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'It's been over two months since the last doctor left but you should have everything you need.'

'Why did the other doctor leave?' Elizabeth had been curious about that.

Daphne shrugged. 'Past caught up with him, I guess. He just didn't renew his contract and I didn't ask why. Mitch has been doing a great job of holding the fort by himself...well, you know, with the staff at the hospital as well, but I'm really glad you're here to help share his load. He's the type of guy to give and give and keep on giving until he's completely out of juice, if you know what I mean.'

Elizabeth nodded. 'I completely understand.' The door
opened and the bell above it tinkled. A woman held the door for her husband while he came in with his walker. '

'Good afternoon, Jean and Fred. Take a seat.'

They gave Elizabeth the once-over and smiled politely.

'Looks like you're on!' Daphne said. 'It's quite a full clinic.'

'Curious people?'

'Yes, and also the tourists. Most of the locals will wait for the clinics if it's not urgent but the tourists usually prefer to come here.'

'What percentage do the tourists make up?'

'Almost half of the clinic, sometimes more. Depends on the time of year. We have festivals in April and October so they're naturally more hectic.'

Elizabeth nodded. 'Do I have a list of patients in my room?'

'Yes. I'll have the casenotes out here for you and you just take the next one on the pile.'

'Good. Thank you.' Elizabeth lifted the file
off
the top. 'Mr Caplan?'

'Oh, call me Fred, girlie. Makes me feel young.'

Elizabeth's smile became natural rather than polite. 'Fred. Would you like to come through?' She waited for both him and his wife to manoeuvre their way into her room and she sat down behind her desk, the casenotes open before her. She scanned them quickly, pleased she was getting used to Mitch's handwriting and therefore being able to decipher it more easily.

'What can I do for you today?'

'Fred's pert long come back from Adelaide where he had a total hip replacement,' Jean began.

'It was a terrible time. Don't like the big cities,' Fred added.

'And now that the weather's turned cold, he's been coughing and wheezing and I'm a bit worried,' Jean added.

Cold? Elizabeth smiled, knowing to the Caplans this weather was indeed quite a bit cooler than what they were used to. 'Do you live in a dugout?'

'Oh, yes, dear. It's the only place to be,' Jean added.

'How has your hip been since you returned home?'

'Quite good. Teena's trained in physiotherapy as well as being a nurse,' Jean added. 'And so she's been coming by to see us, but she suggested we come here to see you and Daphne was good enough to fit us in straight away. Just as well you've come to help take the load off poor Mitch's shoulders, otherwise we might have had to wait longer to get seen.'

Elizabeth checked the notes. There wasn't any information here from Teena so she rang through to Daphne and asked her to chase it up.

'Let me have a look at your range of motion,' Elizabeth said, and came around to help Fred onto the examination couch. She noted that he had a few twinges of pain but that was to be expected. Apart from that, everything seemed to be healing quite well.

'You said you're not a big fan of the city,' she remarked as Fred put his clothes back on.

'Oh, no,' Jean replied for him. 'We didn't have much fun in Adelaide but we were stuck in the hospital most of the time. It was Mitch who kept us sane, wasn't it, Fred?'

'That boy's a marvel. Just what we've needed in this town. He cleared his schedule and flew to Adelaide with us, made sure we were settled before returning here and then called us every day to check how we were doing.'

'A marvel,' Jean repeated. 'He wanted to come when the plane flew us back here but he couldn't get away from the hospital at the time so he sent Ryan. They're all thoughtful, aren't they, Fred? All the staff there at the hospital. We'd do anything for them and they've all been so nice.'.

Elizabeth was happy to hear good reports of "her new colleagues. It could often be difficult when sorting a new job to know just how dedicated other people were, but with glowing reports like this she knew she'd have no
trouble fitting in... well, not professionally. Personally, she knew she'd be fine if Mitch O'Neill kept his distance.

'Let me have a listen to your chest,' she said, reaching for her stethoscope. She listened carefully. 'Have you ever had breathing problems?' There was no mention of it in his notes.

