A Most Unusual Passage
Copyright© 2026 by J&J
Chapter 16
Martha was climbing through the barbwire with no regard for what it was doing to her or her clothes. I was right behind her, although I took the time to grab the flashlight I carried under the seat. I could see him clearly now, and he was lying on his back, motionless, without a sign of life.
In my most commanding voice I yelled, “Stop! Don’t touch him!”
It worked; she stopped short but turned to me, looking both puzzled and defiant. I caught up with her and said in a gentler tone, “He could have a neck injury. We have to be sure not to move him at all.”
Martha was holding herself together with some inner strength, but she was in agony. “Is he alive? Oh God, tell me he’s alive.”
“I think so! We’re going to find out. Martha, I want you to kneel down and use your knees to hold his head completely motionless while I examine him.”
She nodded, her face streaked with tears and her lips trembling, but she did exactly what was needed. They grow a special kind of woman out here on the high plains, I realized. She had just spent the last hour telling me that this man was her entire life, and now he lay between her knees, as lifeless as a broken china doll. And still she held it together.
I put my finger on the carotid artery just behind his ear...
“Oh thank God, there’s a pulse; Martha, he’s alive.”
I gave her just a moment to absorb that. Then I decided to give her the true state of things.
“Martha, please listen very carefully. More people are injured by well-intentioned but untrained help than if they were left alone. Because of my coaching and life guard experience, and a Charleston County requirement for one administrator at each school to be emergency response trained, I have had special training in handling injuries like this. I know what to do. Will you trust me?”
Martha looked long and hard at me. People out here were used to taking care of themselves. I was asking no small leap of faith.
“Yes, I trust you.”
“I warn you that your natural instinct to just grab him and get him in the car the quickest way possible could be fatal. You will need to be patient. First I am going to examine him.”
I held my arm where my watch could catch light from the headlights and took his pulse for 30 seconds... 14-15-16.
32 beats a minute, that’s alive, but that’s not good. I tried to get a respiration rate, but his breathing was so shallow it was hard to detect. About 8-9 per minute was my best estimate. Martha was watching me, but she was also stroking Marcus’s brow with infinite tenderness.
I nodded, and Martha started calling him. “Marcus, wake up darling, wake up now, Marcus...” Her call was so plaintive I thought it would bring him back from the grave, but there was no response. I carefully felt all around his head, and I felt the wet spot. I knew before I pulled my hand out that it was blood, and I was right. Martha turned pale and shuddered but stayed right with me. I felt along his neck, and everything felt normal, but I couldn’t be sure.
“We’ve got to rig a head and neck immobilizer. I want you to switch places, I’ll stay here and hold him and finish the examination, while you get some things ready.”
Martha shook her head, “That will take too long! We need to get him to a hospital. I want to move him NOW!”
I dropped back on my knees, so I would be able to look her in the eye. They were fiercely protective like a mother lion protecting her cub.
“Martha, listen, I told you you’ll have to trust me. A concussion and the problems that go with it are a danger over a period of hours and days. A few more minutes getting him ready will not make any difference, I promise. Though I admit the probability is low, if he does have a fracture of the neck, and we move him incorrectly, we could kill him or leave him a quadriplegic before we get him in the car. We’re not taking that chance.”
She glared at me with angry eyes, but I understood that her anger was not at me but at the fate that brought her such a choice. In the end, she said simply,
“I trust you, Elizabeth, and trust can’t be halfway.”
I gave her a very quick hug and went to work. I knelt down and used my knees to support his head. I had hiked up my skirt, so in fact, his head was resting between my bare thighs.
Martha mustered a small smile. “Well I’m damn sure he’s out of it now. He’ll be sorry he missed this, but I’ll be sure to tell him.”
I smiled back. “Martha, here’s what I need. First I reckon you’ve worked on more barbwire fences than me.” She nodded. “I want you to cut us a clear path out. The last thing we need is to get tangled up and trip while we’re trying to carry him. Then I need a board, say 4” to 6” wide by 2’ to 4’ long or as close as you can find. Some kind of cushion or padding for his head, and bring me all four of those new shirts I bought. Lower all the seats in my car and just get rid of all the shopping. She was off like a shot.
All those things needed doing, but I also had one more test, and I didn’t want her around for it. I held open his right eye first and shined the flashlight directly at his pupil. The involuntary contraction of the pupil seemed normal to me. I repeated it with his left eye; it contracted. but a little too slowly, sluggish. I knew that was a sign of serious trauma inside the brain cavity, probably causing pressure ... not good.
Martha’s adrenalin was pumping, and she was moving as fast as a cartoon superhero. In seconds she spotted a piece of plywood in the trailer and then grabbed the seat cushion off the tractor. She saw the pair of wire cutters lying there and grabbed them. She left the board and cushion and took the wire cutters with her. Fortunately, Marcus hadn’t tightened the wire yet because the barbed wire was loose enough, so she cut it and got it out of the way with only a few scratches. She quickly cut the other two strands as well. I didn’t know if we were letting some one’s cattle out, and frankly didn’t give a flying fuck because there was no way we were slipping an unconscious Marcus through a barbwire fence. She ran to the car, grabbed all those pretty new shirts and got the back ready.
When she returned, I explained that we needed to get the board and seat cushion under Marcus’s head without bending or rotating his neck. Martha carefully raised his whole upper body while I slid the board in. I had her hold him while I slipped two shirts under the board with the arms out to either side. Then I carefully placed the seat cushion to support his head while she gently lowered him. I rolled up and wedged my last two new shirts in on either side of his head for support. I took the sleeves of the shirts from behind the board and used them as straps across his forehead and chin. The result certainly wasn’t as nice looking as the slick orange units we carried on beach patrol, but it was every bit as functional.