I hate it less than I thought I would.
When the sandwiches have been eaten and washed down with sips of water and a flask of peppermint tea Lila produces as if from nowhere, it’s time to get going again. The rain, thankfully, has stopped, and a small gap of sunlight peeks between theclouds. Hopefully the afternoon will be less wet than the morning,
Except it very quickly becomes clear that Ewan can hardly stand, let alone walk.
“Fucking fuck fuck fuck,” he chants, as he tries to lever himself off the tree, almost immediately falling back onto it when his ankle buckles in protest. He tries again a second time, his entire face screwed up, the muscles on his neck standing out like metal rods, but again he falls. “FUCK.”
He shouts it loudly enough that a bird, panicked, flies out of the canopy and almost collides with a tree, dropping grey feathers as it swerves at the last moment and bursts into the sky. Water drips onto our heads, dislodged from above.
“Ewan,” Lila strides over to stand in front of him, hands on hips. “Sit down.”
“I can’t.” He tries again to muscle his way to standing, but it is clear to all of us that he is spent. He looks panicked. Grey-faced, sweat shining on his forehead, his eyes wild. “Don’t you understand? I can’t sit around. I can’t stop. I have to finish this.”
He covers his face with both of his hands and screams into them.
“Lad.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “Stop.”
I can feel him vibrating beneath my touch. A ticking bomb. A storm.
Lila kneels at his feet, and puts a hand on his boot. “Do you mind if I take this off?” she asks gently.
“Why? You a doctor or something?”
“Dentist, actually. So not quite.” She begins untying his laces with a deft touch. “But I do have first aid training, and an extensive armoury of medical supplies with me. From my limited knowledge, I’d guess that you sprained your ankle in that fall yesterday. If you were at home, I’d say you need rest, elevation, compression and ice. But as we’re here,” shegestures at the woods around us, “I think compression and some painkillers are probably the best we can do. It might be enough to get you mobile again. At least long enough to reach camp. So?”
Ewan reluctantly nods, his hands still covering his face. “Alright. Yeah. Go on then.”
Lila finishes unlacing his boot and draws it off. Even that’s enough to make him grit his teeth and hiss.
“Priya, honey, could you grab me the bandages and ibuprofen from the pack?”
Priya leaps to it, for all the world as if she helps bandage strange men’s ankles every day.
“Here, take two of these,” she says, handing them to Ewan, along with Lila’s flask of peppermint tea.
“What the fuck is this?” he gasps as the hot liquid touches his mouth. “It tastes like mud. Dying plants and mud. Ugh! This is disgusting!”
“It’s peppermint.” Priya sounds offended. “It’s anti-inflammatory. It helps with gas and indigestion. And it’s delicious! Maybe your taste buds are broken?”
Ewan screws up his face and repeats back, in a high-pitched voice. “Maybeyourtaste buds are broken?”
“Fighting with a ten-year-old? Nice,” Lila says as she slides the bandage onto his swollen appendage. “Is it your intention to drive away all the people who are trying to help you, or is that an unfortunate by-product of your shitty mood?”
I fold my arms and raise an eyebrow. Damn, but the dentist can be sharp.
Ewan sucks in a breath, but then the fight leeches out of him. “I’m sorry, Priya,” he says in a small voice. “Thank you for the tea.”
“You’re welcome,” she replies primly, taking a sip and smacking her lips. “Delicious!”
“All set.” Lila finishes checking the bandage on Ewan’s foot, and gently places his boot back on, tying the laces in an efficient double knot. “Do you want to try that?”
Once again, Ewan lowers his feet to the ground, grimacing in preparation for the pain. When his weight sinks onto it, he lets out a low hiss, but this time manages to stay upright. I pass him his stick, and lend him my arm, tucking it under his other shoulder to help.
“Thanks,” he gasps. Then he pauses, clearly trying to decide whether to say something.
I wait, silent.
“It’s for my friend, alright,” he says eventually, pulling his phone out of his pocket and flicking on the screen. “That’s why I have to do this.”
