Week 4 / Wednesday - Thursday

The next day was the same all over again. But were things easing? Her shift supervisor thought they might be able to let her have a day off during the weekend. And Michelle said the report in the hospital was that new cases were definitely down a little, and it should start to feel like that to everyone in the next few days.

Her list of calls was definitely shorter today, so when Julian got home they went for a hard swim. When that finished, they sat on their deck, and Larissa asked Julian how Alison went.

“Good, I think. Layna picked her up from their hotel and introduced her like she said. She spent some time sitting with most of the team watching them work. Nathan took her on the coffee run, and then she swept the floor in the foyer. Then Callum told her that she needed to help him set up a new microphone, and he spent half an hour recording her making different kind of sounds inside and outside, and then listening to them playing back with her. She really enjoyed that and learnt a lot.”

“Then we all headed off to the beach, where we met up with Sue from the fisheries. We’re making a video about fishing in the bay and their bio-diversity program. Chez told Alison that she was Sue’s personal assistant, for whatever Sue wanted, and that when Sue wasn’t wanting her, she should help Suzy. Suzy sent her off to pick up lunch, and then Chez decided that she wanted a random couple going swimming in the background, just from behind, so Alison volunteered to do it with Dylan, and she does have a very nice back view. So she’s going to be one of our videos, no credit, and not recognisable if you don’t know who she is. And Dylan got his hand on her butt.”

Larissa laughed. She’d noticed how good she looked from behind when they went swimming. “Which bikini did she pick?”

“Well, the thong, babe, what did you expect? She said it had the best colour for her skin.”

Yep, Alison was a fellow traveller there, that was for sure.

“Oh, before lunch. The techie boys told her that she needed to help them set up the gear, so they got her to pretend to be a Hollywood star, and Suzy pretended to interview her about her efforts to fight climate change by posting really meaningful memes to Instagram, and they had hysterical fun with that while the guys were fooling around with lighting and sound, and Jo was doing make up for Layna and Sue. Of course it’s even funnier that she’s met a few Hollywood stars in the flesh, and she was absolutely making fun of them.”

“Then the actual interview started, and that was just hard work, repeating stuff all the time, so Alison mostly lay there and admired all the guys on the beach, while they pretended not to look at her, and gave Sue water or whatever whenever she wanted. She had a spray bottle that she could use to spray water on the back of Sue and Layna’s necks to help them cool down without interfering with the picture.”

“Then we all went back to the office, and we had a couple of hours left, so Dylan showed her how to mix a video and mixed up her interview with Suzy, and made her a copy on the spot, which she was really thrilled by. And then we stopped pretending she was just an intern, and Jo showed her how we do Layna’s make up to disguise her, so that she can do the same. That was a big hit with her. And then she thanked everyone heaps, said it was nearly as good as yesterday, and then she was off back to their plane to go home.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but she asked me if she could keep the bikini. It’s kind of special for her now, it’s yours and she’s in Youtube on it. She offered me a lot of cash, but I said, no, keep it, we’re fine. I hope you don’t mind?”

“Oh sure, I can buy another bikini. You can’t buy memories like that. You’re taking me shopping though!”

Julian laughed. “I’m always happy to take you bikini shopping, babe.”

Then she made her phone calls. The pet ones had died off – only one tonight, just reassuring a young kid that he was doing great, and what he was describing was standard arthritis for a dog that age, just keep up the good work. Then a couple of calls to young women who needed hope and reassurance, and one more follow up from last week.

She was sitting on the deck eating her dinner when Vicki called.

“hi Larissa, how are you doing?”

“I’m OK, Vicki, holding on and not going any crazier. You? How crazy are you?”

Vicki laughed. “Yes, pretty crazy, but it is actually starting to get better. Still new cases, but more of us are back on board, and things are getting better. I’m promised a delivery of RAT tests tomorrow, and supposedly the supermarket will be fully stocked tomorrow.”

“Great, that’s really good to hear. But how are you actually going personally? And Tim?”

Vicki sighed. “It’s been tough. For a while it was pretty much all we were doing, and Tim pulled out an old sermon last week, he hasn’t done that before. And a lot of what we were doing we didn’t have training or skills for, but no one else would do it. So we were both pretty worried about that, and then Tinky got covid, so we’ve been stuck at home since Sunday.”

“Oh no, is she OK?” Larissa hadn’t heard that one.

“Sure, she’s just got mild symptoms. And so far, Tim and I haven’t got it and she’s camping down the back of the house, trying to keep apart from us. We’ve been zooming from different parts of the house, which is really weird. Anyway, how are you doing?”

“Well, Julian’s been doing all the housework, looking after me, pampering me each night. He’s really been wonderful. I do yoga, go to work, get home and make my phone calls, then he loves me, a massage or something, and then I cuddle Fiona while we watch something stupid on TV, or play Mario Kart, cause she’s out doing home visits for disabled and elderly people – really hard work. And our guys are busy too. I couldn’t do it if Julian wasn’t so amazing. But ten days straight for all of us ... starting to wear thin. We really need a break. And I might get one this weekend.”

“Oh, that’s great. And things are getting better. And Larissa, you’ve made a huge difference.”

“Well, I’ve only helped a few people.”

“It’s more than that, Larissa. Sure, you’ve helped a few girls, really helped them. But for us, I just knew I could pass off the most difficult horrible cases to you and two others, and not worry about them, and I can’t tell you how much that gave the rest of the team confidence. Those few days before you got involved ... really scary. So you helped a lot of people, way more than you know. I just wanted you to know.”

Larissa didn’t know what to say to that, but it was really nice to hear it, nice to know that she’d made a difference, because she was never doing it again, that was for sure. Nearly the worst experience of her life. Just her rapes counted as worse.

“And I know it was tough. Is tough. But you went far further than I imagined. I know about Analiese, because she called and asked to speak to the boss. Which pretty much means me, right now.” Vicki sighed. “Actually rescuing her mother ... Larissa, that was really something. News has got around the team; no one else has done anything like that. So, well done, and you should get a medal, but probably no one else will know.”

“I’ll know. And Julian will know. That’s what matters.”

“Great, we’ll leave it at that, with our deepest thanks. But who’s paying for their hotel room? You guys?”

“Umm, not us personally.”

“OK.” Vicki knew, but also knew not to say anything. “So we don’t need to try finding some support for them?”

“Well, I have enough for another week in that hotel but then they have to do something else. I don’t know what though. I was going to call Analiese tomorrow.”

“Thanks. Would you rather me pass that on to someone else? Beth?”

Larissa nodded. “Beth, yes, she’s lovely, that could work.”

“OK. I’ll do that, thanks. How’s the rest of your family going?”

“All good. So far. Except my other Mum’s uncle is really sick with covid in Shepparton Base Hospital. I don’t really know him, haven’t seen him for years. Mum and Dad have their parents living with them, they weren’t really coping, and she says that’s going well. Jaiden and Asha have been doing shopping runs for people for a few weeks, and say that they’re at their peak fitness.” Vicki laughed for that one.

“Well, it all sounds good. Can I talk to Julian quickly?” Sure, she handed her phone over. Sounded like Vicki was telling him how important their contribution was, checking he was doing OK, and thanking him for looking after Larissa. Then Julian started laughing.

When he hung up, she asked him what was funny.