He laughed. “Greg and Sarah Jane have no idea what the other wants. I have never seen two people in so much denial, except maybe Elinor and myself.”
“There’s a simple cure for that. Stay away from both of the Danville sisters.” With that last suggestion, Sean turned away.
As Bradley stared at his back, the innkeeper’s pager went off. The shrill alarm echoed throughout the building. Bradley sat back down and bit into his roast beef and provolone cheese sandwich. Piled high with crisp lettuce and sliced tomatoes, the horseradish hit him as he chewed. Flavors burst in his mouth and he made embarrassing yummy sounds. The meat, encased in the best rye bread he had ever tasted, pleased his stomach as much as the tomato soup and half-frozen doughnuts he’d eaten earlier at the fire scene. His sandwich was temporarily forgotten as he listened to the call.
“SV fire engine 1, Ambulance 1, Rescue 2, report of a child through the ice. East side road, opposite the meadow. Time of your tone is 14:32.”
Sean shut the pager off, and muttered what sounded to Bradley like ‘not wasting time on stupid-ass kids’, then stormed out of the bookstore. He headed in the opposite direction of the fire house. Was he returning to his vehicle or the inn to grab his rescue clothes?
Sarah Jane was suddenly beside him. “Dear Lord, did I hear a child fell through the ice?”
He stood abruptly, recalling he was an active member of the fire department auxiliary. “Sarah Jane, please take care of my sandwich and laptop. I have to go to the fire house, to see what they’ll need.” Grabbing his jacket, he stuffed his arms inside as he flew out the door and raced down the sidewalk and around the corner. The fire house bay doors were open, and engine number one headed out. Sirens wailed from it, accompanied by the answering alerts from two police cruisers. He hurried inside and met with three others from the auxiliary, who had already gathered in the kitchen.
“What can we do?” he asked.
“Normally on a rescue call, we wait to hear from the person in command of the scene. I suspect they’ll have enough bodies at the staging area, but if this is a water rescue, many will be cold. Let’s get coffee and soup on,” Mac said. Since his garage was on the next corner, he had beat them all to the fire house.
Bradley nodded at the older gentleman and went to work filling the huge coffee urn with fresh water. As it heated, he pulled a tray of coffee mugs from a cabinet. He had learned that paper cups were only used when serving coffee at a fire scene. Otherwise, the firefighters enjoyed real mugs.
He recognized Erin Wilson, the school teacher, making sure sugar, spoons, and a cold pitcher of cream were on the big table. “School just let out and I was driving by. I sure hope it’s a false alarm.”
“Why do you think it might be?”
“Those older kids sometimes make bogus calls to emergency services. This time, I hope it’s all a mistake.”
“I’m in agreement, there. Hopefully we will hear about any updates. Will you excuse me?” He headed toward the chief’s office. He told himself he was only curious, but he hoped Elinor sat at the desk. The door was open and the room was empty.
No such luck. I am having quite the streak.
Looking around, he was pleased with the orderly desk, the closed file cabinets, and the many medals and photos of past firefighters lining the walls. A huge write-on board took up most of another wall. It listed fire and rescue calls by the day for the entire month of December. The examples ranged from cars hitting deer to house fires to a car into… “Hey! the car into the pond was me!” He shook his head, then grimaced as he recalled how cold and muddy he was that day. If a child was submerged in the icy waters of a pond… He turned to leave and spotted a large fill-in white board on the opposite wall.
Ah, the roster.
His curiosity about Sean made him study the board. Within minutes he knew the truth. The innkeeper was supposed to be on duty. As he thought earlier, he might have returned to the inn to retrieve his gear or a vehicle. Or, had he decided a child needing rescue was beneath him? He ought to give the innkeeper the benefit of the doubt.
A big calendar was pinned to the back of the office door and he almost missed it. He’d forgotten about tomorrow night’s potluck supper. The family owning the farm was an older gentleman caring for two grandchildren. They had no home and no house insurance, only a barn and one horse to care for. The supper was a fundraiser for the family, but since he could not cook, he planned to send them an anonymous certified check.
