The Firefighter

Chapter 16 - Back in Hospital

This time, it was Oliver visiting Charlotte in the hospital. She had been hit by the bullet in her thigh. Fortunately, it had gone straight through the flesh and missed the arteries and bones. The fact that it was only a flesh wound didn't make Charlotte feel any better. She was in a lot of pain, so the doctor gave her pain killers and a sedative.

"What were you two elderly folks thinking, going after that stock gang?" the doctor asked.

"Well, we were actually trying to find our missing llamas. We had no idea that there was a criminal gang on the other side of the hill."

"Do you have any guns on the farm?" he asked.

"Yes," they both replied at the same time. Charlotte explained that they were fully licensed to keep rifles and handguns on the farm. Even with gun control in place, they still needed to defend themselves in case of emergency, as they were isolated from the other farms in the area. All the farms had firearms, as this was a normal practice. The doctor agreed that it was necessary. Then he got back to the diagnosis.

"There will be no lasting damage to your leg, but you will need to take it easy until it heals fully. You will have a permanent scar on your leg, Charlotte."

"I'm fully aware of that, doc," she replied wryly.

"How soon can she go home, doc?" Oliver asked the doctor expectantly.

"Probably in about two weeks' time as that is the average amount of time to recover from this type of gunshot wound. Don't worry about holding the hospital bed as we don't have many patients at this time of the year. She should be able to go home for Christmas."

Charlotte's face lit up with a smile for the first time. She felt a palpable sense of relief that she could return to her sheep farm and feel the sense of comfort of being in her own bed. Oliver continued to visit her every day. During visiting hours, he would entertain her with stories of what was happening on the farm and the fact that the police had caught the criminal gang and returned the llamas to their farm. The police had also found 50 more llamas that the criminal gang had stolen but didn't know who they belonged to, so Jimmy was keeping them on the farm too. If nobody came to claim them, then after a year, they could claim the llamas as their own. They didn't brand the llamas or the sheep, as some cattle farmers did with their cattle, so there was no easy way to find who had previously owned the llamas. Some farmers stained colour onto the wool of the sheep but not the llamas. Asking around hadn't yielded any results.

Finally, Charlotte was better and ready to go home for Christmas and to celebrate their family time together over the holidays. Perhaps their Christmas present a year later, was being able to keep those 50 llamas who had joined them on the farm. After a year, they did indeed become one of the largest llama breeders in the area.