Luka stumbled out of bed at the sound of the first birds of the morning
perching outside his window and twittering their damn brains out.
He glanced at the clock on his bedside table and groaned softly. FIVE-THIRTY!!!!! Luka had just gotten a little over an hour's sleep.
While Luka contemplated crawling back into bed he heard the muffled braying tones of the disgruntled, hungry cattle. He grumbled and pulled his cover-alls overtop of his pyjamas, ready to do the farm chores.
*************
He crept quietly down the hall, pausing on the squeaky floorboard as it let out a high-pitched whine, muffled by the carpeting.
Luka tip-toed past the living-room where Kerry lay sleeping on the couch and Dave sat awkwardly by hers side, on the floor; his head resting on the edge of a couch cushion and Kerry's arm flopped protectively across his back and around his shoulders.
The attending sighed in relief that Kerry was still alive and Dave had fallen asleep WITH his clothes on, and continued into the kitchen. Carefully he gathered up all the soiled, bloody towels, blankets and linens, and carried them in armloads down to the furnace in the basement. Stuffing the bloodied rags into the furnace, he turned it on to incinerate them.
Luka suddenly realized that it was foolish to have the furnace on in the house at this time of year, but, he rationalized, he was going to put his poor, dreadfully hung-over friends to work in the fields, there wouldn't BE anyone in the house.
He'd seen the clouds and read the weather in the newspaper. He knew from experience that he'd better get that hay cut and left to dry in the fields, while there was still sun out. No lounging around in the house today.
The cattle mooed softly in greeting as Luka stumbled sleepily in the barn and began mechanically doing the chores by rote. Throwing down the bales from the loft, filling their feedbin with grain, and the trough with water.
He opened the back door to the stalls and herded them out into the pasture as he began to scrape the muck into the trench so he could turn on the barn cleaner. One of the older beasts, bucked in her stall and mooed lowly, Luka walked to the old cow and scratched her on the muzzle. "Hey old girl.." He said smiling.
It was very peaceful this morning. That was something he missed dearly. Peace and quiet. He hadn't had any true peace and quiet for years now.. The sort where time stood still and the air sort of drifted, thick with, no particular place to be. The only time he'd ever felt truly at peace, was here... On Drizislav's farm, with the animals in the barn, away from everyone.. Peace.. Hiding out here in the hayloft all those years ago as a boy, unaware with ignorant bliss that one day his world explode around him.
*********
"Come on you guys.. Get up.." Luka ordered cheerfully as he marched up and down the upstairs hallway, banging on doors and whistling tunelessly. "Come on.. Can't sleep the day away.. It's ten-o'clock already! Come on.. Get your clothes on, get downstairs.. Into the truck.. We're going haying.."
Mark groggily stuck his head out the door. "We're going what?"
Carol pouted. "This isn't much of a vacation, Lockhart!!" She grumbled. "You said a Ranch in an exotic locale! You said NOTHING about cleaning up poop and doing hot, gross farm work!"
"Carol! You never complained about having to do disempactions or anything else like that.." Doug said, surprised.
"That's because I never had to DO disempactions.. I handed them off to the nurses.. and when Malucci came on the scene.. I handed them off to him.." She grinned evilly.
Kovac rolled his eyes and marched his troops down the stairs. As they lined up at the bottom step he handed them each a pair of workgloves and a hat. "Don't move.. Don't try to escape.. Tonto is trained in the art of kill and destroy." He said solemnly, nodding to the senile bassett hound that was asleep on the doormat.
Tonto cocked a canine brow and snuffled uninterested as he fell asleep again.
"Attack dog my ass.." Carter scoffed, causing Luka to turn on his heel as he'd been entering the kitchen.
"Carter.. Don't hurt the dog's feelings.. Or I will have to hurt your feelings.. I know you wear St.Elsewhere monogrammed scrubs to bed.. Howie Mandell fan are you?!"
Carter reddened and shook his head.. "No..." He mumbled quietly.
"Pardon me??" Luka grinned.. "I didn't quite catch that last bit.."
"I said... Mark Harmon.."
The doctors snickered loudly and began playing keep-away with Carter's big floppy straw hat as Luka walked into the kitchen to make breakfast. "What's wrong with Harmon!?" Carter protested, trying to wrestle his hat away. "Can't a guy like another guy and say he's good looking without being gay??"
