Stump poured more Betadine over what was left and Abe lay cotton dressings on
top and taped it lightly. The two of them finished washing Gus's
thin body, then dressed her in clean clothing and put her on
oxygen. Finally they laid her in the eight-foot-long plastic Gamow bag
and pumped it tight with a foot pump. Each time
Abe peered through the clear face panel, Gus looked a little more at ease.
'That was an ugly job,' Stump told Abe. 'You did it well.'
'Now she has her chance,' Abe said.
'I guess,' Stump allowed.
'I need to take these rags to the garbage pit,' Abe said.
'I'll do it,' Stump said.
'It's okay,' Abe insisted.
The trench to the pit was still frozen and slick. He dumped the rags on top of
other camp refuse, then headed off toward the stone hut. No one had approached
the Tomb since the storm. It took Abe ten minutes to plow his way up the
little hill.
Inside, the fabric ceiling bulged down under the weight of snow. Abe pried a
stone out of the floor and laid the tiny fetus underneath. Then he tamped the
stone tight again and left. No one would ever know not Daniel, not Gus.
Conceived here, this one secret, anyway, would stay here.
The sun came hot that day. It blazed away at their cirque, triggering
avalanches on distant slopes and melting nearly half the snow in camp.
By midday, the trenches
between tents had become waterways. Everest glistened to the south,
once again untouchable.
Every hour or so Abe peered through the face panel on the Gamow bag to check
on
Gus. The big plastic tube lay in one corner of the mess tent like a piece of
furniture no one wanted to talk about. They ate lunch and dinner in
there, but scrupulously avoided mentioning it.
Abe slept beside the Gamow bag that night. He wanted to be close
for any emergencies, and it was up to him to know what an
emergency looked like.
Periodically he opened the chamber to check on Gus's oxygen supply and take
her pulse and respiration, then closed it up and pumped it full again. At one
point, he woke and the beam of his headlamp caught Daniel's gleaming eyes. He
was crouched on the far side of Gus's chamber.
'Can we take her out of there?' he asked Abe. 'I want to hold her. Just for a
minute.'
'If you do that, she'll die,' said Abe.
'But it looks like a coffin,' Daniel said.
'Not yet it's not.'
Daniel placed one hand on the chamber. 'Before it's too late,' he begged. 'One
more time.'
'Not yet,' Abe said.
'I have to tell her something.'
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Abe knew what Daniel had to tell her, he'd been hearing Daniel whispering to
the comatose woman for days now. He loved her. He forgave her. If she loved
him, she should forgive him. And she had to fight and live because they had a
life to share.
'Maybe later,' Abe said.
'Later... it might be too late. She needs to know.'
'Maybe she hears you.'
'But if she doesn't...' His desolation was breathtaking. Daniel was in
mourning. No one believed in Gus's capacity to survive anymore. How terrible,
thought Abe. One more terrible thing.
'I'm afraid, Abe.'
'The trucks will come,' Abe said. 'They'll take us out of here.
Gus will go to a hospital.'
'The trucks won't come. I know.'
Abe dropped it. 'Go to sleep, Daniel. We need to sleep.'
The issue of their evacuation was on everybody's minds. In the beginning, they
had waited for yaks to move them away from it. Their helplessness seemed never
ending.
The alternative to waiting was also on everybody's minds. Daniel knew the way
out of here. They had followed him up the Hill. If need be, they could follow
him across one of the high passes into Nepal. But no one favored such
extremes. For one thing they knew from Daniel's experience the awful
price they were likely to pay for crossing the range in the monsoon.
His Lepers' Parade was not something anyone wanted to join, especially
after the spectacle of Gus's blackened foot.
The blackness spread. When he ran his fingertips along her ankle and shin, the
flesh crackled with subcutaneous crepitus. By evening it was clear Gus would
have to lose the leg to her knee or else die. Abe informed the others and
asked for volunteers.
Never having done this, he had no idea how many people the operation might
take.
Then he went off by himself to read in his medical books about amputation.
At the appointed hour, people came into the mess tent, even Kelly who still
hadn't recovered her vision. They took Gus out of the plastic chamber and laid
her on top of the wicker table that had served as their dining table a
thousand years ago when times still allowed for good jokes and big
plans and long rap sessions. Abe steeled himself. He emptied himself of
emotion.
Under Abe's direction, they took up various assignments. Someone had to look
after
her oxygen supply. Someone had to take her pulse periodically. Someone had to
be in charge of the blood pressure cuff Abe had fitted around her
upper thigh for a tourniquet. Someone else had to sterilize their scalpels
and knives over a gas stove.
The Sherpas were instructed to take care of the kerosene lanterns and keep
them bright. And J.J. was charged with finding Daniel if he could, and even if
he couldn't to keep the man out of the tent at all costs.
Stump and Abe tied a piece of nine-millimeter climbing rope around
Gus's black ankle, then tossed the end over the roof support and hoisted her
leg straight into the air. Most of Abe's work was going to be on the underside
of the leg. There were no ripsaws or hacksaws in camp, much less a
surgical saw, and so the leg had to be separated at the knee joint
itself. The front of the knee would be simple, all bone. It was the back of
the leg with its hamstring attachments and the veins and, most
important, the big popliteal artery, that would require all the unriddling.
Abe made his first cuts several inches down around the calf. Carefully he
skinned the flesh over the joint for flaps to later sew over the stump. The [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]