David picked up Rachel and carried her the remaining few yards to the tent, and as Maria held the flap and pulled the top blanket off the bed, he continued on in and laid her on the remaining bedrolls.

"Pull the side of the blanket over her, shock may give her a chill," Maria said. "Roll this one up as big as you can," she continued, handing him the other blanket. "Go soak some towels and cottons in the cold stream. Bring them back cold and sopping."

He gave her the rolled bedroll, and she lifted Rachel's leg and put it under her calf, then gently eased the loose boot off the foot and ran her fingers lightly up each side of her ankle. "Let me know if you have sharp pain, bone pain when I do this, Mama." She increased the pressure as she walked her fingers up and down past the ankle joint. "Anything, Mama?"

"A throbbing, an ache along the outside of my foot. Nothing sharp."

"Along here," Maria asked, looking at the beginning of swelling and darkening. "Did you roll over onto the outside of your foot?"

"Yes, it rolled downhill with the rock. That's tender along there."

"Sharp?"

"No — tender is a better word, aching, throbbing. It feels hot."

"David will be here soon with a cold compress. Cooling and pressing will slow the swelling. Ease the pain a bit also. Roll onto your right side, put the outside of your foot upward."

She took the wet towels from David, folded one and put it under the ankle, folded two more and draped them over the foot.

"One more test, Mama. I'm going to push up on the bottom of your foot. First the heel. I'll increase the push gradually as much as I can. You push back as I do. Tell me if you've any sharp pain, any bone pain. Let me know as soon as there's pain." She pushed straight along the axis of the leg, being careful not to bend the ankle. "Anything, Mama?"

"Nothing but the pressure — and the throb that's already there."

"I'm going to push up on the ball of your foot. Same thing, you tell me again."

"A pull in the back of my calf, an increase in the ache along the outside of my foot. Nothing sharp."

"Did you feel a pop? A snap? Hear anything when it happened."

"Nothing."

"I don't think it's broken. It appears to be only a sprain. I'll probe my fingers along all your foot and ankle bones again. Tell me of any sharp pain or change in pain... Nothing? Good!" She looked up and smiled.

"I think you have a mild sprain, no torn ligaments, just some stretch. The instructor told us these are the most common type, turning the ankle over outward. Treatment is easy. Elevate the ankle to reduce blood flow, apply cold compresses to prevent swelling, or to slow it. We can bind it once we see the swelling isn't severe. We still have a lot of surgical tape we can use for that. The main thing is rest. Don't walk on it for a few days until the swelling has reduced."

"Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!" Rachel cried out. "Look what I've done. Look what I've done to our dreams, to your dreams — I'm so sorry, so terribly sorry." Her shoulders shook with her sobs.

David knelt above her head, and he put a hand on each side of it, fingers running down her cheeks. "You've done nothing. It happened. I have no dreams. We need to concentrate on being here. Here is the only place we can do anything." He softly wiped her tears with his fingers.

"This may not seem to be the ideal situation, but it's the one we're in," he continued. "We can work only with what we have; anything else is fantasy, dreaming, diffusing energy which needs to be applied here, applied in this situation, not squandered somewhere off in the future." He stroked her cheek.

"Pausing here for a few days while your ankle mends might even be the best. Who knows whether there's a border sweep planned for the next couple of days which would have caught us." He wiped more of her tears. "See the interesting places the mind can take us — the current situation is far better than that."

He felt her relax, then running a finger along a tear streak, he bent and kissed her forehead. He continued to cradle her head as Maria changed the towels and applied pressure to the ankle.

"We have hot and cold running water, a wonderfully comfortable soft bed in a fine shelter hidden in an area rarely visited. We have most of the cooked venison remaining, several kilos of fresh mushrooms plus a large amount of the food we brought for the trip." He paused for a moment, then continued. "But the most important thing we have is each other — that's our greatest asset."

"Your way of thinking — I find it so amazing. Here I was a minute ago deeply disappointed that we wouldn't get to Switzerland on Wednesday. Now I'm delighted to be here."

"That's the thing isn't it?" David said. "We can't be anywhere but where we are. Yet it's so common for us to spend much of our energy trying to be where we're not. Dreaming a life, rather than living it." He stroked her hair.

"I saw many in the trenches in Belgium, dreaming of being somewhere else, talking with their buddies about plans and dreams after the war has ended. Dreaming of other places, rather than concentrating on where they were. Then bang, they were nowhere."

He kissed her forehead again and said, "I'll take those towels and cool them again."

As soon as he left, Maria asked, "Mama, can I take him inside when I'm bleeding? I'll be starting again on Wednesday or Thursday."

"It's a little messy, but if neither of you mind, it's an excellent time. Helps relieve some of the tension. Of course, it's also among the safest times. You'll need a convenient place to wash afterwards; we certainly have that here." She smiled as she reflected.

"While you kids were in school, we would do it outside on the grass, so we wouldn't mess the bed. That's why your father screened that corner of the back garden. So wild and wonderfully free..."

