Hearts Afire

Terry Flanagan flashed a penlight in the young boy's eyes and then smiled reassuringly at the teenage sister who was riding with them in the rig on the trip to the hospital. "You can hit the siren," she called through the narrow doorway to her partner. Jeff Erhart was driving the unit this run. They had an unspoken agreement that she'd administer care when the patient was a small child. With three young kids of his own, Jeff found a hurt child tough to face. The sister's dark gaze focused on Terry. "Why did you tell him to start the siren? Is Juan worse? Tell me!" "He's going to be fine, Manuela." She'd agreed to take the sister in the unit because she was the only family member who spoke English. "You have to stay calm, remember?" Naturally it was scary for Manuela to see her little brother immobilized on a backboard, an IV running into his arm. The girl swallowed hard, nodding. With her dark hair pulled back in braids and her skin innocent of makeup, Manuela didn't look the sixteen years she claimed to be. Possibly she was sixteen only because that was the minimum age for migrant farmworkers to be in the fields. The fertile farmlands and orchards that surrounded the small city of Suffolk in southern Pennsylvania were a magnet for busloads of migrant farm-workers, most from Mexico, who visited the area for weeks at a time. They rarely intersected with the local community except in an emergency, like this one. "Juan will need stitches, yes?" Manuela clasped her little brother's hand. "Yes, he will." Terry lifted the gauze pad slightly. The bleeding had slowed, but the edges of the cut gaped. The child looked up at her with such simple trust that her stomach clenched.Lord, I haven't forgotten anything, have I? Be with this child, and guide my hands and my decisions. She ticked over the steps of care as the unit hit the busy streets of Suffolk and slowed. She'd been over them already, but somehow she couldn't help doing it again. And again. She knew why. It had been two years, but she still heard that accusing voice at moments like this, telling her that she was incompetent, that she-- No. She wouldn't go there. She'd turn the self-doubt over to God, as she'd done so many times before, and she'd close the door on that cold voice. The wail of the siren, the well-equipped emergency unit, the trim khaki pants and navy shirt with the word Paramedic emblazoned on the back--all those things assured her of who she was. She smiled at the girl again, seeing the strain in her young face. "How did your brother get hurt? Can you tell me that?" "He shouldn't have been there." The words burst out. "He's too little to--" The child's fingers closed over hers, as if he understood what she was saying. A look flashed between brother and sister, too quickly for Terry to be sure what it meant. A warning? Perhaps. She could think of only one ending to what Manuela had started to say. "Was Juan working in the field?" It was illegal for a child so young to work in the fields--everyone knew that, even those who managed to ignore the migrant workers in their midst every summer and fall. Alarm filled the girl's eyes. "I didn't say that. You can't tell anyone I said that!" The boy, catching his sister's emotion, clutched her hand tightly and murmured something in Spanish. His eyes were huge in his pinched, pale face. Compunction flooded Terry. She couldn't let the child become upset. "It's okay," she said, patting him gently. "Manuela, tell your brother everything is okay. I misunderstood, that's all." Manuela nodded, bending over her brother, saying something in a soft voice. Terry watched, frowning. Something was going on there--something the girl didn't want her to pursue. She glanced out the window. They were making the turn into the hospital driveway. This wasn't over. Once they were inside, she'd find out how the child had been injured, onePerry, Marta is the author of 'Hearts Afire ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373874163 and ISBN 0373874162.