'No.' Fred puffed out his chest proudly. 'I was one of the few miners who didn't get bad asthma. Of course, I haven't been working the mine for quite some time and doubt I ever will with this hip being the way it is.'

'Never mind, Fred,' Jean said, patting her husband's hand. 'He's into jewellery now. Did a lapidary course over at the technical college when he was told he couldn't work in the mine and so now we're on a new phase in our lives.'

'That's great to hear.' Elizabeth wrote down her findings and noted Fred's age. Seventy-two and he was still willing to try new things. It gave her hope. She wasn't even thirty yet and trying new things was always a risky process and one which she didn't enter into lightly.

She
had F
red do a few more tests, like blowing into a spirometer to test his lung capacity, before she handed down her verdict.

'I'd like to prescribe an asthma inhaler to help the wheeze in your chest, Fred. Chances are once your chest clears up you'll not need it any more but I'd like you to come and see me in a few days for another review. If you have problems before that, come in immediately.' Elizabeth opened her cupboard doors and found an inhaler to show Fred how it worked. She went over everything until she was sure they both understood how the device worked. 'I'd also like to give you a bolus dose of prednisolone.'

'What?'

'That means a large dose to help get you on your way and prednisolone is a cortisone steroid which will quickly open your bronchioles so that when you take the inhaler, it will give you the best result.' Elizabeth stood and helped them out. 'Make
an
appointment with
Daphne for Thursday or Friday, even if you have to come and see me at the hospital clinic,' she added.

'Yes, dear,' Fred replied, and forced a smile. 'Never thought I'd get asthma,' he said despondently.

'We'll get you sorted out, Fred.' Elizabeth touched his shoulder and smiled warmly. Daphne had a note from Teena which gave the range of motion and mentioned she was concerned about Fred's breathing. She suspected asthma and therefore had encouraged him to get it checked out. Elizabeth was glad to have these things confirmed by the nurse.

After saying goodbye to Fred and Jean, she called in her next patient, surprised the waiting room was now full. An hour later, the crowd was starting to dwindle a bit, and another hour after that she came out with the last set of casenotes. During that time, she hadn't seen Mitch at all. They hadn't crossed paths once and she wondered if he'd done any work or whether he was still on that phone call with the specialist.

She handed the casenotes back to Daphne and watched as the receptionist placed them on a large pile. 'Do you have to file all of these?' she asked.

'Yes. I'll get it done when you leave.' Daphne glanced at the clock. 'It won't take long.'

'Do you need to leave earlier today?'

'No. I need to leave on time. Mitch is with his final patient and I need to tidy up, get everything organised for tomorrow and lock up.'

'Let me help you put these casenotes away,' Elizabeth offered. 'I have to wait around for Mitch to finish so I may as well be useful.'

'Thanks.' Daphne's eyes sparkled with delight. 'That would be great.' In another three minutes, Elizabeth picked up the last file and found where it went. Daphne had stopped to answer the phone and was still talking. Elizabeth parted the other files to fit the last one in. It was so tight that another one fell off the shelf. Groaning, Elizabeth picked up the thick file and was astonished to see her mother's name on the front:

Was Maude sick? Was there something she wasn't telling her own daughter? She knew she couldn't open the file and read it as Maude wasn't her patient and it would be going against her ethics. The file was thick which meant something had definitely been going on but what? When?

'Finished at last,' Mitch said as he came out and said goodbye to his patient. He placed the casenotes on Daphne's desk and Elizabeth picked them up to file them.

'That's all right,' Daphne said as she replaced the receiver. 'I'll do that, Elizabeth. Thanks so much for your help.'

'Multi-talented, are you, Lizzie?' Mitch grinned at her. 'Filing as well as being proficient in emergency medicine and GP work?'

'Among other talents. What's next on the list, Dr O'Neill?'

'You called me Mitch before,' he pointed out. 'Get your bag and I'll take you home.'

Elizabeth went through to her consulting room and collected her handbag before saying goodnight to Daphne. Mitch held the door for her and then hurried past her to help open the passenger door of the ute.

'Quite the gentleman now, are you?'

