Saints Among Us (10 page)

“I saw you fall,” Alice said, “and it’s lucky that you didn’t really take a header. You just slid right off the edge on your back. The bush cushioned your fall somewhat. Stay still for a moment while I tell the others, all right?”

“Will do.” Riley made an effort to smile, although she could see that he was in pain.

Alice backed out from beneath the bush as fast as she could. She didn’t even want to think about what she looked like with her bottom in the air in front of an entire crowd of people, but it couldn’t be helped. She was barely clear of the branches when she felt large hands at her waist.

Mark hauled her upright, and a crowd of anxious faces surrounded her immediately. “He’s conscious and lucid,” she reported. “One arm is broken. He doesn’t have any other obvious injuries, but we need to get him to a trauma center as soon as possible. He could have closed-head or spinal injuries we can’t see.”

“A couple of you guys help me with this bush.” Shel, the camp’s handyman, came rushing around the side of the house with a power saw and his ever-present tool kit in his grip. He fired up the saw.

Over the roar of the motor, Mark yelled, “Wait!”

As Shel cut the power, Alice said, “We need towels.”

“Here you go.” Royce held up a stack of clean towels. “I figured you might need these.”

“Good thinking,” Alice said, smiling at the boy. She selected two of the largest and crawled beneath the bush again. “I’m going to cover you with these,” she told Riley, “because we have to cut away the bush to get you out. It’s going to sound hideous but I promise we won’t hurt you.”

“Okay. Man, Shel’s gotta love this. He’s been after Joe to let him cut down this stupid bush since one of the dogs got loose and hid out in here. No wonder it took us so long to catch it.”

“It’s a real jungle specimen,” Alice agreed. She gently tucked the towels around Riley, making sure his head and face were well covered and yet allowed him plenty of space to breathe. “I’ll be with you as soon as they move this bush, all right?”

“See you in five.”

Once again, Alice crawled from beneath the shrubbery and once again, Mark assisted her to her feet. “Stand back here, Alice,” he said, placing a hand at her back. “How’s he doing?”

“Shocky, but doing okay, all things considered. We need to get him to a medical center though. That arm needs to be X-rayed.”

Mark stepped forward with several other people as Shel revved up the saw and began to slice branches away. They had fetched safety glasses from somewhere and most of them wore gloves, a common sight throughout camp despite the heat. As Shel cut, his helpers held the branches so that nothing would fall on Riley. As quickly as he moved, they pulled away the brush.

Little by little, the shrub was denuded and Riley’s shape could be seen beneath the towels. As soon as a space was opened, Alice knelt beside Riley again, disregarding the sawdust and the woodchips that bit into her knees. Quickly, she slipped a small board beneath the injured arm and bound it in the position it lay so that it could not be disturbed during transport.

Joe came along his other side. “Someone had a collapsible backboard so we’re going to get you on it, buddy,” he told Riley.

People surrounded them, and, on Joe’s count, moved Riley carefully onto the backboard Joe had laid on the ground beside him, jostling him as little as possible. By now, Riley’s face was so white that his spiky dyed hair looked neon yellow by contrast. Miranda brought Alice the first-aid kit, and she efficiently used bandages to immobilize his head against the board. She was relieved to see that there was no blood on the ground where he had lain.

One of the other volunteers backed a large SUV up to the site, and Royce, Mark and four other men lifted Riley into the back. Alice and Joe climbed in.

“Do you want the medical kit?” Miranda asked.

“No, you might need it here,” Alice replied. She looked at all her new friends gathered around. “Nobody else can get hurt until I get back, okay?”

“You got it.” Ellen closed the doors of the truck and they began to move.

“Are we going to a hospital?” Alice asked.

Joe shook his head. “The nearest one is almost an hour away. They’ve set up a trauma site just down the road, so we’ll go there first.”

“Just down the road” was nearly twenty minutes, Alice discovered. Thankfully, there was a doctor on site. Riley was examined and appeared to have sustained no injuries other than those found by Alice. An X-ray of the arm showed bones snapped cleanly in two.

During the X-ray exam, Alice noticed a young woman speaking on the public telephone nearby. Then the significance sank in. A public telephone!

“Look,” she said to Joe. “I’m going to try to call home.”

