“They’re on their way.” Having little knowledge what to do in a medical emergency, I went to the kitchen, wet a dishcloth, and returned to wipe her face. She moaned a bit, and I saw that as a good sign that she could feel what I was doing.
Sirens wailed, and I jumped to my feet. “I’ll go outside and wait for them.”
“Thank you. Ezra?” Deborah’s tearful face gazed up at mine. “Please. Please tell Monroe. I can’t leave her.”
I opened my mouth and closed it, feeling like a fish. “I…I…”
“Go down and wait for the paramedics, but please go tell him afterward.”
Without answering, I ran out of the apartment and down the stairs. As I burst through the front door, I saw the flashing lights of the ambulance and ran up to the street. My heart pounded, and sweat streamed down my face and neck.
“This way,” I called out to them. “Come.” Impatiently, I motioned with my hand as the paramedics hopped out of the vehicle with their gear in hand. I made sure they were following me, and called out, “She’s an old lady, and we were just talking when she turned white and passed out. She’s still breathing. She’s had a heart attack before.”
By this time we’d reached the main front door, and I hit the buzzer for Nettie’s apartment. The buzzer sounded almost automatically, and I wrenched open the door and raced to the stairs.
“Second floor.”
Doors opened, faces peered out. Several voices called out to me, but I paid no attention. When we reached the second floor, Nettie’s door stood open. “That’s the apartment.”
“Thanks, man.”
They ran past me, and I stayed behind and steeled myself to somehow tell Monroe his precious grandmother might be dying. I needn’t have worried if he was still home because as I stood in front of his apartment, preparing what the hell I’d say, the door opened.
For a split second he stared at me with hope in his eyes. “What’re you doing here?” Then he glanced over my shoulder, and alarm whitened his face. “What happened? Is it Grandma? Ezra, what the hell’s going on?” He clutched my arm.
“Roe, come. Something happened to her. We were just talking, and she…” I lifted my hands helplessly.
“Oh my God, no.” His shoulder hit me as he ran down the hall with me a step behind. By the time we entered Nettie’s apartment, the paramedics had an oxygen mask on her and were lifting her small, fragile body onto a stretcher.
“Oh, Monroe.” Deborah held his arm. “Thank God you’re here.”
“What’s happening?” He held on to his mother, but the question was directed to the paramedics. “I’m her grandson.”
“We’re taking her to Mount Sinai West. Her blood pressure is sky-high, so we suspect a stroke.”
“Okay, we’ll see you there.”
The paramedics finished strapping her in and left the apartment.
We remained behind, and Roe held his mother tighter as she curled into him. “Grab your stuff, Mom, and we’ll go.”
Feeling useless, I took out my phone. “I’ll get you a car.”
Staring at me as if he’d forgotten I existed, Roe gave me a sharp nod and waited while his mother grabbed her coat and purse. With the apartment locked and the neighbors in the hall bombarding Roe and Deborah with questions and well-wishes for Nettie, Roe stopped by his place to grab his wallet.
“Mom, can you make it down the steps?”
“Y-yes.” She held the banister for support, but her steps were quick, and Roe and I remained close behind. We watched the ambulance pull away, sirens wailing. It seemed surreal that barely an hour earlier Nettie had stood at this very point and joked with me about playing poker.
A car pulled up to the curb, and I pointed. “There’s the car. Let’s go.”
A strange expression settled on Roe’s face. “Are you coming with us?”
Until that moment, I hadn’t decided. And I couldn’t figure out whether he wanted me there or if he merely questioned my intention. But then Deborah grabbed my arm.
“Ezra, please come with us? I know Nettie would want you there.”
Something twisted in my chest, but I couldn’t answer. Not until I heard from the other person standing in our tight circle.
