A Tourist in Mayberry

5/4) Hero: Tommy

William and the three band members were all crammed in the front seat of the truck. The young people were shivering from the still cold cab and their wet bottoms where they fell after skating to the truck. William was driving slowly through the lot. He passed the activity bus on his left and was going to clear it when the wheels on the truck started spinning. He fought to control the wheel. He turned ever so slightly to the left and to the right. The back end got away from him and the truck began to slide. William knew not to, but it was impossible not to, and he did. He hit the brakes. The students, not yet buckled in, were slung around the cab. As the truck left the lot and jumped the curb, William could see Raynie, eyes wide, frozen in terror gripping the baby's hand as the truck veered towards them. Raynie turned half a turn to run before the truck struck the supports of the shelter and thousands and thousands of pounds of concrete and brick and steel collapsed.

Tommy was knocked out for maybe half a minute. When he came to he could hear screaming. Tommy looked around. Everything right before the accident and now was in slow, Jello-wiggely motion. He heard Shelley screaming. Tommy noted she was not hurt, just screaming. He saw Gibby holding his bleeding head. Tommy could not make a decision about what to do. He was immobile. His neck felt funny. Stiff. It took all his strength to turn his head and look at the scene before him.

I am in shock he thought. We are in shock. I am in shock. Think. Snap out of it, Tommy. Do something. I am in shock.

Besides being a member of the band, Tommy was in JROTC and his 1st Sergeant taught him what to do in dire circumstances. This was definitely dire circumstances. Tommy said to himself, "Do not panic. Do. Not. Panic." His first aid and emergency response training set in.

Tommy turned to Shelley. "Quit screaming. Stop it. Stop it right now."

Incredibly, Shelley quit screaming and looked at him. She'd never seen Tommy this way before.

"Gibby, head wounds bleed a lot, you are going to be ok, hold this over the cut, press down hard." Then, "Gibby, get your phone and call 911."

"Shelley, run inside, be careful, don't fall down, but hurry, and see if you can find help."

Tommy stepped out of the cab. He ran/skated to what was once the entrance to the school, but was now something out of a collapsed building from an earthquake video feed on the news. A polka dot, navy scarf was blowing in the breeze still wrapped around the neck of its owner. A brown, corduroy pocketbook was sitting in the snow abandoned and covered in dust, but otherwise unscathed. William was lying on the ground, cradling what was left of Raynie. William was talking to her and, incredibly, she was talking back. Tommy could only see her face, upper right shoulder, and right hand. It was obvious she did not have long. She was wheezing from the effort to breathe.

Raynie said as calmly as if she were ordering at a drive thru:  William, the baby is under my feet. I can feel her. Can you see her? Can you get her?

William was sobbing so hard he sounded as injured as Raynie. There wasn't a scratch on him.

Raynie said: William, stop crying and get the baby. She's ok. She's ok.

William:  I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I am so sorry.

Raynie:  It is ok. It is all watermelon, baby. Watermelon. Watermelon. Watermelon.

Tommy knew she was dying because she was looking behind William, no not behind, through him. She was staring at something behind William, and she was smiling. She kept saying watermelon over and over. William was whispering it too. Tommy had heard the couple use the word watermelon before, mostly when things were screwed up, but he had no idea what the code word meant to them. It was all screwed up now, but Mrs. Lawrence was smiling. Right now, Tommy needed an adult to help him. Things were going so far beyond screwed up now to completely, downright all fucked up. And Tommy never cussed. That's how bad things were. Tommy kept repeating a chorus of, "Of fuck, oh fuck, oh shit, oh shit."