The men went into hysterical laughter, collapsing in tears as they heard Luka scrounging in the kitchen.
"Waffles sound good to you?? EGGOs is all I have.." Luka mumbled, rifling through the freezer as the rest of them whipped up strawberries and cream to go with their breakfast.
*******
"What are they doing Dave?? Why is it so hot in here?" Kerry murmured sleepily.
"I think they're making breakfast.. I don't know why it's so hot.." Dave reached out and put his hand over a heating vent in the floor. "The furnace is on. I think Luka must be burning all those sheets and blankets from last night... It's okay.. Maybe we could go outside for awhile, get some fresh air."
She nodded, tiredly patting Dave's hair with a leaden hand. "Sounds good to me. Where are they going in those outfits?"
Carol poked her head in the livingroom, her hair braided back and a floppy hat pulled down over her brow. She grinned and carried a couple plates of waffles and placed them on the coffee table. Morning you two... How are you feeling, Kerry?" She asked concernedly.
"Much better than last night.." Kerry said honestly. "Is Luka burning all those sheets?"
Carol nodded, "Yeah.. They were ruined. We have to go cut and rake the hay before it rains. If you like we could drop you off down at the cottage.."
Dave cocked a brow. "Cottage? Is there anything this guy DOESN'T have?!"
"Central air.." Kerry murmured softly, wiping her forehead.
"It's okay, Dr.Weaver.. We can go down to the cottage.. It'll be cooler there.." Dave said comfortingly.
Doug entered the kitchen, wiping his fingers on his pants. "That's right, but why do you get to skive off work, Dave?"
"Do YOU want to watch Weaver?" Dave glared at the paediatrician. "I have to make sure she's okay.. We can't exactly leave her alone down there, can we!?"
Doug reddened, and shoved his hands forcefully into his pockets, grumbling under his breath as he stomped off into the kitchen.
*********
As Dave cleared the breakfast dishes, Carter and Benton helped Kerry into the front seat of the pick-up. "Okay Dave.. We're all loaded up. The kitchen's all cleaned??" Mark cocked a brow and looked around the spotless kitchen.
"Yeah.. All clean.. Do you think I should bring anything special for Chief?? I mean.. Her crutch was blown up.. I don't think she'd be very thrilled about being carried everywhere.." Dave muttered.
The senior attending nodded. "You're right. I think you could take the station wagon into town to the hospital, if you're careful.. Stay to to the main roads and highways. Don't make the same mistake that Doug made. Get her a pair of crutches. Don't worry about loading her into the car.. Get dressed, we'll do the rest.." Mark cocked a brow and looked at Dave's bruised noggin.
"How is your head by the way?" He said with a slight smirk.
"It's okay.. Only a slight concussion I think.." Dave sighed.
"Well.. Take care of Weaver.. If you screw up, we will all be hearing about it at work for years to come." Mark exited the house, walking down to the truck, leaving Dave to get dressed.
**********
"Seventy-two bottles of beer on the wall.. Seventy-two bottles of beer!! Take one down, pass it around... Seventy-one bottles of beer on the wall.." Elizabeth sang tunelessly as the truck bumped and creaked down the trails to the fields.
"Shut UP!!!!!!!" Carol finally screamed. "Mark... I love you like a brother.. But your wife!!! Elizabeth, honey... You're tone-deaf.."
Elizabeth glared at her and sang louder. "Seventy-one bottles of beer on the wall.. Seventy-one bottles of beer. Take one down.. Pass it around, Seventy bottles of beer on the wall.. Seventy bottles of beer. Take one down.. Pass it around, Sixty-nine bottles of beer on the wall."
The ER nurse's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms before sticking her tongue out at the surgeon and plugging her ears with her fingers.
********
"You DO know how to get to the hospital... Don't you Malucci?" Kerry said worriedly as they passed the same street sign for the fourth time.
"Sure I do.. I just figured we'd do some sight seeing first.." He mumbled.
She raised her brows and looked outside the car. "Uhh.. Of the same streets, over and over?"
"Yeah..." Dave said uneasily, before his demeanor and expression brightened and suddenly they were driving towards the hospital. "All we need is a pair of crutches? Right?? Then we can I can drive you down to the cottage.."
