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“Any allergies?” Vaughn asks now.
“No.”
“Including bee stings? We have some wasps on the island.”
“No.”
“Pregnant? Risk of being pregnant?” he continues crisply.
“Definitely not.”
“FYI, there’s a supply of condoms in the rec room. I also have morning-after pills in the locked medicine cabinet. We follow a code of conduct in this camp, but we’re humans trapped together on a nearly deserted island. Be smart. If that fails, come see me.”
I open my mouth. No words come out.
“Major surgeries?” He’s back to his checklist.
“No.”
“You still have your appendix?”
I nod. He makes a note. “We’ll have to watch that.”
My eyes widen further. For the first time I’m starting to realize the seriousness of our remote location. Even when I joined a backcountry search in Wyoming, no one questioned me about having all my internal organs.
“Joint pain?” Vaughn is moving right along. “Ankle, knee, hip, lower back? Bum shoulder?”
I continue to shake my head as he moves down his list. Finally: “Do you have any medical training?” he asks.
I speak before I think. “I know how to stuff a bullet hole with a tampon to stanch the bleeding.”
“Field medic?”
“Unfortunate camping trip.”
He regards me for a moment, then abandons his forms and clasps his hands on top of the desk. “What’s your deal?”
“Deal?”
“What brings you here, not to mention on such short notice? Most of our employees are professional subcontractors. Some, like Charlie, flow from six-month gigs at McMurdo in Antarctica to time here to another research station in Alaska. When they say they’re from nowhere, that’s because they’re literally from nowhere. But you?”
I’m not sure what to say, so I just blink at him.
“Favorite TV show?” he asks abruptly.
“What? I don’t… I haven’t owned a TV in years.” The moment I say the words, I regret them. Now I sound weirder than ever. But if anything, the answer seems to relax him.
“Family?”
“My parents passed away years ago. I don’t have anyone else.”
“And when you return to the mainland? Where do you stay?”
“In the short term, probably a bus station.” I shrug. “While I figure out my next move.”
“You’re relying on buses in an island state?”
“I literally just arrived in Hawaii this morning. First time.” All of this is true. “I haven’t figured out the lay of the land just yet.”