He grinned. 'Always, Lizzie.' He went around to the driver's side and she watched as he hot-wired the engine once more.

'Doesn't that damage it?'

'No.' He pulled out and headed down the road.

'What's this?' Elizabeth picked up a large-looking phone.

'That's the sat phone. Satellite. See that large aerial attached to the front of the ute? That's so we can pick up the satellite signals. Out here, mobile phones aren't all that reliable.'

Elizabeth nodded. It really was a completely different world.

It was half past six when Mitch drove Elizabeth back to Maude's house. Elizabeth had managed to get her seat belt done up this time long before he reached home and as they drove she looked out the window, smiling slightly at the few green trees the locals had managed to grow around the town.

'What's the smile for this time?'

'Not you, that's for sure,' she remarked tartly.

Mitch laughed and she found she couldn't be standoffish with him. He was so laid-back and easygoing it was practically impossible. Nothing she did seemed to bother him. It was as though he'd just sized her up, accepted her for who she was and that was that.

It was a completely new experience for her. The only other person who accepted her for who she was was Maude—but, then, Maude was biased when it came to her daughter.

'Aren't you going to share?'

'I was just looking at the trees...marvelling at how green they look here in the middle of the desert. Where does the water come from? I read that Coober Pedy gets hardly any rain.'

'That's right.' Mitch shrugged and appeared uneasy.

'You don't like trees?' Elizabeth asked, watching him closely, but when he turned to smile at her she realised she must have been mistaken.

'I like the landscape out here. The average rainfall is about five millimetres per year. The locals water the trees using "grey" water—reusing every single drop they can. Still, some of the trees don't survive.'

'You don't classify yourself a local?'

He shrugged again, his previous humour returning. 'I've only been here just over a year. Maude, on the other hand, is definitely a local, even though she still has that posh accent you Brits sport. How long has she been here?'

'Twenty-eight years. She came to Australia when I was one.'

'She obviously didn't bring you with her.'

'She managed to get me as far as Sydney before the authorities caught up with her. She apparently had to stay in Sydney while the custody battle with my father raged on. Eventually, he sent a nanny to collect me and I was flown back to London. Naturally, I don't remember any of this.'

He pulled up outside Maude's house. 'So you grew up without your mother.'

'Yes.' She looked down at her hands, wondering whether to say anything more or whether she'd already said too much.

'I take it your father's a bit of a control freak?'

'No,' she replied defensively, and looked up at him. Then sighed. 'Well...yes. I guess you could call him that. He's...' She shrugged. 'He's just the way he is. He likes to have everything neat and ordered and controlled.'

'Maude's told me a bit about him.
Not
in great detail,' he added quickly. 'Just sometimes
When
things
have
come up in conversation.'

'You've known her a while?'

'Since I arrived. She was friendly.'

'A lot of people weren't?'

'Ah...it pays to be careful. I guess I liken Coober Pedy to
the American Wild West. Out here sometimes people don't have much respect for the law and take matters into their own hands. It's not as bad now as it was in the opal mining heyday of the sixties but the stories are still told and although the tourists love them, it's also a sort of warning to any newcomers.'

'Stories? You can't just leave me there, Mitch.'

He smiled. 'I guess not. Why don't we go inside for a coldie and I'll tell you a beauty?'

Elizabeth looked tentatively at her mother's front door but Mitch was already out of the car and headed in that direction. 'Besides,' she mumbled as she gathered her bag and climbed from the ute, 'Maude's home, so it's not as though you'd be alone with him.'

Mitch knocked twice on the door and tried the handle. Maude wasn't home but he knew where the spare key was kept. Before Elizabeth had walked over, he'd opened the door, switched on the lights and kicked off his shoes before heading to the kitchen.

'Want a coldie?' he called. 'Very refreshing after a hard day's slog with the patients.'

'Yes, thank you.' She smiled at his words and he reappeared a moment later with two bottles of ginger beer in his hands.

'Here you go.'

She took the bottle. 'You certainly know how to make yourself at home.'

'Maude knows I like the stuff and keeps a few bottles here for me. I think I might have converted her.'