned the meat!" The woman was slight, badly battered. She saw his face, saw love and empathy and smiled luminously and was gone. He h...

WHIRLPOOL   By Tessa Harvey     Esther struggled along the creek bank. Realising her son would have been carried downriver, she had gone along the flooded water downstream. Thomas  could  swim like a fish. Would he be able to keep his balance in this thundering torrent, and breathe when he could?     She knew he would no panic, but she was moving as fast as she could over the slick grass, grasping for holds on uncertain clumps of foliage with one hand, the other cradling her belly.     Lucas was smart. He would drive down river and come to help. But "Oh God, save my child," she cried, desperate, "please save our Thomas." Her cry echoed in the storm.      The mother moved swiftly, her thick boots gripping the sodden earth. She was a fighter, had been in battles all her life, but none so grave, so desperate. All she had seen until now was a swirling brown mass of water, but then up near Crocodile Rock the unmistakable red of Thom...

WHIRLPOOL  By Tessa Harvey     Finally, with great relief, Lucas turned off the highway onto the bumpy, rutted driveway to the old farm and his home. Work had been terrible, his picky arrogant supervisor even worse than usual.     Stupid woman, he thought. At least he hadn't told her what he thought of her this time. He knew he was being deliberately goaded. Ms. Wonderful Evans wanted to fire him, but he needed this job, and the money.      Suddenly he swerved, cursing. What on earth? The kids were nearly under his wheels. Rain blurred everything, flooding down drenching everything. He had nearly killed them. Angry, he got out and was lashed by wind and rain. "Get in!" he yelled. "Whatever's wrong? Tell me inside."     "We have to help mum." Susan was crying. So was his little boy. "Thomas is lost," Archie wailed. "Mum said get help. Drive down to the creek," added Susan, swallowing hard.

WHIRLPOOL   By Tessa Harvey     "I can do this," she thought. She turned to the children, grabbing her thick coat and boots. Then she set the stove timer for twelve minutes. "Dad is due home, Susan. Don't worry about tea. I will find Thomas. Pray. Ask Dad to come downstream. You can come too. Bring a blanket."     Esther grabbed her phone, kissed the sad children, flung open the door and was gone into the gathering storm. The door slammed shut. Susan looked at Archie. "Come on, let's set the table. I can put the jug on. We can help."     "What about a place for Thomas?" asked Archie, trying not to cry again. "We will all be here," his sister answered - thinking really is this going to end well?     Hurrying to the sink, she carefully started peeling the potatoes and carrots just as the timer buzzed. They both jumped. No dad.     "We mustn't cry," Susan's voice wobbled. "Dad just got stuck in a traffic jam....

WHIRLPOOL   By Tessa Harvey          Humming as she prepared her family's evening meal, Esther was suddenly aware of wailing, and thudding running steps on the outside deck. Archie flung open the flyscreen: "Thomas gone," he yelled. His face was awash in tears and his nose was running. Dirt streaked his face and clothes.     Susan crept in, sobbing quietly and shaking, soaking wet. "The waves got him!" she mumbled and added as though aggrieved, "and there were no white horses riding the waves to save him."     Esther dropped the paring knife in the shining steel sink. Sun shone on all the pots and pans, the old oak polished table reflecting light.     She couldn't think, then glancing up, she saw black clouds blotting the sun further up the valley moving fast against the wind.     Flash flood!. She swayed and gripped the sink.