"Here're cold towels, what else can I get you?" David said as he passed them to Maria.

"You're so quick. One moment, take these and re-do them. I think we have the swelling controlled. We just need to keep it cooled, pressed and elevated," Maria said, handing him the three towels as she replaced them. "Let's continue doing this for a while."

"That's such a convenient stream. Be right back."

"Edom built a cosy moss bed a few metres the other side of the hot pool. It was so convenient — I didn't check, but I'm sure it's still there... Probably needs only some twig and pine cone removal, like this place did."

The girls continued their conversation in spurts of a minute and a bit as the cold compresses were changed, Rachel giving Maria tips and ideas, telling her of the games and tricks she and Edom had learned and of things which had worked well for them.

"It's such a delightful area to explore," Rachel said, "seeing what gives pleasure to him, what pleases you. The more honest you are with each other, the more magnificent the experience. Exploring together, playing like two romping kittens sometimes, driven by deep forces at other times..."

"Here's the bucket brigade again," he said, bringing in three wet towels. "How's the patient doing?"

"Nurse and patient are both doing very well," Maria said. "I think we can slow on the compresses now. I've been wrapping tightly and pressing on the towels. The swelling appears to have stopped; I think it's starting to go down a bit. We'll just keep it cooled, keep the pressure on it and watch it for a while."

"At the Lake O'Hara camp, we had a climber up at our high camp, well above the snow line with a sprained ankle. The swelling wasn't too bad, not like some I had seen. After a long spell of snow bags, it looked quite good. Conrad discussed it with some of the older men, I think one was a doctor, and they taped it up."

He moved his hands to demonstrate. "They applied surgical tape down one side, from the lower shin, under the middle of the heel and up the other side. Then another from the front of the shin, down across the back of the heel and up toward the back of the calf. A third piece diagonally the other way, making a tall X."

"That would give excellent lateral support," Maria said. "That's where it's needed. The ligament is stretched and weakened; it needs help while it mends and strengthens. Compression will also control the swelling. How well did it work?"

"He was able to apply weight within a few hours, but he couldn't walk without the crutch I had made for him. Three days later he put his boot on, and he slowly made his way along the ridge using his alpenstock for support, and continued all the way down to the base camp on the fifth day."

"Can you make me a crutch?"

"I was looking for suitable saplings each time I went to wet the towels. There are several possibilities. Probably better ones across the slope. I can make you a pair," he chuckled, "I'm not distracted by wanting to climb mountains here like I was there."

"How long did they wait?" Maria asked. "How long before they started the taping?"

"I'm not sure, I wasn't there. I had been sent down the side of the ridge to a stand of saplings in a slide scar, for crutch wood. The ankle was taped when I got back up about an hour or so later."

"How long after the accident was that — when you returned?"

"Two and a half hours — no, less. Probably two and a quarter."

"So quite soon after cooling, after controlling the swelling." Maria lifted the towels and looked, prodding the slight puffiness with a finger, watching it rebound. "Do you know where the tape is?"

"The nurse confiscated it," he said with a chuckle.

"The old tin box, the biscuit box," Rachel said. "It's in the big back pocket of my pack for quick access. That's our emergency repair kit and medicine box."

"Bring three more cold towels when you come back."

Maria applied the fresh cold towels, opened the tin box and pulled out a roll of wide tape and a pair of scissors. A few minutes later she said, "Come sit over here, David, lift Mama's leg a bit. Let's give her ankle more elevation, see if we can run out more of the fluid."

She ran her hands up the ankle. "Anything sharp, Mama?"

"No, dear, and the throbbing has eased."

"Do you remember the pattern, David? Do you want to do it?"

"I remember the vertical tapes appeared to have been pulled quite tight to offer the support. The wraparound ones needed redoing as the swelling reduced. Probably best if I pull from above. You stabilise the ankle to keep it aligned."

He rested the leg back on the roll and looked at it. "Best to roll onto your back for this, Mama. Toes up, easier to see the alignment."

He knelt and straddled her thighs, cut a half yard of tape from the roll, centred it under the back of the foot arch and pulled the ends up and then inward. "Hold her ankle, I'm going to tug. Let me know if this hurts at all, Mama."

"That looks very good," Maria said.

"Looks superb from here," Rachel said.

"Now, the first diagonal." He took another half yard piece off the roll, leaned forward and centred it on the back of the heel and repeated the sequence. "Now the third strip across the arch," he said as he applied the tape.

"That looks great," Maria said. "How's it feel, Mama?"

"It feels wonderful... Feels wonderful all over. Don't stop now, you can keep right on working down there for a long time more, I'm thoroughly enjoying watching David's three pendulums keeping time with his movements." She paused and shuddered. "He's so impressive in his nursing uniform."

"Pardon my butt, Mama; I'd forgotten we're still dressed for the hot pool." He chuckled and added, "I'm pleased to hear you're not in pain."