An earsplitting scream followed by a thud pulled Saiorse from the dishes and back onto the front porch. There was a lot of running around in the barn and Saiorse saw Bumlets jump on a horse and rush off in the direction of town. Then from the barn the remaining guys came lifting something between them. Trish came running toward the house and pulled Saiorse after her into the house. "We have to get blankets and stuff together the guys are going to put Race on the table. He fell from the hay loft."

"What do you mean fell from the hay loft?" Sairose asked as they rushed to get a pallet made on the table.

"He was coming down from the roof and missed a rung on the ladder and fell off the hay loft." Trish explained quickly as she rushed back downstairs. The guys were just entering the house carrying the unconscious Race.

"Put him on the kitchen table, just push the dishes off. We can always replace them." Pip was directing them as they went into the kitchen, thankfully Hazel and Trish had thought ahead and had taken all of the dishes off the table, leaving a level place to set Race down.

Anne came over and began directing then. "Okay he's breathing, Calyx you have to help me get his clothes off."

"Why me?" Calyx asked disgusted.

"Because you're married." Anne said simply.

"Girls leave, I'll get his shirt and pants off." Spot said not so gently shoving the girls out of the room. Blink took the blankets that Saiorse had in her arms and handed them to the other guys.

The girls stood in the hallway exchanging worried looks until Spot yelled. "Okay you can come back in he's undressed but covered."

Anne swept back into the room. "Okay are there any obvious injuries you saw when you were undressing him?"

She directed her question to Spot but Mush answered. "He had some blood on the back of his head."

"Well I am not moving him again, there is too much risk hurting him inside. So I guess we just wait for the doctor to come. Saiorse."

Saiorse jumped when Anne turned to her. "Yes?"

"Can you hold this to the back of his head, I'm going to try to clean up the dirt and stuff before the doctor comes, if he starts coming around just talk soothing to him." Anne directed. The other girl then went to work cleaning the dirt from every exposed part of him. Finally after what seemed like hours the doctor arrived.

"Alright everyone out except for his wife, sweetie you can stay." The doctor said to Saiorse as he shooed the entire group out of the kitchen.

Saiorse didn't want to protest that they weren't married in the fear that the doctor wouldn't let anyone be present to find out what had exactly happened to Race.

"Okay so do you know what happened to this man?" The doctor asked as he got out his instruments.

"Well the guys were working on putting a new roof up on the barn, the tornado blew off the old one. I was doing dishes when I heard someone scream. Trish said that he was coming down off the roof and missed a rung on the ladder and fell." Saiorse responded.

"Do you know how up high he was?" The doctor asked as he began listening to different parts of Race's chest.

"Trish said something about him falling from the hay loft, so probably about ten feet." Saiorse said unconsciously brushing some of his hair off his face.

The doctor nodded and "ah hmmed" a few times as he listened with his stethoscope. Finally he put the instruments away and turned to Saiorse. "There isn't much I can do for him. He took a nasty fall, and hopefully he'll wake up soon, he responds to light in his eyes and his lungs sound good. I won't know if he broke anything until he wakes up. I would suggest that you have some of the guys in the hall take him up to a bed, get him settled then keep a close eye on him. I want to know the minute he wakes up."

"Yes doctor," Saiorse nodded slowly, "What do you think the chances of him waking up are?"

"Well it wasn't a long drop, but it was enough to jar his body and depending on how he fell and how he landed. It is just a guessing game. I'll say fifty fifty."

"I don't like those odds doc." Race mumbled as his eyes fluttered.

"Why Mr. Higgins, I knew giving the odds would wake you up." The doctor joked as he turned to his patient. "So can you tell me what hurts?"

"Everything from the tip of my nose down." Race mumbled.

"Can you move your fingers?" The doctor asked, Race wiggled his fingers and lifted his hand a few inches off the table. "Now your toes." The blanket that was covering his lower body moved slightly. "Now breath in as deep as possible." The doctor placed his stethoscope to listen as Race breathed.

"Ouch," Race let out the breath quickly, "That hurts."

"Well at least we know you didn't break your neck." The doctor said as he straightened. "Okay Mr. Higgins you have bruised your ribs pretty badly, I can't say they are broken since they aren't sticking out at weird angles. You're going to be sore for the next few weeks and I want you to spend the next four days in bed. It is until you can breath without any pain. No heavy lifting or going back up on that roof until I say so."

"No problem Doc I'll just lay here until you say otherwise." Race said softly before drifting back into unconsciousness.

"Is he going to be okay?" Saiorse asked cautiously.

"Yeah he'll be fine, just make sure he rests plenty. Nothing too strenuous until I am satisfied those ribs are healed up." The doctor finished gathering his instruments into his bag and gave Saiorse a wink.

Saiorse nodded slightly after the doctor as he went out into the hallway. She heard the front door close as the guys and girls returned to the kitchen. "Where are we going to put him?" Mush asked. "The doctor said he has to sleep on a bed. That means the barn is out."

"Well he can't sleep upstairs, we are up there." Pip stated.

"What about the front room." Calyx suggested. As all eyes turned to her in surprise she sighed, "He's obviously injured, and the front room does have that couch we took from my aunt's house. He'll be more comfortable in there then on our table anyway."

"But to have him in the house." Trish protested.

"Mush was right he can't sleep in the barn, it was hard enough to get him in here without jostling him too much I ain't making that trip again. He's heavy and he ain't my brother." Jack said with some finality in his voice.

"Okay so we are agreed he'll be in the front room, it isn't like he can actually walk up the stairs anyway." Pip said with a shrug.

"I'm going to make up the couch." Trish said a bit overwhelmed by the entire situation. She left the kitchen and Mush followed silently behind.

"So how are we going to make sure he's gonna be okay?" Blink asked.

"We watch him make sure he gets all the rest that the doctor said he was to get." Jack said, "And that ain't gonna be easy. Race hates to be sick. As soon as he thinks he is better he is going to be adamant about getting up and moving around, even if his body is ready for it."

"What you going to do, tie him to the couch?" Chaney commented.

"We've done it before." Blink shrugged. "He broke his leg winter before the strike. The doctor that he saw said Race wasn't supposed to be allowed out of his bed for six weeks. Kloppman even was gonna let him stay for the duration at a reduce rate and we all planned on selling a couple extra papes a piece to keep him from starving. But you know what the bum was back on his feet the next day selling through the pain and everything. He never sold more papes and since he couldn't exactly walk to Sheepshead Bay he actually made money."

"When did you tie him to the bed?" Saiorse asked.

"The first day, he was up before all of us the next morning to make sure we didn't tie him up again." Blink smiled at the memory.