Northern Exposure: Episode Four, Page 3

end. I had always thought they were doing washing or perhaps just scouting. Not taking notice of the obvious, it never occurred to me that they were intimate to such an extent. Still the situation was strange, I tried picturing the two of them together and sure the older Arabic man had a rugged good look to him, but I would never have pictured the two of them being together let alone the two of them consummating their relationship in a sexual way. I cleared the images from my head almost immediately. In a way I guess I was a bit jealous, but not because I was in love with the young woman, Just the fact that she could be the only woman we would see in a while, basically I figured the gap of me being with a woman was closing more and more rapidly.

  That night after returning from the pipeline, I decided to have supper and spend some time with the girls, I needed to take my mind off the influx of information this day had over ridden me with. While lying on the girl’s mattress as we finished our last game of scrabble, I looked over my shoulder and got a glimpse of the two lovers cuddled up In each other’s embrace. It was as if they were waiting for me to find out about their relationship before partaking in any open affection. I could see Sky was much more intimate than Sharif, She held him tightly while he lay staring at the ceiling; perhaps he felt awkward in front of the girls. After all they had decided to put their relationship on hold since I had woken up. The girls were not stupid though, they knew Sky and their father was an item, but being the smart little sweet hearts, they asked no questions. I wondered how the relationship between their father and Sky affected them. Was there any animosity towards this new woman in their father’s life? I highly doubted it, the way they interacted with Sky was similar to that of mother and child, and they needed her down here. What about Sharif, how torn the poor man must have been, while trying to hold onto the images of his wife as he fell for another woman.

  I soon forgot about the two of them while battling my own demons, as I jumped into bed I was over whelmed by nausea and a constant deep throbbing in my head. I tossed and turned all night on my mattress until Smith eventually got up, took his blanket and went to sleep on the floor, He could not take my constant agitating any longer. But I was not moving around simply because I was a bit uncomfortable, no I felt awful and was sure I had contracted a stomach bug or something similar. Sweat run down my face, leaving my pillow soaked, I was burning up with a fever but felt bone chillingly cold inside, my teeth throbbed and my back was completely riddled with pain. All of a sudden a bubbling sensation came from deep within my gut, I had no time to run outside, or even ask for a bucket, before I could think a river of puke was being sprayed across my mattress.

  The others quickly woke, and Sky was by my side in no time, checking my fever. I felt embarrassed as I lay completely covered in my own vomit. Sharif told Zara to get a wet cloth and hand it to me. As the young girl passed it on I wiped my face and my shirts collar which was covered in large chunks of food from supper time. Sky ordered me to remove my shirt then she proceeded doing her medical duties. She placed the back of her hand to my forehead and here I could see the shock on her face when she felt how hot I was getting. Next she opened my mouth to check for signs of dehydration. After a few more test Sky came to the conclusion I had picked up food poisoning. But she could not understand how the symptoms hit me so suddenly, a few hours ago I was perfectly okay, now I was feeling like I was about to die.

  Sky was going to administrate a bunch of home remedies due to our limited rations of medication. She explained that the first thing we were to do was give my stomach the chance settle, which meant no eating or drinking until the morning, next she’d cut my intake of water to small sips until I was rehydrated and my body could handle larger amounts and then she would try flush the sickness out by making me drink more liquid than I was passing out my system. Lastly she would give me an antibiotic if it came to that. Sky knew our lack of medication was going to be an issue in the future so she wanted to see if I could make a recovery before administering the pills.

  With the tests done, Sharif offered to drag my mattress out into the passage way until the morning where he would clean it for me. Smith made a bed of blankets, right next to his, and the girls sat by my side, regardless of the pungent vomit odour from my mouth. I was amazed at how they were all so sympathetic towards me, it reminded me of when I was back home and got ill, my mom would move heaven and earth to make me feel better. Even though there presence comforted me, the pain would not subside, as the night went on the pain intensified, until eventually I managed to fall asleep.

