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Chapter 47

Natalie’s

The paramedic states that although Gabe will need x-rays to confirm, it appears that his ankle is broken. However, because an unconscious child is a more dire emergency, the ambulance must immediately depart to take Jonathan to the hospital at once. The paramedic believes that Gabe’s condition is stable enough to wait for his parents to arrive to take him to urgent care. The school nurse sends an aide back to the office to bring out a wheelchair.

Natalie and Timothy are allowed to remain with Gabe in the nurse’s office while they wait for Brenda to arrive. Lady had whispered to Brenda that there is a problem with the children, so she already felt an instinct that she was needed at school even before the call came from the school nurse. She will be arriving shortly.

Gabe has been placed on a cot with his leg elevated, and an ice pack surrounding the broken ankle. There is nothing further that the school nurse is equipped to do for him. Timothy and Natalie sit silently in chairs by his bedside. Natalie is holding Gabe’s hand.

The children are surrounded by adults and therefore do not feel free to discuss the situation between themselves. However, Natalie continues to question me silently. I continue to have no satisfactory answers. But I continuously speak, keeping her updated about every piece of information available to me.

“The ambulance carrying Jonathan has gone beyond the distance at which I can detect his presence. He continued to be unconscious up to that point. I fear that I will know nothing else until he is closer once again. And no, I never did begin hearing Demon again.”

She returns her gaze to Gabe, who has closed his eyes but is grimacing. His injury is extremely uncomfortable, but he bears it stoically for Natalie’s sake. He is more worried about Jonathan than he is about himself. Natalie is terribly worried about them both.

At least I can try to set her mind at ease regarding Gabe. “Your brother will recover, my dear. His injury is serious, but a broken bone is easily mended by modern physicians. I suspect he will need nothing more than a cast for several weeks.”

“Can you tell what is broken?” she asks, her natural curiosity sparked by my statement.

“Yes, darling, I can see the injury to his bone. It is a bone called the tibia, and there is a small fracture directly above his ankle, caused when he fell and landed unevenly on that foot. It is a common injury that doctors are quite familiar with. He will be well cared for.”

She does not wish to disturb Gabe with this information, so she stares at his ankle, wrapped in ice, trying to picture the injury.

I now have more information to impart. “Your mother is nearly here, dearest. She intends to take Gabe to the urgent care which is next to the hospital emergency room where Jonathan is being taken. This is fortunate, because Lady and Aaron will then be in proximity to Jonathan, and will be able to monitor his situation. We will know more soon.”

Brenda

My heart is pounding, even though I know from what the school nurse said on the phone that Gabe will be fine. She said he fell from the jungle gym and either sprained or broke his ankle. She believes it is probably broken, and suggested I plan to take him straight to urgent care. I want to be practical and just calmly take care of business, but my child is hurt, and that is a terrible thing to know. Anxiety fills me.

As soon as I get to the school, I head straight to the office front desk. They immediately usher me to the nurse’s office. Natalie is waiting for me at the door.

“Gabe is going to be fine, Mom,” she reassures me, taking my hand and looking earnestly up at me. “His ankle is broken but the doctors will be able to fix it right up.”

I feel better somehow, despite the fact that she is a seven-year-old, not a doctor. Her assessment seems quite authoritative. “Thank you, sweetie.” She leads me over to the cot where he is laying, pale, with his foot elevated.

He smiles gamely at me. “Hey Mom,” he says. “Sorry for being a klutz.”

Being with my kids helps me calm down. I feel my heart return to a normal rate. “Well, kiddo,” I tell him, reaching down to brush my hand against his hair, “I’m sure you’ll be fine. We need to go to urgent care and get you checked out.”

“Yeah, I know,” he says, trying to sit up. Natalie rushes to his side to help him.

“What happened?” I ask them.

They glance at each other. Surprisingly, Timothy, who I had barely noticed sitting there, speaks up. “Jonathan and Gabe were horsing around on the jungle gym, and they both fell off. Jonathan had to get taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He was unconscious, but it wasn’t a head injury. They don’t know what is wrong with him.”

Gabe’s jaw tightens with worry at the mention of his friend’s injury. “Oh, Gabe,” I say, reaching out for his hand. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. We’ll hear something soon, I’m sure.”

It occurs to me to wonder why they were “horsing around” on the jungle gym. Were they actually fighting again? They hadn’t seen each other since the library incident. But Gabe is clearly in pain and deeply worried. Now is not the time to ask questions about this.

The nurse brings over the wheelchair. “Here,” she says to Gabe, “let’s get you in this, and I’ll bring you out to the car.”

While she is helping him to get settled in the wheelchair, I look over at Natalie. She is as worried as Gabe. “Ok, sweetie, I’m going to take Gabe to the doctor. You should just go on back to class. By the time school is over I’m sure Gabe will be all fixed up and waiting for you at home. Okay?”

“Okay,” she agrees, then whispers something in Gabe’s ear before the nurse starts wheeling him out. He looks at her and nods.

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