The moment I laid eyes upon Phineas, my mind began to flow over me in a river of incomplete thoughts.
Blood, blood. There's blood. Bleeding from his head. Hanging upside-down. Burned rubber. Engine smoking. Going to throw up. Wake up, wake up. Still wearing his seatbelt. Thank God. Front end of the car is crushed. Other driver is yelling. Gotta call the ambulance. Gotta have a cell phone. Gotta let his mom know. Gotta get him to the hospital.
I forced myself to calm down. More important than my feelings at the moment was Phineas' safety. My cell phone was still resting in my pocket. I found it and dialed for an ambulance. Since we were in a city alien to me, I did my best to let the operator know where we were by giving her the name of our hotel.
After hanging up, I turned back to Finny. I ignored the blue car driver's protests of "I didn't even see him! Look! I gotta be somewhere!"
I pressed my handkerchief against the bleeding spot on Finny's head. I knew better than to try to get him out of the car. He looked like he was just sleeping. Just like my grandmother did before she…..
"Finny," I said, staring at his closed eyelids. "Can you hear me?"
His arms were dangling down toward the bottom of the ditch. I took one of his hands into mine and held it close to my face. "Don't worry," I assured him. "You'll be fine."
--
It wasn't long before the ambulance came to take him to the hospital. They were less willing to allow me to ride with him. But I was asked to stay and answer some questions from the police anyway.
The cops asked me and the other driver, who was a very rude businessman, some questions about what happened. After we told them the story, I was free to go and the other guy received a summons for a court hearing.
I called Finny's mother from the side of the road to let her know what had happened. After I made it clear that I was unsure what condition he was in, she informed me that she was coming to the hospital as soon as she could make it.
I went back across the street to the motel. Brinker, Ollie and Leper were sitting around watching baseball on TV. They vaguely acknowledged me when I walked into the room.
"What happened?" Brinker wondered. "Did you two kiss and make up?"
I ignored the implication of the joke and said, "No. Finny just had a bad wreck."
Suddenly, I had all their attention. "Is the car okay?" Brinker asked.
"Shut up, Brinker!" Ollie yelled. "Is Phineas okay?"
"What happened?" Leper wondered.
I divulged the story to them as they listened in shock.
Brinker announced that we were going to the hospital and we called a cab.
--
NoV: More up soon!