“I’ll go get them. Get in the cellar, now!”
But I took off running beside him. “I’m coming with you!”
He stopped at the corner of the house, ducking his head underneath his arm to keep from getting pelted. “No! You get in that shelter, Ruby Graves! Or I’ll put you in there myself! And then who’ll help James and your mother?”
I couldn’t move. It felt like my body was going to split in two. I had to make sure Mother and James were all right, but Matthew was right too.
“Okay!” I yelled. “Just hurry!”
He took off running across the field, and I went to the back of the house. Calhoun was ushering Era and his wife into the underground shelter as I ran up to him. He waved his arm for me to get inside, but a horrifying thought froze me in my tracks. Hannah and Samuel!
I looked out over the field toward the woods. To my left, Matthew was running along the edge toward our house. Straight ahead, the woods were practically leaning sideways. Then, I looked to my right, and what I saw nearly made me drop to my knees. A twisting, black mass dropped from inside a massive cloud.
Calhoun’s voice went flying past me. “Ruby, get in here now!”
I couldn’t leave Hannah and Samuel to die, but if I went for them, would God protect me? I took off running, not caring anymore if the price of my faith was my own life. I just threw up wordless screams as my prayers while I fought through the mud again. I couldn’t get my feet to move fast enough, and it seemed like the tornado was coming right at me. I fell flat on my face, tasting the mud in my mouth. Then I pushed up and kept running, thinking that at least the hail had stopped pounding me.
I saw the break in the woods where the trail to Hannah’s house started. For some strange reason, I thought that if I could just make it to the woods, I’d be safer there than in the open field. The wind ripped at my clothes, whipped my hair across my face like I was getting a lashing, and I could’ve sworn my feet left the ground once or twice. But I kept my eyes on that break in the woods, straining with every muscle in my body to get to a tree to hold onto.
I finally reached the edge of the field and ran across the road. Something swiped my head as it flew by, and I screamed as I fell to the ground. It was so loud—the wind howling, trees snapping, the branches flailing helplessly. I jumped up again and made it into the woods, but it wasn’t much better. Instead of the wind tearing at my clothes, it was all kinds of branches, rocks, and pine cones flying through the air. I ran down the path looking left and right for some place to hide, ducking as a huge tree limb went flying by my head. It was still attached by a sliver of bark, so it flapped against the trunk like it was trying to break free.
I’d only made it about half way down the trail, when I realized the tornado was about on top of me. I grabbed onto a tree trunk as my feet were swept out from under me. I flapped in the wind like that tree a couple of times before the whole trunk bent sideways. As it hit the ground, so did I. And several more trunks came crashing down around me.
“Jesus!” I screamed. “Help me!”
It seemed like right at that moment, things moved in slow motion. I looked up from the ground as more branches and trunks came crashing down around me. Right before I balled up and covered my head, the last thing I saw was a huge, black cloud of leaves, dirt, and debris swirling all around me.
“Ruby!” Matthew’s voice came flying into my head, jarring me out of my stupor. “Ruby!” I could hear him crashing through the branches. I opened my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I saw.
There had to be no less than fifteen trees down all around me. They were beside me, over the top of me, even split wide open around a few remaining trunks. But not one had touched me. It was as if they’d fallen around me to make a perfect shelter.
“Ruby!”
“I’m here!”
A few seconds later, Matthew pushed through my safe haven on his hands and knees. “Oh thank God! I thought…when I saw you…cross the field…My God, are you crazy?”
“Matthew, look! I’m fine!”
“What were you thinking?” he yelled. He dropped onto his back, waving his hands in the air and hollering at the sky. “You could’ve been killed! Why didn’t you just do what I said? Of course you didn’t do what I said! What a stupid thought that was!”
All of a sudden, I remembered why I’d been running in the first place. I crawled frantically toward the crack he’d come through.
“Where are you going?” he said.
“I have to find Hannah and Samuel and make sure they’re all right.”
He clambered out after me. “How did you find this shelter?”
