Chapter 8: “911. What’s your Emergency?”

Jesse lay supine gasping for breath with Maia sprawled across him, breathing heavily as well. Their lovemaking was frequent and explosive as they shared their passion, mind, and spirit with every coital embrace. He slowly recovered and held her tightly against him.

“Ah, if only we could stay like that forever,” he breathed as he kissed her neck, sending tremors through her body. She lifted herself onto her elbows to gaze lovingly into his eyes.

“As lovely as that does sound, I think Mother Gaia has other things in mind for us too,” she said softly as she bent down and kissed him deeply.

He kissed her back and traced his large fingers up and down her back causing her to shiver and purr. She shook atop him delightfully and tickled the hairs on his chest with her nails.

“Not tonight, I hope,” he mumbled as the thrill of her touch sent electric waves of desire through him.

“Certainly not tonight,” she replied as he gripped her hips tightly in anticipation. Seconds later their senses merged again.

Her gasp of alarm woke him instantly and he found her sitting up straight in the bed, a look of fear and concern on her face. He touched her shoulder gently.

“What is it?” he asked softly.

“I’m not sure,” she replied and then slipped from the bed, “I think it’s next door.” She reached for her dress and slipped it over her shoulders. Jesse quickly rose and got dressed as well.

“Sinclair?” he asked curiously.

She nodded and went out into the backyard. “I think he is in trouble ... and pain!” she exclaimed and began running across the yard to the botanical fence. Jesse was right on her heels and it shouldn’t have surprised him in the least when the flowering shrubbery simply parted before her allowing them to pass.

She dashed onto his deck and began banging on his back door. “Mr. Sinclair!” she called loudly, “Mr. Sinclair, are you alright?” She wiggled the doorknob finding it locked. Frantically she banged on the door again. “Mr. Sinclair! Do you need help?”

She moved aside as Jesse stepped up and put his elbow through the small pane of glass just above the knob. He reached in and fumbled with the bolt before opening the door inward and letting her pass. She darted into the darkened home and went straight for the master bedroom where they found him lying on the floor by his bed. He was on his back and holding his chest as he gasped desperately for breath. Jesse flipped on the lights as she knelt beside him and looked into his stricken face.

“Mr. Sinclair! It’s me, Maia,” she spoke softly, “do you remember me?”

He nodded, sweat was dripping from his face and bare chest and he looked very pale.

She placed her warm hands on either side of his face and closed her eyes. Jesses looked around the room and spied the landline telephone on the nightstand. He picked it up and called 911.

It rang several times before a robot operator asked him to press 1 for medical, 2 for fire, or 3 for police. He pressed ‘1’ and was connected immediately.

“Nine one one, what is your emergency?” a calm male voice asked.

“Hi my name is Jesse Latoure and I am at my neighbor’s house at 384 Madison Drive, I think he is having a heart attack and needs an ambulance right away!” He saw Maia bending over him in deep concentration and heard her begin singing softly as she held his face.

“Please standby,” the operator said, “I am dispatching EMS to your location.”

“Thank you,” he replied nervously.

“Can you describe the condition of your neighbor?”

“His name is uh..., we just call him Mr. Sinclair; I don’t know his first name. He is roughly 70 to 80 years old and we found him on the floor by his bed holding his chest. He is pale as a ghost and sweating profusely and he is having trouble breathing.”

“Okay, can you see if he has any medical alert bracelet or necklace?”

Jesse looked closely and shook his head, “No nothing on him.”

“Can you see if he has any aspirin in his medicine cabinet? It will probably be in the bathroom.”

He turned and walked into the bathroom, flicking on the light, and searched through the mirror cabinet. “He’s got a bottle of Bayer, will that work?”

“Yes excellent,” the operator said encouragingly, “place one of them in his mouth if he is still conscious and have him chew it up. Otherwise place it beneath his tongue, where it can absorb right into his bloodstream.”

He returned to the bedroom and knelt over the elder man. “Mr. Sinclair, can you chew this aspirin? I’m going to place it in your mouth.” He gently placed the white pill on the man’s tongue and watched as he began chewing it.

“Do I hear singing?” the operator asked.

“Uh yeah, my girlfriend is here as well. She is keeping him calm,” he replied, “it’s working too, he doesn’t look nearly as freaked out as earlier.”

“Very good,” the man on the line said, “EMS is less than five minutes out. Try bending his legs at the knees and support him until they arrive. Please stay on the line and tell me if anything changes, okay?”

“You got it.”

They heard the ambulance pull up and Jesse could see the flashing lights as he went to the front door and opened it for the paramedics. They came in with a stretcher and several cases and he led them to the bedroom. It got very crowded so he helped Maia rise and they moved to the opposite side of the bed to observe.

The lead medic introduced himself while his partner, a younger female, turned on a heart monitor and placed the sticky electrodes on his bare chest.

“Mr. Sinclair, my name is Randy and I am a Paramedic. Can you understand me?”

They couldn’t see from their vantage point but the medic nodded quickly.

“Good, I’m going to ask you a bunch of questions while we treat you, okay? Are you having chest pain?”

The female medic opened another case and began setting up an IV.

“On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain?”

“T ... ten!” they heard him gasp.

“Can you describe it? Is it bounding, crushing, radiating...”

“Crushing!” he whispered back, “where’s M ... Maia?”

“I’m right here Mr. Sinclair,” she replied loudly, “I’m not going anywhere.” She held Jesse’s hand tightly as they watched and waited.