Meeting these people in Snowflake Valley had opened his eyes to a different kind of existence, where people helped others and cared for them. Whether they could afford to or not, dozens of people would cram inside the fire house to raise money to help the burned-out family build a new and safer home.
Thank goodness the kids had been visiting another relative at the time of the fire. The owner had escaped before the chimney fire and explosion took out the rest of the roof. Bradley had met him when the ambulance driver, Al, brought him over for some hot soup.
He learned that the homeowner had lost his son and daughter-in-law in a car accident last spring and was caring for their children alone, with the help of some citizens of the town. Now, everyone would gather at the pot luck supper to bring a smile back on their faces.
If the fire had started while the children were asleep on the second floor, they could have been killed. Thoughts of the fire victims brought to mind the ice rescue going on now. He shivered and silently prayed the rescuers were successful in saving the child.
***
“Engine 1 on scene.” Elinor listened to the radio mounted in her truck, then pulled to a stop about three car lengths from where the engine and police cars had parked. Several citizen’s vehicles lined the road. Elinor recognized this as the spot where Bradley’s car had driven into the pond. That was only five days ago. When she spotted half a dozen adults tossing sleds into the back of their cars, she understood what must have happened.
“Is this a sledding accident?” she asked one bystander, a woman holding her sobbing child’s hand.
“Dear God, help him!” She pointed about twenty feet out onto the pond.
There was barely a thin film of ice on the pond. It now appeared covered over, but had cracked beneath the weight of the boy who must have ridden his sled down the frozen muddy slope and ended up out on the thin ice.
“Rescue is coming, ma’am.” Firefighters were already heading toward the bottom of the hill, using a large tether hooked around the front bumper of the engine. Another siren, muffled by the thick stand of trees that lined the road, came to a stop nearby. Men in cold-water gear emerged and clamped heavy gloves on the rope the firefighters had tossed down the slope. With it attached to the engine’s bumper, it would hold them as they raced down to the edge of the pond.
Ellie itched to join them, and to be able to wrap her fingers around the child. He bobbed in the water and clung to the edge of the cracked ice, but more and more of the thin ice gave way. He no longer screamed, which meant he was growing hypothermic.
Another siren, recognizable as belonging to the ambulance, grew silent as the vehicle parked behind a squad car. They left their emergency lights spinning, which glowed ominously through the trees and reflected off the ice and black water beneath the child.
“How many, Ellie?” Johnny yelled.
She knew they would crank up the heat inside the unit’s cab and also toss warming packs into the on-board heater.
“At least one child. Maybe the men who might fall in after him. They are wearing proper gear, but it must be cold.”
“I hear you. We’ll be ready.”
She headed back to the distraught woman to see if she could get any more info from her. “Ma’am, do we know who that is in the water?”
Her son answered. “That’s Mitch Hamilton.”
His sobbing started again, but she needed to know more? “How old is Mitch?”
“He’s twelve,” the boy’s mother added, “and this is Tommy.”
<
br /> “Ma’am, did any other children break through the ice along with that one boy?”
“I don’t think so. Tommy, did you see anyone else?”
He nodded.
“Who did you see?” Ellie asked while trying to keep her voice calm. The boy looked scared to death.
“Mitch was right in front of me and I know his sister jumped into his lap. I might have drowned, too!”
“Tommy, you’re fine, and those men are going to get Mitch out real soon, but are you sure the girl was with him?”
He nodded and started sobbing again. “Beth is only three!”
His mother kneeled down and cried with him, but Ellie was running to the water rescue commander.
“Hey there, Ellie. I mean, Chief.”
“No time for pleasantries. I just got word from a witness that there’s a three-year-old female in the water!”
“What? Dear Lord.” He picked up his radio and saw his man on the water’s edge answer. Ellie’s breath caught in her throat as she waited to see what the men would do. The men in cold-water-gear jumped into the hole, while citizens made use of the fire engine extension ladder. It helped keep them on top of the thin ice.
