Two Places at Once

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."

They left me alone thinking about what they'd said. Did I have a wife? If so, could she accept me looking as bad as they had indicated?

The monitor kept me company for I don't know how long until I felt a hand on my arm. I opened my eyes to see a young woman leaning over me. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Do I know you?" I hoped that she was my wife come to identify me.

"I'm Jenny, the Ambo that found you."

"Thank you for that. I can't seem to remember much about what has happened to me. The police were here and they mentioned something about the Strezlecki Track and a burnt-out 4WD. What that was about I don't know."

"It appears as if you match the general description of someone reported missing and whose 4WD was found burnt out and abandoned way up north."

"But I was found down here, how could I be in two places at the one time?"

"Don't ask me. I just dropped in to see how you were getting on."

She got up to leave. "Don't go, I need someone to talk to." She sat back down. "You say that you found me, when was that?"

"You've been here for two days."

"Oh."

"I'm not surprised that you can't remember much, you're in a pretty bad way. I have never seen anyone so badly sun-burnt. You must have been out in the sun for days and, at this time of the year, that is way too much sun."

"I seem to remember waking up on a beach somewhere and going into the water to cool down before walking over the sandhills and finding a lagoon or something."

"That would have been the Coorong. How did you manage to get over the Murray mouth?"

"I could see that the tide was still coming in, it must have almost reached its peak, I dived in near the ocean and swam across and it carried me it as I swam across and I walked, or waded from there until I reached a boat ramp."

"That would be the Beacon 19 ramp."

"There were a couple of boat trailers there but no-one around. I followed the road until I got to the barrage and then headed towards where I could see lights. That was where my memory faded until you sat me in your car."

"I'm sure that it will all come back to you, give it time. I'll drop in when I have the time off from work, just to see how you're getting on. I'd kiss you goodbye but that might shatter your lips. don't smile, that's just as bad. See ya." She waved and was gone, leaving me lonely once more.

I don't know what drugs were being pumped into me but sometime in my busy schedule of doing nothing, a figure emerged from the haze. It was either a blurred vision of an attractive woman or a beautiful ghost, who knows, I certainly couldn't get my head around it, although, for some reason, the name Ellie sprang to mind. This vision had a sad look on its face before she turned away from me and slowly walked away towards a more distant vision of a man.

What does this mean? I don't know. What I do know is that it must have been a strong vision to deny me sleep for what seemed to be hours.

The regular inspection of my body was happening. There was a lot of mumbling discussion, obviously not for my ears until the one in charge asked me, "How are you feeling?"

Now, if I was one to swear, I would have told him that I felt like shit, but I'm not. "Okay I guess, how am I supposed to feel?"

"Like shit would come close. You don't realise how lucky you are to have been found when you were. You owe a lot to the person that found you and got help quickly."

I think that my scrambled brain had already worked that out.

They muttered their farewells and left me, once more to my silence.

Who was Ellie? Was I married to her? If so why hasn't she come to see me? Questions, questions with no answers.

One question has just been answered. "I think that we have established that you are the missing Richard Bradford." The police were back. "That's the easy part. What were you doing down in this neck of the woods when you were supposed to be driving to a remote cattle station up near the Queensland border. When you hadn't arrived on schedule, a search was mounted. We eventually found your vehicle, upside down some fifty metres off the road, but there was no sign of you. It was assumed that you were in a dazed condition and wandered away from the wreck. We were told that you knew enough about survival skills to know that you stick with the vehicle and wait to be found."

"That surprises me, to the best of my vague knowledge, I have never strayed more than a couple of hundred kilometres by road from Adelaide. And why I should be way out there is a mystery to me." It was a struggle to speak through my sun-damaged lips.

"Can you tell us what your occupation is?"

"No, but I have no recollection of having anything to do with cattle."

"We have been contacted by your wife, she's coming in this afternoon to formally identify you. She has been warned that you're a mess and she may not be able to make a positive ID. We are still waiting on DNA results, but if your DNA is not on record that will not help us."

They left me to my new thoughts. Wife? I don't recall a wife. Was it her image I saw? Was her name Ellie?

Jenny dropped in just before lunch which, for me, wasn't really lunch, not when I was still being drip-fed. "Hi, how are you today?" She kissed the bandage covering my forehead.

"Dazed and confused just about covers it."

"What's happened?"

"The police were here, it seems as if my name is Richard Bradford, but that's not ringing any bells, and I have a wife. Again no bells. She's coming in to identify this mess as her husband."

"Oh."

"I don't recall ever having a wife. I need to know for sure. If you've got time, can you do a search in the Births Deaths and Marriages records to find Richard Bradford and if he has a wife?"

"I'll see what I can do. What will you do if she identifies you and I find out that the truth tells us different?"

