Free Outback Exodus by Dawn Millen Page A

sitting on the sofa pouring over a pile of papers when I approach. I clear my throat gently to let him know I am there. I don’t want to disturb his concentration on the lists he is checking over.
    Gavin looks up and smiles as he takes his glasses off and rubs at his reddened eyes. “Hey Jenn.” He says as he stands up and hugs me. “You look exhausted mate.” He continues. “Bad night at the hospital?” He asks.
    I hug him back and feel comforted as his head rests gently on top of mine. “Mate, I am shattered, stuffed and tired, in that order.” I tell him. It’s nice to be hugged and feel just for a moment that there is support there.
    “Well we had better get on with it.” Gavin says as he drops his arms from around me and turns for the primus to make coffee. “This is a pretty massive undertaking.” He states as he spoons coffee, powdered milk and sugar into the cups. “The count is 203 people, 85 men, 75 women and 46 children. There are 16 older men, 10 are frail and 69 who are fit and healthy. 30 of the women are elderly and ten of them are frail, that leaves 45 healthy women. Of the children there are 21 teenagers, 15 aged from three to 12 and 10 under three years old, three of them are babies. We also have four pregnant ladies in the 30 healthy ones; one is due to have her baby any day now.” Gavin starts to fire figures at me quickly as he makes the coffee.
    “Sit down before you fall down, girl.” He says gesturing to the sofa with a coffee cup in each hand. I promptly do as I am instructed.
    “Does that include the committee?” I ask Gavin, a cheeky grin on my face.
    “Of course it does.” Gavin grins back and our old bantering starts to ease the tension under the tarpaulin. “Bloody cheek of you!” he laughs and cocks a fist at my chin.
    “Do we have enough vehicles to take that lot?” Gavin asks.
    “We do, four buses should take most of the older people, the children and the pregnant ones. We can also fill the seats with the younger healthy ones too. We can mix them up in most of the buses so that there are enough younger ones to help out with the children and fetch and carry for the elderly too.” I’m rattling facts off at a huge rate and Gavin is taking notes quickly. “We will need car seats fitted to the buses for all the children under 5 years old, but I think that I will keep Caren, Robin and Tammy with me, but I can also take another two adults with me as Rhys will be driving a semi for the trip.”
    “The nurses will go in the ambulances with the patients from the hospital and so will Helen.” Gavin says, quickly anticipating my next words. I nod in agreement. “Drivers are not a problem for the ambulances either.” He states.
    “We will have four of the group of older teenagers out on trail bikes scouting ahead all through the day. Most of them can’t wait to do it either.” I smile as I think of the older kids faces as they argued as to who was going to ride first shift this morning. “There are eight of them old enough to do this and they will take in turns throughout the day.” I say, still smiling as I remember their enthusiasm.
    “That cuts four seats down in vehicles then. ” Gavin says. “Did you see how excited the kids are to be doing this?” He asks me. I nod and smile at him.
    “We will need a further four vehicles though.” I tell him . “I know that the Police vehicle will be going and can be filled with supplies too, but we also need extra room for a few more people, there is always the possibility of finding others along the way and we will be able to fit in more supplies.” I state. “This is about as far as I have managed to get at this point; I’ve been fairly busy what with one thing and another.” I state with a wry grin. My thoughts wing back to yesterday and all that had happened. I must have pulled a face that showed my thoughts, because Gavin reached out and hugged me.
    “It’s okay Jenn, you are doing a fantastic job in the time