The elderly neighbor she was always helping often said the only sure things in life are death and taxes, but even young Jennifer DeSoto knew a family that was tax exempt. What about the other?

This is the next installment in the saga of Jenny DeSoto and her aptitude for learning first aid. It started as a way to earn her father's love but once learned it wasn't to be forgotten. Previous stories in this series are in order: The Size of a Hero, The Lesson, The Eyes From the Shadows, and the Burdon of Confidentiality. I would strongly recommend reading from the beginning because there are some things that will make more sense if you do.

One Sure Thing

"Hi mom, I'm home," Jennifer DeSoto called out as she walked in the front door after getting off the school bus, her brother Chris was now in Junior High school and his bus wouldn't be dropping him off for another fifteen minutes now. "Mrs. Hathaway's cat got away again, Jamie, Jodi and I caught him for her but I think I better go check her blood pressure now." Jenny spoke as she walked through the house to drop her school books on the table before checking in the fridge for a snack. She shut the fridge door and opted for a handful of cookies from the cookie jar which she held against her chest with one hand and fed herself with the other as she walked back toward the coat rack on the wall in the laundry room.

"She's also got a bunch of flowers on her porch that need to be planted; I said that I'd help her." Jenny called out between bites but still with her mouth full as she met her mother in the laundry room while she folded clothes from the dryer.

"Jennifer Lynn, how many times do I have to tell you not to talk with your mouth full?" JoAnne shook her head at her daughter as Jenny reached up to take her very own first responder bag from its assigned hook on the coat rack. "Do you have homework?"

"Just a little, some math and writing, I can get it done after dinner." Jennifer answered taking a moment to swallow the cookie in her mouth as she moved the bag strap over her shoulder.

"Are Jamie and Jodi going to help plant flowers too?" JoAnne hoped but she really already knew the answer.

"No, Jamie has to babysit her little brother so her dad can take a nap before he has to go to work and Jodi has gymnastics." Jennifer answered her mother before placing two cookies in her mouth at once and heading for the door.

"Make sure you're home in time for dinner," JoAnne called after her daughter.

The door slammed shut and JoAnne let out a deep breath and held her hand over her grumbling stomach. Her little baby was growing to be quite the young lady now. JoAnne was proud of both of her children. Jennifer was not into the expensive extracurricular programs that her friend Jodi was. JoAnne was grateful for that, Jodi's mother had to go back to work in order to pay for the Gymnastics program her daughter was in as well as the swimming team expenses her older brother participated in.

Jamie's family was now trying to keep up with the Jones or rather the Johnsons and her mother had just returned to work in hopes of sending her older children to some sporting camps during the summer and to pay for her husband's new one ton pickup truck. That left Jamie with babysitting duty for her now five year old brother, from the time she got home from school until her mother returned from work and got dinner ready most nights of the week.

The 'triple J's' as they had been called since they were little were still grouped together when they got off the school bus but unlike times gone by once they reached the first house on their walk from the bus they separated in to their own worlds.

Jennifer had her own ambitions and everyone who knew her at all knew she was destined for a career in Medicine, which kept her parents hopping, although thanks to the fact that her father was her main teacher and coach there wasn't a need for a second income to support her endeavors, at least not yet. Jennifer's only current limits were her age and size, at just short of twelve years old and small for her age, there was no possible way she could perform adequate CPR if it was needed on anyone other than a baby or small child and she wasn't old enough to receive the total trust in her skills from very many people. Only a handful of people trusted in what she could do. Unfortunately for her that included most of the people living in a four block radius of their home and some of them were willing to place a little more responsibility on the young girl than either of her parents felt comfortable with.

Around the neighborhood, if ever anyone was injured their action plan was to run to the DeSoto's first and then if, and only if, Roy of Jennifer weren't home call for an ambulance. Roy was doing his best to try and educate them differently but for the most part none of the injuries sustained were life threatening so his efforts were not sinking in yet.

Chris was happy with his involvement in the Scouting program and his parent's were hoping he would earn his Eagle Rank in the next year. He also enjoyed participating in school sports, his father's partner, John Gage being his main track coach during the summer months and all it cost the DeSoto family was the constant replacement of shoes and an extra cart of groceries once a week to feed the coach. Well it wasn't really that bad and the Coach often brought over stuff to help with the meal but it was no secret that John Gage could eat a lot and if he didn't he'd lose weight beyond what was healthy for him.

