Nature's Medicine

Sunshine Riptide

The sun beats down unforgivingly on Adella's back as she plants her summer seeds. Her straw hat takes the majority of the rays away from her face but the heat still makes her face slick with sweat. She presses her water bottle against her lips hastily chugs the bottle's contents as he thirst is less and less satisfied with every gulp. The water didn't sit well in her stomach making her grimace. She slowly stood up feeling the ground would give out from under her.

Adella shuffles over to an oak tree to get out of the sun's rays. She groans plopping herself at the base of the truck and sinks into the cool shady dirt. Demeter trots over time see if her human companion was alright and licks her face to get a response.

"De...Demeter please..." Adella groans breathlessly trying to swat her hot tongue away.

She breathes heavily as though she ran across the valley, but she only planted a few seeds. Pits of blackness swirled across her eyes as gravity made her parallel with the ground.

-<~***~>-

Another quiet day at the clinic as Harvey stocks more equipment in the exam rooms. Everything seemed peaceful until he heard loud barking coming from outside. He steps out into the lobby and sees Demeter frantically pawing at the door. Adella never took her off the farm unless a vet came into town, but something was very off.

"Demeter? What are you doing out here?" Harvey opens the door and the hot summer air hits him, "Is Adella with you?" He looks around for her.

Demeter barks more at him as she leads him towards the farm. It doesn't take him long to put two and two together to realize Adella might be having a heatstroke.

"C'mon Demeter, we need to go!" Harvey didn't bother gathering his doctor bag, it wasn't his first time dealing with a heatstroke.

He sprints his the way to the farm just a few strides behind Demeter. Beads of sweat form on his brow from the unpleasant combo of the dry summer heat and the thoughts that he wouldn't make there in time. Harvey has a couple close calls when a few people, specifically Alex came down with heatstroke. It's easy to ignore the first couple symptoms, excessive sweating and thirst, dizziness, and nausea but it can quickly get serious if immediate action isn't done.

Harvey gets to the farm and continues to follow Demeter to where Adella was laying. She was lying face down in the dirt possibly unconscious. He crouches down next to her carefully turning her onto her side.

"Adella, can you hear me?" He hastily fumbles to find a pulse on her wrist then checks for one on her neck. Her skin damp from sweat and scalding to the touch. "Please, say anything if you can hear me." Harvey pleaded hovering his ear above her nose and mouth. Hot breath exhaled onto his cheek and he was able to relax a little bit.

There isn't enough time to take her back to clinic and he certainly wasn't strong enough to carry her all the way there.

For the love of Yoba let me please pick her up!

Harvey prays before collecting his strength to carefully her up. He groans lifting her dead weight and rushes towards her house. Her face rivaled that of a tomato, clearly overheated from planting her crops.

He gets her inside the house and gently lays her on the couch and quickly fluffs a pillow to prop her head up. The cool air in the house was so refreshing he had to take a moment to enjoy it. Harvey navigates to the kitchen and gets a makeshift ice bag with a paper towel and wets a few rags with cold water. He gently wipes her face with a damp rag before placing the the bag of ice at the nape of her neck.

He made her more comfortable by rolling up her overall pant legs past the knee and took off her boots and socks. Those simple adjustments made a dramatic difference to the pigment of skin. The tension eased from him as draped his jacket on a hook by the door.

Harvey slumps in an armchair and loosens his tie taking in the cool air. The dog door squeaks open as a straw hat pokes through first followed by Demeter. He let off a soft chuckle as she set the hat on his lap.

"You are such a good girl." He half smiles and reaches down to pet her head, "Wonder if she has any treats for you." He pulls himself out of the chair.

Harvey glances around the kitchen trying to locate something for Demeter that was out in the open. He didn't seem right for him to rifle through Adella's things especially while she's unconscious. His search is fruitless and ends up giving her fresh water.

Adella shifts on the couch and groans gathering the energy to find a comfortable position. He walks back over to the couch and helps her settle in.

"What happened...?" She asks with genuine curiosity.

"You had a heatstroke," Harvey clarifies adjusting her pillow, "Demeter came to the clinic barking like mad and I figured something was wrong."

Adella half heartedly chuckles, "She's such a good dog."

He light laughs with a chuckle, "You got yourself a Lassie." He joked and gets comfortable sitting in the floor, "I'm glad to see you're feeling better." He smiles at her.

"Well duh, you took care of me," she teased reaching for his hand, "But thanks for coming out here and taking care of me." She blushed.

"All in a day's work," Harvey softly smiles and holds her hand, "Adella, can I ask you something?"

She nods and turns her head slightly, "Sure what's up?"

His face flushed red as he searches for the words, "Last night at the saloon... you came over to me and... kissed me." Harvey blushes more, "N...not that it wasn't okay, it was— I-I mean it was wonderful but um... I'm just curious cause you left before I could ask what it was for."

Adella blushes more and looks away for a bit, "Well, I was playing pool with Sebastian and we had a little bet." She explained looking back over at him, "The bet was the loser had to kiss the next person that walked in. You know what happens next."

"Oh," he acknowledged the series of events but feeling slightly disappointed, "For what it's worth, it was a pleasant surprise." He smiled bashfully.

Adella blushes more and turns away from him. "To tell you the truth I kinda enjoyed it too."

Harvey was taken aback by that, his smile grew bigger and his heart pounded faster. Something inside him wanted to tell her that he likes her but the situation he put himself in held that urge back. Their friendship was the most important thing to him and he didn't want a silly little kiss to ruin it.

"I want you to take it easy for the rest of the day, drink plenty of water, and take breaks." He advises getting up off the floor.

"I can't promise you anything." Adella chuckles, "But I can probably use a nap."

"Good," he grabs his jacket but doesn't put it on, "I mean it though, get some rest okay?"

"I will, Harvey."

Harvey left the farm after saying goodbye and he relived last night in his head. Guilt weighed on him more as he walked closer to town for not confessing his true feelings there. But it was in his best interest to keep their relationship strictly friends even though the buds of romance are soon to be blooming.

-<~***~>-

-*Author's Note: hey it's your friendly neighborhood writer here! It brings me joy to see that people are reading this and I appreciate every one of my readers. I want to keep this story interesting and I'm still accepting ideas for further installments if anyone wants to reach out. Thanks to everyone reading this so far! :)*-