Read Online Christmas in the Air by Irene Brand - Free Book Online Page B

tower.
    Les stood under the opening, his eyes squinted tightly, trying to see what was going on.
    â€œHow does the wooden frame look?” he called.
    On his hands and knees now, Quinn peered through the opening. “Solid as a rock,” he assured Les. “But while I’m up here, I’ll take a look at the flue and be sure it’s all right. We don’t want to risk a fire.”
    Quinn crawled carefully toward the flue, wishing he’d brought a flashlight. He ran his hands over the bricks, and while he felt some warmth, it wasn’t more than would be expected after the stove had been burning for hours. Turning toward the ladder, he hit his head on a beam, his foot slipped off the rafter and he fell hard. Pain ran up his left leg as it plunged through the ceiling.
    Lath and plaster fell on the group waiting below, and Livia stifled a cry as Quinn’s leg, up to his knee, hung through the ceiling. Quickly, Allen climbed the ladder.
    â€œAre you hurt, Quinn?” he called, sticking his head into the attic.
    â€œNot much,” Quinn gasped, “but I sure got a scare. I was afraid I’d come through the ceiling.”
    â€œDo you need any help?”
    â€œI’ll see if I can make it by myself,” Quinn said. He wiggled backward, keenly aware of a sharp nail that tore the seat of his pants. He carefully pulled his leg out of the hole. He wiggled his foot, thankful that he didn’t seem to have broken a bone. No doubt the heavy boots and socks he wore had prevented any serious damage.
    â€œAllen, I’ll crawl toward you, but before I come down, we’d better put something over that hole in the ceiling to keep the cold air out of the room. See if there’s a board to cover it, or perhaps we can use one of our blankets.”
    Allen came down a few rungs on the ladder. “Eric, bring one of our blankets, so he can fill the hole.”
    Eric grabbed the first blanket he found and gave it to Allen, who in turn handed it to Quinn. Aware of the pain in his leg, and hoping he didn’t have a serious injury, he crawled back to the hole and covered it.
    Both Eric and Allen held the ladder as Quinn started down. When he put his weight on his left leg, a pain shot from his ankle to his hip, and he almost fell from the ladder. Gritting his teeth and holding tightly to each rung, he reached the floor without any further incident.He held Allen’s arm as he walked to the nearest pew and sat down.
    Alarmed by the pallor on his face, Livia hurried to him. “You’ve hurt your leg, haven’t you?”
    â€œâ€™Fraid so,” he admitted. “I shouldn’t have been so clumsy.”
    She knelt beside him and started unlacing his boot. Sean joined her, and helped her pull off Quinn’s boot and sock. His fingers moved quickly and gingerly over Quinn’s cold foot and leg.
    â€œSean has had training with injuries like this,” Livia explained. “It comes in handy in basketball training and during the games, too.”
    â€œI don’t believe you have any broken bones,” Sean said. “I think it’s a sprain or an injured muscle. Try to stand and walk a little.”
    With his hand on Sean’s shoulder, Quinn took several steps. “Is the pain bad?” Livia asked.
    Quinn shook his head. “It’s uncomfortable, but I’m sure I’ll be all right. Sorry to cause such a commotion,” he apologized to the others.
    â€œI’ll bet you stepped on the place where the stovepipe used to go through the ceiling,” Les said. “The stovepipe went straight up then, but we decided to put a curved ell extension when we bought this new stove. We just patched the ceiling when we finished, and I forgot that place would be weak.”
    When Livia walked away, Quinn checked out the rip in his pants. Pointing to a pew on the other side of the aisle, Quinn quietly said to Allen, “There’s a pair ofjeans in