Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: INSOUCIANT (06/02/16)
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TITLE: Help for the Hurting | Previous Challenge Entry
By Cynthia G. Peoples
06/08/16 -
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“My mom – she's not breathing!”
“Okay, take a deep breath and calm down. What's the address?”
“201 Hickory – please hurry - I don't know what to do!”
“Are you alone with your mom?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, and you said she's not breathing, right?”
“Yes, I mean - no - I don't think she's breathing.”
“Okay, while I dispatch the ambulance, I want you to stay on the phone with me and follow my instructions. Can you do that?”
“I think so.”
The cries escalated into gut-wrenching sobs while Katlin struggled to keep the young caller talking.
“Please, try to calm down and tell me your name?”
“Uh...my name's Carly.”
“And how old are you, Carly?”
“I'm twelve - please, help me!”
“Listen - just try to take a deep breath - the ambulance should be...”
“They're here!”
Carley slammed down the phone and ran to the door. The medics followed her inside over to the sofa where her mom lay pale faced with bluish lips and eyes half open. One arm hung off the side of the couch. The medic grabbed the dangling wrist and checked for a pulse. “Nothing,” he said to his partner. Then using his index and middle finger, he palpated the carotid artery just underneath the victim's jawbone.
“Still nothing.”
Doubling his fist, he delivered one hard upward thrust to the woman's chest. The torso rebounded and white, frothy fluid oozed from the victim's mouth. “We're too late – call the coroner.”
.
While the medics waited for additional help, they consoled and questioned Carly. “Has your mom been ill recently?” the medic asked.
Carly replied sobbing. “Not really, she just hasn't been the same since my dad died about a year ago.”
“I'm so sorry,” he said, just as a neighbor rushed through the front door and quickly figured out what was going on.
“It's okay, baby,” she said, as she pulled Carly in her arms. “Why don't you come home with me for a little while?” The medics nodded silently - with thanks – and the lady led Carly away from the tragic scene.
The medics inspected the premises. Empty booze bottles sat haphazardly around the living room, ashtrays filled and overflowing with cigarette butts sat atop two end tables, and several empty pizza boxes covered the coffee table. Beige carpet displaying dark ugly stains of an unknown origin, served as a landing zone for piles of dirty laundry.
Entering the kitchen, dirty dishes coated with left-over dried food filled the double sink. A greasy skillet encrusted with dead cockroaches sat on the stove top, while counter tops laid buried underneath books, newspapers, and half- empty frozen food containers.
A foul putrid smell inflamed their senses when they stepped inside the main bedroom. They covered their noses with cupped hands and walked over to an unmade bed, baring no sheets.
“What do we have here,” the medic said, as he picked up a medicine bottle from the nightstand.
“Hydrocodone.”
He pulled open the top drawer of the stand, filled with more narcotics.
“Looks like this lady gave up on life quite some time ago,” he sighed.
His partner nodded in agreement and replied. “The sad part is – she didn't just give up on herself, she gave up on her daughter too. Because now, Carly's lost her mom as well as her dad. How can a mother become so uncaring and indifferent?”
“I don't know,” the medic shook his head. “Grief is tough but it doesn't have to end this way. There is help available out there and if people would just wake up and realize that we have a God that loves us and is able to help us - no matter what - then we wouldn't have to endure so many calls like this.”
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
(Matthew 5:4 NLT)
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11: 28 NLT)
For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” (Romans 10: 13 NLT)
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