Page 56 of Finding Basil
“They’re tied to him, so…I guess they figure it’s safe, but that cop over there is pissed the EMT went in.”
They both looked over at the trooper, who was animatedly speaking to someone on his phone. Juan pulled one of the firefighters over to ask. “Is that even safe?”
“We’re hooked up well to the axles. And some others are heading down to extend a net with stakes ten feet in the ground for backup.”
None of it made him feel better.
When the door was finally cut open, however, and Basil was out of the truck, being placed on a gurney, he let out a sob of joy and relief that echoed through the valley below them.
He followed Basil up the hill and then took his hand as they set him down to again check his vitals and to look into each eye. “Dilated,” one of the EMTs said.
“Concussion,” another one agreed. “Get him in the bus and let’s get him to County.”
“Can Herb go with you all?” Juan asked, surprising Herb.
“Are you family?”
Juan answered for him. “He’s family, yeah. He’s Basil’s fiancé.”
Herb blinked at him for a second before he confirmed, “I’m marrying him.”
“Get in, but we have to go now.”
Herb threw Juan his keys and climbed into the ambulance with Basil and the EMT. Herb told the EMT, “Thank you for staying with him. You risked your life.”
“He’s going to be okay, and I don’t say that often. Even with all this, he’s got a good, strong pulse and his blood pressure is great. Just some head trauma that could turn bad, but the cut isn’t even that terrible. He was wearing his seatbelt, thankfully.”
Herb took Basil’s warm hand into his, and just that warmth was enough to send Herb into the clouds. He was warm, alive, and he was getting help.
Once at the hospital, however, he was taken into a trauma room, and Herb wasn’t allowed to go with him. He paced outside the trauma doors, and felt tears, then a smile, then tears. His emotions were all over the place. He was still terribly worried, but Joe, the EMT, his words kept moving into his mind, how he was going to be well.
He was going to be okay.
He didn’t have long to be alone with his rolling thoughts. Soon, he was surrounded by the faces of the Jimenez family and more. Lila was there, and he held her friends around the shoulders as they listened to the story they’d mostly already heard from Juan,but Herb told the story again, then added what the EMT and nurses had said.
“They’re running tests. He’s got a pretty nasty cut on the forehead, and he’ll need stitches. They’re mostly concerned with any head trauma. He’s at least got a concussion, but there could be more.”
Gasps and sobs came after that, and he hated he was the one who told them the bad news.
“Really, though, his heart is very strong; he doesn’t seem to have internal bleeding, anything like that. He was wearing his seatbelt, or it would have been worse.”
“Thank you, God,” Michelle said. “He’s…he looked okay?”
Juan took his mother into his arms and soothed, “He was talking to us, Mom, so I think he’s going to be okay. Our family is pretty tough, after all, you know?”
Sabrina teased her mom, “You dropped us all on our heads except him, and we turned out okay. He’ll be just like the rest of us scoundrels now, Mom.”
“That’s not funny, Sabrina! I never dropped any of you!”
Herb took Sabrina to a chair and made her sit. “You can’t be on your feet all the time or stressed. Please.”
“Are you practicing to be a father?”
“What? Me?”
She just smiled at him, but it was a little sad. “He’s gonna be okay, right?”
“Yes, and from now on, I’m going to wrap him in bubble wrap and keep him safe. This…it was too much.”
