Read Online Wake the Dawn by Lauraine Snelling - Free Book Online Page B

poked through it with one finger, found a clamp. “Now we get to find out whether this thing works.” He slipped the little black clamp over the patient’s middle finger, fiddled with it, studied it. “Okay; at least now we know his oxygen level. Up the saturation, can you?” Ben had no idea where his stethoscope had gotten to. “Need your ears.” He pulled Dennis’s ’scope off his neck and shoved the bell against the victim’s chest. With the guy’s shirt on he wasn’t going to hear much, but the heartbeat was all he was looking for anyway.
    Slowly but surely the man’s breathing eased. At least they didn’t have to do a tracheotomy. He’d done a couple of trachs in the past and dreaded attempting another.
    The heart rhythm eased as the oxygen flowed more freely. The deathly blue pallor faded.
    “Where’s Yvette?” Ben had not even been aware she’d left the room.
    “Someone needed another set of hands. Is there any coffee?”
    “I’m not sure but if you find some, please bring me a cup, too. We need to get some food in here for these people.”
    Dennis took out his cell phone and thumbed buttons.
    “Who you calling?”
    “My mother heads the church ladies’ group. They’ll get some food in here. We can go pick it up with the ambulance if need be.” He put his cell to his ear a couple of times and shook his head. “No signal. By the way, your house is still standing. Doesn’t really look damaged, like the roof is still on. That birch out back went down.”
    “Thanks.”
    Dennis’s radio howled his code. “Looks like we’ll be on our way. Now I get to go look for Yvette.”
    “The place isn’t that big. Probably the ladies’ room.” Ben checked their patient’s vitals again. Here at least was one they’d been able to save. The man’s eyelashes fluttered, and he started to sit up. Gently pushing him back down, Ben nodded. “Just take it easy, we’re through the worst. What happened?”
    “Power went out, no nebulizer, panic.” His voice rasped.
    “Well, they got to you in time. I’ll be moving you out of this room because we need it, but you can rest here for a minute. Okay?”
    The man nodded and let his eyes close again.
    Ben turned at a knock on the door.
    “How is he?” Yvette asked, handing him a cup of coffee.
    “Good. Where did you find this?” Coffee, third on his list of beverages, behind beer and whiskey.
    “Barbara said someone brought over a can of coffee.”
    “But no one is supposed to be out in this storm.”
    “Just say thank you and enjoy it.” She turned away. “Oh, and mother and baby are sound asleep on some quilts someone else brought in.” She raised a hand. “Don’t ask. Call them our guardian angels.”
    Guardian angels. Where were they two years ago when Allie needed them, out having a beer?
    Ben followed her down the hall, careful to not trip over sleepers. They’d need to start hanging hammocks next. He peeked into the break room. Ansel looked up from checking on the man on the gurney. “Everyone in here is sound asleep but him and me. Thank God for the quilts.”
    Beth was curled up near her daughter, the new son nestled in a quilt. Someone had slipped a sock over his head in lieu of a newborn cap. Hannah’s head had dropped forward, but the baby slept in her arms.
    Grateful for a moment of respite, Ben listened to his stomach growl and grumble from the coffee. Too bad, at least it would help him be alert again. Someone had swept up the glass from the vending machines at some point, but they were now empty of snacks and drinks. He left the break room and stopped behind the front desk. “What’s the weather report?”
    Barbara glanced up with a smile. “No letup on the rain, but the winds are now at strong breeze, not gale. You’re familiar with the Beaufort scale, right?”
    “Right. Twenty-five to thirty.”
    She smirked and continued. “You can be sure the power crews are out there. And the highway trucks, moving the trees off the