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| Sample Chapters |
I certainly never expected to see Bill holding his head, then neck, then his legs, all in agonizing pain. I couldn’t believe my eyes as he lay across our bed. I knew whatever was happening wasn’t good. “I’m calling 911.” I felt my heart beating faster and my limbs feeling shaky, as I didn‘t know what was happening to him. When the operator answered, I told her we needed help. She calmly replied that she would send help but needed to ask me some questions and could I answer them? “Yes,” I said. I had used the phone upstairs in the hallway, but it had a cord. I franticly explained, “I need to get the cordless phone.” I can’t even remember going downstairs, but I grabbed the cordless phone, unlocked the front door, and ran back up. I breathlessly told her, “I‘m ready.” Her calm voice assured me help was already on the way. She sounded like an angel. Bill was not looking very good. As we spoke, I got a wet cloth to cool Bill’s brow. He was sweating profusely. The blanket he laid upon was already drenched. Time seemed to move in slow motion. I held onto the phone as though it were my only life line and listened to the operator’s calming voice. I could feel my body trembling as I gave her the information. One more time she promised me: “Help will be arriving very soon.” The sirens could be heard coming down the street until they ended in an abrupt death…silence. Red reflections throbbing on the front windows of our bedroom revealed the ambulance accompanied by a fire truck, here at our home. Oh, God, for my husband! |
for Bill to come downstairs. He usually went up to the bathroom and would finish getting dressed after I was done, and then the two of us would go do electrical work together. He held all the licenses and was lead man, but I always felt I gave him exceptional help – and the two of us made a great team! I took care of most of the paperwork and scheduling and assisted him on the job. We did very well and kept active throughout the day going on one service call to the next. He had taught me how to do wiring and many of our customers enjoyed watching the two of us accomplish our tasks. We worked in harmony and rarely had any conflicts. This amazed practically everyone we met. Being best friends, our work was merely an extension of play for the both of us. Heat was the only debilitating problem that could become a threat to our livelihood. Bill was starting to have some concern with the hot summer days that were surely going to arrive too soon. Temperatures seemed to elevate earlier each year. Occasionally having to go into attics made his job treacherous. I assured him that after the 15th of the month he could excuse himself from attic work and we would pass those jobs on to our son’s business. Of course, if the house sold, we could semi- retire. What a heavenly thought. Just before 11:00 I heard a call from upstairs – or should I say a yell – from Bill. "VAL!" I couldn’t imagine what his emergency was but yelled back, “Coming!” and went up to see. As I ran up the steps, I imagined Jake had left a package or worse yet the toilet was overflowing. |