Kerry smiled. "Yes.. That's all I need.. Luka seemed to pack everything else, but the kitchen sink in that suitcase of his.."
"Maybe we should get your ankle looked at.." Dave replied sheepishly.
"Do you speak Croatian, Dave?" She asked, limping into the hospital with Dave's help.
"Nope. Italian, some spanish, no Croatian. Although it would come in handy during the times when Kovac decides to swear under his breath after dealing with me.." He grinned as he helped her into a wheelchair.
"Let's hope they speak English." Kerry murmured as they approached the desk.
Dave wheeled the chair slowly down the hall, craning his neck around as he spotted a cute nurse.
"AUGH!!!!!! MALUCCI!! Watch out!" She yelped as her casted leg, which was propped up in chair and outstretched, was suddenly rammed straight into the wall.
"MALUCCI!!" She barked, her eyes watery with pain.
"Oh shit... I'm really sorry, Chief!" He said worriedly, backing up the chair and into another doctor.
"Ungh!"
Dave reddened and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I'm really sorry, man.. I didn't mean to.. Honest!"
A shadow of pain crossed the man's face as he rubbed his bruised shin. The doctor smiled good naturedly. "I'm all right.. How is your lady friend?" He asked concernedly.
"I'm okay.." Kerry shifted uncomfortably in her chair as the bandages started to rub on her shirt.
Pavo Jzsnic cocked a handsome brow. "Are you sure? You look.." He paused, struggling for the english word. "Bad.."
Dave chuckled. "Yeah... You could put it that way, I guess." He glanced around the hospital. "This place doesn't look half bad, really.. What's the OR like??"
Dr.Jzsnic furrowed his brow. "O-R?"
"Surgical floor.."
"Oh.. Our hospitals are quiet similar to your Western ones. We are alas, short-staffed and budgetary cuts.. But that's due to the war.. Our hospitals are quite good. Why do you ask?"
Dave glanced down at Kerry who had grabbed a pamphlet of the admit desk and was trying to decipher the Croatian. "My friend was in an accident last night. My friends and I.. We're all doctors and we patched her up as best we could, but I'm worried about her leg."
Pavo nodded solemnly. "Landmine?"
"Sorta.. She set it off and broke her ankle running away from it. Her back was full of shrapnel as well, but we have two of the best surgeons from our hospital with us on vacation, and they stitched her up pretty good."
Jzsnic smiled, "Ahh.. So you want us to x-ray it for you.. See if it set properly. Your health insurance is no good here. Do you have another method of payment?"
Dave grinned. "Of course. Mastercard.. Never leave home without it." He brandished the gold card, it catching the light and Kerry's vigilant eye.
"Can you excuse us for a second, Doctor?" She said sweetly grabbing Dave roughly by the arm as Jzsnic walked out of earshot.
"That's DOUG ROSS's card?!" Kerry hissed in disbelief.
Dave nodded, still grinning. "Yeah... So?!"
She shrugged, indifferently, a sparkle in her eye. "Nothing.. I was wanted to make sure."
Dave wheeled the chair over to where 'Dr.Pavo' was waiting patiently. Quickly, Dave signed the papers using Doug's card and a nurse took Kerry upstairs to radiology.
"So.. Dr.Ross.. What are you and your friends doing in Croatia?" Pavo asked, looking over the papers and signing them.
"Family business.. A friend's uncle died and we're fixing up the farm so we can sell it. Oh.. and call me Dr.Doug."
****************************
'Dr.Doug' was back in the fields raking hay, oblivious to the fact that somebody was racking up thousands of dollars in medical expense on his credit cards.
"AUGH!" Wailed Luka as he listened to Doug grind the gears. "You drive tractors as well as you drive cars!"
Doug glared at the Croatian and leaned on the gear shift, making th gear box squeal.
"You're going to wreck the transmission, just because you got it into your head that wrecking farm machinery is the only way to get back at me!?" Luka yelled frustrated as he rounded the corner of the field, finishing the cutting of the hay as the midday sun rose high. The baked them to the reddish brown of pathetic city people, experiencing their first real dosage of Vitamin K.
