Anna's Healing (13 page)

The sky grew increasingly dark as the morning wore on. The clouds slowly overtook the sky, though there was little wind and no rain. The darkness, though, was a bit unnerving. Because Anna was so focused on the horses and the rows of corn, she had trouble telling how much time had passed. She'd been leading children through the maze she was now harvesting only a few days before. She thought of the little
Englisch
boy and his look of surprise when she'd shown him the kernels of corn. When her
aenti
tapped her on the shoulder, she nearly jumped out of her
kapp
.

Erin gestured with her hands and hollered, “Let me off at the end of the row. I'll help
Mammi
fix our lunch.”

Anna nodded. As she pulled to a stop, she swiped at the sweat running down her face.

“Seems to be getting hotter.”

“
Ya
, no wind at all.” Erin studied the sky, concern shadowing her features. “Maybe you should come inside.”

“I'll go down once more and back, and then I'll pull the team to rest under the oak tree.”

“
Gut
idea.”

Snickers and Doodle tossed their heads as she turned east, away from the house. With some effort and a stern voice, she finally convinced them to move in the right direction. Anna's heart thumped against her chest, and she wondered that her pulse was racing so. Perhaps she was more tired than she had thought.

She reached the end of the row and turned the team toward the west, and that was when she saw the funnel cloud dip out of the sky. A scream tore from her throat as she attempted to steady the team and lead them toward the shelter of the barn. Would they be safe there? Or would it be better to leave them in the field?

A terrible sound filled the air—like the roar of a train set on a collision course, only they had no train tracks anywhere near her
onkel
's farm. The horses were now galloping, cutting across uncut rows and pulling Anna and the harvester at breakneck speed as they shook their
heads. Anna stood to better pull on the reins, and that was when they reared.

She was thrown into the air, flying through it as if she were no more consequential than a leaf dropped from a nearby tree. She felt herself falling, falling, unable to grab the stalks near her because suddenly they were gone. Her mind tried to comprehend that and couldn't.

Three thoughts flashed through her mind in the space of a single breath.

The first was that the tornado had indeed come early.

This thought was quickly followed with
Mammi
's assurance that “
Gotte
will always care for His children.”

And last, it occurred to her that she wanted to see her parents one more time.

CHAPTER 18

J
acob and Samuel had shut down the tractor and were walking toward the house from the field they had been harvesting. Suddenly Samuel stopped, turned toward the west, and his mouth fell open. Jacob's heart rate kicked up a notch at the expression on the older man's face, but he still didn't understand the danger. He still hadn't looked toward the sky.

“Get to the cellar!” Samuel grabbed Jacob by the shoulders and pushed his face close, but still his words were barely discernible. “Behind the house. Go!”

Samuel turned without another word of explanation and ran toward the front porch. He left Jacob to gape at the black, churning funnel cloud barreling toward them. Even as Jacob watched, it dipped down from the sky and devoured everything in its path.

He started after Samuel, but a cry over the noise of the storm stopped him. The sound was not from the girl, but from the horses. Was Anna still outside? Was she trying to steer the team? He ran toward the maze, or what had been the maze when he'd arrived a few hours earlier. As the tornado bore down on him, Jacob stumbled to his knees and slapped his hands over his ears. He had to silence the howl of the twister or surely his eardrums would burst. As he crouched in the dirt, the team appeared out of the darkness—running wildly, eyes flashing, heads tossing. He barely had time to roll out of the way as the workhorses tore past him. The rigging between the wagon and the
harvester was damaged and the harvester jostled left, then right, and finally broke free. It occurred to Jacob that the severed hitch probably saved the horses. If the connection between the harvester and wagon had held, they would have been pulled over with the harvester, which now lay on its side.

But where was Anna?

He ran in the direction the horses had come from, down a strip of field that was now without any crop. He prayed as he ran, his mind repeating over and over, “Please,
Gotte
. Please.” The fear in his heart could find no other words, and his mind was as chaotic as the scene around him.

Part of the maze had been harvested. Another part had been ripped away, leaving a cleared field. The terrible howl had stopped and now a gentle rain fell. No lightning. No thunder. Only a path of destruction and silence. Suddenly he saw her up ahead and to the right. She was lying on the ground—lifeless and still.

He ran, stumbled, struggled to his feet, and ran some more. It seemed to take an eternity to reach her side. Jacob's hands trembled as he knelt beside her.

From the angle of her body, he could tell that something was terribly wrong. He placed his hand on her neck to check her pulse, a procedure he had read about in a first aid book he'd picked up in Ohio.

She was unconscious but still breathing.

“Please save her,
Gotte
. Don't let her die. Not today. Not here, like this.”

The prayer sprang from his heart with the same intensity as the stalks of corn had been ripped from the field. The words flowed from him as he unpinned the collar of her dress and again put his fingers to the side of her neck.

Still breathing, but if anything she looked worse to him.

Her skin was unnaturally pale, and she hadn't moved.

Should he stay or go for help?

Suddenly a horrendous popping sound assaulted his ears, and a second tornado barreled down on them, dipped, and sucked up what remained of Samuel's corn.

Jacob threw his body over Anna to protect her from the violence of the funnel cloud. As suddenly as it dipped down upon them, it vanished, leaving a completely cleared field without a single stalk of corn in it.

