Reclaiming Lily (16 page)

Daughter!
I am here for you
.

Hairs prickled on Kai’s arms. That voice. Again. Was it Old Grandfather?

I am Who I am. Do not fear
.

“Wh-who?” Kai’s composure slipped. “Who are you?”

Joy’s hands flew to her face. She began to moan in a manner that Kai had heard behind curtains in emergency rooms.

Now her words had frightened her sister. Kai tightened both her grip on Joy and her resolve to never let that happen again. Yet the words of that unknown voice continued to fill her mind. Do not fear? In the eye of a storm?

Do not fear. I am with you always
.

Though Joy continued to cry, though the thundering intensified, though the radio monotoned about taking cover, the strange words rallied courage and allowed Kai to focus on Joy. Careful to keep one hand on the mattress and the other on Joy, she whispered, “Do not fear,” into Joy’s ear. “I am with you always.”

Joy’s sobs ebbed. Convulsing shoulders stilled.

“Do not fear.” Encouraged, Kai repeated the words gifted in an unknown way, by an unknown speaker.

Glass shattered. Sirens screamed. Screeches and grunts and moans of human fear tried to smother her voice. With Joy melded to her body, Kai hunkered into the floor, caring not who the speaker was. “I am with you always,” she kept repeating.

A strange sucking sound filled the room, as did a cool breeze.
It is over!
The thought leapt from Kai’s heart, yet she was taking no chances with the safety of Fourth Sister. “I am with you always,” she whispered, and held tight to Joy.

“Repeat. The tornado seems to have disintegrated near the intersection of . . .”

Kai let out a breath and loosed her hold on Joy. Had they escaped? Had the unknown speaker who whispered “fear not” been telling the truth? Shuffles—people walking?—and thuds from dropped mattresses mingled with the monotone of the emergency radio.

“Stay put!” yelled Mr. Moore. “That’s an order!”

Kai massaged her taut neck muscles. If people were emerging from their mattress cocoons, surely the worst was over.

Someone whimpered.

Another.

Kai’s heart leapt to her throat. People had been hurt, yet the one in charge asked that they stay put. She would effect a compromise. She edged from under the mattress to look about. If there was work to do, she could help.

Kai turned back to Joy. “Stay put, okay?” When Joy nodded from beneath the mattress still sheltering her, Kai said, “I will be back.”

The storm’s afterglow illumined glass shards that carpeted the floor. The room’s occupants wore dazed expressions, as if they’d landed on another planet. Kai cupped her hands to her mouth. “I am a doctor,” she called out, grateful that years of following emergency protocol amplified her voice. “Can I assist you? Does anyone need help?”

“I don’t think so. At least not that I can tell.” Mr. Moore ran his hand across his shiny bald scalp and slowly crunched in his rubber boots through water and broken glass until he reached the heap that was their mattress and Joy. “A man’s bringing a mop.”

A mop?
Kai suppressed a laugh.
A mop to swab an ocean.

“Just check for cuts, bruises, abrasions.” His meaty jowls shook, as if Mr. Moore battled to suppress his emotions. Kai knew well the feeling. “Whew. It’s nothing like what could’ve happened.”

You have finally seen a tornado, Mr. Moore
. Kai nodded away her thought, eager to begin work. “Do you have first-aid supplies? A kit?”

“Hey, Pete!” Mr. Moore yelled at the man standing nearby. “Get the kit.” Pete began to dig through a bin, hopefully stuffed with supplies. Other workers, wearing jumpsuits, boots, and gloves, streamed into the room and gathered mattresses, a tree limb, two hubcaps, and mangled pieces of metal.

“We don’t need NOAA anymore.” A woman grabbed the squawking radio and turned it off. “Warning’s expired.”

Mr. Moore sighed, shook his head as if he couldn’t believe their fortune, and then stuck out a reddened hand. “Where are my manners? I haven’t even asked your name.”

“Kai.” She extended her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Moore.” This was no time for chitchat, even if it was Texas. “I would like to make sure everyone is okay. You have employees here, correct? Detainees on another floor?”