“I didn’t.” I stared at the circle of trees as it hit me how perfectly God had protected me. “They all fell around me like that.” Like a sanctuary.
I stood in awe of the magnitude of destruction. Nearly every tree in the woods as far as I could see was either leaning sideways or completely snapped. The splintered trunks that remained were stripped bare, like a field of toothpicks. But the strangest thing was how blue the sky was. If not for the devastation around me, I could’ve sworn it was a beautiful spring day.
“Uh, Ruby,” Matthew said, clearing his throat. He dropped his gaze and kicked at the dirt. Then he pointed at me. “You uh…we need to get you some clothes.”
I looked down. My shoes were gone, and my dress was nearly torn to shreds. My camisole still clung to my body, but just barely. I wrapped my arms around my chest. “There’s no time. We have to go check on Hannah and Samuel now.”
I headed back toward the trail, but couldn’t find it. The entire floor of the woods was covered in a mangled mess of limbs, trunks, and pine cones. I stopped and turned in a circle. “Where’s the trail?”
“I think you’re standing on it.”
“Please,” I begged. “You have to help me find them.”
He nodded and started making his way through the destruction. I prayed he knew which way to go and followed close behind. It took us much longer than I could hardly stand, but we finally came to the top of the hill that dropped down toward the creek. We slid about halfway down, nearly tumbling onto our faces several times.
“Where’s the house?” I asked once we’d stopped.
“There.” Matthew pointed at a pile of rubble amid uprooted and shattered tree trunks.
I ran for the pile, screaming Hannah’s name, then Samuel’s. No response. I’d never heard the woods so quiet before. I turned in all directions, hollering till I could barely breathe. Matthew made his way toward the creek, calling out their names as he went.
Then I heard a moan, and some of the rubble shifted. I groped for the caramel-colored arm pushing at the limbs and debris covering it. Samuel’s face appeared, bruises and gashes making him nearly unrecognizable.
“I’m here!” I called. “Are you okay?”
As I moved some branches off of him, he yelped. “My hand! I think it’s broken.”
“Can you stand?” I supported him as he pushed himself up.
“I think so.” He stood and cradled his arm against his chest. His wrist was already swelling.
“Where’s your mother?” I asked.
He looked around. “She ain’t here? She was right with me till everything started flying. I tried to hold onto her! Honest, I tried to hold on!”
I rested a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. We’ll find her.”
Just then, Matthew called my name from a little ways down the creek. “Get down here!”
I took off in the direction of his voice, my fear growing with each step. When I saw him, I was still a good thirty yards away or so, but I could see him knelt down beside something. I prayed with all my heart that the tangled, twisted mass I saw wasn’t Hannah. Not after all she’d endured already. Surely God wouldn’t allow a storm to beat her too.
But it was Hannah. Nearly naked, unconscious, and bleeding in some way from every limb of her body. It made me dizzy to look at her, and I couldn’t stop the cry that came out of
my throat.
“Mama!” Samuel was half running, half sliding down the hill toward us. Matthew caught him before he fell.
I pulled off what remained of my dress and threw it over Hannah to cover her the best I could. Then I untangled her limbs from the branches that had ensnared her. I couldn’t hardly think about what to do, except I knew I had to get her loose. Matthew reached past me and worked her body free, gently laying her on the ground.
“Is she alive?” I asked through my tears.
He bent over her chest and listened. He closed his eyes and nodded.
I yanked a strip off my dress and wiped her face and forehead. “Hannah,” I begged. “Wake up.” I looked over at Samuel, now sitting on the ground with his head in his good hand. “Samuel, honey. See if you can find something to get water from the creek.”
He jumped up and started searching. Matthew pulled another strip of my dress off and went to bandaging Hannah’s head. All the while I called to her. Samuel came to us with a pot full of water from the creek, and I dipped my cloth into it. I gently wiped away the blood and dirt from her face.
“Hannah,” I called. “Come on, Hannah.”