The first responder bag that Jennifer had just pulled over her shoulder used to be attached to her person night and day. Now that Jennifer is in fifth grade though the boys in her class started stealing it or just stealing from it during the school day and after her stethoscope was used in a near assault on one of the girls in her class, (The boys claimed they were just trying to listen to her heart but they had gone as far and to force her against a wall and had pulled some of her shirt buttons undone.) It was decided by the new principal at the school along with her and her husband that Jennifer could get through her school day with a much simpler first aid kit that consisted of four triangular bandages and half a package of band aids, all of which fit into a small pouch four inches by six inches and held closed by a piece of Velcro.

Jennifer was still a major force in getting her fellow students to the school nurse and often the first person that was sought out whenever anyone was hurt, but all involved agreed she didn't need to take their blood pressure before they arrived at the nurses station and if it was something serious the school nurse, thanks in part to Jennifer's example, now had her own first responder bag that she could carry to the playground or where ever on sight aid was needed.

Taking a sip of mint tea to settle her stomach JoAnne thought more on the neighbor Jenny was going to help this afternoon. Mrs. Hathaway was the oldest person on their street, her husband passed away when Jenny was a baby so Jenny had no memory of him but his pictures were everywhere in the house and Mrs. Hathaway talked of him for hours whenever she could get anyone to listen. It was suspected that she talked even longer when no one was listening.

Mrs. Hathaway was seventy nine years old on her last birthday, nearly five months ago now and Jenny had been a regular helper for several years when it came to planting the flowers around her yard. Several of the men in the neighborhood took turns mowing her lawn once every week or so and she still managed to do all of her own watering. She usually watered in the evening and found herself surrounded by children from the area who would gather around her to listen to the stories she would tell as she watered by hand all the corners where the sprinkler didn't reach. From some of the stories she told and the pictures she showed, Jennifer knew she was a great-great-grandmother and that all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren lived far away. For several years Jennifer had called her, her super-grandma. It was a title of endearment that both of them enjoyed.

Since the time Jennifer had become competent in the art of taking a blood pressure, something she learned from her father after a lot of pleading and begging on her part, she kept in practice by frequently checking and tracking the blood pressures of two of the oldest people in the area. The only blood pressure cuff she owned was a pediatric sized cuff but the two people she regularly checked on were small in stature and the smaller cuff worked for them. There was an understanding between Jennifer and her father that if the blood pressures were outside the parameters her father wrote down for her she was to either get him to double check them or if he was on shift she had a list of people to call to report her findings, people who knew Jennifer and her aptitude for Medicine.

Roy was a little nervous at the level of responsibility his daughter had taken on at such a young age but she had long proven to him that if he didn't teach her she'd learn from any source she could find and he had to admit she was good at what she had learned so far in her young life. With her willingness to call for advice and directions, usually from whatever nurse or Doctor she could get a hold of at Rampart's Emergency Department, Roy was allowing her to fill that little need in the neighborhood.

-0-

Jennifer walked down the street from her home finishing off her hand full of cookies as she walked. She liked helping her super grandma, doing so made her feel grown up and important. She had just reached Mrs. Hathaway's house when she noticed the bus from the Jr. High drive by.

The first thing Jennifer did was check Mrs. Hathaway's blood pressure; she then recorded it in the card Mrs. Hathaway had been given at the senior citizens center to keep a record of her blood pressure. The numbers Jennifer registered were just a few numbers higher than the top end of those her father had written down as safe but Jennifer had done this long enough now that she knew there was a good chance that once she was done planting the flat of Pansies and Mrs. Hathaway had told a few stories about when she was a young girl, it would be much lower.

Jennifer found the small shovel where it always was, in the bucket on the corner of the screened in back porch, where the cat was now secured, and quickly started digging the little holes in the front flower beds that bordered the front walk and started dropping the small plants into each one. While she planted Mrs. Hathaway spoke of times gone by that sounded a lot like the little house on the prairie stories her teachers used to read to the class in school. Jennifer loved hearing about a time before televisions and telephones and needing to go to a small shed out back to go to the bathroom.

