SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Nine
We were barely two blocks away when I had another vision.
I tried to keep it as natural as possible.
“Something is not right at that house,” I told Tucker.
I was referring to a white building without fences. The vegetables in the front garden were all limp with dehydration. I stopped in front of the house and did not wait for Tucker, knowing that the old man inside the house needed urgent medical attention.
I made a show of looking through the kitchen window first, then tried the locked door.
“Sir! It’s the NHSF. You okay?”
There was obviously no reply, so I promptly put a shoulder to the door and went inside.
Running up the stairs, I found the old man lying on the bathroom floor.
“Han!?”
Tucker was looking for me.
“Call the paramedics,” I shouted back. “We have an unconscious man in his sixties with a broken hip.”
Tucker went back to the vehicle as he had forgotten the portable.
I found a glass and brought water over to the old man. Moistening his cracked lips, I managed to drip some water onto his tongue. The old man was slowly coming to.
Sitting flat on my backside in a cross-legged position, I placed his head in my lap before giving him some more water.
“Stay still and listen to me,” I cautioned him.
Tucker was standing in the door to the bathroom, observing us.
“Your hip is broken and you have been in this condition for a considerable amount of time. Your body is tolerating the pain at the moment. Excessive movement will send you over the edge again. It is your choice. Stay with me and have some more fluids, or be unconscious again. Just nod your answer. I’ll feel it either way.”
I was grateful to feel the slight positive nod between my hands.
It felt as if I was feeling this man’s physical pain. I willed the pain to flow out of his body, into my hands and through my body, dispersing into the floor.
Where this notion came from of doing such a thing, I did not care to think upon. I knew that this was the only way I could help this man right now.
I breathed with the spasms of pain that invaded my body.
Closing my eyes, I ignored it, seeing it pass through me into the floor and away into Creata.
I could hear the siren of the emergency vehicle.
“The paramedics will be here soon. You’re going to be okay,” I told the old man.
Again I felt the faint nod between my hands.
Tucker left his position at the door to direct the paramedics to us. I stopped the evacuation of the pain from the old man. He was already looking better.
Upon their arrival, the paramedics assessed the situation.
“Stay right where you are,” the team leader advised me, before checking their new patient’s vitals.
They seemed happy enough with it.
“We’re going to give you something for the pain,” the team leader told the old man, who carefully nodded his understanding.
They found a vein and inserted an IV drip, then injected the painkiller using the drip.
Giving it a few minutes to kick in, they queried Tucker. “How long since you found him?”
“Fifteen, twenty minutes,” Tucker answered.
“You found him in an unconscious condition?” the paramedic confirmed with Tucker.
“Yes,” Tucker replied.
I was following this conversation with interest. My patient could not talk as yet.
My patient.
What was I thinking?
“Anyway, whatever you did, he’s doing much better now.” The paramedic continued his conversation with Tucker.
“Han talked to him calmly, explaining the situation he is in,” Tucker explained.
The paramedic turned to me. “You did a good thing. Now, on the count of three, I want you to help us roll him onto the stretcher so his broken hip faces up. Ready?”
I nodded the affirmative.
On the count of three, we rolled the old man onto the stretcher. It seemed the most natural thing to do as I helped settle him. The old man ventured a tired smile at me, a huge thank you in his eyes. I touched his shoulder before the paramedics took him away.
Tucker followed them out.
I felt tired and drained, as if I had broken my own hip. It still hurt, so I willed the last of the pain to disappear.
I found Tucker outside, organizing security for the house and taking the old man’s details from the neighbours. They were unaware that anything was amiss until the Emergency Vehicle pulled up.
I had some more chocolate when I reached the vehicle. It picked up my spirits and I was ready to leave within minutes.