"What happened to you three?" Guy asked Johnno, Geoff and Kate. "You all look like you have seen a ghost."
"Actually we have", Geoff said in a constraint manner, and all of a sudden he started yelling at him.
"Whoa..." Guy said, "this is the second time within two days..."
"Will you two stop it, please?" Kate yelled at the pair of them. She took Guy by his elbow and led him in the direction of the hospital room where Joss was.
"The man we just brought in turned out to be David's twin brother," Kate explained to him. This made Guy stand still and stop grumbling. He looked at her with a face on which she read understanding and compassion. He dropped his arm around her and said: "Oh!"
Kate sighed. 'If you explain things to him, he is not that bad,' she thought.
xxx
The story about the man in the hospital being David's twin brother spread fast and caused a lot of guessing and gossip.
"Did you know he had a twin brother?" Nancy asked Clare.
"No, I didn't. But the day he was planning to leave, I suddenly realized that hardly anybody around here really knew him," Clare said.
"He must have been so lonely here, that poor boy," Nancy said. "But we'll make sure his brother will feel at home here."
She was already taking action, but Clare laid her hand on Nancy's arm saying: "Nancy, he needs rest now. He has been very ill."
"Oh", Nancy said, "well, I can wait."
xxx
The days that followed Joss and David's former colleagues talked a lot.
"What were you doing up north?" Kate asked.
"Nothing special," Joss said. "I left the city three years ago and I've been wandering all over the country since; doing some work, travelling..."
"Want to tell me why you left the city?" Kate asked.
Joss sighed. "We were a very close family, always together, especially David and I. Even when we went to college we lived in the same house. I wanted to do something else, search for myself; I wanted to be all by myself. So I left. I regularly sent postcards or letters home, but I never left an address where someone could reach me."
"You two don't just look alike, but you think alike, too!" Kate exclaimed. "David wanted to leave here, too, you know. And before he left, he came to our house to explain his decision, using almost exactly the same words about wanting to do something else as you just did."
Joss was ever so happy to hear them telling about David's heroics. And when Geoff told him about David having had to go into a mine at least three times to save someone's life, Joss interrupted him, saying: "He did?! I wouldn't have done that; I'm claustrophobic."
That made Kate and Geoff laugh.
"David was, too, but sometimes you don't have a choice," Geoff said.
"And once," Kate told him, "he was stung by a couple of wasps and..."
Joss sucked in his breath. "That's bad. He was allergic to them, just like me."
"Yes, he was. But another doctor was there to help him. It was very thrilling because they were together in a plane and David was the pilot."
Joss sighed. "I'm happy to hear that the people with whom David shared his last years are so positive about him," he said to Geoff.
xxx
After five days in hospital there was still no change in Joss's condition.
"How are you today?" Guy asked.
Joss shook his head: "Nothing better, and it's worse this time. Last month I was at least able to take care of myself, but now..."
When Guy returned to the front desk, he found Geoff there looking through Joss's file.
"I don't understand why there is so little improvement," Geoff said. "Most people don't even get ill from this virus and here we have someone..."
"Are you sure it is rrv?" Guy asked.
"Yes," Geoff said. "When he fell ill, he went to see a doctor and the blood tests made clear it was rrv. It is likely, too, because there is an outbreak of it near Darwin."
"Maybe he caught something else to it?" Guy suggested.
"Possibly," Geoff said. "But the symptoms are still the same as before, only more severe. He told us he was able to look after himself before. But now, even after all those days, he has trouble even going to the bathroom."
"Yeah," Guy said, "he just told me the same."
"Maybe you should check his story with his doctor in, where was it, Katherine, Darwin or somewhere like that?"
"Yes, maybe", Geoff said.
xxx
"I want to visit the spot," Joss requested the following day.
"I can imagine that," Kate said. "I think I'd like to go with you, and I think Geoff and Johnno would, too. But first you have to recover. I remember a man who thought he was fit enough to travel, too, and still found himself much worse only a few days later."
Joss laughed but didn't agree. "Is it far away?" he asked.
"It depends," Kate replied.
"Kate... I know this sounds strange, but I think going there will help me to recover. A part of me died out there... I just need to close this chapter of my life."
"But you are far too ill!" Kate protested. "We can't take you there. Not now! I don't think that would be very wise."
"Look, I noticed I haven't gotten any better since I got here, and I'm almost sure it's due to this," Joss said stubbornly.
Kate hesitated. "Okay, I'll talk to Geoff. But I can't make you any promises."
xxx
Guy had put his hammock in the backyard of the hospital. Penny happened to him, and decided she'd want to try it out. So she climbed into it. However, when Jackie caught sight of her there, she warned her. "Don't let Guy see this!"
"Why not?" Penny asked innocently.
"He said," Jackie giggled, and continued in a Guy-like way: "Make sure nobody's going to use it."
Penny got out with a sigh. And as she walked inside with Jackie, she said: "Just wanted to try."
"Yeah, well, you already know how he is. When he says nobody, he means nobody, not even you, or I."
"Nobody, eh..." Penny said pensively. A mischievous smile appeared on her face. "Nobody... no... body." She grinned, and pointed at the skeleton standing near the office. "That's no body."
Jackie started laughing, too, and giggling together they took the skeleton and put it in the hammock. Unfortunately, Guy wasn't there to see it and both of them had to go back to work.
xxx
"Geoff?" Kate asked. "Joss wants to visit the spot."
"What does he want?"
"Visit the spot... where David died..."
Geoff looked at Kate with a question-mark written all over his face.
She told him what they had discussed and Geoff began to understand. "We both know there are non-scientifically proved methods for healing, " he nodded. "And we know how body and mind are related... And we both know that grief can make people ill..." He pondered a little; then nodded in the affirmative. "We can give it a try, although there is much to arrange." He put his arm around her and said: "Maybe it won't be so bad for us to go there, too".
"And Johnno," Kate said.
"Yes, and Johnno."