While Jennifer planted and listened Mr. Jackson next door took on the task of removing some annoying branches from the large willow tree that shaded the front of his house. Whenever the wind blew some of the branches would rub against his window and make a screeching sound then kept him awake and he had finally had enough of it.

Jennifer was nearly done with the planting when her attention was drawn first by a loud cracking sound but before she could locate the sound there was a loud cry followed by a thud and a groan. Mr. Jackson had put his weight on a brittle tree limb not strong enough to hold his weight and now he lay on the ground writhing in pain.

For young Jennifer DeSoto there was no panic, no indecision, only action, as she pushed her young body to her feet and ran first to the porch were her first responder bag hung on the hand rail before running to the next yard.

"Don't move, Mr. Jackson," Jennifer called out before she was at his side, "Just lay still so you don't hurt yourself worse."

"I'm okay," Mr. Jackson turned on all of his macho bravado, "just give me a minute, I'll be okay." Against Jenny's advice and restraining hands Mr. Jackson rolled over onto his uninjured side and tried to push himself up in to a sitting position.

"Just give me a minute, I'll be alright I just got the wind knocked out of me." The man insisted as Jenny did a quick evaluation and knew he was hurt worse than he was letting on. What she wasn't sure of was if he didn't realize how bad he was hurt or if he was too proud to admit to his injuries.

"Mr. Jackson, I'm pretty sure you've got a broken arm, please let me put a splint on it." Jenny asked. This was not the first time she had offered first aid and if he said 'no', it wouldn't be the first time she hadn't been allowed to use the skills that she had. Many adults just couldn't see past her age but she hoped that Mr. Jackson knew her well enough to trust her far enough to let her splint his arm.

"You're that fireman's kid aren't you? The one who does all that first aid and stuff?" Mr. Jackson looked at his aid giver.

"Yes sir. I'm Jennifer DeSoto; My Father is a firefighter paramedic. Will you please lie down and let me splint that arm?"

Mr. Jackson didn't lie down but he did turn and lean against the trunk of the tree he had just fallen out of and gave Jenny a nod in the form of permission to splint his arm.

Jenny quickly sat her bag down on the ground and opened it up, a thick section of a months old newspaper was retrieved from a pocket in her bag and she started to gently wrap it around the arm of the man she was caring for. After applying several strips of medical tape to hold it in place Jenny then pulled three triangular bandages from her bag. Two were set aside for a moment while the first one was used to make a sling for the injured arm. As Jenny was moving to tie the sling around his neck she picked up on a noticeable deformity in the man's shoulder. She then made some adjustments. Asking the man's wife, who was now at their sides, to bring her one of the cushions from the lawn chair on the porch. Jennifer placed that between the man's arm and elbow and his chest and proceeded to tie a second triangular bandage around his upper arm and his chest binding them together but the cushion kept the shoulder in the position it had been before Jennifer started working on him.

As soon as the triangular bandages were tied into place, Mr. Jackson reported that he didn't hurt as much. But when Jennifer requested that Mrs. Jackson call for an ambulance he told her not to that she could just drive him to the doctors. If a little girl like Jenny could patch him up then he must not be hurt bad enough to need an ambulance.

Jenny only knew one thing to do, she quickly gathered a set of vitals, minus the blood pressure since her cuff was too small for the man she was working on and asked if she could use the phone. Pulling the card from her wallet that contained all the emergency phone numbers her father could think of, Jenny began to dial.

"Rampart Emergency Nurse McCall speaking."

"Nurse McCall, this is Jennifer DeSoto, I have an injured man here who needs a second opinion about calling an ambulance to transport him to the hospital," Jennifer gained instant attention before proceeding. "He is a grown man who fell out of a tree a little while ago, he has an extra bend in his arm between the wrist and the elbow with swelling and his shoulder above it doesn't look right. I've place a chair cushion between his arm and his chest and immobilized his arm to his side in the position it was. His pulse is 100, and his respirations are 18, my blood pressure cuff is too small for his arms but he has a really loud feeling temporal pulse in his head. He's in a lot of pain but he says it's better now that I've immobilized his injured arm. I suggested they call an ambulance but he wants his wife to drive him to the hospital."