Chapter 23
Day 21
It feels great to sleep in this morning. I open my eyes and glance over in Derrick’s direction and see he is sleeping soundly. I decide to roll over and put my head on his chest for a little snuggle. He puts his arm around me and we lie there for about a half hour with no words. We are just enjoying the closeness without the sex.
After a quick bite of lunch, Taylor, Matthew, and I get into the lab truck and head toward the station. There is no reason for Derrick and Dane to come with us; all we are going to do is test the water, the soil, and clean up the trough Matthew prepositioned around the house. Once we have everything in order, we will head back to the hotel. It should only take a couple of hours. We stop at a little grocery store to buy bread and milk.
The first thing we do when we arrive at the station is go to Mrs. Jones’ house. Matthew knocks on the door, and within a few seconds, she opens the door with a smile and invites us in. I hand her the bread and milk and she politely says thank you and invites us to have a seat at her kitchen table. We picked up some coffee and muffins for her too.
“I did everything just like you asked me to. I finished with the bathroom about half an hour ago,” Mrs. Jones says, as if she was very proud of herself.
“That’s great ma’am,” Matthew says as he nods his head. “I am going to get a sample from the kitchen sink and the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Matthew walks into the kitchen and collects a sample in a vial and then walks to the rear of the house to get the sample from the bathroom.
“Did you sleep well, Mrs. Jones?” I ask.
“Oh, yes, Kobi, I sure did. How about you?”
“I slept fine. I enjoyed sleeping a little late today. It is the first day in about three weeks I have been able to do that.”
Matthew is finished collecting the samples. “Mrs. Jones, we are going into the truck and check the water supply to see if the bleach has killed the parasite,” he says.
The three of us make our way to the truck. Matthew hands the samples to Taylor and tells us that he is going to collect a soil sample as well. Taylor and I suit up and I hand him the first slide. He eases it up to the microscope. Taylor peers into the eyepiece for a long time and then looks at me and says, “You better have a look.”
Of course, judging by the look on his face, I think the worst. But once I look into the eyepiece, I see nothing. I look again and still see nothing. I look up over the eyepiece at Taylor, who is grinning like an opossum, and give him the evil eye. We both start to laugh because the parasite is dead. Unbelievable! Just then, Matthew knocks on the door to the truck. Taylor opens the door and gives Matthew the good news. Matthew hands him the soil sample. So just as before, we mix a little water with the dirt and place it under the microscope. Again, no parasite.
“I think we have cleaned up this station, Kobi,” Taylor says as he gives me a thumbs up. “Let’s go tell Mrs. Jones.”
Mrs. Jones is very happy to hear the news about the water and the soil, but she is not as happy as I thought she would be. I ask her if everything is okay. She tells me that she is still concerned about her men and the sheep. I totally understand her position and apologize for not being more sensitive to her dilemma. She assures me that I do not need to apologize. She understands our excitement about cleaning up the water and the soil.
While we are talking in the kitchen, Taylor hears a car pull up outside. He excuses himself and walks out the front door. Within a minute or two, he walks back in with a very tall man in his mid-fifties. “Everyone, I would like you to meet Ken. He is the friend I was telling you about. He has a water purification business in Perth and has agreed to come out here and help you, Mrs. Jones, to purify your drinking water again,” Taylor says.
Ken walks over to Mrs. Jones, shakes her hand and says, “Nice to make your acquaintance ma’am.”
“Mrs. Jones, I am going to do is test the water today, just to get an idea of
what sort of impurities are present. I know we have a lot of bleach, since that’s what was used to kill the parasite, but I will check the water for other things. Once it is determined what is in the water supply, I will develop a course of action to be taken on getting your water system back up and running. This will not cost you a dime, Mrs. Jones. I am donating my time and the CDC is paying for all of the supplies.”
Mrs. Jones has this look of shock on her face. She can’t believe that Ken is going to do all of this for her at no cost. She is very thankful and extends her arms to Ken signaling that she wants to hug him. He stands up and returns the hug. Ken, Taylor, and I excuse ourselves and head out to the lab. Ken needs a sample of the water supply, so we go to the well and pump him out about a gallon.
He pours some of the water into this cool gadget that looks like a pan flute--lots of clear chambers, all lined up, one right next to the other. He pulls out a toolbox full of chemicals and starts dropping different drops into each cylinder of water. Some of the water changes colors, and some don’t. I have no idea what any of that means, but Ken knows.