As soon as the rescuers jumped in, Ellie ran to the ambulance. “Johnny! Al! Possible drowning! One patient looks like he’s breathing, but his sister is under the ice!”
Al and Johnny, leaning against the back of the ambulance, stared at her, then went into action. “Get both here as fast as possible. We’re the only ambulance within twenty miles, so we we’ll need to work on both, if you can find the girl.”
Ellie relayed the information to the rescue commander, and told the police to make sure the road that led to the hospital was clear of all traffic. She asked another officer to talk to Tommy and his mother to get family information. What a nightmare this was going to be for the parents.
The last man at the end of the ladder stood up with the boy. The boy—Mitch—was pulled to shore, then passed man to man. She returned to the edge of the slope and waited as she prayed. Firefighters carried the boy up the hillside. How would she feel if her own sister was lost somewhere beneath the ice?
Johnny slid past Ellie and met them halfway up the slimy slope. He wrapped a blanket around the boy and hefted him up the rest of the way with the help of two of the firefighters. She could tell the child was alive, but shivering excessively. Johnny and Al would work on bringing his core temperature down.
“Find her!” the boy suddenly screamed. Ellie glanced at the boy who’d pulled his arm free and pointed to the pond. “It’s all my fault!”
Dear Lord, what a burden to bear for the rest of his life.
She wanted to join the others at the edge of the pond, but she was management. It was her responsibility to do a head count of everyone on scene, to make sure no one else was lost under the ice. Her fingers itched to help in other ways. She didn’t see Sean, which was a happy circumstance, but she was sure he was supposed to respond.
A cry rang out and a rescuer emerged with a lifeless form wearing a pink parka. The men on the ladder passed her back to the firefighters on shore. Ellie ran back to the ambulance and found another blanket.
“They found her. They’re bringing her up.”
“Is she alive?” Mitch asked.
Johnny and Al glanced at her, but how could she answer?
Johnny said, “Let us know when she reaches the top of the bank and we’ll give her a quick checkup.”
She nodded, wondering if that meant to wait outside for him to come assess the child. She could still be resuscitated. It happened many times to drowning kids.
Ellie pulled a backboard from a side cabinet of the ambulance and placed the blanket on top. If she started CPR, a hard surface was necessary.
“Put her down on this blanket, guys,” she ordered. When the men hesitated, she added, “Johnny will be out momentarily, but I’ll start CPR.”
“Tell us what you need, Chief.”
Surprised at the emotion in their voices, she nodded, then tore off her gloves. She ripped open the little girl’s parka, and found the bone in the middle of her chest. She began chest compressions using her emergency training and hoped she didn’t break the small child’s ribs.
“Guys, how about another blanket, and radio the hospital we have two patients coming their way.”
The men ran to the fire engine, and the squawk of radios filled the air. Johnny appeared at her side with a rebreather bag and started pumping air into her lungs.
“Johnny, does she have a chance?”
“Hang in there, sweetheart. A drowning child is never considered dead unless they are warm and dead. Harsh, but true. There might not be a thick layer of ice on that pond, but it is cold enough to close down her vital functions. We need to warm her. Can I get you to swap places with Al? Can you watch Mitch and keep him warm and occupied? We don’t want him to see this.”
“How is the boy?”
“Wet, but getting warmer, and filled with guilt. If we can get her breathing, then we will head to the hospital. Go sit with him in our cab.”
“I don’t want him to see this, either.” She did as he asked, while Al jumped down from the rig and took her place. The child wearing the little pink parka was tiny and lifeless. When Ellie opened the side door to the ambulance, Mitch’s eyes were wide.
“Is she…?”
“The paramedics are working on her. My job is to make sure you stay warm and awake. She might be frightened of riding in an ambulance.”
“You’ve got that right. She’s a little scaredy cat. I’m shocked she agreed to get on the sled with me. I shouldn’t have let her.” He lowered his head and sobbed.
