by: Marty Chrisman
When Shelby got up the next morning, she immediately went to check on Luke. He was sleeping but it was not a peaceful sleep. He was moaning softly and turning his head from side to side, as if he were having a bad dream. His face was covered with sweat and he was pale, too pale. When Shelby reached out to touch is face, she discovered that he was burning up with a high fever.
Suspecting the cause of his fever, she quickly checked his injured leg. She winced when she saw that the area around the wound was red, swollen and warm to the touch. It was obviously infected. She had used some moonshine to disinfect the wound but she apparently hadn’t gotten to it in time. All she could do now was to try and keep his fever down and hope that help arrived soon. Real soon.
She went into the bathroom and returned with a cold basin of water and some washcloths. Kneeling beside the couch, she reached out and gently shook Luke’s shoulder. “Luke,” she said quietly “Can you hear me?” He moaned but did not respond and did not open his eyes. Shelby tried again raising her voice this time “Luke, wake up.” This time his eyes did open slowly but the pupils were glassy and unfocused. Gently, Shelby wet one of the cloths and used it to bath his face, all the while talking to him in a soft, soothing voice.
“Sick…” Luke muttered in a barely audible voice. Shelby held him as he rolled to one side, retching violently. Since he hadn’t eaten, there was nothing in his stomach to bring up. It was several minutes before the retching finally stopped. Gently, Shelby rolled him back onto his back and put another pillow under his head to raise it a little more. Slowly, his eyes seemed to focus on her face.
Suddenly, he grimaced sharply, obviously in pain. “Hurts…” he mumbled, a trace of fear creeping into his voice “Can’t breathe….” Shelby saw the panic starting to gather in his eyes. She knew that he had to stay calm.
“Lay still,” Shelby told him in a gentle but firm voice “And try not to panic, it’ll just make it worse.” She could see that Luke heard her and was trying to do what she said but he was still scared. “You’ve got some broken ribs, one of them may have punctured a lung. As long as you don’t move around too much, you should be okay until they get here to take you to the hospital.”
“Can’t breathe…” he repeated. Luke was only partially coherent, but he was coherent enough to know that he couldn’t seem to get enough air into his lungs to satisfy his body’s demand for oxygen.
“Luke, you’re gonna be okay.” Shelby said, carefully pronouncing each word “Just try to lie still.” Finally, he seemed to calm down a little and his eyes seemed to come more in focus. At least he was aware enough of his surroundings to understand her now. Shelby smiled and gently touched his cheek He began to calm down “Is it any better now?”
Luke slowly shook his head “I still can’t hardly breathe.”
“Just take slow, easy breathes.” Shelby told him “And try not to panic. I won’t let anything happen to you if I can help it.”
Her reassurances helped to comfort Luke, who tried his best to relax. It was terrifying not to be able to breathe properly. His brain kept screaming for him to take a deep breath, to satisfy his body’s need for more air, even though he knew that wouldn’t do any good. Satisfied that, at least for the moment, Luke was in control, Shelby gently began to bath his face and neck. She still needed to get his fever down. Luke relaxed enough to close his eyes. He felt strangely comforted by her touch and he felt safe in her care. He was in even more pain then before, his right leg felt like it was on fire. And it was hard to stay calm with he was having trouble breathing. He felt Shelby washing his hands and forearms, then gently running the cloth over his exposed chest.
Shelby glanced anxiously at the clock. It was almost nine A.M. She knew that even with the road washed out from the storm, Cory should be back within the next couple of hours. She hoped he hurried. Luke needed to get to a hospital as soon as possible. Shelby knew a lot about doctoring the old fashioned way, using the old mountain remedies that had been passed down from generation to generation, but Luke needed some modern medical treatment that she couldn’t give him. Luke began drifting in and out of consciousness, not a good sign. He was getting weaker by the minute. Shelby knew that before long his body would start shutting down without immediate medical attention.