“This is good news you guys. I’m not going to have a problem with her water system. It is going to be easy to purify, and I should have it done within a week. Because, so much bleach was used, we will have to wait a while and counteract it with something else. It is a process, but it can be done.”
That is great news. I know Mrs. Jones will be glad to hear it. We decide to go up to the house and deliver the news, and let her know we will be returning to Darwin the next morning. She is sorry to hear that we are leaving.
“Mrs. Jones, we’ll call you in a few days to see how everything is going.
I’ll let you know what’s going on back at the lab in Darwin. As soon as we have an antidote, Taylor and I will come back and give it to your employees and all of the sheep. Don’t worry, we won’t forget about you, I promise.”
“She looks at me with that beautiful smile and says, “I know you won’t forget. Thank you very much for everything. I really appreciate all you’ve done.”
“It was our pleasure Mrs. Jones,” Taylor says as he shakes her hand.
I reach my arms out for her and give her a big hug. She hugs me back, tightly. Not bad for an eighty year old lady, strong like an ox.
Taylor, Matthew, and I get into the truck and make our way back to the hotel. All of a sudden, just like I had been hit with a bolt of lightning, I stop dead in my tracks, “Taylor, what about the horses? We didn’t test them and they are drinking from the same water supply. The sheep and horses have been urinating and defecating all over the land. Don’t we need to test that too? If their feces are infected, how are we going to control the parasite in the upper pasture?” I ask in a panic.
“I didn’t think of that, Kobi. I don’t know. My job might not be done here after all.”
I get on the phone and give Derrick a call and ask him to get Dane and come back to the station. I see Derrick and Dane pull up about 30 minutes later. They both come running up to the truck wondering what in the heck is going on.
“Derrick, remember yesterday when we were riding up in the meadow and
we commented about the feces being everywhere?”
Immediately, I could see Derrick’s face change, his eyes got bigger, and his mouth opened slightly. He knew exactly what I was talking about.
“Derrick, would you and Dane draw blood from the horses please. I am going to collect a sample of the sheep waste, and get a soil sample from their grazing area. We may have to call in a hazardous team to decontaminate the entire area.”
Derrick runs back to the truck to gather up needles and supplies he needs to draw blood from the horses. Matthew quickly jumps into high gear and starts helping get the supplies together. Dane has the horses in the stable and is numbering them right now. We are all operating like a well-oiled machine. Everyone knows what to do without needing to be told what to do.
Tayl
or comes back with soil and waste samples as well. He quickly suits up and checks the samples. After about 30 minutes, he comes out of the truck and gives me the long face. The property is infected. If it is in the soil and the waste, then it is probably in the urine which means it is in the soil—everywhere the sheep have been.
Taylor gets on the phone and calls the CDC office in Perth and orders a decontamination (decon) team to be dispatched immediately to the property for an emergency decon operation. Taylor asks me to go talk to Mrs. Jones and let her know what all the commotion is. So, I take a deep breath and make my way back to the house. She obviously sees me coming and meets me at the door.
“Did you forget something?”
“No Ma’am, but I’m afraid I have more bad news. I noticed yesterday, when Derrick and I were riding around the area where the sheep graze most of the time, there were a lot of feces from the sheep.”
I could see her sway just a little bit and suggested that she go sit down on the couch. She looked at me and said, “What about my land? Is it infected too?”
“Yes ma’am, it is. Taylor already checked and the parasite is all over the place. Chances are that the horses are going to be infected as well. We have already called a decontamination crew to come out here and decontaminate the property. It will more than likely involve crop dusters spreading bleach throughout the property just like they do with insecticides. The problem is we do not know how big the parasite circle is. It may be contained on your property, and then again, it may not. That will be the decontamination crew’s job to make sure the parasite is destroyed and contained. I’m so sorry.”
The poor old woman looked as though I had punched her in the gut. I can only imagine how she must be feeling right now. So, all the work with the water and the soil earlier was probably a waste of time because if the parasite is all over the property, it will get into the water supply again. I’m sure Taylor has thought of that and will call Ken and tell him not to do anything right now. Once the station is clear of the parasite, he will call Ken back. I excuse myself and walk out of the house to check on Derrick and Dane.
Derrick and Dane are finished drawing blood from the horses. Luckily, there are only seven horses in the stable. I decide to suit up and give Taylor a hand checking the samples. One by one they are checked, and all of them are infected, as expected. Taylor decides just to keep the horses in the stable and alerts the animal control officers.
