Sudden Impact - Lesley Choyce [3]
Maybe Jason thought he could shame his teammate into getting up and back into the game. I gave him a look that would have made any intelligent creature run for cover.
“Call an ambulance,” I said, my voice shaking.
The other players all looked at me like I was crazy. Jason played it for all it was worth. “What is this? Kurt has to have a girl come to the rescue every time he falls down? Is this the sort of weakling we want on our team?”
“Call an ambulance,” I said louder this time.
No one paid attention. The ref, however, bent over Kurt, pushing me out of his way. He looked up at Kenner. “She’s right. Call an ambulance.”
chapter four
The coach asked if anyone from the team would volunteer to go with Kurt to the hospital.
“I’ll go,” I said, but he looked right past me like I didn’t matter.
Jason said, “Yeah, let her go. We need our team players here. We’ve got a game to play.” He was still treating this like it was nothing. And it was funny because no one on the team did volunteer. Either they had got a good look at Kurt and were too scared to go along, or they wanted to get back to their game. I don’t know which.
“I’m going,” I said, looking straight at the coach. “Get out of my way.”
The guys from the team just stood there and stared at me. Fortunately there was a woman inside the ambulance, a black woman who took control of the situation. She realized that they weren’t going to move unless I was inside. “Get in, honey,” she said. “Just sit tight and let us do our work.”
I got in. The man driving the ambulance fired up the siren, and we sped off across the soccer field and past the high school. As we went out the driveway, I looked at the brick school building through the back window, and it all looked different. I had a feeling that things would never be quite the same. Kurt was unconscious. His skin looked awful. The ambulance lady put an oxygen mask over his face. She carefully studied Kurt’s breathing. She looked up at me and tried to fake a smile. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Tina.”
“I’m Martha. You know this guy?”
I tried to talk but couldn’t. Nothing came out; I was that scared. Martha seemed to understand right away what Kurt meant to me.
“Hang onto that strap,” she said, pointing to a rope loop above me head. I grabbed it. Then she yelled to the driver, “I think this calls for a little more action, Vince.”
Vince hit the siren again and punched the gas pedal to the floor. We flew around a corner and I held on to the strap. Martha smiled at me again. It was a warm smile this time. “Vince likes it when he gets to drive fast,” she said, pretending that it was all a game—that Kurt wasn’t as bad off as I knew he was.
At the hospital, I was pushed out of the way by the two orderlies who helped wheel Kurt into Emergency. Kurt was still unconscious. I wanted to keep asking, What is it? What’s wrong? Will he be okay? But I had given up. Nobody was going to answer my questions because nobody knew what exactly was wrong with Kurt.
They wheeled Kurt down a long hallway, and I tried to get a good view of which room they took him into. A nurse took me by the sleeve, sat me down and started asking me questions about Kurt. “We have to call his parents,” she said. “Do you know the number?”
I gave her Kurt’s phone number, and she left to make the call.
I sat down and tried to relax but couldn’t. Martha came in and found me sitting on the edge of the chair. “I wish I could hang around and keep you company, Tina, but I’ve got another call.” She handed me some change. “Go get Coke,” she said. “Everything will be okay. Things usually aren’t as bad as they seem, believe me.” She gave my hand a squeeze and then turned to go.
I was in a funny haze, and I almost thought I was going to pass out. I took a deep breath and stumbled up the hallway to the pop machine. I popped the quarters in but stood there looking at the choices. I couldn’t think straight. I needed to see Kurt right then and make sure he was alive.
I made a fist and smacked it hard