Amish Country Arson (21 page)

Gladys slowly removed her arm to look at Hal.
Her feverish face was dry and flushed. Her lips cracked and
bleeding.

Hal set her nursing bag on the floor and
edged around the bed to get closer to her. “Gute afternoon, Gladys.
I am Nurse Hal Lapp. It's nice to finally meet you.”

The ill woman's face pinched tight and filled
with hatred as she hissed weakly, “Get out of here, Englisher.”

“
I'm Amish just like you, and I won't
stay long I promise,” Hal said softly. “Your sister is very worried
about you. She asked me to check you to see if I can find out
what's wrong with you.” Hal put a hand on the woman's
forehead.

The woman slapped her hand away but not
before Hal felt her dry, feverish skin. Gladys's hands turned into
claws as she flailed at Hal, trying to scratch her. “Do not lay
your hands on me again.”

Wanda's hands went to her blushing cheeks.
“Awk, nah, sister. Stop that recht now. The nurse only wants to
help you.”

Hal held her hand up to interrupt. “It's all
recht, Wanda. I'm done. Come to the kitchen with me so we can
talk.” Hal picked up her nursing bag and walked around the
quilt.

Excited by anger, Gladys's chest heaved up
and down in labored breathing. Hal heard very clearly loud wheezing
and crackles coming from the woman's lungs. No need to try fighting
her to listen to her lungs.

In the small kitchen as far away from the
sick woman as they could get, Hal folded her arms across her chest
and whispered, “Your sister has pneumonia. Whatever the reason, I
can't determine it by looking at her. She really should go to the
hospital in Wickenburg for tests. An x-ray on her lungs would help.
The doctor will put her on an IV and antibiotics.”

“
She will not like to move, but I
realize she cannot go on much long in this condition. Please, Nurse
Hal, help my sister.” Wanda's eyes glistened with
desperation.

“
I've done all I can. Gladys needs to
go the hospital now,” Nurse Hal said urgently, patting Wanda's
arm.

If going to the hospital for tests is what
she needs Enoch and I better take her,” Wanda agreed as she
listened to Gladys's labored breathing behind the curtain.

“
Nah, that won't work. You need to let
me call an ambulance. She's too weak to sit in a buggy. Besides,
she needs the oxygen recht away an ambulance can provide to ease
her breathing.”

“
I see. All recht, if you think that is
best,” Wanda agreed.

Hal asked, “She looks emaciated. Has she
eaten much lately?”

Wanda pointed to the kitchen's one sink with
a long drainer. “Nothing for two days. All she does is drink orange
juice.”

About three dozen small, plastic bottles
lined the back of the sink. “That's gute. At least, we can hope she
isn't too dehydrated by the fever if she drank all those bottles of
juice.”

Wanda said, “Ach, she did not drink that many
in the last few days. Gladys washes the bottles and saves
them.”

“
Really. What does she do with them?”
Hal asked.

“
I do not know, but she insisted I wash
up the last ones she drank just like she did. She has a reason I
reckon. The number of bottles go down from time to time I notice.
Gladys must throw a few away when the sink drain gets too crowded,”
Wanda said.

Hal put her hand on the woman's arm. “I carry
the cell phone I talked about in my nursing bag. I can call the
ambulance on that phone, but if you would rather I didn't use it,
the phone booth is at the end of the mile. It will take more time
to get the ambulance here when every minute might count for your
sister as sick as she is. You tell me what you want me to do.”

Wanda wrestled with the decision a moment.
“If the whole community allows you to carry the phone, who am I to
say nah especially when it is my sister that is so sick. Use your
phone. You are recht. It will save time.”

Wanda left the kitchen area. She carried a
rocker to the end of the bed so she could watch her sister. Hal
understood Wanda was willing to give into the phone to help her
sister, but she didn't want to be guilty of being around when it
was used.

Hal made the call. She requested the
ambulance not use the siren. They should be told the patient is
combative. Symptoms were a fever causing hallucinations, possible
pneumonia and in need of oxygen.

Hal joined Wanda and nodded toward the bed.
“Any change?”

“
Nah, she is sleeping now,” Wanda
said.

