Again, I suggest reading the first four chapters before beginning this one. Also, I want to emphasize that if you are expecting a story with non-stop sex, then you will be disappointed.
Jessie & the Tornado, Ch. 5
Distantly I heard someone saying, "Sam? Sam? Sam?" then felt someone shaking my shoulder.
I looked up, and realized I was still sitting outside Jessie's hospital room, and that Janice had been trying to get my attention, before finally having to shake my shoulder.
Jessie was standing beside Janice and was grinning like crazy. She had a small bandage on her forehead.
"The doctor has finished his exam, Sam, and there is no sign of physical . . . or mental problems," Janice said with a huge smile. "Jessie called her parents and told them about the tornado while we were waiting for the results of the x-ray."
"Where were you Sam? We've been trying to talk to you for several minutes," said Jessie.
I could feel my face flush.
"Just thinking about the past few years," I said, and I knew Jessie could see the pain in my eyes because she immediately grabbed my hand.
"And especially about the past few months. Ever since I met this totally crazy woman who is attending UGA," I added. Jessie squeezed my hand very tightly.
"Are you sure she is okay?" I asked Janice.
"Yes, Sam, she is fine. Not going to be fine, she IS fine. Jessie might have a little headache, but that is all," Janice confirmed.
"In that case," I said, stood up and grabbed Jessie and kissed her. And she kissed back.
Our kiss was becoming more and more passionate, at least until I heard someone making a theatrical coughing sound. When we broke off the kiss, Dr. Wilson was standing there.
"Sam, Janice tells me you are probably the best Paramedic in the fire department," he said. "Sam, the hospital could really use your help . . . I could really use your help. I know this might not be a good time since you are concerned about your fiancée . . ."
"She's not my fiancée," I interrupted.
"She is his fiancée," Jessie countered.
"Well . . . whatever she is, I know you are concerned, but in the last 30 minutes the Emergency Room has not only filled up, but people are standing outside just waiting to get in. All injured in some way by the tornado," he explained.
"We are completely overwhelmed. We really need help, Sam," he emphasized.
I looked at Jessie, and she nodded "Yes."
"What can I do?" I asked.
"Triage," he explained.
I knew instantly what he was talking about since that was something I dealt with every working day. In any medical emergency, where there is more than one injured person, the responder has to make instant decisions.
Triage is from a French word which dates back to the Napoleonic Wars, and means divide into threes. In any medical situation, there are three types of patients: those who will likely live, regardless of what medical care they receive; those who will likely die, regardless of what medical care they receive; and those for whom immediate medical care can mean the difference between life and death.
Obviously you don't want to ignore any patient, but quite frankly, some can wait, and for some . . . it really won't matter. You have to concentrate on the ones who need help the most.
Janice threw a medical kit at me, and since I was still soaked from the rain while trying to get to Jessie, a set of hospital scrubs. After changing clothes, I examined patients' non-stop for the next 10 hours. Checking blood pressure, respiration, symptoms and severity of injuries. Many patients only needed bandages and tetanus shots, along with antibiotics.
Jessie had asked if she could help me and with Dr. Wilson's approval, became my "runner," keeping me supplied with bandages, syringes and whatever medicine I needed to administer. I was also assigned a junior nurse to write down my assessment of patients, and immediately rush those most seriously injured inside.
In several patients I recognized symptoms of a heart attack, and was able to stabilize those until they could be taken inside. Twice I had to use the defibrillator to restart their hearts.
Several times I had noticed a photographer taking pictures, but really didn't think much about it. Newspapers and television news departments usually showed up at most of the emergencies we would respond to, so that wasn't unusual. They had a job to do, and a little publicity never hurt -- especially whenever the county started talking about our yearly budgets.
Even when I saw Jessie talking to some of the reporters, I didn't think much about it since I was so busy. At least until the next day.
It was nearly midnight when I examined my last patient. He just needed a few stitches and a tetanus shot.
