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When it was done, she’d have a quick lunch and head to Darwin. She’d read about the tropical city last night and was interested to see if it was what she was expecting. Hearing it was only an hour away had motivated her to go today.

Tarni reached for the last empty tray and frowned. It was broken on one corner, so she discarded it and rummaged in the cardboard carton on the floor hoping there was a spare kit to put another tray together. The last batch of seeds she had propagated were fragile due to the chemical mix and she needed a sturdy tray to plant them in.

She reached for the drill and added a larger bit than the one she had used to put the last tray together, carefully matching the four marks before she drilled the holes. She focused intently as she drilled the timber, but a movement on the rafter above the workbench took her attention as she drilled.

She screamed as the biggest rat she’d ever seen ran across the low rafter just above her head; she’d swear she could see its teeth as it stared back at her. As she jumped, the drill slipped from her hand and dropped to the bench. The box she’d been drilling fell to the floor as she stepped back. As Tarni caught her breath and lifted her hand to her chest, the skin between her thumb and forefinger pulled and stung.

‘Ouch,’ she said looking down at her hand. The skin in the V between her fingers was torn in a ragged tear, and blood began to well out and run down to her wrist.

‘Bloody heck, that hurts,’ she muttered as she examined the damage. Her head spun and a surge of nausea hit her as the blood welled. ‘Oh my God, that really hurts.’ She looked around for something to stop the bleeding but there was nothing within reach. She didn’t even have a handkerchief or any tissues in her pocket.

‘Are you okay, Tarni?’ Cy walked around the half wall at the end of the shed. ‘I thought I heard you yell out.’

‘I’m okay. I think.’

‘You think?’ He hurried over.

‘There was this huge rat up there’—she went to point above the workbench, but the room shifted, and she grabbed for the bench with her good hand. ‘Oops, a bit woozy.’

Cy put his arm around her waist. ‘Come around here and sit down.’ Tarni was barely aware of him taking her around to his section of the shed. He pulled out a plastic chair at a table. Putting his hand on the back of her head Cy gently pushed it down to her knees. ‘We don’t want you fainting and hitting the concrete, I think there’s enough blood on you already by the look of things.’

‘The drill slipped when I saw the rat,’ she murmured through her hair as it fell on both sides of her face. ‘I need some tissues or a Band-Aid.’

‘I think you need more than a Band-Aid,’ he said quietly, as she lifted her hand by her side. ‘Keep your head down. I’ll be back in a minute,’

‘I’m okay. It was just seeing the blood. I’m a squib when it comes to blood.’ Tarni could hear Cy rummaging through a box, and he was soon back. He pressed a wad of tissues against her hand.

‘I can sit up now,’ she said. ‘The dizzies have gone.’

‘Okay slowly,’ he said, supporting her as she sat up. ‘You’ve done a bit of damage. It looks like you might need stitches, I would say.’

‘Damn,’ she said. ‘I have to get that last box of seeds in today, or the control will be useless.’

‘Once we get you sorted, you can tell me what to do and I’ll do it for you if you like.’

‘I’m okay. Just get a Band-Aid on it, and I’ll get the job finished.’

‘Just let me clean it up first and then we’ll take a look at how much damage you’ve done, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be wise to get dirt anywhere near that cut.’

‘I wear gloves when I’m working with the seeds so I don’t contaminate them.’

‘I was thinking more about dirt getting in the wound,’ Cy said as he carefully removed the wad of blood-soaked tissues and examined her hand.

Tarni stared past his head and didn’t look at the cut. Cy’s breath was warm against her cheek as he moved closer and a funny quiver—not from the injury—ran down her back. It was the closest she’d been to another person for a very long time.

‘Are you okay with me washing it and seeing how deep it is?’ His voice held concern.

Tarni nodded. There was a small bathroom in the corner of the shed that she hadn’t used; when she needed one over the past few days, she’d gone up to the house.

She sat there as water ran and a cupboard opened and closed.

‘Okay to stand up now?’ Cy came out of the bathroom wiping his hands

‘I’m fine now. Sorry I was such a wuss. I’ve been like it all my life.’ She stood and walked across to him. ‘See I’m fine. A wash and a Band-Aid and I’ll get back to work.’

Cy raised his eyebrows and Tarni stood there watching as he opened a bottle of Dettol and measured a capful and poured it into the water.

She felt like an absolute fool. It was that damn rat’s fault.