‘Good game,’ I said, after the silence of the first few paces.
‘Great,’ said Daniel enthusiastically. In the cover of the dusk evening, his fingers brushed mine. A warm tingle ran up my arm and I sneaked a glance at him as we walked on in silence.
‘Congratulations.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Gorgeous evening,’ I said inanely.
‘Mm lovely,’ said Daniel.
I could just make out him grinning. ‘You’re laughing at me,’ I accused him. ‘I can see your teeth; you look like the big bad wolf.’
‘Are you scared?’ he asked. For a second I didn’t dare answer. Should I keep things light? What would he say if I said yes, absolutely terrified? Terrified that I’d got it all wrong. I chickened out.
‘Nah, he gets outwitted by a little girl wearing a red hood. Pretty useless wolf, if you ask me.’
And at that point I was outwitted by the ring of my mobile. Conditioned by work, I had to see who was calling just in case it was urgent.
I shrugged at Daniel. ‘Sorry,’ I said, and digging it out of the back pocket of my linen trousers I checked the caller ID. Kate? Quickly I checked my watch. Two in the afternoon there — funny time for her to ring. Some sixth sense of foreboding made me answer.
‘Hi, Kate. Your timing is rubbish. Is it urgent?’ I said, with a quick glance at Daniel. I could see his teeth grin in the dark. I immediately regretted my words.
‘I’m bleeding. I . . . I . . . don’t know what to do.’ Her teeth were chattering.
‘My God.’ Immediately I went cold. ‘How badly?’
‘Really bad.’ She started to cry. ‘There’s loads. Gushing. I’m losing the baby. I don’t know what to do.’ Now she was sobbing in earnest, which frightened me. That wasn’t like her.
‘OK, Kate,’ I said slowly, trying to sound more grown up than I felt. ‘Calm down. Have you phoned for an ambulance?’
‘Yes, but it doesn’t work,’ she cried.
‘What doesn’t work? Your phone?’
Daniel had moved closer, touching my arm as he mouthed, ‘Is she OK?’
I shook my head and listened hard to Kate.
‘No, the number. 999. It’s dead. Doesn’t work.’ I could hear the panic in her voice.
‘Slow down, Kate,’ I said frowning. ‘You didn’t misdial?’
‘No,’ she wailed. ‘I tried lots of times. It’s not working. Bloody, shitty country. Even 999 doesn’t work.’
Maybe it was different there. I put my hand over the mouthpiece and whispered to Daniel. ‘Kate needs the Australian emergency services. 999 isn’t the right number. Do you know it?’
‘What’s wrong with her?’ he asked, his face creased with concern.
Without thinking I blurted it out. ‘She’s having a miscarriage. She needs help now.’
His mouth was a perfect surprised ‘O’ for a moment before he said, ‘What about 911? America?’ which I immediately relayed to Kate.
‘Have you tried 911?’
‘I tried that.’
‘Wait,’ he grabbed my arm, ‘the Aussie bowler.’
