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       Chapter Three

      JAYE SAT AT the back of the group of chairs in the room that had been set aside for the conference activities. Everyone had done well, and each of the five-minute talks was obviously carefully crafted.

      Megan stood up, clutching her laptop, and walked to the front of the group, plugging in the cable that led to the screen behind her. A number of people had already displayed photographs to accompany their talks, and Jaye wondered which ones she’d chosen.

      ‘I’ve decided to make my presentation in the form of an interview. I’d like to thank Dr and Mrs Perera for all the help they’ve given me, and for agreeing to talk about the early days of the Western Province Free Clinic...’

      Jaye could hardly suppress a grin. There was no better way to tell the story of the clinic than to use his father and mother’s own words.

      ‘I’m not sure that’s quite what was intended.’ A voice sounded from the centre of the group.

      Jaye was pretty sure that was exactly what was intended. The tasks that John had set here weren’t quite as straightforward as they looked, and this one was clearly about methods, just as much as results.

      Megan looked around the audience, reddening a little, and Jaye suppressed the urge to come to her defence.

      ‘Our remit was to find out as much as we could. Which I’ve done.’

      ‘You’re missing the point...’ Rob was the young doctor whose voice was always loudest in the group discussions, which was a shame, because his vision seemed always the most limited.

      ‘Which point?’ Megan softened her question with a smile, and Jaye wondered privately what Rob had done to deserve that particular burst of sunshine.

      ‘You have to do the research and come up with your own answers. You can’t just ask someone else, that’s not in the rules...’ Rob gave a sigh of exasperation, as if he were talking to a recalcitrant child.

      Enough. If Rob wanted to throw his weight around, he could do it with him, not Megan. Jaye moved to intervene but Megan was already replying.

      ‘Isn’t asking someone who was there the best kind of research there is? I’m not aware of any rule against it.’

      ‘The only rules were the ones that everyone chose to superimpose on themselves.’ John was grinning broadly as he cut in. ‘Let’s see your presentation, Megan.’

      Jaye breathed a silent thank you and settled back in his chair. It had been entirely inappropriate to want to defend Megan, but the impulse still lingered, like an uninvited guest at a party.

      Megan was speaking again, and then she tapped a key on her laptop and sat down. His mother and father appeared on the screen, seated together at the kitchen table in their apartment.

      ‘Dr and Mrs Perera, you were in Sri Lanka when the tsunami of 2005 hit.’ Megan’s voice came from somewhere behind the camera. ‘The medical station that you set up to help the sick and the injured was the foundation of the present-day clinic. What were the biggest problems you faced...?’

      The video lasted exactly five minutes. By the time it had finished, Jaye felt tears pricking at the sides of his eyes.

      This wasn’t appropriate either. He knew the story well enough, he’d been there for much of it. The interview had clearly been carefully edited, and somehow Megan had managed to catch all the passion, the battle against seemingly overwhelming odds, and the achievements that had kept everyone going. At the end of the interview there were photographs, some of which had been taken from his parents’ personal albums.

      There was silence in the room and then someone started to clap. Megan grabbed her laptop and hurried back to her seat, red-faced, as everyone applauded.

      * * *

      Everyone had crowded around Megan when the session ended, wanting to know more about the Sri Lankan clinic. Jaye had hurried from the room, trying not to notice that Megan’s head had turned to watch him go.

      He’d taken refuge in an armchair, tucked into the corner of the large landing where the main staircase split in two. It was one of his favourite places in the house where he could sit and watch the world go by, without being a part of it. But as Megan walked through the hallway, she looked up and saw him there.

      ‘May I join you?’ She walked half way up towards him and then stopped.

      ‘Yes, of course.’ Jaye rose from the chair and sat down on the stairs next to it.

      ‘Is this your stair?’ She had a mischievous look in her eyes as she approached him.

      Actually, it was. The one where he’d sat as a child, hidden from the hallway by the turn in the stairs but able to peep out and see what was going on.

      ‘Why don’t you try it for size?’ There was plenty of room there for two.

      Megan nodded, sitting down next to him. Looking around, she peered through the heavy banister rails to see down into the main hall.

      ‘It’s a good stair. Just right.’ She smiled at him, and Jaye felt a warm tingle shoot down his spine.

      ‘I think so.’ His legs were a little longer now, so it wasn’t such a good hiding place as it had once been. But his initials were still there, carved into the stair tread and hidden by the carpet.

      She was hugging her laptop, obviously there on a mission. Jaye waited. No doubt Megan would come out with it, sooner rather than later.

      ‘I hope you didn’t mind... Your mother and father were really happy to do the interview and they offered to let me scan some of their photographs... They were very kind, and I didn’t mean to impose on them by asking so much. I hope you don’t feel it was too personal.’

      ‘Not a bit. And my parents looked as if they were really enjoying it. My father never passes up a chance to reminisce.’ It occurred to Jaye that including his parents’ words and photographs hadn’t been an exercise in currying favour. Megan had simply gone down the route that she felt told the story best, despite not being sure whether he’d approve. The thought made him smile.

      ‘I had to cut some bits out.’ She looked up at him, her eyes bright. ‘Did you really help dig the foundations of the clinic?’

      ‘I was a lot younger then.’ It seemed like a hundred years ago. And yet somehow he could still touch the feeling of something fresh and new.

      ‘John spoke to me about sending me there for my first assignment. I’ll have to check out your bricklaying skills.’ She was clearly testing the water, waiting for Jaye’s opinion on the matter.

      ‘Well, when you get there, take the path that runs around the back of the building. We all put our initials in the cement, under the window of the main ward.’

      Megan gave a broad smile. ‘I will. I can’t wait...’

      She seemed to have said all she’d come to say and had begun to fidget nervously. Jaye stretched his legs out in front of him, wondering if he might persuade her to stay. Just so he could breathe her scent a little