Page 80 of Refuge for Flora

“Just another week, babe. It’ll be fine. You’ll see. We’re so close I can almost hear those assholes crying in their jail cells down at county. I know you’re trying to be patient. I am too. But tonight, I’ve got to go do my turn on fishing duty. We heard there were some guys out at the wildlife management area phoning fish.”

“I remember my grandpa doing that when I was little.” Flora hadn’t heard of anyone doing that in years. They used an old hand-crank telephone and some lead weights, ran leads down, and cranked the phone to generate current. It stunned the fish and they could scoop them up. And it was highly illegal.

“Yeah. We’ve had four reports of it so far, so we’ve got to try to catch them. Everybody else has had a turn, and tonight’s mine, so that’s where I’ll be. But I’ll be wishing I was with you the whole time. You know that.”

“And I’ll be wishing you were with me too.”

“I probably won’t get finished until midnight or so, but I’ll check on you around ten. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good. Please be careful.”

“I always am, but I’ll be extra careful from now on. How’s that?” he asked and laughed.

“Not good, but better!”

“Okay! Bye, babe. Talk to you later.”

“Yeah. Bye.” The call ended, and Flora sat there and sighed. The only time she really felt safe was when Barrett was around. There was no time to sit and think about him, though. It was time to make sure Mrs.Murphy had some dinner.

She’d started the microwave for her own dinner after serving Mrs.Murphy and was pulling a drink from the refrigerator when she heard a strange sound. It was hard to tell what it was until she heard a voice croak, “Flor…”

Rounding the corner of the kitchen doorway, she found Mrs.Murphy on the floor, on her side, and wheezing. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“My chest. It feels… heavy… I can’t…” The old woman’s eyes closed.

“Oh, shit! Oh, god, Mrs.Murphy! Wake up!” Flora shook her and shook her, but she got no response. Her phone was on the kitchen counter, so she ran back to it and punched 9-1-1.

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

“The lady I live with is on the floor! And I can’t wake her up! She said her chest felt… Oh, god, please come!”

“Where are you, ma’am?”

“Eight forty-two Magruder Road! Please hurry!”

“Okay. And do you know CPR?”

“Not really! Oh, god, what do I do!”

“Listen to me. What’s your name?”

“Flora.”

“Okay, Flora, I’m going to tell you exactly what to do, okay? Put your phone on speaker. Got it?”

“Yeah. It’s on speaker. Now what?”

“You’re going to roll her to her back. Then we’re going to check her airway. Ready?”

Flora could feel hysteria taking over. “I guess. Please! Send somebody! I don’t know if I can do this!”

“It’ll be fine. Just listen to the sound of my voice, Flora, and do exactly as I say.”

The 9-1-1 operator gave her instruction, but after a few minutes her arms were aching and she was crying so hard she could barely speak. The sound of the operator’s voice was still coming from the phone and Flora was still pumping on Mrs.Murphy’s chest when she saw red lights. “Oh! They’re here!”

“Don’t stop what you’re doing! Is the door unlocked?”

“No.”