Chapter 4

It was early morning, just before six when the insistent ringing fo the front doorbell woke Adelaide up. When she realized Shay and Kelly probably weren't going to get up to answer it, Adelaide forced herself out of bed; muttering her complaints at being disturbed so early in the morning as she went downstairs.

"Uh, hello," said Adelaide, staring at the silver-haired man standing in her doorway.

"I'm looking for Kelly," he explained, "he home?"

"Yeah, he is," she answered, "who are you?"

"Benny," the stranger answered, offering his hand, "his dad."

"Oh, come in," offered Adelaide.

Adelaide was so embarrassed for not recognizing the man. After settling Benny with a cup of coffee and the morning paper, Adelaide raced upstairs to look for Kelly. Her boyfriend was still sleeping when she knocked on his door. Adelaide attempted to wake Kelly but failed; no surprise though, considering she knew he was exhausted from the long shift he had pulled the night before.

"Kelly, wake up," she said, nudging his shoulder lightly.

"What," Kelly exclaimed, sitting up. Adelaide told him his father was waiting downstairs and left to let Kelly get ready.

While Kelly went through his morning routine, Adelaide kept Benny company. Adelaide had probably never been in such an awkward situation in her life. Luckily Kelly was down within a few minutes and she was able to escape to her room to work so father and son could have some privacy to talk. Adelaide was so caught up in her writing that she almost didn't hear the commotion coming from downstairs. The yelling startled her. Kelly and his father went at for a few minutes until Adelaide finally heard the front door slam, signaling one of them had left.

Kelly was sitting on the couch, holding his face in his hands. Adelaide took a risk and asked, "Are you okay?"

Kelly launched into the story of Benny's most recent escapades; abandoning his current wife and other sons as well as ignoring the daughter Kelly just found out he had fathered. Now it seemed like Benny was using Kelly as an excuse not to go home and work things out with Beth.

"Wow, I'm sorry sweetheart," she told him, "that's not fair to you."

"It's not fair to Beth or Katie either but that's Benny for you," scoffed Kelly.

Deciding Kelly needed to take his mind off his father's problem, Adelaide asked, "Want to go for a run?"

"Seriously," laughed Kelly. He knew for a fact that while his girlfriend was in shape, she hated running and didn't understand how he could get up for early morning runs by choice.

"Don't push it," laughed Adelaide, "just this once."

Kelly drove them out to the lot in the industrial area of the city where he usually left his car. Abandoning their phones, Adelaide and Kelly set out at an even pace following Kelly's normal route through the city. They were passing a construction yard when something caught Kelly's eye. A backhoe loader was being driven across the empty field but something was off. It was driven erratically through the deserted stretch of land. Kelly's eyes stayed locked on the machine until finally it completely tipped over.

"Hey," Kelly shouted, breaking out into a run to help the driver.

Adelaide was shocked when they saw that the driver was young boy; sandy brown hair, around twelve or thirteen with his arm impaired and pilled to the machinery. Kelly told her to back up before jamming his elbow against the glass door to get in.

"Hey buddy," said Kelly, leaning down to check the boys arm, "You okay?"

"Uh, my arm," the boy groaned.

"All right, it's okay. We're going to get you out," Kelly told him. They found out the boy's name was Nathan. He decided to learn to drive the backhoe because his father had promised to teach him to drive it someday.

Kelly pried the boys arm free gently as possible but the minute he pulled the metal out, Nathan's arm started to bleed out. Kelly cursed, realizing it was the boys artery. Adelaide quickly pinched the artery, trying to stop the bleeding.

Out on the road, a truck was passing through. Realizing it was their chance for help, Kelly told Adelaide to keep pressure on Nathan's arm while he tried to flag down the vehicle. Kelly reached up to pull himself through the broken door but the precariously position of the backhoe couldn't hold his weight. The backhoe started to tip and before they could grab hold of anything, everyone tumbled in the tight cab.

"You okay," Kelly asked, lifting himself up.

"I can't move my legs," groaned Adelaide,"I'm pinned. Kelly, Nathan!"

"Shit," Kelly groaned, realizing the boy was bleeding again. He reached over and pinched the artery. "Nathan, you with me?"

"Yeah, i'm okay," the boy answered weakly.

"Listen, you got a phone," Kelly asked.

"In my backpack," Nathan managed to get out; the boy was clearly close to losing consciousness.

Deciding they had to take the risk. Kelly took Nathan's hand and ordered him to keep pressure on it while he made a run for the backpack sitting on the ground a few yards away. Despite running as fast as he could, Kelly couldn't' make it back before Nathan lost consciousness. The boy was out of it, bleeding out on the floor of the backhoe when Kelly reached. Kelly pinched the artery again and started rummaging through the backpack for Nathan's phone. Their luck wasn't improving. The phone was shattered and powerless. Darkness set in and they spent the night huddled in the back of the backhoe. Exhaustion allowed them to fall asleep easily.

The light from the rising sun alerted them to morning. Adelaide tried again to unpin herself from bar weighing me down. Kelly checked on Nathan, relieved he was still breathing. They had just about given up home when an approaching car caught their attention. Scrambling for a way to get its attention, Kelly noticed a binder clip in Nathan's backpack. He used the clip to keep a hold on Nathan's artery, allowing his hands free. Kelly jumped out of the cab and started running towards the car. It was Shay. With Shay's help, Kelly freed Nathan and Adelaide. Shay raced them to the hospital to take care of Nathan's arm.

At the hospital the staff was able to contact Nathan's mother. Lucky there hadn't been much blood loss and the doctors were able to take care of Nathan's arm. Kelly, Shay and Adelaide stayed with Nathan until the doctors said he could go home.