Part 9

Through the kitchen window, Charlotte watched the girls jumping into a mountain of leaves. One, two three and wosh! First Lovie, then Jenny, followed by Sarah. It was of the few remaining activities the span of 10 years diminished. In two years, would Sarah help the new one. Would she do the run, run, run jump routine she still did with her sisters? Maybe it would be Jenny.

She loved to take control. Just then she launched herself in the air, her expression as free as her feet and then the thud, and nothing.

The next seconds took an eon to pass. Sarah, not breathing, not comprehending, tripped over her feet as she headed out the kitchen door in her bare feet and robe. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam running from the far side of the yard. His face as white as a winter sky, and his arms and legs not moving as fast as her mind willed them to. They reached their Jenny together. Blue and half buried in leaves.

"Sarah call 911." Without question the teen ran for the house. "Lovie, go sit on the swing."

Sam pushed the leaves away from his daughter, leaned her head back, checked her mouth for an obstruction, pinched her nose and started mouth to mouth. Charlotte had her wrist in her hand feeling for a pulse.

"Anything?"

The sirens could be heard in the distance. Tears were running down Charlotte's face. "No, no pulse."

Sam gave his daughter the chest compressions he had been taught, but in his wildest dreams never thought he would use, especially on his daughter. As he resumed the rescue breathing, the firemen and EMTs arrived. Sarah had run out of the house and was directing them to the backyard. Charlotte was so proud of her eldest.

"What happened?" asked the EMT.

Wasn't it obvious. "She was jumping in the leaves and took a bad fall."

After his last rescue breath in the series, he moved aside to allow EMTs room to work. While one hooked her up to ventilator another ripped open her jacket and shirt to use the defibrillator. The firemen stood by with the radio ready to relay information to the hospital.

"Clear," and then the paddles were pressed to her small chest, sending a current of electricity through there children strong enough to lift her three inches off the ground. In the silence that followed, the EMT checked for a heart beat. He shock his head and yelled clear again. And again their daughter flew through the air. This time on her return flight, her heart started and she sucked in chest full of air.

Upon seeing the color coming back into their Jenny's checks, both Charlotte and Sam burst into tears. With Sarah and Lovie at their sides they watched the EMTs bundling Jenny up with blankets.

"The Emergency Room doctor wants to see her."

"Yes, yes of course," blubbered Sam.

"Which of you wants to travel in the ambulance with her?" asked the EMT that had shocked their daughter back to life.

"I will," answered Sarah.

Everyone gave her outfit a once over and it was then she remembered she really wasn't dressed for anywhere besides her bedroom, never mind kitchen or backyard. "I'll just be a minute."

"Ma'am, be quick. Her pulse is sketchy."

Charlotte didn't wait for the EMT to finish. Faster than she ever knew she could travel, Charlotte was in the house, pulling clothes out of the dryer and putting them on her middle aged frame.

"Sam," she called from the back of the ambulance. "Follow us?"

She didn't have to say anything really. Already Lovie and Sarah were waiting by their car for the ride to the hospital. While Sam, not even affording the time to retrieve his usual keys from the house, was grabbing the spare set from the garage. He blew her a kiss and said, "Meet you there."