Wrapped in Rain(47)

We waited an hour. Miss Ella sat with her back to the window, purse resting atop her lap, watching the counter for any sign of life and chewing on her lower lip. When none appeared, she stood up, hung her big black purse over her shoulder, grabbed my hand, and marched up to the counter, dragging me with her. Without a word to anyone, she reached around the counter, punched a large red button that operated the two mechanical swinging doors, and we walked through. At the end of the first hallway, a great big black woman lay draped in blood and surrounded by a team of scurrying doctors. Miss Ella covered my eyes and we turned right down another hallway, but the scene didn't get much better. Two kids about my age lay spread across the next room, surrounded by almost as many doctors. And in the third lay a big, broadshouldered white man with a great big belly. Somebody had cut off his overalls and dumped them in a muddy and messy pile on the floor. His doctors were covering his face with a sheet. Miss Ella saw that and said, "Lord Jesus, have mercy!"

Finally, we turned a second corner and headed back down another hallway toward the entrance. We passed a supply closet crammed with syringes, bandages, and bottles of every shape, size, and color. In the corner, I saw a stretcher pushed up against the side with a little boy curled up and shivering uncontrollably. I tugged on Miss Ella's arm and she snapped at me. "What, child?"

I pointed. "Oh, Matthew, honey ..." She stepped in. "I'm so sorry." Miss Ella grabbed a little rolling seat like doctors slide around on when they're examining you. She rolled over to the side of the bed and looked under the railing, her eyes about six inches from Mutt's. He was shaking a lot. I stood next to the bed, watching the two of them watching each other.



He was covered by a thin sheet, but his skin was cold. He looked pale, and somebody had cut off everything but his Spiderman underwear. Miss Ella slid her hand along the bed and pulled his pale fingers from around his knees. She put one hand behind his head, and tears trickled down her cheeks. "Matthew? Matthew, can you hear me, sweet boy?" Mutt nodded and the shivering slowed. Miss Ella's voice was like that. Miss Ella grabbed my hand and pulled me close. "Tucker, we're going to pray for your brother."

"Yes ma'am."

"Lord, this boy is scared. We're all scared. But You didn't give us fear. You gave us power, love, and a sound mind." She put her hand on his head. "I'm putting Mutt at your feet and ask You to wrap him up. Hold him in the hollow of Your mighty right hand." She pulled me closer and said, "Both of them, Lord." I knew at that moment I was finished being cool and buying Alka-Seltzer. "Wrap Your blanket around both these boys. Do what I can't. Be their shields, their protectors; stand guard over these precious ones." She opened her eyes, tried to smile, and squeezed our hands. "Amen?"

"Amen," we said. I said it loud too, because I wanted her to know that I had repented from cussing and killing those birds.

Mutt opened his eyes and said, "M-M-Mama Ella?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think I like hospitals. Can I go home now?"

She touched his nose with her finger and said, "Me either, and yes." She turned to go when a tall, blond female with a long white coat and stethoscope walked in holding some x-rays.



"Miss? Are you Ella Rain?" the doctor asked in a gentle voice as if nothing dire was going on in the rooms next door.

"I am," Miss Ella said with a give-it-to-me-straight face.

"These are Matthew's x-rays. No permanent damage. Just a few stitches and a good bump on the noggin. He'll live." The doctor smiled. "Some rest and a little ice cream might do him some good."

Miss Ella breathed easy and looked out the door. "Looks like you all've been busy."

The doctor nodded. "The driver of a tow truck had a stroke, crossed the median, and broadsided a Lincoln Town Car carrying a grandmother and her two grandkids. It's bad all the way around."

Miss Ella grabbed our hands, and the three of us walked back toward the exit. Halfway out, she stopped, nodded, said something to herself, and turned back toward the rooms-specifically, the room with the woman on the table. Miss Ella approached the door and looked inside where the doctors were sewing something above her belly. I said, "Miss Ella, are they sewing up her people place?"

"Yes, child," she said, "they are sewing up her people place." Miss Ella dropped her head and said, "Lord, You're needed in here too. You've got a lot of room at Your footstool, so please do what You do best and heal this woman. Starting with her heart."

Then we walked to the room with the two children. Miss Ella walked up and looked in the window. The kids were lying on the tables, eyes closed, nurses and a doctor between them. Miss Ella put her hand on the door. "This room too, Lord."



Finally, we walked to the door of the big white man who used to wear overalls. I couldn't tell if it was still him on the table or not, because whoever was on the table had a sheet pulled over his head. The man's left hand was partly exposed, and Ave could see a simple gold band on his ring finger. Miss Ella dropped her head and said, "Lord, we need You here too. Maybe more importantly, we need You at home, with whoever is about to learn about this."

In all my life, I had never seen someone so small walk so tall as she did there and then. Miss Ella was just barely five feet tall, but that day, she stood taller than Rex.