Officer Moore nodded. “We’re basically a holding tank for juvies. Doris down in receivables is an RN, and she’s checking things there. Near as she can tell, we don’t need 9-1-1. They’re swamped anyway.” Mr. Moore scratched his neck. “So far I’ve just seen minor stuff. No signs of trauma.”

Minor? Without attention, minor became major. Kai held out her hands, hoping that Pete would hand over the kit before she yanked it from him. “Despite no signs of trauma, we will need to assess everyone. If I can just have that kit . . .”

Pete straightened and shoved the kit at Kai. “You need a towel? Water? Soap?”

“Yes,” Kai called over her shoulder as she walked to the center of the room, pausing to pull gloves from the kit and put them on. “My name is Kai,” she announced, raising her voice in hopes that all could hear. “As I said earlier, I am a medical doctor and would like to help you.” As she spoke, she pivoted, hoping her words would be heard by everyone in the room. “If you are experiencing dizziness or chest pain, please call out.”

When no one responded, Kai stepped toward a woman who sat cross-legged, her head buried in her lap. “Are you okay?” she asked.

The woman raised her head, managed a bleary nod. Kai knelt beside her, checked her vitals. “It will be okay.” She patted the woman’s shoulder, then stood. “If you have cuts or abrasions, however superficial, please call out. If you are able, please check the status of those in close proximity. Other than that, please stay where you are.”

“Ma’am?” someone called. A man’s voice.

Kai whirled to her left.

“I think she’s cut.”

Kai’s gaze riveted to a sweatshirt, pressed against a woman’s arm. A blue sweatshirt, with no telltale red stain. Most likely a minor injury.

“Thank you, sir.” She hurried to the woman and knelt by her. “What is your name?” she asked as she unwrapped the sweatshirt.

“Anna,” the woman said through tears. Kai kept talking while examining the woman’s arm. The tip of what looked to be a triangular glass shard protruded from the woman’s wrist. Kai’s heart pounded.
No wonder the poor thing is crying. Inches more, and there would be arterial compromise. A red river seeping across this floor.
Kai inhaled her little secret. “I know it is painful.” She kept eye contact with the woman. “But please keep still.”

“Can’t—” The woman’s teeth chattered. “Can’t you get it out?”

Not for all the tea in China
. Kai pursed her lips, as if it were a possibility, but recalled her ER training. “
Patients like to think their opinion deserves consideration
.
Do not send them into shock by reeling off dreadful ‘what-ifs’ or alienate them by spouting medical gobbledygook.”
Kai smiled, both for Anna and the memory of old Dr. Ward. “It would be best done in a hospital. You have insurance, no?”

“Yes. Oh, yes.” The woman’s chest heaved with her eagerness to help.

Involve the patient
. Another of Dr. Ward’s techniques, to the rescue.

“So we’ll just tape this up—”

The woman pointed at her foot. “I’ve got a place down there too.”

Without letting go of the woman’s hand, Kai leaned close enough to spot a laceration the size of a dime.

Kai furrowed her brow, as if she were in deep thought. “I am glad you showed that to me. However, I believe it will be fine. As soon as I get water and soap—”

“It’s right here. Drinking water too.”

Kai froze. That was Joy’s voice. But it couldn’t be . . .

Joy knelt beside her. A bucket and a soap dispenser thudded onto the floor. So did a crate of bottled water.

“J-Joy. Are you . . . okay?”

“I got up when you made the announcement.” Something like a sparkle highlighted Fourth Daughter’s eyes. “When I saw you working, I asked the man if I could help. He said for me to take these to my mother.” She giggled, and it was a beautiful thing. “I didn’t bother to explain.”

As Joy handed Kai the soap dispenser, Kai noted a dramatic change. Gone were Joy’s sullen eyes, pooched-out lip, imperious demeanor of— When was it? A lifetime ago? Kai checked her watch. It had been two hours since she’d first seen the sister whom she’d lost in order to save, the sister with an attitude the size of this state, the sister who just might be changed by a Texas twister.

As they finished up with Anna, another man called for help.

Kai turned to Joy. “Tell them I am on my way. Try to make them comfortable. Offer them a drink.”