"Those tans and burns are the product of real hard work.. Not laying about on some beach." Luka said proudly to his farm-hands.
"No........ It's due to the fact that your wonderful uncle didn't have any decent sunblock higher than SPF 15.." Elizabeth grumbled, wetting her hands from the canteen and placing them on her achey shoulders."
Luka sighed guiltily and they puttered back to the farm so they could pack up to go for a swim.
********
"Well.. The x-rays show a tarsal fracture, but it looks like considering what you told me about the limited resources you and your colleagues had available, I think you did quite well. Dr.Weaver's leg should heal just fine. I've had to recast it since we had to remove it to get the x-rays. I've also looked at her back. You were right, your surgeons are very good. I gave her a pair of crutches, but use the wheelchair until you get to the car."
"Okay, thanks Dr.Jzsnic." Dave got Kerry to the car and buckled her in firmly, whistling some of the canned Croatian Muzak that had gotten stuck in his head while sitting in the waiting room for Kerry.
The station wagon pulled up to the cottage, no thanks to Luka's directions.
The farmhands were hooting, laughing and jumping off the dock into the cool waters.
Luka looked up, hearing the sound of his uncle's rattling engine and ran to help Dave get Kerry down to the dock.
"How did it go?" Luka asked concerned, as he helped Kerry with the crutches.
"It went fine, Dr.Kovac... Thank you for asking.." She smiled and limped slowly down to the lakeside where a deck chair sat waiting for her. Kerry plopped down into it gratefully and picked a beer out of the cooler of ice. "How did the haying go?"
"We got it cut and raked.. We'll bale it in a few days after it's dried. Are you hungry?" Carter said as he carried over a plate with a hotdog and coleslaw.
She nodded and started to eat. "Yes.. Thank you Carter.."
Dave smiled watching her uneasily.
"Go for a swim Dave.." She coaxed. "Go.. I'm fine here.."
"You sure??"
"Yes.. Go... Please." Kerry smiled, squeezing his hand. "Thank you.."
He nodded, blushing, as he pulled off his t-shirt, exposing his six-pack and perfect pecs. "Okay.. Watch this!!!!!!"
Dave's feet made a repetative wet smack as he raced down the dock his feet hitting with a rhythmic thumping before he dove off. "CANNON BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
*******
The afternoon was filled with laughter, water fights, lounging in the cool waters, and endurance swims out to the little island in the middle of the lake. Kerry watched all this with a light heart. It was good to be alive.. It was good to be with friends on such a beautiful day.
As the sun started to set Luka stoked the bon-fire getting it ready for marshmallows. As the wood crackled, sending sparks floating skyward, he pulled out his guitar.
Luka strummed a few experimental notes, tuning it before he started
to sing.
They stared at him for a moment before Carter started to harmonize with him, swaying to the music, his eyes closed and in tune with the moment.
"There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold and she's buying a stairway to heaven. When she gets there she knows if the stores are all closed. With a word she can get what she came for. Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven. There's a sign on the wall. But she wants to be sure. 'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings. In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings. Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven. Ooh, it makes me wonder, Ooh, it makes me wonder.There's a feeling I get when I look to the west, and my spirit is crying for leaving. In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees, and the voices of those who standing looking. Ooh, it makes me wonder, ooh, it really makes me wonder. And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune.Then the piper will lead us to reason. And a new day will dawn for those who stand long and the forests will echo with laughter. If there's a bustle in your hedgerow."
Luka licked his lips slightly, pausing for a breath, his mouth curled at the corner in a smile before he looked down at his fingers on the fret-board and his melodious voice floated on the night air.
"Don't be alarmed now, It's just a spring clean for the May queen. Yes,
there are two paths you can go by. But in the long run There's still time
to change the road you're on. And it makes me wonder. Your head is humming
and it won't go in case you don't know, The piper's calling you to join
him, Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, And did you know your stairway
lies on the whispering wind. And as we wind on down the road our shadows
taller than our soul. There walks a lady we all know who shines white light
and wants to show how ev'rything still turns to gold. And if you listen
very hard the tune will come to you at last. When all are one and one is
all To be a rock and not to roll.
And she's buying a stairway to heaven............"
Luka grinned and the fire cast his face in a eerie red glow as he sang
again and everyone joined in........
********