“Good call, Kobi. You may have saved the day here in Australia,” Taylor says as he pats me on the shoulder. “I should have thought of that.”
“It doesn’t matter. I just hope the team will be able to get this situation under control. Do you need us to stay and help you through this, or …”
Before I can finish my question, Taylor shakes his head no.
“There is nothing else we can do here today. Matthew and I will be back tomorrow. The other CDC team is scheduled to arrive at 1:00 p.m.,” Taylor says.
“Okay, let me go say goodbye to Mrs. Jones,” I say sadly.
I run back to the house and tell her that I will be back soon. She thanks me for everything and gives me a hug. I run down the porch stairs and turn to wave again. She is crying and waving. “Bye,” I tell her.
“Taylor, are you sure you don’t want the three of us to stay here with you?”
“No, Kobi. There really isn’t anything else you can do. The work that needs to be done now is strictly decontamination procedures. You did what you came here to do. I know what the parasite looks like and can take it from here. You were extremely helpful and I appreciate your input and time so much. That goes for you two guys in the back as well. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“No problem, Taylor.” We will surely keep you posted on the progress from Darwin. We are going to drive back to Perth tonight. Do you mind if we take the SUV and leave the truck with you and Matthew?”
“No, not at all. Just leave the keys with the front desk attendant at your hotel when you leave. Feel free to use it tonight if you want to. We will pick it up when we return.”
“Thanks Taylor, we really appreciate that. I’ll see you soon, hopefully with the antidote”
Derrick, Dane, and I quickly go to our rooms and get everything packed up. It is about 2:00 p.m. when we finally get on the road headed back to Perth. I decided to give Geoff a call and fill him in on the last development at the station, plus, I really want to know what’s going on back at the lab.
Geoff takes the news well and is looking forward to our returning to Darwin. He did have a little good news. One of the drugs, Pravastatin, was dissolved in saline solution and added to blood that was infected with the parasite. After about an hour, the parasite stopped moving; it wasn’t destroyed, but it was rendered docile. So, they are making progress there.
We pull up to the hotel about 5:30 and check in. I immediately give Henderson a call to let him know that we have arrived.
“Hey Henderson, we are here. Do you want to meet us in the lobby at 7:00 p.m. for dinner?”
“Absolutely!”
“Great. We’ll see you then.”
Derrick tells me to get cleaned up first. He has an errand to run. So, I get cleaned up and decide to make myself extra pretty tonight. I pull out the only sexy thing I packed and put it on. It is a sleeveless, black, spandex dress that fits me like a glove. I am putting on my shoes when I hear a click, and in walks Derrick.
He has a little bag in his hand. I walk out of the bathroom and ask, “Is that for me?”
“Yes, it is.”
I slowly open the bag and see a box inside the bag. I take the box out, open it, and see a beautiful locket with a chain. It is an oval L’Amour locket, 9ct yellow gold necklace. He takes the locket and secures it around my neck.
“Thank you.”
“I just want to say--I love you, Kobi.”
“I love you too.”
Derrick gets cleaned up and on our way downstairs, we knock on Dane’s door. We all head down to the lobby and see Henderson waiting on the couch.
“Wow, Kobi, you look amazing.
“Thanks!”
“So, what do you guys feel like eating for dinner?” Henderson asks.
Dane says, “Meat. I want meat.”
“Let’s ask the concierge if there is a good restaurant nearby,” Derrick suggests.
So we make our way to the concierge desk and ask if he knows a place where we can get a variety of foods. He suggests the Old Brewery. He gives us directions and we make our way through town to the place.
Once we arrive at the restaurant, we are impressed; it is a classy, beautiful place. We are seated at a table and handed a menu. This is the biggest menu I have ever seen. It takes me almost 15 minutes to look at everything on the menu before I make up my mind. Derrick and I have decided to share the Grass and Grain fed Black Angus one kg bone-in Roasted Sirloin. Dane is having a double Wagyu Burger, and Henderson is having the Eight Rib Rack of Lamb. We seal the order with a nice bottle of wine, a 1997 Peter Rumball, from Coonawarra SA.
The wine arrives within a minute or two. Henderson volunteers to be the wine taster and deems it fit for our consumption. Fit is an understatement. The wine is exquisite and hearty. Dinner arrives some time later and looks delicious. We enjoy the dinner and conversation very much. So much, in fact, that 10:00 p.m. on my watch seems impossible.
We tell everyone good night, and agree to meet in the morning for breakfast.