A Question For Another Day

Today we caught a taste of the remnants of Hurricane Ike. The wind has been 40-50 miles an hour most of the day with gusts over 60mph. Since I heard the howling even before I crawled out of bed this morning, I thought perhaps it would be wise to hurriedly get dressed in case something happened. The winds were so high for all I knew the roof might disappear, Mrs Gulch might cycle by, or the neighbor's cow could moo as it flew past the window.

I'd just finished rinsing off from my shower when I heard my mother calling through the bathroom door that the next door neighbor had been trying to secure the doors to her storage building and had been hit in the head by flying debris. She was lying on the ground, conscious, obviously hurt but adamantly refusing to allow anyone to call 911. I yanked on a blouse and pants and ran outside. To my dismay a number of people were standing around her but no one seemed to be doing anything.

As I moved toward her, whoosh! Up went my blouse and before I knew what was happening I'd flashed everyone waiting expectantly for me to do something. Yes, I know - should have pulled on a bra, but who pauses to do that when someone is hurt? I just pulled down my blouse and trudged forward, all the while trying not to get knocked over by the wind.

As I knelt beside her, the wind continued to be unkind. I tried not to be overly mindful of it, after all I was trying to help an injured woman. As I examined her, I had to periodically reach and pull down my blouse. I sent one neighbor for a first aid kit and another inside for a flashlight so that I could do neuro checks, again pulling down my blouse. As I began to work to hold pressure on her head wound (nothing too scary but bleeding nonetheless), I picked up the flashlight to check her pupils. My blouse started to rise once more (the wind was blowing from behind me), when a gentleman I recognize from the neighborhood moved to stand behind me and grasped the end of my blouse and held the bottom securely. Flashing a quick smile and averting his eyes, he said he was just doing his part.

After I treated the woman's wound and completed her neuro-checks, she stood up, declared herself fit, and returned inside her house, all the while refusing further assistance. At this point, the crowd had grown to about 10 people, all of us standing staring after her. What do you do when someone stubbornly refuses medical evaluation? I'm pretty good at persuading men to do what I want and usually not bad with most women, but this one wasn't budging.

The gentleman with the quick smile pulled quietly away from the crowd, rang the woman's doorbell, spoke with her, and after a few words nodded his head while flipping open his cell phone. When finished, he beckoned to my mom, indicating her neighbor wished to speak to her. As Mom disappeared inside Mrs Neighbor's house, he returned to my side and shared that Mom would be sitting with Mrs. N for a few moments until her sister arrived to take her to the Emergency Room for further evaluation.

My eyes went quickly to his face, trying to determine what about this man persuaded my neighbor to do what she should when common sense and all of our urgings had failed. As we stepped inside Mom's house to get out of the wind, he admitted that he had been a bit unfair with the neighbor. "I told her she really should be checked, if for no other reason than to not worry the nice woman who had knelt so caringly beside her and who had tried to make certain she was ok."

I thanked him for that and remarked that he certainly seemed quite the persuasive gentleman. He smiled and admitted that except under certain circumstances, he was usually quite persuasive. I couldn't let that remark remain unqualified so I asked, "Under what circumstances are you less than persuasive?"

He hesitated a moment and then replied perhaps that was a question for another day. I didn't press the issue and after thanking him again, we exchanged a few pleasantries and he placed his hand on the doorknob.

"Oh!" I interjected, "and thanks for keeping me from flashing the whole neighborhood even more than I did by holding down my blouse."

He nodded and replied, "I'm not sure the other gentlemen share your opinion that I did a good thing, but I didn't want to see you embarrassed in any way. It was a pleasure to do something for you."

He was standing on the steps of the back porch by this time, his hair tousled by the wind, when he look back and remarked, "You were quite impressive in the way you took control of that situation, issued orders, and moved everything along. Are you always that take charge or just in an emergency situation?"

I smiled slowly and replied that too was a question for another day.

He grinned and walked away whistling..