She walked to the phone as the young woman moved away. Thank heavens Jane had made her memorize her calling card information; she had rushed off without even taking her wallet. When she lifted the receiver, she rapidly punched in her sequences of numbers, following the prompts until at last she heard ringing.

“Grace Chapel Inn, Jane speaking. May I help you?”

“Hello, Jane. It’s’”

“Alice! Hello! I’m so glad to hear from you. Not that I’ve been worried, but’”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t call before. There hardly is any telephone service of any kind, mobile or landline, down here right now. Jane, you can’t imagine the devastation: Signs are broken or missing; huge trees are just toppled right across the power lines and roads; entire roofs are torn away. We’re at a camp twelve miles from the center of the hurricane zone, and I can’t even imagine what it looks like closer in.”

“So how are you managing a telephone call?”

“I came into town with another volunteer.” Alice thought it might be better simply not to mention that she had brought in a patient who was injured at the camp. “The Red Cross has set up here, and power has been restored to a small area, so I thought I would call while I had a chance. How are all of you?”

“Fine, except that Louise and Aunt Ethel still aren’t speaking,” Jane reported. “Louise says Aunt Ethel should apologize for her unkind words, a position I agree with. Not that I expect it will ever happen. I haven’t spoken about it to Aunt Ethel because…well, imagine the lecture I’d hear if I brought it up.”

Alice sighed. “You’d get an earful, I guess.”

“That’s putting it mildly!”

“Is everything running smoothly at the inn?”

“Heavens, yes. We’ve had at least one room filled every night, and we are getting a lot more bookings for the holiday season than I expected. Oh, and I tried a new recipe that was a huge hit.”

“Do tell.”

“It didn’t have any kind of catchy name, so I called it Grace Chapel Inn Egg Crunch. It was an easy one’ hard-boiled eggs stuffed with a mixture of sour cream, crumbled bacon, halved olives, parsley and paprika. I served it with those vanilla-nutmeg muffins you like so well.”

“Oh, stop. I’m consumed with envy. Down here we’re making our meals on a camp stove.”

Jane laughed. “So tell me more about Camp Compassion.”

Where could she start to explain it all? Alice took a deep breath, knowing she never could convey adequately the experience she was having. “There are people here from all over the country. Some are from nearby, but the majority had to travel a long distance to get here. There are volunteers from Maine, Montana, Wisconsin, Texas…even California.”

She went on, telling Jane every detail she could think of. Then she saw Joe go in the direction of the front desk. He came into view a moment later, hovering over Riley, who was walking slowly at his side. The injured arm was encased in a soft cast, which Alice knew would be exchanged for something more durable in a few days when the swelling had subsided. “I have to say good-bye now. My ride is ready to go.”

“Oh, Alice, thank you so much for calling. Louise and everyone who has asked will be so glad to know you’re doing all right. You’re still planning to return Tuesday, right?”

“Right.” Alice was silent for a moment. She could see that time was going to fly by. The thought of leaving saddened her. “Good-bye, Jane. Hug Louise for me. I love you.”

Chapter Ten

B
y noon on Alice’s fourth day in the disaster area, it was ninety-five degrees. It had not even cooled down much during the previous night, and everyone seemed to be moving a bit slower. The heat wave was unprecedented, and everyone was talking about how bad it could be for the animals caught in the hot, airless buildings.

Since Dr. Spade was nowhere in sight, Alice was assisting Gina in the CCU when Royce, one of Ellen’s twins, came rushing through the door. “Alice, we just brought in a girl out here who collapsed. Joe needs you right now.”

Alice glanced at Gina, who said, “Go, go!” She took the dog that Alice was about to return to a clean kennel. “I can handle this for a while. Thanks to you, we’ve already gotten through the morning rush.”

Alice followed Royce into the supply room, where Joe was kneeling before a young woman lying on the couch. He wore a worried frown. “What does heat stroke look like?”

The people around the couch moved back to allow Alice space.

“Hello, I’m Alice.” She sat on the edge of the couch and inspected her patient. “Can you tell me your name?”

The girl made an effort to smile. “Emilia. I’m from Boise. You know, Idaho.”

“Idaho!” Alice was momentarily distracted. “That must have been a long drive.”

The young woman rolled her eyes. “And then some. Luckily, there were three other people with me, so we all took shifts.”