"Wing it I guess, and see where it takes us." What was I doing, using the first person plural?

Once more I was left in silence, only this time it was a silence of anticipation, of dread. Was I prepared for what was about to happen? Time, that slow-moving time, would tell.

The curtain was pulled aside and a woman stood there, trying hard to suppress her horror at her sight of me. She bent to get a closer look. "I can't be sure, his face is different."

"That's to be expected. You may need to wait for the swelling to go down and the blisters to clear up. We can wait, he's not going anywhere."

"How long before he's recognisable with any degree of certainty?"

"Who knows, These things take their own sweet time."

She left.

What was I to make of this? I did not recognise her, although, thinking about this, she bore a strong likeness to the vague, out of focus, image that now occupied my mind, was this the ghostly Ellie?

Jenny was my next visitor. "What happened when your wife came to see you?"

"She was unable to identify me."

"Bullshit, she only had to look at your eyes to identify you. I just happened to be hanging around when she came out. She was met by a man and the two of them were having words. I got close enough to hear what was being said."

"He was never supposed to be found!" She yelled at him.

"Will you be quiet, you never know who might hear us."

"I had to lie to the police and tell them that I couldn't recognise him, but it was him and you told me that he would not be found before we got our hands on the company. What are we going to do now?"

"They climbed into a car and drove off," Jenny said. "I managed to get the rego of the car."

"What was it?" I asked. Her answer confirmed the suspicions that had developed in my mind over the last few hours. Who would benefit from my disappearance but not my death? Someone who wanted to gain control of a company, the value of which would be diminished if the owner was to divorce his wife.

"What are you thinking?" Jenny. asked.

"Give me time to think about this."

"You know who owns the car, don't you?"

"Yes. I think that he has been having an affair with my wife."

"So you are married then?"

"It would appear that I am/"

"Oh." She seemed disappointed.

"Not happily it seems."

"Just my luck, falling for someone who's not available."

"How could you possibly fall in love with this?" I asked.

"I saw something in you that I was looking for, something that the condition of your skin could not hide. I saw a strength and determination in you and decided that I would do what I could to see you get better, who knows you could even be handsome."

"Please, it hurts when I laugh."

"Okay, I'll be serious."

"No, don't be serious just for me, I like your smile."

She stayed for about half an hour and, not long after she left the doctors came in for their daily inspection.

"It looks like enough skin has survived on his face that we won't need a graft. His body and legs are still a concern, we'll have to wait a little longer, there are patches where the damage has gone quite deep, we need to see if his body is able to heal over these patches." He gave directions to the nurses and left.

A lot has happened in the six weeks since I staggered from the beach back into the land of the almost living. It was never intended that I should survive, it was never intended that I should ever be found alive or dead. To my, possibly scrambled, thinking, if I had died and my body found, my company would be bound up in litigation. My CEO would have taken over the running of the company and sometime in the nebulous future, it would be sold off to a holding company set up by himself and my darling wife. If it became common knowledge that the two of them had been having an affair behind my back, they assumed that I would seek a divorce and half of my nett worth was never going to be enough for them.

The truth, when it eventually emerged, only bore a passing resemblance to what I was thinking. It seems as if the powers that be were about to launch an investigation into some of the company's dealings. Allegations of insider trading had been made. As the Managing Director of an Investment conglomerate, I was responsible for all trading done by the company. I relied heavily on my CEO to keep me informed on these transactions. I had given him a great deal of autonomy, his instructions were that, as long as there were no problems, I only needed an overview. If there were problems then I needed to know all so that I could decide what action to take.

It would appear that this was not the brightest move I had ever made.

Bill, my CEO, had been a friend from my Uni days, He was everything that I was not, handsome, outgoing, great at sport, popular with women. He had money, a large house and flashy cars, everything, I thought, that a girl could want, It came as a surprise to me when I had met one of his discards and married her.

Ellie, yes I was married to Ellie, was a young and attractive woman that I met at some function or other. I remember it because, like many functions that I was forced to attend, I hadn't wanted to be there. We got talking and, late in the evening, she told me that her date for this show had left her in the lurch. I felt sorry for her and offered to drive her home. It all developed from there and nine months later I proposed. I was not confident that she would accept my proposal, but she did, and three months later she and I were married.

I won't say that the marriage was a disaster, at least not at first, we were, at least on the surface, happy enough. We were comfortable with each other, she did not place unreasonable demands on me sexually, no kinky stuff, just a comfortable sexual experience a couple of times a week seemed to keep her satisfied.

In the ten years that we had been married, we had reached the stage of neither of us making any effort to add a spark to our marriage, me because business had taken over as my primary goal. I was determined to succeed in a particularly volatile environment, within the law, and we, on the surface at least, had achieved that, or so I had been led to believe.