With a nod, Joy hurried across the room.

As workers continued to clean up the mess, Joy helped Kai bandage minor cuts and became a water girl. When they had seen the last clerk in the room, suffering only from a splinter in her finger, Kai began filling out the incident report given her by Mr. Moore. A spate of folks seemed to be on the phone, hanging up the phone, or getting out their phone.

The sight of people calling loved ones brought David to mind. Kai closed her eyes and imagined his strong jaw, his tapered, smooth hands. How she longed to spill out her heart to him, to let his gentle voice energize her, inspire her.

“Um, Dr. Kai?”

Mr. Moore clicked off his walkie-talkie and shifted his weight nervously.

Kai set the first-aid kit by Joy, who had collapsed into a chair near the door. “Yes, Mr. Moore.” She mustered a smile. “What can I do for you now?”

“We have a problem. In the detention area.”

Kai nodded. Joy’s eyes got wide.
In other words, the jail.

11

Another first in America . . . visiting a “holding tank” for youth.
Noting Joy’s wide eyes and sucked-in cheekbones, Kai took her sister’s arm. They trailed Pete, who led them out of the elevator and onto the third floor.

Fluorescent lights cast a greenish tint on a room walled by cold cement blocks and a steel entry door with an eye-level window so thick, Kai suspected it was bulletproof. Pete pushed an intercom button and peered through the glass, drumming his fingers impatiently. While they waited by a drinking fountain, Kai shivered to think of Joy in such a place.

“Hey, open up, Hank.” Pete’s finger-drumming morphed to knocks and a wave at the window.

The door opened. Out stepped a guard, wearing the now-familiar jumpsuit, a holstered gun at his waist. Kai grimaced. Men with guns had whisked away Father and Mother and murdered Old Grandfather. Guns spoke a language of control, of power. Oh, that these officers would speak the language with the utmost of caution.

“Purpose for visit?” growled Holster Belt.

Pete threw up his hands and rolled his eyes. “It’s Moore’s doings.”

“Well, I’ll be—”

Holster Belt restrained his words but not his disdain. Kai felt her mouth go dry. Soon she and Joy would stand on Holster Belt’s side of this enclosure. That thought trembled Kai more than the thought of prisoners.

Behind the Plexiglas wall, youths wearing blue shirts and trousers huddled in a corner of the room as if seeking warmth in a dank cave. Was that fear or despair in their eyes?

“Hey, tobacco breath.” Pete tapped his boot against the floor. “She’s a doctor.”

“You’re a doctor?” The man fiddled with his belt and squinted, whether out of disbelief or to mock her eye shape, Kai did not know. “That one a nurse?” His squint zeroed in on Joy as he slicked back his hair. “You two are gonna take care of this?”

“Never forget that you are a servant. That you must do whatever it takes to bring healing
.
”
Dr. Ward’s words helped Kai mask her emotions. She must retain her dignity, honor her oath as a doctor, as a citizen. If it meant ignoring a rude guard, so be it.

“Only until the EMTs get through.” Kai smiled grimly. “Mr. Moore says it won’t be long.” She cleared her throat, eager for the distraction of work. “In the meantime, Mr. Moore sent me here. Apparently someone needs attention.”

“Waste of time, but go ahead.” Holster Belt stepped aside.

“Hey, save your lip for someone who cares.” Pete motioned for Kai and Joy to enter the restricted area. “After you, ladies.”

Kai again pictured her sister inside this place.
Welcome, Joy, to the land of the not-so-free. Perhaps this assignment will prove enlightening to you . . . in more ways than one
.

Joy in tow, Kai stepped across the threshold. The door clanked shut.

One of the room’s three barred windows had been smashed. By the storm? A man pushed a broom across the floor, collecting glass splinters. Bleach worked double-duty but failed to neutralize the smell of sweat, urine, and mold Kai knew so well from working at health care facilities.
Sickness, death, and misery cannot be easily scrubbed away.

Breathing shallowly, Kai sneaked glances about the room.

Two additional guards stood, their legs spread out, their arms folded behind their backs, and gave curt nods from their position just inside the door.