Soon the Wickenburg ambulance pulled into the
yard. Hal went out to greet the paramedics. Daryl slid out of the
driver's seat. Steve came from the back, and Ivan got out on the
passenger side.

“
Hi, Nurse Hal. You're looking better
than the last time we saw you,” Daryl greeted, giving her his dead
pan expression.

“
I feel much better now. Thanks for
getting me to the hospital all in one piece,” Hal said, winking at
Steve and Ivan.

Daryl grinned. “You're welcome. Now fill us
in. We got from dispatch this is an uncooperative woman.”

“
Yes, the patient won't go willingly
with you so you might need to restrain her on the gurney. She tried
to hit and scratch me earlier,” Hal warned. “She has pneumonia and
a high temp. She's short of breath and needs oxygen. That might
help keep her calm.”

By that time, Ivan and Steve had the gurney
by the porch steps. Steve waved a hand at the door. “Lead the way,
Hal.”

“
I'll show you where she is, but I
won't get where she can see me. She doesn't trust me, and my
presence upsets her.” Hal stopped the men by Wanda in the rocker.
“This is Wanda Bruner, Gladys Kraybill's sister. She can answer
your questions.”

“
Hi, Mrs. Bruner,” Ivan said in a low
voice, picking up the clipboard laying on the gurney. “How old is
your sister?”

“
Forty five,” Wanda
answered.

Ivan wrote the answer on the form. “How long
has she been sick?”

Wanda looked toward the bed. “Maybe two weeks
or a little more. Gladys isn't a complainer. She wasn't this sick
to start with, but I couldn't get her to go to the doctor. Now
she's much worse.”

“
We'll get her to the hospital,” Steve
said as he pulled the gurney after him. He touched the woman on the
shoulder. “Gladys, can you hear me?”

The sick woman came unglued when she opened
her eyes and found a strange man standing over her. “Get out of my
bedroom. Wanda, help me. Where are you, Wanda?” She glared at Ivan
and Daryl behind the gurney. “All of you. Get out of my house.”

“
Gladys, we're ambulance paramedics.
We're going to take you to the hospital to see what's wrong with
you,” Steve said, edging toward her feet.

Ivan came to the middle of gurney and leaned
over it toward the bed. Daryl went to the the head. He said in a
quiet, calm tone, “At least let me cover you up better. Your arms
will get cold uncovered like that.” He brought the blanket up
around her shoulders and tucked it gently behind her neck. He
nodded at the other two men. “Now on three, covers and all. One,
two, three. Lift!” He dodged to the end of the gurney, holding the
struggling woman's shoulders while Steven and Ivan shifted her
middle and feet. “Buckle her in tight,” Daryl ordered.

Struggling and anxious, Gladys panted hard
and screamed, “Let me go!”

The men pushed the gurney passed the curtain
and turned it around on swiveling wheels. On the way down the porch
steps, Gladys spotted Hal, standing by her buggy. She cried, “Do
not believe anything that Englisher tells you. She is a liar.”

Once the ambulance left the yard, Hal said,
“Wanda, I always like to admit my patients and follow up at the
hospital. I'll take you with me if you want to be with Gladys.”

When they arrived at the hospital, Hal parked
her buggy on the far side the parking lot and tied Ben to the
hitching rail. The double doors shushed open when the women came
close.

Nurse Lucy Stineford greeted Hal as they
approached the nurse's desk. “Hi, Hal. We have your patient in an
exam room. Dr. Christensen is with her.”

“
Is Gladys being difficult?” Wanda
asked anxiously.

“
Not right now,” Lucy said crisply. She
raised an eyebrow at Hal for who this woman was before she shared
more private information.

Hal introduced Lucy to Wanda. “This is
Gladys's sister. She has been Gladys Kraybill's caregiver. Can we
see the patient?”

“
Dr. Christensen has been waiting for
you, Hal. He has questions,” Nurse Lucy said. “Mrs. Bruner, can you
stay here long enough to give me answers for my admittance form
before you go to your sister?”

“
Jah,” Wanda said quietly, keeping her
head bent with her face partially hidden under her bonnet
brim.

“
Thank you. Hal, follow me,” Lucy said
crisply. She stuck her head in the exam room door. “Doctor, I have
the patient's sister at the desk and Nurse Hal with me.”