“Emilia, can you tell me what you are doing here?”

Emilia gave her a faintly puzzled stare. “Do you mean
here
as in ‘at Camp Compassion,’ here as in ‘my specific duties’ or here as in ‘lying on this couch’?”

Alice smiled. It sounded as though the young woman was in full possession of her faculties. “Any of the above will do.”

“I came to help with rescued animals. I help Corinne with the kennels, and I think I fainted.”

Emilia’s response was reassuring. Alice smiled at her patient. “How do you feel now that you’re lying down?”

“A little sick to my stomach…and I have a really bad headache. It’s been getting worse all day.”

“Emilia, how much have you had to drink yesterday and today?”

The girl looked blank for a moment. “To drink? I don’t know. A cup of water with breakfast is the only thing I can remember.”

Alice looked up at Joe and the others anxiously hovering behind him. “I suspect this is heat exhaustion rather than heat stroke,” she told him. “She’s lucid, aware, pale and sweating heavily. Headache and nausea are common indicators. If this truly were a case of heat stroke, I would expect her to be a good bit more confused and she would be flushed rather than pale. Her breathing is fine too. Hyperventilating is a sign of heat stroke.”

“Does she need to go to the hospital?”

“Let’s try providing fluids, getting her on an IV and keeping her resting in this air-conditioned room. I’ll keep an eye on her for any changes.” Alice gestured to the stacks of supplies. “I saw a new arrival of medical items there, including some IV setups. Can someone find one for me?”

“I can tell someone where they are.” The words came from Riley, who already was moving about the camp again, albeit carefully so as not to jar his injured arm.

In short order, what Alice had requested was handed to her. The only place she could find to hang the IV bag was from the chandelier over the table right in the middle of the room. The unorthodox setup made a statement, Alice thought, that defined the entire camp experience.

Alice had barely gotten Emilia settled when Joe and Kyle came through the door supporting a large man between them. Alice recognized Shel, the handyman.

“Hi, Alice,” he said with a wave, although she could see Shel wasn’t well.

“Lay him down over there.” She pointed to a second couch against a wall.

“What were you doing today?” she asked Shel. He did not look as though he felt as bad as Emilia had.

“I was up on the roof again, patching some loose shingle. I started feeling woozy so I came down before I fell off.”

“Smart decision, since we already have one patient who tried to do a bird imitation off that roof.” She patted his shoulder as she teased him. “Some fluids should have you feeling better soon.”

Joe hung around while she set up a second IV of saline solution and got Shel settled. Then she beckoned to Joe and stepped into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind her. “We need to keep that door closed so it stays cool in there. And we need to talk.”

Alice was gentle and soft-spoken, but thanks to her nurse’s training, she could infuse her voice with a no-nonsense note of command when necessary. “These people are not drinking enough. The only reason this hasn’t happened earlier is because temperatures were cooler. But now it’s unseasonably warm, and no one is taking that into account. They’re all working like dogs.”

Joe laughed. “Look around, Alice. The dogs here are definitely not the ones doing the work.” But he sobered and pulled his clipboard in front of him. “So everyone needs to drink more.”

“Yes.”

“Any specific suggestions?” He looked up at her. “I do have some discretionary funds for things like water and ice.”

“Good. Send someone into town for a cooler of ice and a couple cases of water bottles and maybe some of those energy drinks. Put them in a couple of big coolers in a central location and remind people to drink. Also, unless there’s an urgent need, I’d recommend enforcing a mandatory break between noon and two, because some of these folks don’t know the meaning of the word
rest
. In the meanwhile, let’s spread the word about hydrating.”

Mark came out of the CCU in time to catch the end of the conversation. “I told you she was fantastic,” he said to Joe. Mark smiled at her, and she was flustered by the warmth in his eyes. “Thanks again for coming down here. It means a lot to me.”

Joe hustled away with his clipboard, but Alice barely registered his withdrawal. “You’re welcome,” she said faintly. She supposed she always would care for Mark as more than simply a friend. For years, she had prayed for him to embrace his faith. Simply knowing that he was striving to be a better Christian each day made him doubly attractive to her. His presence brought her joy.

“So we’re taking a break for a couple of hours in the afternoon?” he asked.

She nodded. “At least until it cools down. If we don’t, I’m afraid there are going to be more people out of commission with heat-related problems.”

