Page 69 of Roll With The Punches

“Call 911, Dad. Tell them suspected stroke. Hurry.”

Brandon disappeared back into the house as Jeff looked up at her. “Stroke?”

“Shh, it’s okay. Just stay calm.”

He reached up to touch the right side of his face and realized it felt…odd. Droopy. Sort of numb. Like it wasn’t responding to commands.

Stuart exploded through the garage doorway. “What’s wrong?” He dropped to his knees next to them, his eyes widening.

Brandon returned, his cell phone pressed to his ear, “They’re on the way.” He knelt next to Jeff. “Em, go get his wallet from the dresser in his room, please, and mine from my bedroom.”

“On it.” She jumped up and bolted into the house.

“Stuart, go to the street to flag them down when they arrive.”

“Yes, Sir.” He raced to go do it.

Jeff stared up at Brandon, trying to focus on his blue eyes and not the panic flowing through him.

“Stay calm, buddy,” Brandon told him. “EMS is on its way.”

Emma returned with the wallets and Brandon pocketed both of them. “You and Stuart follow us to the hospital in my car. I’ll ride with him in the ambulance. Bring a phone charger for me, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” She ran to go change and get her purse.

Barely a minute later, they heard sirens approaching in the distance.

“I’m scared, Master,” Jeff whispered.

“Shh, stay calm. This is going to be okay.” He refocused on the phone. “Yes, the ambulance just arrived. Thank you.” He ended the call as they pulled up in front of the house.

Minutes later, they had him loaded on a gurney and were racing to Proctor-Collins Medical Center, with Stuart and Emma following close behind.

And Jeff wondered if he was even going to be alive by the end of the day.

* * * *

Stuart grabbed Brandon’s keys because his car was the easiest to get out anyway. After he and Emma locked the house, they followed only a minute or two behind the ambulance.

He struggled to stay strong for her and knew he was failing.

“We called 911 fast,” she said. “They can do a lot for this.”

“We don’t even know for sure it’s a stroke,” Stuart said. “It could be the flu or something. He hasn’t been feeling well the past couple of weeks.”

She nodded, but he suspected Emma was doing a lot better than he was right then.

“How scared were you when they airlifted you off that boat that time?” he asked.

“I wasn’t scared then,” she quietly said. “I actually felt a little guilty for making the nurse think I was sicker than I was. I didn’t realize they were going to call in ahelicopter. But it got my point across.”

“Howare you so calm right now?”

“We had first-aid training in Girl Scouts,” she said. “Plus I took the lifeguard training class at the pool last summer. If you panic, you can die. Whether it’s someone drowning, or because you’re lost in the woods, or it’s a medical emergency. People who don’t panic have a better chance of survival.”

“Is that how you recognized the signs of stroke?”

“Yeah. FAST. Face, arm, speech, time. I heard his voice start to sound funny, which is what made me start paying attention. Then I didn’t get past the drooping face after I made him smile.”