43
It was Friday morning, four days since Christina had her baby. Michele was as nervous as she could be. Today was the big day. Her first doctor appointment totally focused on their infertility problem. She had no idea what to expect. Allan was taking off work and was supposed to meet her there. She grabbed her purse and headed out to the garage.
After pushing the garage door button and turning on the car, she pulled her phone out of her purse to call Allan. He picked up after a few rings. “You remembered our doctor appointment, right?”
“I’ve already left the office.”
“Then you should get there before me,” she said. “Why don’t you sign in for us?”
“Actually, you’ll still get there before me.”
“Why? Your office is closer to the doctor’s than our house.”
“It is, but I have a quick stop to make first.”
“Allan . . .”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be quick.”
“Where are you going?”
“Just a quick stop to Ray’s house. Remember? Last night he called about that report.”
“The orphanage report, remember? The rest of the pledges came in from the other churches, so I updated the report.”
“I remember you saying something about it. But I thought Ray was going to Africa later next week.”
“He is.”
“So why does he need your report now? Couldn’t you just send it to him as an email attachment?”
“He has some time this afternoon and wants to look it over before tomorrow. I think he’s working on something he wants to share with the whole church this Sunday during the announcements. I did send it to him as an attachment, but he’s working at home today trying to finish some chores before the Africa trip. He said his printer’s broken.”
“But if you stop at Ray’s, you guys will start talking, and you’ll be late. The receptionist told me this doctor is very punctual. He doesn’t like making patients wait in the waiting room.”
“I won’t be late. I’ll just drop it off and come right over. He can’t talk anyway. He’s going to be pressure cleaning his house. Don’t worry.”
With the report resting in a manila folder on the passenger seat, Allan drove the familiar ten-minute ride to Ray’s house. But when he turned onto Ray’s street, he could see that something was wrong. Halfway down, a red fire truck with flashing lights blocked most of the road. Parked next to it was an ambulance, its emergency lights also flashing. A small crowd had gathered in a huddle on the sidewalk.
“What in the world?”
They seemed to be at Ray’s house.
“Oh no.” He closed the distance slowly, keeping an eye out for Ray’s neighbors. There wasn’t any smoke or evidence of a fire. No police cars. He pulled up as close as he could, parked the car by the curb, and got out, leaving the report on the seat.
When he reached the crowd, it was now obvious; the emergency vehicles were parked at Ray’s house. “Do you know what’s going on?” he asked an elderly man.
“I think it’s the guy who lives in that house. I’m not sure what happened to him. Some kind of accident.”
“I think he got electrocuted,” the woman next to him said. “See that big pressure sprayer over by the side of the house? Ray, that’s the man who lives there, he was using that a little while ago. I saw him earlier when I walked my dog. Water and electricity don’t mix.”
“Has anyone seen him?” Allan asked.
“I think they’re over there working on him now,” the man said, “behind those bushes. I went over there, but they asked me to move back and give them some space.”
Allan didn’t wait. He headed right for the bushes. As he stepped around them, he saw Ray wrapped in blankets from the waist down, being strapped to a gurney. His face was racked with pain. Allan rushed over. “Ray, what happened!”
Ray looked up. “I’m such an idiot. Fell off the ladder. Pretty sure I broke my legs.”
“Both of them?”
“Are you family?” the paramedic asked.
“Just good friends,” Allan said. “You think that’s true?”
“Could be,” the paramedic said.
“One of them’s definitely broken,” the other paramedic said. “Compound fracture. The other leg might be.”
“Oh Ray, I’m so sorry. Is Julie here?”
“No. She’d be worried sick if she saw this. She’s out shopping with the kids. Thankfully, I had my phone in my pocket, so I called 911. What are you doing here?”
“I brought over the report with the new figures. Our call last night?”
“Oh yeah.” His face contorted with pain. “Man, this hurts.”
“We need to load him up.” The paramedic signaled for Allan to step back.
“You want me to call Julie, let her know what’s going on?”
“She knows. I called her while I was waiting for help to arrive. She’s going to meet me at the hospital.” The paramedic started pushing Ray toward the ambulance. “One thing you could do, though.”
“Anything,” Allan said.
“Could you follow us to the hospital, see where they take me? Then meet Julie in the waiting room and show her where I’m at.”
“Sure, Ray.”
“And maybe on the way, could you call the church office, so the secretary can let the guys on staff know what’s going on? Obviously, I’m not gonna make it to church on Sunday.”
“Right, I’ll call them. Don’t worry about it.”
“We’ve gotta go,” the paramedic said.
They lifted him up and slid the gurney into the back of the ambulance. As the doors closed, Allan remembered the report. What should he do with it now? Then he realized, it didn’t matter. Ray couldn’t do anything with it. With a compound fracture, they’d probably have to do surgery. With both legs broken, he might have to be in a wheelchair for a while.
Then another realization hit as he ran back to his car. The Africa trip. Ray couldn’t go to Africa now.
The ambulance drove by. Allan pulled his car right behind it.