Page 46 of Their Stormy Reunion

I looked down and saw that Fallon’s breathing was becoming more ragged. I could hear the whine as she tried to draw in air. Her face was swollen and her lips were twice their normal size.

“Fallon. Do you know what kind of snake bit you?” I asked loudly.

She was a Tennessee girl. We’d camped together. If she’d seen the snake, she’d know. But she wasn’t answering me, she was just struggling to breathe.

I tried a different tack. I bent close and whispered in her ear. “Fallon, I need you to help us. It’s really important. What kind of snake bit you?”

Still nothing.

I stroked her cheek—wet with tears and so hot to the touch that I wanted to cry. “Please Sunshine, open your eyes. I need you to open your beautiful eyes for just a moment.”

“Hurts,” she whispered on an almost silent exhalation.

“I know it hurts. We’re going to get you to a hospital real quick. We’re going to get you medicine to take away the pain. But, Baby, I need to know what kind of snake bit you. Can you tell me?”

She opened her mouth and gasped for air. Then, on the exhale, she hissed the word, “Copper.”

“Copperhead,” I yelled to Zarek.

Once again, he started talking on the phone, but I didn’t pay any attention. I started stroking Fallon’s throat as if I could ease air through her passageway. She moved a little closer into my embrace and I shuddered with gratitude that she found solace in my touch.

It felt like forever that I stroked her throat and whispered words of love, encouragement and prayer.

“We’re here,” Zarek yelled as the vehicle shuddered to a stop. Someone yanked open the two back doors and I was eye-to-eye with a man with a stethoscope around his neck standing next to a stretcher.

“We’ve got her from here.”

I opened my mouth to shout no when he said, “Let us help her.”

I blinked and it was as if I came out of a trance. Jumping out of the backseat with Fallon in my arms, I placed her on the stretcher. I ran beside her as she was whisked through the hospital entrance.

I tried to follow as they took her through another set of doors, but a woman, a nurse, blocked my way. “You need to stay out here. You’ve done a good job, now let us do ours.”

I took a step toward her, then a strong hand pulled me back. I didn’t need to look to know it was Zarek. The nurse turned and used a badge to go through the double doors.

“Come sit down. Let them do their jobs.”

“I can’t.” And I couldn’t. I needed to be in there with her.

“Think for a minute. You’ve done everything you can. It’s in their hands and God’s.”

I stopped still and looked at my best friend. For just a moment the veil lifted from his eyes, and I saw into his soul.

“Where’s the chapel?” I asked.

It seemed like forever before Bruno tapped me on the shoulder.

“She’s alive,” were the first words out of his mouth.

I bowed my head and thanked God before I got up and followed him out of the chapel and back to the ER waiting room. A nurse waited there.

“You all did a great job on your friend. She’s doing good, but we’re keeping her for at least a day or two until we’re sure her breathing has stabilized.”

“Can I see her?” I wiped my sweaty palms down the front of my shorts, realizing at that point I was wearing a Jasper Creek Construction polo shirt. I didn’t even remember putting it on.

“She’s being admitted into ICU. It’s a precaution since the swelling is above her knee. If it goes down, she can be released to a regular room. As soon as we get her into her ICU bed, I’ll come back and get you.”

“Thank you.”