Runaways

slowly. "I told you to stay with Daddy."

  "He won't talk," she moaned.

  Crystal was right behind the woman and stepped up into the recreational vehicle. We gathered at the door. A man in his mid-forties was slumped over the steering wheel. His forehead was against the top of the wheel and his face was turned toward us, his eyes closed, his mouth twisted. I thought he

  looked kind of blue, especially about the lips. Their other little girl, only about five or six,

  was curled up on the sofa.

  "George!" the woman cried. "Oh God, oh my

  God."

  Crystal felt his wrist for a pulse and then turned

  to me.

  "Brooke, get up here and help me get him

  prone," she ordered. I stepped up and the woman

  stepped back. She hu ed her daughter Denise to her. It

  simply amazed me how efficient and competent

  Crystal could appear, even to complete strangers. George was a rather big man, probably at least

  six feet one and easily more than two hundred pounds.

  We struggled and I looked to Raven, who came in

  quickly and helped. Among the three of us we were

  able to slide him off the seat and lay him gently on his

  back.

  Crystal went to work immediately. Even Raven,

  Butterfly and I were surprised and impressed. I never knew she was capable of performing CPR. She knelt by his side and placed her right hand on his forehead and her left under his chin. I gazed at his face. He was a good-looking man with some gray at his temples. Crystal glanced up at me with concern and then she listened for his breathing. Without hesitation, she pinched his nose and brought her mouth to his. She

  gave two full breaths and I saw his chest rise. Butterfly moved closer to Raven, who put her

  arm around her.

  "Is he dead?" the woman whimpered. Crystal put her fingertips on his Adam's apple

  and slid them into the groove next to his windpipe.

  She felt for a pulse.

  "Is he? Oh my God, George!"

  Crystal gazed up at me again, looking more sad

  than nervous now. I could see it in her eyes, which

  had become reflections of mine and of Raven's and of

  Butterfly's. We had all lost our fathers. None of us

  wanted to witness this.

  "I think he's in cardiac arrest," Crystal said. She opened his shirt and put her hands at the

  center of his chest, one hand on top of the other. "We have to get him to a hospital emergency

  room, quickly."

  "I can't drive this thing," the woman moaned. "I

  don't want to move him," Crystal said to me.

  "Brooke?"

  I looked at the dashboard and nodded. Then I

  went to the seat and started the engine.

  Meanwhile, Crystal began pumping the man's

  chest, counting up to fifteen and then blowing in two

  more breaths before pumping again.

  The older girl cried harder. Butterfly went to

  her and tried to console her while the woman went to

  her younger daughter, who looked like she was in

  shock. Raven joined her and they all watched Crystal

  work.

  "I have no idea where I'm going," I muttered. I

  drove until I saw a convenience store on a corner and

  pulled up. "I'll find out where the closest hospital is," I

  told them and ran out. There was only one customer in

  the store and a short, gray- haired man with a dark

  mustache at the counter. "We need a hospital

  quickly," I cried.

  "Hospital. Go down here two miles, make a

  left, go five and when you come to the light, make a

  right. About a mile in you'll start to see the signs.

  What's wrong?" he asked.

  "Heart attack," I said and charged out and into the vehicle. It wasn't hard to drive, but I hadn't taken the time to adjust the seat and my feet barely reached

  he brakes. I tried fixing it as I drove off.

  "How's he doing?" I asked.

  "I think there's a pulse, but it's very weak,"

  Crystal said. "Is it far?"

  "No."

  It was more difficult steering this vehicle than

  the station wagon, and I almost missed the turn because I was going too fast. The tires squealed. My

  heart pounded. I thought we would turn over or blow

  a tire.

  "Sorry," I said. A compact vehicle was right

  ahead of me, crawling along. I pressed on the horn in

  hope the driver would just pull over, but she didn't

  react so I had to wait for a chance to pass. As soon as

  I thought it was safe I pulled out and around the

  compact car. I had no idea what sort of power the

  recreational vehicle had and its acceleration was slow.

  A car was approaching. Neither of us had anywhere to

  go. I mumbled a prayer, kept my foot down and then

  swung into the right lane just at the last moment. The

  other driver sounded his horn angrily.

  "Sorry," I-muttered.

  I'm sure it was only minutes before we turned into the hospital driveway, but because of the tension, it seemed longer. I followed the signs that indicated EMERGENCY and we pulled up as closely as we

  could to the doors. Then I hopped out and ran inside. Two nurses were chatting by a desk. On their

  right a man sat holding his arm. He looked like he was

  in great pain, but no one seemed to notice or care. "I have a man having a heart attack!" I

  screamed.

  The nurses stopped talking. An orderly stepped

  out of an examination room and the three of them

  headed for me.

  "Where?"

  "Outside in the recreational vehicle," I said.

  "Please, hurry. My friend has been giving him CPR

  but she doesn't know if it's working."