He didn't know how much time passed as he knelt beside her, praying and watching the sky for signs of any additional twisters. Suddenly he was aware of Samuel and Erin calling, frantically searching for them.

He released Anna's hand, which he had been clutching. Standing in the muddy, barren field, he waved and jumped and screamed for their help.

Erin saw him first and began running in his direction.

Samuel wasn't far behind, and in the distance Jacob could see Anna's grandmother hobbling down off the porch.

“Anna!” The agony of Erin's voice would follow Jacob the rest of his life.

Erin threw herself on the ground at Anna's side, sobbing and crying out in German. Jacob caught the words “mercy” and “
Gotte
” and “please, please, Lord” as he turned to Samuel.

The man's face was a ghastly white. “Is she—”

“
Nein
. But we can't move her. Do you have a phone? In your barn?”

Samuel shook his head. “Next door. There's a phone shack next to the road.”

“Which direction?”

Samuel pointed in the opposite direction from Bishop Levi's place. “I'll go,” he said, but Jacob reached out to stop him.

If Anna died, she should do so surrounded by her family, not with a stranger at her side.

“
Nein
. Stay with your wife and Anna. Don't move her. She's breathing, but something's… something's wrong. If she wakes, keep her still.” Then he was gone, running faster than he ever had before, praying help would arrive in time. As he ran, he petitioned God for this family he barely knew, aware that his prayers were echoing Erin's as she knelt in the mud beside her niece.

CHAPTER 19

J
acob stood next to Anna's grandmother, and together they watched the medical personnel work on the young woman. The run to the phone shack and back had taken less than twenty minutes. In that time, Anna still hadn't moved. She hadn't awakened at all. The neighbors began showing up, Bishop Levi and others whom Jacob didn't know.

An ambulance had dashed down the lane, lights flashing and siren wailing, coming to a stop next to where the small group was assembled. A middle-aged woman with red hair stepped out, followed by a younger man who looked to be about Jacob's age. She took one look, muttered, “Don't move her,” and ducked back into the vehicle. When she stepped back out, she walked straight to Anna and knelt beside her, slipping a large plastic collar around her neck.

“Has she spoken?”

Samuel merely shook his head, which the woman couldn't see, so she barked the question again.

“
Nein
.” Jacob stepped forward. “She hasn't moved at all.”

“Who found her?”

“I did.”

“How long ago?”

Jacob had no idea, so he didn't answer.

This time the woman turned her head and met his gaze with a look
of understanding and compassion. “My name is Brenda, and I want to help your—”

“Friend.” Jacob began to shake. He crossed his arms in an attempt to still the tremors. “Anna is my friend.”

“I need to know whatever you know. How long ago did it happen?”

“Maybe thirty minutes.”

“And she hasn't spoken or moved at all?”

“Not a word, and I was afraid to move her.”

“You did well. In fact, you may have saved her life.” Brenda pulled a radio off her belt and pushed the button. “Unit seventeen.”

“Go ahead.” The dispatcher was male and sounded as if he were standing in the field with them.

“We have a twenty-five-year-old female…”

“Twenty-four.” Erin's words shook and trembled. Samuel had pulled her away when the medical personnel arrived. Otherwise, she'd still be clinging to Anna. “She's only twenty-four.”

“She's waking up.” The young man was on the right side of Anna and the woman on the left.

Jacob couldn't see Anna's expression. Erin had thrown herself down at the girl's head and was once more praying.

“Ma'am, I need you to give us some room.”

Samuel again pulled Erin away. She turned to him and collapsed in his arms, sobbing and praying and hiding her face.

“Anna, try not to move. We're here to help you.”

“My neck… it hurts.” Anna's voice was weak, and Jacob had to lean closer to hear. A little color had returned to her face, and her eyes were darting left and then right but focusing on nothing. “Why can't I move my head?”

“We have a collar on you to keep your neck in one position. I want you to hold very still for me.” Brenda didn't look at the other paramedic but began barking orders as she continued to examine Anna for other injuries. “In-line spinal stabilization. I want it started now, and bring me a splint for her leg.”

She'd finished her preliminary exam and took a moment to listen
to Anna's breathing with her stethoscope. Replacing the instrument around her neck, she asked, “Can you squeeze my hand, Anna?”

“
Ya
. I think so.”

Jacob realized now what his mind had blocked out earlier. Her legs were splayed out awkwardly, unnaturally.

“We need to move your legs, Anna. It may hurt. I want you to keep your eyes on Charlie and let him know if the pain is too much.”

Anna nodded as tears began to stream down her face. “What's wrong with me? Why does my head hurt so?”

“We're going to give you something for that, but I need to be sure there are no fractures first.” Brenda was already moving and straightening her legs.

Anna never complained at all. Jacob was watching her closely, and she didn't so much as flinch as the paramedics went about their work.

Brenda again pulled her radio. “This is unit seventeen.”

“Go ahead, seventeen.”

“We have a twenty-four-year-old female with a possible SCI and multiple contusions. The patient is alert and responding to questions. I'm requesting a med-vac stat.”

“I have your location, seventeen. Hold please while I contact Tulsa.” The voice came back in less than a minute. “Med-vac is on its way. ETA twenty minutes.”

Brenda looked around until she spotted Jacob. Standing, she walked over to him. “I need you to come and talk to her until her mother—”

“
Aenti
.”

“All right, until her
aenti
calms down. We want to keep her alert and responsive. Can you help me with that?”