She stirred, moaning as her eyes opened. I finally breathed, but she let out a horrifying scream that went right up my spine. “Aaahhh! Baby!”
Matthew’s face went white. I put my hand on her belly and tried to sooth her. “Breathe, Hannah. Take a deep breath. Where does it hurt?”
Her breath came in ragged jolts. She gripped my hand that was on her belly so hard I was sure she would break it. For a minute, all she could do was suck in air, hold it, and then push it back out. I did my best to stay calm, but all I could think about was her and that baby dying right there in the middle of the woods, with me unable to do anything. She finally sputtered out a few words.
“Baby…coming…aaahhhh!”
Her face twisted into another scream, and Matthew nearly fell backward. He looked at me with wide eyes. “We have to get her to a hospital, now.”
As much as I was sure she’d protest, I had to agree. I had no idea how to treat all her injuries and deliver a baby. “Hannah, can you stand?” She shook her head and moaned. “Hannah, you have to try. We’ll help you.”
Matthew slipped her arm over his shoulder. I went to put her other arm around me, but she screamed so loud I dropped the arm. I took a closer look, and nearly vomited. Her whole arm was covered in blood, and a bone protruded out of a deep gash in her elbow. Her wrist was nearly the size of a melon.
I met Matthew’s gaze, willing my stomach to settle. “You’ll have to support her on that side. Her arm’s shattered.”
I moved around behind her and pushed on her back as she tried to stand. Matthew tried to support her for a moment, but her knees buckled, so he scooped her up into his arms. Another scream shattered the air. He yelled for me and Samuel to come on as he began the march up the slope toward some vague point where the trail used to be. I followed behind him, cringing as every step he took seemed to be a knife into Hannah.
Lord, please help her to be all right. I’m so afraid!
Words from the book of Isaiah came to me. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
My nerves settled with those thoughts, but it seemed like it took us forever to finally reach the road. Matthew did his best to lay Hannah down gently; her contractions were relentless. She curled onto her side and sobbed as Samuel and I knelt beside her.
Matthew stood, his whole chest covered in bloody mud. “I’m going for my car. I’ll be here quick as I can to get you.” Then he took off across the field toward our house.
I sat down behind Hannah and pulled her against me so that I could support her. The plan had been for us to stuff pillows and blankets behind her and prop her up on the bed. That way I could see the baby coming and help him on out. But that plan was as long gone as their home, and I didn’t think Samuel could support her while she was hurting so bad. I told him to keep an eye on the road in case another car came by with someone that could help us.
While he paced near the road, nervously glancing from us to the curve a few hundred yards away, I held onto Hannah and tried to help her control her breathing. Seemed like every time a contraction hit, she’d scream bloody murder and go to grab her belly, but the movement would hurt her arm so bad she’d go to hollering about that. I kept praying for Matthew to hurry, but the longer he was gone, the more my hope sank.
Samuel’s pacing took him behind me where I couldn’t see him anymore. I reckon he thought if he got closer to the curve in the road, he’d help Matthew get there all the quicker. “He ain’t coming!” He’d holler every minute or so.
“He’s coming!” I’d holler back. Then I’d return to my breathing with Hannah.
This went on for what seemed like an hour. Him hollering, me hollering, Hannah hollering. All hoping for some end to this nightmare. Then all of sudden, Hannah’s breathing changed, and she went to screaming that the baby was coming out.
“Ahh! God, no!” she screamed. “Not yet!”
“Samuel!” I slid out from behind her and waved him over. “Get behind her and help her push.” He looked at me like I was crazy, standing there cradling his arm. “You got to, Samuel! You’re all she’s got right now. She needs your help!”
He sat down where I’d been and put his good hand on her back. He looked at me as if to say he was ready. I knelt down in front of Hannah. Her face was badly swollen on the left side, and her tears mixed with the blood still pouring from a gash on that side just above her temple.
“Grab onto me!” I said, putting my left arm in front of her as I scooted between her knees. I was afraid to look down, but I knew I had to. I said one more quick prayer, took a deep breath, and my mind began to clear.
