Part Three

I could hear the ambulance getting closer. John let us know he could see the lights up by the house. Suddenly there were paramedics surrounding us. They bombarded us both with questions about what had happened and how long he had been there. I answered what I could, but Tom seemed to become a little more coherent and answered most of the questions himself.

I stepped back out of the woods and let the paramedics assess the situation, but stayed close enough to watch and listen.

I remember hearing them ask Tom who he was, where he was, and if he knew what the days date was.

Tom replied, “Its September twentieth, 2003. It’s probably around 7 p.m.”

One of the paramedics seemed slightly amused while looking at his watch. “Pretty good.”

“Do you know who the president is?” One asked.

Again, Tom responded, “George Bush.”

The paramedic added, “Junior or Senior?”

Tom showed off, “‘W.’.”

I swear one of the paramedics chuckled.

Mary materialized beside me.

“I need to call Tom’s mom,” I said, still panic-stricken. I wished badly I had remembered to grab my cigarettes for the maiden trip down to the woods. I was starting to shake badly.

“Here,” Mary said, showed me her cell phone. “What’s the number?”

“Four,” I started and stopped. “No. No that’s not it.”

She erased the number and waited again.

“Three. No, that’s not it either. Sheila,” I told myself, “pull it together.” I took a deep breath and concentrated hard, then slowly spit out the number.

Mary handed me the phone as it began to ring.

What am I supposed to say? I thought. What if she’s not home? What do I do then?

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

The answering machine picked up.

“Dona,” I said quickly and urgently, “Dona, its Sheila, pick up. Are you there? Dona? It’s an emergency.”

“Hello?” Dona’s voice said, interrupting my conversation with her answering machine.

“Dona, its Sheila. Tom’s been in an accident.”

“What? Where?”

“We’re at the house. The paramedics are already here.”

“I’m on my way.”

I had already retreated further away from the accident scene due to the fact that the reality was setting in. I was starting to feel faint, and like I was going to vomit.

Concentrating on keeping my head, and my consciousness, I crouched beside my car, leaning on the driver’s side door for support.

Deep slow breaths, deep slow breaths, I kept telling myself in my head.

The paramedics had successfully figured out how to get Tom strapped to a backboard through the deer stand he was laying in, and they were in the process of carrying him to the ambulance.

I made my way over to Tom, as he reminded me, “The cell phone is in my front bib pocket. Go ahead and get it.”

Looking at the face of the cell phone, I noticed my missed calls from the house, and my heart sank further. I couldn’t imagine the frustration he must have been in to be so close to being able to call for help, yet not being able to.

Instantly, I called one of Tom’s close friends, Jeff, and spouted off that Tom had been in an accident and we were in the process of getting him to the ambulance. “I don’t know why I called,” I remember saying, “But I had to let someone know.” That seemed like a stupid thing to say. Obviously, anyone of Tom’s friends would want to know about this, and by calling Jeff I had relieved myself of my duties to call everyone.

Tom’s mother arrived quickly, the luxury of living only 5minutes apart by highway.

Dona let Tom know that she had made it, and let the paramedics load him into the ambulance.

“We’ll be going to Research,” one paramedic said as he closed the back doors and headed towards the drivers side of the ambulance.

As the ambulance took off, Dona and I made our way back to the apartment so I could gather the necessities for the trip to the hospital. Dona suggested that we call Tom’s dad, and I felt bad for not thinking about that sooner.

(to be continued)