Chapter 46 – Stress
I answered my mobile. "Hello?"
It was Martin. "Louisa?" Martin shouted into my ear. "Are you in a Tommy's Taxi?"
"What?"
"Are you in a Tommy's Taxi?" He sounded very upset.
"Yes, why?" I asked, but I could barely hear his words.
"Get o… buzzzz…." Was all I heard then the phone went dead.
"Hello? Hello?"
Tommy chimed in with "Damn things don't work out here." He waved at hand at the empty moor all around us. "Black spot."
I sighed. God knows what Martin wanted. I pressed the call back button on the phone but there was no signal. I pressed the button again with similar response. Tommy was right. I looked up to see Tommy put sunglasses onto his heavy face. That seemed odd as the sun was behind us.
0000000
I held the bottle of vodka Al had given me. It should work, but I had to get the alcohol into Tasha. An IV was out of the question. I had to change her blood chemistry, make her blood acidic, to prevent her from going into a coma. An NG tube was likely the best way and I had to be quick.
I pulled a metal probe from my medical kit, punched a hole through the metal cap and threaded an IV line into it. Inverting the bottle allowed contents to merrily leak out. This won't work! Now what?
Pauline, knowing just what I needed, handed me a wad of used chewing gum which I used to plug the gaps. Now the bottle wouldn't leak and the vodka would flow down the tube under gravity's pull. I threaded the tubing into Tasha's nose, managed to push it into her throat and down. When she gulped I could tell the tube was into her esophagus and not her trachea.
"Pauline! Hold this." I handed her the upside down bottle. "I want you to administer 25 milliliters every minute or so."
"Twenty-five milliliters," she said vaguely.
"About the same that you put into a gin and tonic." It was obvious she understood.
I grabbed a second bottle of vodka from Bert's stand and dashed to the Lexus.
I won't say that my driving was erratic, but it certainly was swift. The roads in and about Portwenn were not made for the speeds I was driving but I didn't care. As my car bore out of town I keyed the hands-free mobile in the car. A number popped up with Louisa's name above it and the electronics dialed.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Where are you?"
"Martin?"
"Where ARE YOU?" Just answer Louisa! "You're in that taxi!"
She cleared her throat. "Well… we're about halfway to the hospital."
"Where exactly?" I almost shouted.
0000000
"Ok. No need to snap!" Honestly Martin, you can be so damn…harsh. I got thumped by the baby. You weren't so harsh eight months ago, were you? "Ok. We're just gone past the old quarry. The quarry entrance is past the turnoff to St. Endelion."
I listened for another question, which was so Martin-like. The mobile was quiet though. "Martin? You there?" It was dead.
Tommy interrupted. "Something wrong, luv? Was that the Doc?"
"Yeah. But he didn't say why he was asking where we were."
"Why's Doc Martin want to know where we are?"
"Tommy, I have no idea."
"Louisa, the man's a tosser! Why Tasha's been tellin' me… the way, he, uh, well…"
"Telling you what?"
"Oh, you know… just what people say."
"Oh." I didn't need to know what people said about Martin or even about me. "Tommy, just shut up!"
"Right, Louisa! Sorry. Didn't mean to say…" he stopped and cleared his throat. "Must be this bad headache I've got. Been deviling me all day – yesterday too."
"Sorry to hear that, Tommy."
"Thanks. Too much stress I guess. The business and the money. You know about that."
Stress – something I knew about. "I understand." Perfectly. "Yeah, I understand." My belly got hard and stayed that way for a few seconds.
000000
I heard Louisa's voice die off just as a large blue tractor suddenly pulled out from a side cut, the road was littered with them, and I had to swerve hard to avoid the thing. As I went round it, I heard the shattering of glass from the rear seat. The Lexus almost went off the road into a ditch but I pressed on.
My foot was nearly flat to the floor and the engine was roaring and the tires screaming in the turns. I had to go faster! I keyed the phone but got a null signal again. Louisa! God help me not to be too late!
0000000
Tommy was cranking his head from side to side. I found this very odd. Perhaps his headache was flaring.
He took his sunglasses off and rubbed his eyes. "Snowing! Why is it snowing?"
I thought he was joking. "No, it's not."
The windscreen wipers came on and Tommy said, "I can't see a bloody thing!"
We went along for a few seconds and I was wondering what to say or do. Tommy's head swung from side to side then drooped and his hands left the wheel.
"Oh, God! Tommy! Tommy?" I reached down and released my seat belt, scooted as far forward on the seat as I could, and stretched to grab the steering wheel over the seat back.
I've heard people say that in an accident, time seems to slow down. It was true - too true. I was aware of everything in super detail. And it all went so slowly. Tommy's foot was on the accelerator and the car just kept flying along faster and faster and this would not end well!
I had to pee and the baby squirmed down low and I felt heartburn surge. The neck of my dress was cutting into my skin and my shoes were too tight. I could feel the cloth of the seat back cut into my knees, pressing full against my belly and chest as I tried to straighten out the car. The steering wheel was slick from Tommy's sweat and I felt a jolt as we left the verge of the road as the tires crossed it. I fought to turn the wheel back to the left. But it was no good.
There was a boulder dead ahead and although my mouth screamed out Tommy's name the face that came to my mind was Martin's. I relaxed as we hit.