To Steal An Egg

Chapter #3

I hadn't heard Tim cry before, besides when he was younger, since he usually was the "meanie", the one who made someone else cry. He was in a lot of pain, and he had blood from his belly button all the way to the foot of the bed. His leg lay tattered, and bone was sticking out from under the skin that was left. He was crying hard as I picked him up out of the bed and carried him outside to where the ambulance would come. He was just eleven years old. Eleven! And he may never walk on two legs again. I shudder at the thought. And Jack, well, he's eight. Carter is going to have a heart attack or something from all the stress. And Victoria is, well, gone. So who was left? Me, Rosey, and a future baby. We were in a bad situation. We could barely get by anyway, I couldn't even think about what sort of debt we'd be in after the hospital bills, not to mention repairing the house, if you could even call it a house anymore.

As the sirens slowly got closer, I peered over at Jack. He was still lying on the ground, with Carter hovering over him, mumbling with this hands pressed together. We're not religious, but I think he was praying. Rosey was standing at my feet, with her arms wrapped around my legs. I normally tried to teach my kids not to be clingy, but given our situation, I let her stay like that.

I couldn't stand the wait, what was taking so long? I could hear the sirens in the distance, but they were still far away. I could have sworn that I'd heard sirens five minutes ago, but maybe they were going somewhere else. It was a pretty bad earthquake after all, there were probably plenty of people in need of help.

I glanced back at the house, trying to asses the damage. The house was old, it had been in my family for generations. I had considered myself lucky when I inherited it after my father died, because it meant I wouldn't have to pay rent, but now I was started to think that we would've been better off in a more earthquake safe apartment building.

Part of the house, a newer edition, from when the house was my father's, was mostly intact. That was good, it meant that the bathroom and my bedroom, as well as part of the kitchen, were safe and usable.

The rest of the house, however, was a complete mess, chunks of ceiling and wall had fallen all over, and all of the furniture is almost certainly trashed.

When the ambulance pulled up into by the curb, I ran out with Tim in my arms, and Rosey at my side. The driver and paramedics put Tim and Jack on stretchers and loaded them up into the back of the truck. Then I sat in the passenger seat with Rosey on my lap. Carter had insisted on sitting in the back with Jack and Tim as they were loaded with medicine.

"When's the baby due?" the driver asked.

"Oh, just in about two weeks. August 29th," I answered.

"Good luck," he said. "My cousin had a baby recently. She was in labor on Christmas. On December 26th the baby was born. They named her 'Rowan', like the red and green rowan trees. Her favorite holiday is Christmas."

"That's a sweet name. I've only heard that as a boy name but to know a girl Rowan is interesting," I told him, then immediately wished I didn't, because it might be rude.

Luckily, he wasn't insulted. "Yes, everyone says that."

"Was your name?" Rosey asked the man.

"Gary. What's yours, little one?"

"WOSEY!" she yelled happily, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm 2! I'm 2! How old are you?"

"I'm 32. 30 years older than you." Then he looked at me, "How about you?"

I blushed. "Mary. I'm 37," then I looked away. "Man, he's cute," I thought.

He blared the horn but still stared halfway at me and the road. "Stupid cars; pull over," he mumbled. A few minutes later, we arrived at the ER and they unloaded Tim and Jack. Rosey, Carter, and I went to the check-in counter and I asked if they could have a room together.

"Ma'am. You must go. No children under thy age of 8 without emergency condition must leave. That flu is 'round and we can't have anybody's children in our facility. I apologize," the lady said.

"But, miss! I have 2 children in there and I have nowhere for these two!"

"We can call child services, ma'am," she said in her robotic voice. I looked back at the ambulance and he was still there.

"Just, a second..." I began as I hurried out to the driver. Yes, no, yes, yes, I thought as I pulled a sticky note from my purse. I wrote down my phone number.

"Hey! Gary! Can you do me a favor?" I ran up to him.

"Yes?" he asked.

"You said that you're off and you drove us even though you were done for the day?"

"Yes."

"Do you think you could babysit my kids?" I asked.

"Why, yes! I'd love to get to know you more!" he said.

"Thanks! I owe you one!" I said as I handed him my paper and he loaded Carter and Rosey up.

"Bye, Mommy!" Rosey said.

"Bye," said Carter, shyly.

"That was more than a second," the lady honked.

"I don't care!" I yelled as I stormed into the hall and into room 49. I went in and sat in a chair as the surgeons did their work. They had oxygen flowing into Jack and a heartbeat machine connected to him. I bit my lip when I saw it slow. No, no, no... I said in my head. It stopped. No, it is still there. A doctor came over to squeeze my hand.

"That little one," she whispered, "has a slim chance."

"NO!" I yelled.

The machine stopped. I ran over and grabbed him and shook him.

"Ma'am! He lives! The machine is having problems! Calm down!"

I walked back over to the chair. "Sorry," I mumbled. The doctors reran the wires and the machine started up again but the pulse of Jack was still slowing. The baby kicked. "Ow!" I said as I stood up. The baby kicked again. Hard. The baby pushed my stomach and I screamed. It felt like it kicked me so hard that it broke a rib. The baby kicked over and over and I wanted it to stop! The baby did a somersault! I swear I felt a little loop-de-doo! "Oww!" I yelled. This time I screamed more forcefully. I threw up. "I'm so sorry!" I said to the doctors as they frantically tried to help me. The machine stopped. But so did Jack's heartbeat. "NO!" I cried. Tears filled my eyes. The baby was ready. Jack was gone. I swallowed hard. Dead.