I looked down and saw the tiny, bloody head beginning to crown. “Push, Hannah!”
She pulled on my arm and screamed again.
“Good!” I said. “Keep pushing!”
The little face came through, gray and covered in blood, but at least it was coming. Hannah took in a sharp breath and let out a loud sob. “I can’t! I can’t do this!”
She nearly fell on top of Samuel, but I grabbed her good arm and pulled her up. “You’re almost there! You can do this! One more push, Hannah!”
“I can’t!” Her body was limp, and her head rolled back.
“Samuel,” I called. “Don’t let her fall back!” Then I pushed myself forward and took her face in my right hand. “Hannah, you listen to me now. This sweet baby is just about here. All you got to do is push one more time, and God will do the rest. Now push!”
She pulled her head up. She took a deep breath. Then she pushed so hard her face looked like it might pop every single vein. I put my right hand under the baby’s head and neck as it slid out. It was a boy. He was a slimy mess, but as soon as I cleared his mouth he went to screaming right along with Hannah. I laid him on her stomach and rolled what was left of my filthy dress over him. Hannah leaned back against Samuel’s legs as he peeked around from behind her.
“Mama?” he asked. “You all right?”
Hannah cradled the baby with her good arm, crying still as she looked down on him. She didn’t say anything, so I looked at Samuel and nodded. “She’ll be all right. Both of them will be.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
By the time Matthew finally got back to us, I had the baby swaddled up in the remains of my tattered dress and resting in Hannah’s arms. I’d used Samuel’s knife to cut the umbilical cord. I’d never been so grateful for a gift I’d given away. Samuel sat behind his mom and let her lean back against his legs. I was so proud of him. He was in so much pain, but all that seemed to matter to him was his mom and new little brother.
I met Matthew as he came around the car with several blankets in his hands. “How are Mother and James?” I asked.
H
e stared at Hannah with wide, disbelieving eyes. “Uh, yeah. They’re all right.” He shook his head slightly and turned to me. “The house is barely standing, but I managed to find some blankets and coats for you and Hannah.”
I threw on a coat and buttoned it up to cover my camisole. “We need to get both of them wrapped up before they go into shock, and we have to get Hannah to the nearest hospital.”
“Ruby, that would have to be Birmingham, or maybe Decatur. I don’t know.”
“Those are over an hour away! No, we have to take her to Cullman. She won’t make it much longer!”
He lowered his voice as he grabbed my arm. “We can’t do that, and you know it. Now, I done helped you with all this foolishness as much as I can, but they ain’t gonna treat her at Cullman. We got to get her to a colored hospital, or at least one that’ll let coloreds in.”
I pulled my arm lose, took a blanket from him, and quickly began wrapping it around Samuel. “We have to go to Cullman, and you know it. That’s our only choice.”
“No,” Hannah moaned. “Anywhere but there. They won’t help me.”
“By God, yes they will,” I said.
Matthew came over to us and handed me the other coat. I wrapped it around Hannah’s shoulders, careful not to disturb the baby. His tiny blue-gray eyes looked up at me, and it struck me how pale his skin was. If I carried him into the hospital myself, no one would even know he had a drop of colored blood in him.
I looked up at Matthew. “Let’s get them in the car and head to Cullman. We’ll just have to think of something.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he lifted Hannah into the back seat of his car, placing her head gently in my lap. I laid the baby on her chest, hoping they’d somehow comfort each other. Samuel climbed into the front seat, but kept looking back at us like he was making sure we were still there.
As we made our way past Calhoun’s place, I barely recognized it. Debris covered everything, and the house and barn looked like a giant had tried to step on them. The house had even been turned on its foundation. Trees were stripped bare, if they were even still standing. And as we turned onto the main road heading into town, I saw how widespread the destruction really was. Matthew couldn’t even drive straight down the road for dodging all the limbs strewn everywhere.
Healing Ruby: A Novel Page 32