Black Walnut Springs, Virginia, Seven Years Ago
A loving hand on my back propelled me forward. I didn’t have a choice. Blinking my eyes to focus, a shiny, wet black steel beam displayed contrasting white letters of R&D RR. Railroad weed killer and creosote odors filled my nose. Then, gasoline drifted in.
Raindrops fell on my face, and a hand with pink nails reached into the engine compartment and disconnected a battery cable. The gasoline reminded me of my best friend, Jimmy, who barely survived burns when attempting to make a gasoline-powered rocket. A warm liquid ran down my right cheek. Trapped, I couldn’t move.
Dad and I had been at Uncle Eugene’s farm when a sudden storm developed. We raced to close windows at the parsonage ahead of the arriving newly hired preacher and his family. The wind, lightning, and rain had hidden the road and surrounding landscape, including our home.
A white-shirted lady with Jere sown on her shirt peered through the windowless passenger door. She asked if I felt pain anywhere, but I couldn’t answer. I tried to move, but movement created more pain in my right leg. What if a fire broke out?
Her trembling pink nails moved to my neck and stayed. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you out. What’s your name.”
“Gavin.”
“That’s a great name. You’re going to be okay. Sammy and Hunter from the fire department are here and have tools that will free you. Stay awake. I can’t let you go to sleep. I’ll put this bandage on your head and then step out of the way.”
“Brum—Brum—Brum,” rang like Dad’s chainsaw. The stretching metal sounded like a tobacco trailer hitched to a tractor. Sparks flew like fireworks at the county fair. Where was Dad?
Hunter and Sammy removed the car metal around me, and Jere bandaged my right leg. Then she wrapped a foam collar around my neck, and Hunter and Sammy slid a board under my back. In the increasing rain, the three pulled straps across my body and lifted me onto a stretcher.
The stretcher’s caster wheels convulsed on the railroad gravel path I had often walked. In the stop-and-go moments where Hunter, Sammy, and Jeri lifted the stretcher, I rallied and had time to think. Finally, the wheels smoothed out, and the rear doors of a waiting ambulance opened.
I rose on one elbow and light prismed through the rain around the white sheet-covered blue Plymouth twisted into a train coal car. “Wait, you need to get Dad.”
Jere glanced toward the car, gently pushed on my chest, and tightened the straps. “We’re bringing him next. Just try to relax.”
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Harvey Mays hovered nearby and used two fingers to put the colors in Gavin’s eyes. “Son, I’ll always be with you. Be aware of the colors.”
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