Mark shook his head. “Aren’t we a bunch? We put up awnings to shade the animals, refill water bowls and wading pools to keep them cool, then forget to take care of ourselves.”

She laughed. “It sounds ridiculous when you put it that way.”

“I have an idea,” Mark said. “We could offer a Bible study during our downtime this afternoon.”

“Oh yes.” She was delighted that he’d thought of it. “June and I brought our Bibles, but I have to confess I was so exhausted the past few nights that I barely managed a short prayer before my eyes closed. A Bible study would be wonderful.”

Jane walked to the post office Friday morning. She donned a lightweight corduroy jacket over her scoop-necked blue sweater and khaki pants. Her long dark hair was confined in a casual twist to prevent the wind from tangling it unmercifully.

It was a beautiful, crisp fall day in Acorn Hill. A mild breeze herded leaves in brilliant shades of red, yellow and orange across the street in front of her. A wagon drawn by a horse with a shining coat of ebony passed with a cluster of laughing little girls snuggling into loads of loose, fragrant hay. With its passing, the leaves swirled high into the air.

The scene reminded Jane of her childhood. It was a pleasant reminiscence. She and her friends had raked huge piles of leaves, ostensibly to help their neighbors. But mostly the kids took turns leaping into the leaves, covering themselves completely, rolling around and giggling like mad.

“Did you jump in the leaves when you were little?” she asked Louise a few hours later as her eldest sister came into the kitchen where Jane was working. Louise was dressed in a long wool skirt and a twin set in a light blue similar to the color of Jane’s own sweater.

Louise stopped, one eyebrow rising as if to question Jane’s sanity. “Did I jump in the leaves?”

“Yes. You know, just for fun—rake up a big pile and jump in them.” She would not be surprised if Louise had never enjoyed the delights of a fall leaf-leaping session. Her eldest sister seemed to have been born staid and responsible.

“Why on earth would I have wanted to do that?” Louise asked, her face perfectly expressionless.

“Didn’t you’”

Louise burst out laughing. “Oh, Jane, I wasn’t always stuffy, you know. Of course I jumped in the leaves when I was little. Didn’t everybody?”

“You’re not stuffy,” Jane said loyally. “Just…serious, maybe.”

“Serious. I like it.”

“I’m glad you jumped in the leaves, Louie.” The sisters gazed at each other for a moment, then burst into shared laughter.

When the merriment subsided, Louise asked, “What are you doing?”

Jane held up a lovely earring that glittered in shades of copper and bronze in the light. “Making some beaded jewelry for the crafts fair. I asked many other people to donate things, and it occurred to me that all I was planning to contribute were some baked goods.”

“Jane, your baked goods are probably worth five of anything else we’re selling.”

“I doubt that, but thank you,” Jane said, shaking her head modestly. “You know what I mean though.”

“Have you gotten anything in yet, or are all the products still in the making?”

“Oh, wait until I show you!” Jane jumped up from her seat. “Things are starting to arrive.” She headed for the stairs, speaking over her shoulder as Louise trailed behind her. “Of course, the group projects are not finished yet, and those are the bulk of the contributions, but some of the individual items are here. They’re really lovely. Right now, I’m keeping it all in my bedroom. I’m a little concerned about where we are going to store everything. I thought I’d ask Aunt Ethel to talk to Kenneth about creating a screened-off corner in the Assembly Room, since we only need the space for about three weeks.”

“That might work. Do you really expect to need that much space?” Louise followed Jane to the third floor, then stopped in the doorway of Jane’s room.

All the pretty throw pillows that usually covered the little settee against one wall were lined up across the foot of Jane’s bed. The seat itself was covered with boxes and piles of donated goods, and the open space beneath its slender legs also was filled to capacity.

“My dear heavenly days,” Louise said. “I cannot believe you have gotten so much already. You definitely are going to have to find a larger area for everything.” She walked across the room, drawn by the soft fabrics and colors of some of the needlework. “Look at this.” She held up a shell-stitched afghan in shades of cream, palest lavenders and blues. “I don’t have a place for this, but someone surely will have the perfect room. It’s so beautiful!”

“Look at this.” Jane held up a tiny pink hooded baby jacket and matching booties with big pom-poms attached. “Could it get any cuter?”