I honestly don't think I have ever been as tired as I now was. Once I realized the last patient had been dealt with it was as if all the life had been drained out of my body. As keyed up as I had been while helping at the hospital, now it was almost more than I could do just to put one foot in front of another. Jessie actually had to help me inside.
As I sat down, Jessie handed me some food and something to drink and I realized this was the first thing I had had to eat or drink all day. Several times Jessie or a nurse had tried to get me to stop and take a break, but people needed help. I feel asleep sitting in the chair before I had finished half my sandwich.
Somehow Jessie and a nurse managed to revive me enough to have me lay down on a hospital bed where I slept for nearly 12 hours. When I woke up, Jessie was sitting down in a chair beside my bed, holding my hand.
"Good morning, beautiful," I said.
"Well, good morning, my Hero," she answered.
When I tried to protest that, she immediately put her hands over my lips.
"You are famous," she said, with a smile. "Everybody is talking about you. The newspapers and television stations all want to interview you."
"Interview me? About what?" I asked.
"About this," Jessie said, as she handed me the local paper.
The paper was folded in half, and on the top half was the headline, "Killer Tornado Devastates Area." A small headline said at least 10 people had been killed in the county.
"Look at the bottom half," Jessie volunteered in a very quiet voice, then walked down to the foot of the bed.
When I flipped the paper over, I immediately saw that about one-fourth of the bottom was a story with a box around it, and the headline: "Local Fireman Rescues Fiancée From Demolished House, Treats Hundreds More At Hospital."
I could feel the blood drain from my face as I began reading.
Basically, the story was about how local fireman and EMT-Paramedic Sam Baker, frantic with worry about his beautiful missing fiancée, UGA star athlete Jessie Johansson, ignored danger as he began ripping apart the remnants of a demolished house looking for her.
Once he found the beautiful young woman, he administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until she was breathing again, then carried her over a mile, dodging downed trees and power lines, to his truck. Arriving at the hospital, even though he was frantic with concern for his beautiful fiancée, he immediately volunteered to help others who had been injured in the tornado.
The article quoted, extensively, Jessie Johansson, the beautiful, all-time leading scorer for the UGA soccer team, as well as quotes from Head Nurse Janice Rand, and the hospital's new Director of Emergency Services, Dr. Wallace Wilson.
I was credited with saving the lives of at least two heart attack patients at the hospital, as well as helping hundreds of others.
Nurse Rand and Dr. Wilson were also quoted making comments about how worried I was about my beautiful fiancée.
"It is obvious how much they love each other," Nurse Rand said.
"Even though she had been a patient herself just minutes earlier, Miss Johansson was adamant that other people needed help more and insisted on helping her fiancé, Mr. Baker, as they saved others," said Dr. Wilson.
The article, which continued to inside pages, included a number of photos of me and Jessie, taken at the hospital. Some of the photos also showed Jessie handing me items as I was treating patients. At one point, apparently between patients, Jessie and I were kissing. I don't even remember that photo, or the kiss. The paper also must have obtained a head and shoulder shot of me from the fire department, as well as a great picture of Jessie from UGA.
The paper also mentioned I had spent four years in the Marine Corps, and had served two tours of duty in Iraq, and was a "highly decorated veteran who had been wounded in combat."
The final paragraph in the story stated that I only needed one more course in English to obtain my degree, and that I was hoping to be able to complete that course through the University of Georgia so I could soon join my beautiful fiancée as UGA grads.
I hadn't said anything as I was reading, and Jessie? Well, for once Jessie was being as quiet as a church mouse!
I was so stunned I didn't know what to say, or even really what to feel.
Should I be mad? Should I laugh? Should I start shouting?
As I folded the paper down, I looked at Jessie. Jessie was standing at the foot of the bed, and would not even look at me.
I couldn't help but notice that her hands were shaking as she waited for my reaction to the story.
Just looking at Jessie I felt something in my heart began to expand. "God, she is scared to death of what my reaction is going to be," I thought.
"Hey," I said, very, very softly, "come here, you."
When Jessie looked up and saw my smiling face and open arms, she first gasped, then her face transformed into a smile that could have turned the night into day.