  Another orderly appeared. They grabbed a

  stretcher and they all went out to the vehicle.

  Moments later, they were wheeling him into the

  hospital, with all of us trailing behind.

  "Don't worry," Raven said to the woman. "He's

  going to be all right now."

  "Oh dear," she said. Her two daughters remained under her arms, the younger one still in a

  daze, the older one wiping her bloodshot eyes. "Who can identify him?" the older of the two

  nurses asked. She went behind the counter. "I can," the woman said. "He's my husband,

  George, George Forbas, I'm Caroline Forbas." The nurse smiled as if she were a hotel agent

  filling out a form for a hotel stay instead of a hospital

  emergency room.

  "I need you to fill as much of this out as you

  can," she said.

  Caroline looked frantically toward the room in

  which her husband George had been taken. A young

  doctor came running down the hallway and slipped in

  quickly. He was followed by another nurse and

  another orderly.

  "I'll take care of Sophie," Raven said, referring

  to the younger daughter. "Come on, Sophie, let's sit

  over there and look at the magazines."

  She took her hand and the little girl followed

  Raven to the seats. Butterfly trailed along.

  "Go sit with Sophie, Denise," Caroline said.

  Reluctantly, Denise left her side. Crystal and I

  remained with Caroline. "Thank you, girls," she said

  gratefully. "Thank you, thank you."

  "It's all right," Crystal said. "You don't have to

  thank us."

  Caroline looked at the nurse.

  "I can't think."

&n
bsp; "Does she have to do this now?" I asked. "She might as well let the doctor examine her

  husband and this is something to do in the meantime,"

  she replied dryly. "You can take it over there," she

  said pointing to a chair with a desk beside it. "Take

  your time, Mrs. Forbas."

  Caroline sat down with the paper work and I

  walked over to Crystal, who looked more scared than

  I'd ever seen her.

  "What's wrong?" I asked quietly, not wanting to

  draw attention.

  "I remember when my foster parents were

  killed," she said. "I was at a friend's house. We were

  studying for a math exam and someone called on the

  telephone. I don't remember who called, but my

  friend's mother came to the door of her room and said,

  'Crystal, there's been a terrible accident. Do you know

  your Uncle Stuart's number in Albany?'

  "'I'm sure it's in my father's Rolodex,' I said. 'I'll

  go look it up.' We lived right next door," she

  explained. "I remember I ran out of that house not

  even thinking about the consequences. It never

  occurred to me that they were both dead, you see. I was young enough at the time still to think of death as something alien, reserved for the aged, but not

  something that strikes people close to you." I nodded, listening as I watched Raven work

  miracles with Sophie while Butterfly sat by talking

  softly to Denise, keeping her from crying. It occurred

  to me that we were all as terrified as they were.

  Crystal hardly ever talked about her past like this and

  certainly not with such nervous energy. Every once in

  a while, Raven would stop and look over at Caroline

  and her lips would tremble. She would take a deep

  breath, too. Butterfly's eyes met mine a number of

  times, searching for the same reassurance.

  We had lost enough parents. It was impossible

  to simply sit by and watch someone else approach the

  same sort of doorway to sorrow.

  "I ran back to my friend's house with the telephone number and gave it to her mother," Crystal

  continued. "I saw the strange way she was looking at

  me, but I still didn't ask any questions. Instead, I stood

  by and listened as she called my father's brother. 'Stuart,' she said, 'This is Vera Raymond,

  Thelma's friend next door. Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Stuart,

  there's been a terrible accident. A car accident. Karl

  and Thelma . . Both of them have been killed. I'm so sorry,' she said. 'Yes, it happened a few hours ago. A drunk driver in a pickup truck. I'm sorry,' she repeated," Crystal said. "I have it all committed to memory. I often relive it through horrible flashbacks. Sometimes, it just takes the ringing of a phone and I

  see the whole episode," she explained.

  "Anyway, that's when and how I first heard

  they were dead. For a moment it was like

  eavesdropping on someone else's life. I still didn't

  fully comprehend, Brooke. I listened attentively to

  every word. I heard her say, 'Yes, she's with us. What

  do you want to do?' She listened, nodded and then she

  turned and looked at me as if he was telling her

  something about me that she never knew. Of course,

  she knew I had been adopted, so that wasn't it,"

  Crystal said quickly. "I don't know what he said, but

  she looked at me and nodded. 'I understand,' she said,

  'but what do you want to do in the interim, Stuart?

  Really?' she followed. 'All right. I'll find out and take

  care of it,' she said. 'I'm sorry.'

  "Then she hung up and explained that my parents had been killed and my uncle wasn't coming to

  take me to his home. He had told her to call the Child

  Protection Services. Later that afternoon, they came

  for me and I was back in the system," Crystal said. "I attended the funeral," she told me, "but after

  that, I never saw any of those relatives again." "I'm so

  sorry, Crystal."

  She shrugged.

