More cold air.
Something mopped at my eyes. Wet.
“Hand me the scissors. I need to get this sweatshirt off him. The jeans, too.”
My eyes fluttered open.
“There you are!” The man was looking down at me, a forced smile. He produced a penlight and pointed it at my eyes. When I closed them, he forced them back open with his free hand. First the right, then the left, then the light was gone. “Can you tell me your name?”
I stared up at him, the churning clouds above him.
“Kid?”
“Pip.”
“What?”
“Jack.”
“Just Jack?”
“Jack Thatch. John Edward Thatch.”
“That’s a long name.”
“Everyone calls me Jack.”
“You’re one crazy son of a bitch, Jack. Can you tell me who’s president of the United States?”
“Clinton.”
“Gold star for you.” He turned and shouted over his shoulder. “I need a free bus to take this kid to Mercy General!”
“Two more ambulances inbound!” someone replied. “ETA, three minutes!”
“Krendal,” I forced out. My mouth was not working.
“What?”
“The man I tried to pull out…”
The paramedic’s face drooped. “I’m sorry, son. He didn’t make it.”
Someone started tugging at my jeans. I turned to see a female paramedic holding thick shears, cutting through the material.
My head swiveled, taking in my surroundings.
I was in the middle of Brownsville Road, strapped to a stretcher. Black smoke churned out of Krendal’s Diner to my left, firemen crawling all around the opening like yellow ants with hoses, water flooding the sidewalk.
I turned in the opposite direction, toward my apartment building. “Gerdy.”
Her name came out, followed by another cough. I realized for the first time I had a mask on. The paramedic pulled the mask down over my chin. “What?”
“Where’s Gerdy?”
“Is there a Gerdy here?” the paramedic shouted toward the crowd of people around us.
A woman stepped forward, an older woman in a floral print dress and gray hair pinned back neatly. Her arms and face were covered in black soot, the hem of her dress burnt. She knelt down beside my stretcher. “Is that the girl who was with you? I saw you walking down the sidewalk with her, right before…you were holding hands. Is that who you mean?”