Doctor Christensen looked up from writing on
Gladys's chart. “Send the nurse in first.”

“
You need me for anything?” Nurse Lucy
asked.

He shook his head. “Not right now. Go back to
your paperwork.”

“
Hi, Doctor,” Hal greeted quietly.
Gladys seemed asleep, and Hal didn't want her to wake up and be
combative right away. “You have any idea yet what's wrong with
Gladys Kraybill? She has been sick for a couple weeks at least. Her
sister couldn't get her to go to the doctor until we forced her
today.”

“
She's very sick, and I can tell you
the reason. How long ago did she get that nasty laceration on her
leg?” Dr. Christensen asked.

“
I didn't know about a laceration,” Hal
said in surprise.

Dr. Christensen looked puzzled.

“
Don't look at me like that. The woman
wouldn't let me near her while she's been sick. I don't think she
was any more cooperative with her sister. She'd been trying to do
everything for herself until the last day or two. Now she is too
weak to help herself.

Today is the first time I've seen her. She
slapped my hand away for feeling her forehead and ordered me out of
her house. I heard the rattle in her chest and knew she had
pneumonia. That was enough reason to send her to the emergency
room, so I didn't try to argue with her about doing a complete
exam,” Hal explained. “I figured you could do that.”

“
Then you're in for a shock.” The
doctor lifted the sheet up from the bottom of the bed to expose
Gladys's ankles and feet. “She has a contusion on that left ankle.
The ankle is swelled three times its normal size. From the green
and yellow coloration, I'd say that has been there a week at least.
I've ordered x-rays to see if the ankle is broken. What kind of an
accident did this woman have?”

Hal shook her head slowly. “Gladys hasn't had
an accident that I knew about. We need to ask her sister what kind
of accident Gladys had when Lucy is done with her.”

Hal walked to the foot of the bed for a
closer look.

The doctor said, “That isn't the worse part.
The worse part is the laceration on her leg.” He pulled the sheet
up to Gladys's knees.

Red streaks ran up the left thigh from the
ankle. Yellow pus oozed from a jagged gash on the outer side of the
leg. It was a foot long with scabbed over smaller punctured spots
around it.

Hal was mystified. “I didn't know about any
of this. Like I said she wouldn't let me near her. Talk to her
sister.”

The doctor pushed a button on the intercom
attached to the wall. “Lucy, bring the patient's sister to the exam
room.”

The exam door opened, and Lucy stepped in
with Wanda. “This is the patient's sister, Wanda Bruner,” she told
the doctor.

“
Come in, Mrs. Bruner,” he said. “We
need more information about your sister.”

“
I'll tell you anything I can,” Wanda
said softly.

Hal took her hand. “Come over to the bed and
look at Gladys's left leg. She has hurt it very badly recently. Did
she mention an accident to you?”

“
Nah, she didn't.” Wanda stopped by the
bed. When she saw the gangrenous wound she clamped her hand over
her mouth. She looked away while she regained her composure before
she spoke. “No wonder she has been in pain and sick.”

The doctor explained, “The wound is old and
has been left untreated. The leg is infected. Full of gangrene.
I'll clean the wound, but we might not be able to save her leg. For
that matter, not her either now that she has infection through her
system. Of course, I'll do what I can. The rest is up to her.”

“
And God,” Wanda added.

“
Did the paramedics tell you Wanda was
combative?” Hal asked the doctor. “She definitely will pull out the
IV tube when she comes around.”

Dr. Christensen nodded. “Lucy and I saw that
for ourselves. I ordered a sedative given to her to calm her down.
“Now we wait to see how well the IV works. Hopefully, we see some
improvement by morning. She's going to be moved to Intensive Care
right away.”

Wanda said, “I want to stay with my sister
until I know she is feeling better.”

“
That's fine. The patient might be more
cooperative if she has you with her,” Doctor Christensen said as he
went out the door.

“
I'm going home, so I'll stop and
update Enoch. Wanda, is Gladys a good horseman?” Hal
asked.

“
At one time, she was, but she had
given up on life a long time ago. I have not seen her ride in
years. You might as well know her thinking has been all crooked and
bitter. She grew worse each time she heard one of her lifetime
friends had switched to Beachy Amish. Why do you want to know about
her riding a horse?”