  "I was lucky in a way. My life, as hard as it is

  to imagine, would probably have been worse if I had

  gone to live with people who really didn't want me." Caroline rose and brought the papers back to

  the desk.

  "Why is it taking so long?" she asked the nurse,

  who just took the papers and turned to file them and

  enter information into a computer.

  Caroline looked to us and we went to her side.

  The doctor finally stepped out of the emergency

  examination room. The nurse behind the desk gave

  him Caroline's paper work. He looked at it, nodded

  and then turned to Caroline.

  "You are Mrs. Forbas?"

  "Yes, how is he? Is he alive?" she asked

  quickly.

  "He's stable now, Mrs. Forbas. He's on his way

  up to the cardiac care unit. We'll wait for the specialist

  to examine him and give us a full diagnosis. Who

  performed the CPR?"

  "She did," Caroline said, nodding at Crystal. "You did real well, Miss," he said. "There's no doubt in my mind you saved his life. You should be very

  proud of yourself. Where did you learn it?"

  "Health class," Crystal said.

  He laughed at her matter-of-fact, modest tone.

  "Well, you're proof of why students should pay

  attention. Tell your teacher."

  We watched them wheel George out of the

  examination room, the oxygen mask over his face.

  Caroline rushed to his side. She turned back as they

  headed for the elevator.

  "Can you stay with the girls a little longer?" she

  asked us.

  "Yes, of course," I said.

  We watched her disappear with her husband

  and the orderly in the elevator and then we sat with

  Raven and Butterfly and entertained Denise and little

  Sophie.

  The rain began again. We didn't notice it until

  the wind started blowing it against the windows. The

  girls, tired from their emotional ordeal, had fallen

  asleep, Sophie, the little one, with her head in Raven's

  lap. We were all somewhat exhausted and groggy.

  Butterfly dozed on and off and Raven lay back with

  her eyes closed, her fingers clamped on her forehead. Only Crystal made productive use of the time

  catching up on past issues of Time magazine. None of us took much note of the two

  policemen who stood by the nurse's desk talking

  softly, but when the elevator doors opened and

  Caroline appeared, the nurse nodded at her and the

  policemen approached her. They spoke for a moment

  and then they walked over to us.

  "Thanks for waiting, girls, and taking care of

  Denise and Sophie. The nurse upstairs was kind

  enough to call the sheriff's department for me because

  I can't drive that R.V. and we have to get to a motel.

  Officer Donald will take you back to your car. I don't

  know how I can thank you. Can you give me your

  address," she asked Crystal, "so I can send you

  something later?"

  "There's no need for that," Crystal replied

  quickly. "How is Mr. Forbas doing?"

  "He's resting very comfortably. They think he'll

  be fine. Of course, his lifestyle is going to change. No

  more smoking for one thing."

  "I told Daddy to sto
p smoking," Denise said.

  "We learned about it in school."

  "Yes dear," she said stroking her daughter's

  face affectionately. "Well, now he's going to listen to

  you." "I'll get you to the motel," one of the policemen

  said. "Dave?"

  "Girls, come along with me," the taller policeman said.

  Raven shot me a very nervous look, but Crystal

  never batted an eyelash. We all said good-bye to the

  girls. Raven and Butterfly hugged Sophie, who was

  sad to see them go. Then, without any more comment,

  we followed the sheriff's deputy out of the emergency

  room to his patrol car.

  "Three of you can get into the rear," he said.

  "Don't be nervous about sitting behind a cage and

  having no handles on the doors. We usually put

  suspects back there," he added with a smile

  Raven widened her eyes with anxiety. Crystal

  took Butterfly's hand and opened the door. I was the

  one left to sit in the front with the policeman. "So you guys did a real good deed," he said,

  getting behind the wheel. "This is a nice thing to see.

  It restores my faith in young people. Most of the time,

  I have them in my car for a lot worse reasons." He

  laughed, started the engine, and pulled out of the

  hospital parking lot. "You the driver?" he asked,

  nodding at me.

  "Yes sir," I said.

  He made a turn and drove slowly.

  "So you're all from New York?" he continued. I turned and looked at Crystal. Had any of us

  said that? She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes

  into slits of suspicion.

  "Yes," I said cautiously.

  "A long way from home, aren't you?" he asked. "We're on our way to visit relatives," I

  answered.

  "A huh," he said.

  He made another turn and sped up. I couldn't be

  sure because I was so nervous and excited at the time,

  but it seemed to me he was going in a different

  direction from the direction in which we had come. "When we got the call from the hospital, I was

  patrolling in the vicinity where you had left your

  vehicle. I saw your license plates," he added, leaning

  toward me and then making another turn. "That's how

  I know you're all from New York."

  "Oh." I smiled and looked back at Crystal, but

  she didn't seem relieved. She stared ahead, her face

  full of anticipation.

  He made another turn, taking us past a more

  populated area. Soon we saw stores, gas stations, shops, and then he drove down a hill, leaving the