Ellie wrapped him in a blanket and moved to the front passenger seat of the ambulance. Although he was a big kid, she cuddled him on her lap. Water had splashed her when she performed CPR on little Beth, and more water seeped from the boy’s blanket. He would need to get out of his wet clothes. She would, as well, but getting these kids to the hospital was more important than a little discomfort.
She spoke in low soothing tones as she asked him about school and Christmas.
“All I want is my sister back,” he whispered.
She hugged him as the police ordered the other parents to leave the scene. Keeping the way clear would be a big help. The radio suddenly sparked with a broadcast from Johnny’s radio with an update for the hospital. “Ambulance 1 to Pine Cone ED. We have two patients, both breathing!”
The thrill in the paramedic’s voice was music to her ears. “Looks like Beth will be getting that ride, now.”
She heard the back doors of the rig open, then slam closed. Al got into the driver’s seat with a big grin on his face. “We can take it from here, Chief. Put a seat belt around him and we’re off.”
She slid out from under the boy and exited the cab. She tucked the seat belt around Mitch. “Good luck to you and your sister.”
“Thanks, Chief,” Mitch said.
The ambulance headed toward the hospital with the siren blaring and its lights flashing. She said a silent prayer for Mitch and little Beth, and immediately thought of her own sister. If anything like this happened to Sarah Jane, how could Ellie survive?
***
An hour passed and Bradley was happy to hear the engine’s back-up signal. The crew was returning. Hopefully, everyone was safe. The hot coffee and a pot of tomato soup stood ready.
“Why don’t you head out, Bradley,” the younger fellow said. Bruce, his name was. He was all of twenty. Tall and spindly, but he always wore a smile. He knew Bradley had raced to the fire house. “I usually end up shoveling snow, so making coffee’s a breeze.”
Bradley had mentioned he had not finished his lunch. For some reason, tomato soup didn’t appeal to him. Smiling faces meant the rescue was a success, and he hoped to see Elinor.
“She headed home,” a young firefighter said.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re looking for the Chief? She went h
ome. It was pretty rough out there. She got… wet.”
The firefighter did not explain further and Bradley’s thoughts made him return to Sarah Jane’s shop. He wanted to ask Elinor if she’d jumped into the water, but he didn’t want to appear too eager. There was enough gossip circulating about him and the Danville sisters. Besides, if anything bad had happened to Elinor, her sister would know. His stomach rumbled, so he speed-walked around the corner and down Main Street to the bookstore.
Sarah Jane brought him a fresh cup of coffee and set his sandwich and laptop on the table. He finished the sandwich and purchased a couple of decorated butter cookies to eat later. Unfortunately, all she knew was Elinor had called her to say she was fine and heading home to change clothes, and would check on their father.
It was time to return to the inn to shower, then head back to the fire house. The auxiliary members he had met on the sidewalk this morning mentioned they were gathering about five o’clock to clean the place and get it ready for the potluck. He could at least wield a broom or mop.
Walking back to the inn, he stopped and spoke with several business owners. Most were cursing the lack of snow and all were hoping the Christmas Festival would go on. Many had ordered in extra goods to sell at booths, and a few were worried they might have to close up shop.
These business owners, many of them single people or young couples doing their best, were remarkable. His business had thousands of employees all over the world. If one branch had a problem, others easily stepped in. Sarah Jane had no one to help except for a hard-working sister, an injured father, and a couple of teenagers that could help after school and on weekends. He shuddered at the thought of running his business alone. Especially without Mona!
He entered the B&B and was happy the surly innkeeper was nowhere in sight. However, the cook came through the lobby before he could head up the stairs.
“Mr. Wainwright? I need you!”
What was that all about? “Sure. What can I do for you?”
She cricked a finger at him and returned to the kitchen. The room was huge and modern with granite counters, a sub-zero refrigerator, and a six-burner gas stove. The walls needed paint and the outside wind whistled through the windows, but it was warm and smelled heavenly.
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