  Morning came and instantaneously I woke to a strong familiar aroma, I had not smelt this beautiful secant in a while, it completely enveloped the bunker as it gently flowed across the room. Begging us to acknowledge it, ridding us of the lingering presence of the previous bad odours and lifting every ones mood in the process. Before moving, I remained in my bed for a few minutes just indulging in the joyous smell which was freshly brewing coffee.

  Once again I was the last one to get out of bed, this time having good reason as my stomach still felt like it had been passed through a shredder. Fighting through the pain I felt a sharp sting run down my side, the pain overwhelmed me to such an extent it made me buckle by the knees then collapse back onto my blankets. Sky demanded I stay in bed; handing over the cooking to Shahkierah. Sky came to my side with a bucket of clean water and a rag, all ready to give me a morning pampering. After wiping my forehead down and checking my temperature she made me finish an entire bottle of water. Once she was satisfied I was okay, she went back to her pots

  This was going to be awesome, even in my discomforting state; I was not going to miss out on eating all this food, hell no! Sky was just finishing up, adding the last touches to the full course breakfast, all of us sat there in utter silence waiting for her to give the signal. Sky had put together an ensemble of fluffy powdered eggs scrambled and cooked to perfection, the thinnest crispy fried spam I had ever seen, looking ever so much like rashers of bacon, sautéed canned mushrooms and lastly the pot of black gold which was brewing in a large steel pot. Sky must have collected all these items, including the coffee on her little gun excursion. She was always thinking about her girls, and knew how they were going to enjoy this breakfast. Shahkierah and Zara had been going on and on about a picture in one of the magazines where a family was sitting around a long table, set out with a five star breakfast, from croissants to poached eggs. The kids would sit whispering about how one day they would have this and that. Thinking it was all just a game and no one would take notice of them. But Sky did, it wasn’t the five star breakfast from the magazine but down here it was more than sufficient.

  Sky began complaining about the portion sizes as Sharif dished up large mounds of food in each plate. Moaning that we were not construction workers and were on a budget, there was no need for such large portions. Sharif simply ignored her as he halved the plates then served breakfast to each of us.

  Once I had finished my breakfast I fell asleep, from there all I can remember was waking up and hastily running outside where I once again demolished our pit toilet.

  Chapter 12

  Tossing and turning in my bed that night, why couldn’t I sleep? Something felt wrong, dead silence in the air. My senses were in a heightened state. My current sick situation must have been over whelming to the extent that I was completely disillusioned. I felt as if I was stuck between two dimensions, sleeping yet still awake. My senses were going haywire; all of my feelings heighted to an astronomical extent. I could smell the sweat from Smiths body, this would usually not be an abnormal phenomenon as the man did have quite an “Aged” smell to himself, but how could I smell him when he was across the room passed out on the plastic green chair!

  My focus was then redirected to Sharif, I could unwillingly hear each breath he inhaled then exhaled as he snored ever so lightly. These involuntary notations of my surroundings were starting to scare me. Was I still dreaming? There was no other solution as to what was happening. But before I could conte
mplate if I was awake or asleep my senses went out of whack once again. This time my eyes where the ones playing tricks on me, my vision cleared then zoomed in, to the extent where I could see each blemish, each wrinkle and each hair on Sky’s face. I shook my head and shut my eyes tight, as tight as I could.

  I had no Idea what was happening to me, so I screamed for Sky, but nothing came out. I gasped for air but my breaths became shorter and shorter. I panicked and tried calling for help but nothing, only short exhales exited my diaphragm. My core started heating up, once again my fever returned then my neck stiffened up. Severe cramps ravished my entire body, what the hell did Sky give me to make me feel this terrible sensation? I looked across the room, and once again my eyesight was obscured.

  My gut started twisting; and I whined in pain, my back began cracking. What was happening to me? I rolled onto my knees and began screaming in pain I couldn’t take this agony much longer. Every one jumped out of bed at the sound of my blood curdling cries and soon where circled around me trying to figure out what was wrong. Smith tried