Devil's Rock - Chris Speyer [15]
There was just enough water left in the channel for Grandad to bring the launch to the foot of the slipway, where the holiday gear was unloaded, carried through the shed and piled into the back of Grandad’s battered Volvo estate for the drive to Kingsbridge.
Once settled in the back seat of the car with Michael and the dog, Zaki propped his head against a sail bag and slept all the way home.
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Chapter 5
‘Not much we can do for a cracked collarbone, I’m afraid,’ said the young duty doctor as she showed Zaki the X-ray with its ghostly image of his chest, shoulder and upper arm.
‘There – you can see the crack. It’s pretty insignificant.’
Zaki could see a very fine, dark line, like a hair, running in from the edge of the bone.
‘Nothing’s out of place, so it should heal up OK.’ She turned to Zaki’s father. ‘But no sport for a few weeks. He needs to be careful he doesn’t bash it again.’ And to Zaki, ‘We can’t put your shoulder in plaster, so it’s up to you to look after it.’
Zaki nodded. He was still studying the X-ray. He could see the left half of his chest with its curving ribs, the shoulder joint and the big bone at the top of his arm. He thought of the child’s bones in the sand, on the floor of the cave. Once the flesh had rotted, there had been nothing to hold the bones together, to keep the arm attached to the body. How long had that taken?
‘What’s that bone called?’ he asked, pointing to the arm.
‘That’s your humerus. Although it wouldn’t be funny if you broke it.’
She was nice, this doctor. She looked tired, but she explained everything carefully and didn’t rush them.
‘How long do bones last?’
If he could think of the right question, he might be able to work out how long the child’s skeleton had been in the cave.
‘Come on, Zaki,’ said his father, ‘I’m sure the doctor’s got plenty of other people to see.’
‘Last?’ asked the doctor. ‘You mean inside you?’
‘I mean, once you’re dead.’
‘I’m not a pathologist, but I guess that would depend on what age you were when you died.’ The doctor filled in a card and clipped it to the X-ray image. She looked up. ‘As you get older, the mineral content of your bones decreases, so they become more fragile. I would think a young person’s bones would last longer than an older person’s. But it would also depend where the bones were. Why? Do you have a skeleton in the cupboard?’ She smiled her tired smile.
‘If they were in a cave, for instance?’
The doctor glanced at Zaki’s father, who shrugged and said, ‘I’m sorry; I haven’t a clue what he’s on about.’
‘Can’t answer that one,’ said the doctor. ‘Probably a very long time. Now, remember what I said about sport.’
Zaki was having difficulty getting his shirt back on. Anything that required him to lift his arm was painful. His father came across to help him.
‘We’ll need to take another look at it in a few weeks – make sure it’s mending properly. Ask reception to make you an appointment for three weeks’ time.’ The doctor ushered them out into the corridor, where they hesitated, trying to remember whether they had come from the left or the right.
‘Left for reception,’ said the doctor.
‘Thanks,’ said Zaki’s father. ‘Thanks very much.’
‘Good luck with the skeleton,’ said the doctor.
Zaki looked at her in surprise, then realised she was referring to her own joke and, of course, knew nothing about the child in the cave. He turned and followed his father down the brightly lit hospital corridor with its lino floor that squeaked against the soles of his shoes.
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Zaki was keen to talk to his grandad. He wanted to find out if there were any stories about a cave or secret passage leading off from the Orme estuary. Maybe his grandad had even seen the cave during his time on the fishing boats. His dad had said the sandbanks kept moving. Could it be that the cave entrance was only covered up quite recently?
The opportunity