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.The commotion persisted until he was drawn to the window to see what was causing a dog to carry on so.Below him on the patio, Rachel was floundering with her cane, trying to find her way while bumping into one flower pot after another.“Annie!” she called again and again.He rushed downstairs, and when he burst out the back door and caught up with Rachel, he saw that she was weeping.“Annie!” she called pitifully.“Annie, where are you?”But there was no answer, only the frenzied barking in the distance.“Rachel, it’s me, Philip Bradley,” he said calmly, so as not to startle her.“What’s happening?”She was pushing her feet through the lawn, her cane swinging back and forth.“Annie went walking the dog.she hasn’t come home for the longest time.Now Copper’s barking out by the creek, and I’m terribly frightened.”“I’ll look for Annie.Will you wait here?” he said, concerned that Rachel might stumble and fall.“Please, bring her home to me.” Her face was streaked with tears.“I’ll find her.” He turned and ran toward the dog’s yelping, through the apple trees, past the gravel walkway, over the footbridge, and to the opposite side of the creek.“Annie!” he called.Behind him he could still hear Rachel’s distressed cries for her daughter.The little girl sat in a heap of crumpled leaves on the bank of Mill Creek, her long rose-colored dress soiled, her white head covering in her hand.The dog was crouched near her, howling till his bark was nearly ragged.“Annie, are you all right?” Philip hurried over to her, noticing a reddish swelling on her face.“Oh, Mr.Philip, I got stinged so awful bad.”He saw that she had been crying and was rubbing her cheek where the swelling had extended past the wound itself.Searching for a stinger and finding none, he suspected that Annie had been stung by a wasp.“I didn’t.disobey Mamma, Mr.Philip.honest, I didn’t.Copper got away from me, and I had to.run and catch him.” She was wheezing now, and he recognized the dangerous asthmatic symptoms.His niece, Kari, often had such flare-ups, but this was different.Annie must be suffering from an allergic reaction.“Ach, my head hurts, too,” the little girl cried.“Let’s get you home.Your mamma’s worried about you.” He was concerned about her labored breathing and gathered the child into his arms.Dashing over the footbridge and through the orchard, he kept saying, “I’ll take care of you, Annie.Don’t cry, honey.”The braids that wound around her head began to fall loose as he ran with her toward the house.The dog nipped at his heels behind him, barking incessantly.When Philip was within yards of the house, he caught sight of the girl’s mother.“Quick, Rachel, hold on to my arm,” he called, hurrying over to her.“Annie’s been stung.Let’s get you both inside.”When Rachel and Annie were safely in the kitchen, Rachel leaned down to listen to her daughter’s breathing.“Does Annie have asthma?” Philip asked, still holding the child with Rachel hovering near.“No.not asthma,” Rachel whispered.“Is she allergic to wasps or bees, that you know of?”“This has never happened before.” Rachel stroked Annie’s face, letting go of Philip’s arm.“She needs a doctor right away, unless you have an inhaler, something to open an airway.” The child was starting to go limp in his arms.“Where’s the nearest hospital?”“I’ll call 9-1-1,” Rachel said, her hand shaking as she reached for the phone.“There’s no time for that.You’ll have to trust me.I can get Annie to a hospital faster than waiting for an ambulance.”Rachel grimaced.“The Community Hospital is the closest one.”Philip lost no time in getting Annie and her mother into his rental car.Nor could he spare a moment to consider Rachel’s possible aversion to riding in a modern-day conveyance rather than the familiar horse and buggy.On the way, Rachel whispered to the child in her first language, kissing her forehead every so often.She sat in the backseat, cradling Annie in her arms.Philip pushed the speed limit where there was less traffic, hoping a police officer might spot him and escort them to the emergency room.He sensed a dire urgency as he stole glances at Rachel and her child in the rearview mirror.Annie’s continual struggle to breathe worried him so much he dialed 9-1-1 on his cell phone and alerted the hospital that they were on their way.The closer they came to the downtown area, the more congested the traffic became, slowing their pace.For the first time in many years, he found himself praying under his breath.NineteenWith great apprehension, Philip made himself pick up a sports magazine and thumb through it, impatient for some word—anything—on Annie’s condition.He glanced up now and then to watch people coming and going.People watching.It was one of his favorite pastimes, though under the circumstances, he would much rather have been in an airport or any other public place.Hospitals made him nervous.How was Annie doing now? The little child had looked absolutely miserable there by the creek bank when first he’d found her.And her breathing was terribly wispy, threadlike, continuing to be so as he carried her into the emergency room entrance not twenty minutes ago.And what of Susanna Zook and her husband? Had both of them left the house? It seemed a bit strange that they would leave their blind daughter home alone with the rambunctious child, but then he didn’t know their routine well enough to cast blame.The truth was, a little girl’s life was hanging in the balance even as he sat here in the ER waiting room.He wished he could do something to guarantee that young Annie would survive the ordeal, come out of it unscathed.But it was difficult to erase the visions of her gasping for air, her tiny lungs giving out no matter how fast he had been willing to speed down the streets of Lancaster.It was while he was recalling the morning’s chaos that he realized he didn’t know Rachel’s last name [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]