Douglas Farm
Oliver stayed in his dumbfounded state for another few seconds, then got up and ran over to the barn. He had to get in their and save Lisa before it was too late. He ran over to the barn door and tried to push it open. Unfortunately, a beam had fallen from the roof of the barn and landed right in front of the door, making it impossible to push it open.
Desperate, Oliver looked around and tried to find another way in. His eyes scanned the area and stopped on the axes hanging on the fire truck. Oliver ran over to them, grabbed one, and ran back to the barn. He went over to the side of the barn that suffered the least damage from the fire so far and looked through one of the slits in between the boards. Seeing that the area in front of the wall had not yet caught fire, Oliver began chopping at the wood in order to make a second entrance to the barn.
"Help me!" Oliver screamed at the other fire fighters standing nearby him. They immediately ran over to the truck, grabbed the remaining axes, ran back to Oliver, and began hacking at the wood themselves. It didn't take much effort for the men to chop at the rotten wood, and in a matter of no time, there was a man-sized hole in the side of the barn.
Without further hesitation, Oliver ran into the blazing barn. The smoke and the intense heat hit Oliver like a ton of bricks, and it took Oliver awhile to get a hold of himself. Once Oliver's coughing and wheezing subsided a little, he began to walk around carefully and search for his wife.
"Lisa," he yelled between coughs, "Lisa, where are you!" After a few minutes of searching, Oliver could make out a faint figure lying on the ground about five feet away from him. He ran over to Lisa and knelt beside her. He tried to shake her a little to wake her up, but to no avail. Oliver then put down his axe and scooped Lisa up in his arms. Holding her close, Oliver ran out through the hole he made in the barn. After he was sure he was a safe distance away from the burning barn, Oliver fell to his knees and laid his wife gently on the ground while cradling her head in his lap.
"Lisa," he cried. "Lisa, wake up! Please, wake up! You're safe now, please wake up.!"
Mr. Drucker ran over to where Oliver was kneeling. "Mr. Douglas, the fire's almost out, and we might be able to salvage your…" he trailed off when he realized that Lisa had not woken up. "Mr. Douglas, is she okay?" he asked.
"I don't know! She's not waking up!" Oliver said, beginning to panic. "We have to get her to a hospital."
Oliver picked Lisa up again and ran over to his car. "Alf!" he yelled. Upon hearing his name, Mr. Kimball ran over to his side. "Alf, can you drive us to the hospital?"
"I would, but I don't know where it is!" Alf said apologetically. Ralph ran over when she realized what was happening. "I drive you," she volunteered.
"Thanks," Oliver replied. "Alf, would you please get Eb over here quickly. We have to make sure he's all right, too."
Alf ran to where Eb was still sitting on the ground. He helped him up and escorted him over to Oliver's car, where everyone was already ready to go. Alf opened the door to the front seat and helped Eb in. Once safely secure, Ralph started up the car and shot off towards the hospital.
"Don't worry," Ralph said, "I'll have you there in no time." Oliver was barely listening anymore. He was seated in the back with Lisa, who was stretched out across the back seat with her head in Oliver's lap. Please wake up, he pleaded with her silently, please be okay, you have to be okay! Oliver began to feel panic spreading through again. What if they didn't get to the hospital in time? What if the last time he spent with Lisa was that five minute breakfast they had that morning? What if that was the last time he would ever talk to her again? NO, he told himself, don't think like that! She'll be fine! She'll wake up and we'll be together again. Everything will go back to normal. She'll wake up. Won't she?
The car came to a sudden halt. Oliver looked up to see that they were in front of the Pixely Emergency Hospital. Oliver picked Lisa up and ran into the building. Inside, he began to yell, "Help! My wife, she needs help!"
Immediately, several doctors and a nurse with a stretcher ran to their aid. Oliver laid Lisa on the stretcher and ran along side them as they began rolling Lisa away.
"What happened?" one of the doctors asked.
"Uh, fire. Big fire. In the barn." Oliver answered incoherently. "Is she going to be okay," Oliver asked.
"We can't be sure unless you tell us exactly what happened to her," the doctor said. He stopped running along side the stretcher and prevented Oliver from going any further as well. The stretcher carrying Lisa sped down the hall and disappeared through the double doors that led to the operating room.
"I don't know! I wasn't there!" Oliver cried. "Asked my hired hand once they bandage him up. He was there! Now just tell me, is she going to be all right!"
"We're not sure yet. Now, please sir, go wait in the waiting room while we help your wife."
"Wait! Is that all I'm supposed to do? Sit and wait!"
"Yes, that's all you can do for the sake of your wife. If you want her to get better, you have to stand back and let us help her."
Oliver knew the doctor was right. He mumbled a thank you to the doctor and headed toward the waiting room. Once there, Oliver sat down in a chair and stared out into space, not believing that any of this was happening to him. After a while, he put his face in his hands and wept, not caring if anyone was there to watch him. He cried from his heart, feeling as if he would never stop.