It was hot, fucking hot. I sat up and stared at the ocean. How can it be that the ocean is so close and yet I'm so hot? Okay, I'm next to an ocean, but which ocean? What time was it? I didn't have a watch, The sun was directly overhead, so it was no help, apart from adding several more degrees of burn to my arms and upper body, both of which were bright red. My legs were no better. Apart from what was covered by a pair of shorts, I could have been a large, ripe, four-legged tomato.
I stood. Several seconds later, when I had stopped swaying from side to side, I staggered to the water and lay down, allowing the cool water to wash over me. Ah cool, soothing water. I knew enough to not drink this cool wet liquid, but my tongue was dry and my lips cracked. How long have I been here? That was a question with no immediate answer, I had no way of telling the time other than the sun being directly overhead would mean that it was close to twelve o'clock.
I decided to see what I could see on the other side of the dunes, so I set off. It was hard going, my strength seemed to have deserted me but I kept at it until I could see water. It seemed like a lagoon that stretched for seemingly forever in both directions.
I jumped in and found it not as cold as the ocean, close to body heat. I ducked my head under and while down there I filled my mouth, spitting it out again. The water was brackish, not fresh, but then not as salty as the ocean. I took another mouthful and this time swallowed it. If I limited myself to the occasional mouthful when I felt dehydrated I figured it would be okay to drink.
Which way to go? I took a leaf from the sparse grass struggling to exist in the sand and stuck it into the sand, level with the waterline. I sat for a while until the water had risen above the grass, the tide was coming in. I pulled it out and tossed it in the water and watched it flow off to my right. I would walk downstream to where the sea flowed in and see what was there. Help I hoped. I don't know how much later I passed some holiday shacks on the water's edge, but there was no-one home. The water in the rainwater tanks tasted great, so I drank until I felt that any more would be too much.
The sun was plummeting towards the horizon when I arrived at where the water from the lagoon entered the sea. Some fifty metres away, on the other side, there was low vegetation that seemed to continue for some way. In the distance, I could see a structure crossing to the other side and there were some houses.
How to get across? The tide was still rising so I walked close to the sea and dived in, swimming across the gap, the tide carried me with it until I reached the other side.
I set off. It was hard going as the vegetation came right down to the water and there were reed beds lining the bank, I assumed that it was a river. After about an hour I reached a boat ramp. There were a couple of vehicles and trailers parked beside it, whoever owned them was fishing somewhere. Do I wait for them to return? Thinking that I could be in for a long wait, I headed off down the access road.
Darkness came over me as I reached the structure. The sign told me that this was the Goolwa Barrage. along with other stuff that I wasn't interested in. My memory staggered into life. I remembered that this structure was built to hold the water in the Murray River at a sufficient depth to allow the rich guys to float their boats.
There were no lights in the houses across on the other side of the river so I headed down the road. I was just passing what looked to be a kids playground when I began to feel dizzy. There was a low post and rail fence made from pine logs, so I sat on a rail. I closed my eyes and breathed as deeply as I could.
I heard a car stop and a window slide down. A voice came through the space, "Are you okay?" A woman.
"Not really." I mumbled just before I toppled backwards off the rail.
I heard her door open and she came around to me. She wore the green uniform of the SA Ambulance Service. "Shit, you're in a bad way." She took a torch from her pocket and shone it at me. "When was the last time you had something to eat?"
"I don't know, what day is it?"
"Saturday, why?"
"I'm not sure, but it was probably Tuesday."
"Come with me." She led me to the front of her car and opened the door. "Take a seat and let me take a quick look at you." She turned the inside light on. "we're going to have to get you to hospital." She took out her phone and dialled a number. "Hi, it's Jenny, I'm on my way home from work and came across this guy who's in a very bad way. He's badly sun-burnt, appears to be suffering from exposure, possibly dehydrated and hasn't eaten for several days. I need an ambulance as soon as possible, I'm on Barrage Road at the playground just past the aquatic club. Thanks Mate, see you soon."
"The ambulance will be here in fifteen minutes, quicker if he uses his lights and siren."
"Thank you for this." I sat back and closed my eyes. Sleep eluded me, the pain from my sunburn was too much for me.
The ambulance arrived in a blaze of red and blue lights accompanied by the wail of its siren. Two uniformed men got out as Jenny opened her door to meet them. "We have a male Caucasian, probably younger than he looks, Severe sunburn, dehydration and malnourished. His vitals are all over the place, we'll need to stabilise him and get him treated as soon as possible."
One of the Ambos got the gurney from the van and wheeled it to her car. Jenny lifted me out and walked me to the gurney. I was soon on my way to the South Coast Hospital.
I heard a lot of conversation and understood little. The little that I could understand did nothing to raise my spirits. The treating doctor was on the phone and the snatches of conversation told me that I had second degree burns to forty percent of my body, I was dehydrated and a drip had been inserted as part of the re-hydration process. I was to be transferred to the Burns Unit of the Royal Adelaide by helicopter.
Jenny sat with me, holding my hand, at least something felt good. She walked with me as I was wheeled to the helicopter. "You're in good hands now," she whispered to me, "I'll come in and see you in a couple of days."
I think I thanked her and told her not to bother, I know my lips moved but I didn't hear what came out of my mouth. She probably didn't either.
I don't remember much of what happened after that until I surfaced some time later. How much later I didn't know.
A nurse came into my cubicle and replaced the bag on the drip stand, removed the bag attached to the catheter stuck up my dick, checked the read-outs from the monitor and wrote details in the chart at the end of the bed.
She left without saying a word.
Time passes slowly when the only point of reference is the beeping of the unseen monitor. I tried counting them but gave up when I reached a hundred.
I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I became aware of was the presence of two policemen. "Mister Bradford?"
I didn't know what he was talking about so I didn't respond.
"We need to confirm that you are Richard Bradford." Again I failed to respond.
"I wouldn't think that you'll get much sense from him for the next day or so, he's on some heavy-duty sedatives because of his burns." The doctor that was with them said. "Why would you think that he's the person you're looking for?"
"If he isn't then we have to keep looking."
"But you've been looking over a thousand kilometres away from where he was found."
"We can't explain that, but he fits the description of Richard Bradford whose crashed and burnt out 4WD was found just off the Strezlecki Track five days ago."
"Surely you have someone who could confirm his identity, a wife for instance?"
"I don't think that even a wife could recognise that face."
"I was going to suggest that you wait until he improves. In the mean time, we must keep him here and treat his burns. We aren't sure at this time whether there will be permanent scarring, whatever way, for the time being, he's not a pretty sight."
