An emergency vehicle quickly pulled up to the side of the road as Nari held an infant in her arms. The baby had fallen asleep as her father was seeing to her injured mother. She watched as first responders rushed out to see to the woman.
"What happened?" the female responder asked the husband.
"I don't know," the distraught man answered. "She just collapsed. I had pulled over because I had a flat tire. After I put on the spare, my car wouldn't start. I called my son to come help. He's on his way. This driver pulled over to help us and give us water while we waited. We were talking and my wife suddenly fell to the ground."
The first responders continued examining her and asking questions. They soon determined she was undernourished and fatigued. She hadn't been taking care of herself while nursing her baby.
"She needs as much care as your newborn," they instructed him. They lifted her onto a gurney and slid her inside the back of the emergency vehicle. "We'll bring her to the hospital where she'll receive some vitamins and rest. You can ride with us if you'd like."
He looked at his car and at Nari holding the baby. She walked over to him and handed him the bundled infant still sleeping soundly.
"I'll wait here for your son," she told him. "Go be with your wife."
He held his baby close as he tearfully bowed in thanks for her help.
"Thank you, Nari," said the female responder with a smile.
"I'm always happy to help, Yu-Mi," Nari replied.
She watched them pull away and made herself comfortable inside of her car. She skimmed through her appointments and made notations until the son arrived. She climbed out as the young man ran toward her.
"Is my mom okay?" he asked nervously. "My father called me from the ambulance, but he would only say everything was fine."
"Your mom is fine," Nari replied with a calming smile. "She's just exhausted from the baby."
She made note of the boy's appearance. He didn't seem as old as her, though old enough to drive. There was a considerable age difference between him and his younger sibling. It was a family matter, so she wouldn't ask.
He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck as he looked over his father's car.
"She never should have had it," he mumbled almost angrily. "I respect that my parents are still in love, but what were they thinking?" he sighed. "Oh, forgive me," he quickly blurted with a low bow.
"It's all right," Nari smiled. "Is there anything you need?"
"I think it's the battery," he replied as he looked under the hood his dad had lifted. "Can you give it a jump?"
"Of course," she offered.
"Dad doesn't know anything about cars," he laughed, relieved to learn his family was okay. "He can't even read the instrument panel on the dash. He would have known it was the battery."
She smiled as she went to her car to turn it around. She looked at the car's analog dashboard clock and sighed in relief at the time. She still had forty minutes to make her next appointment.
Comments (0)
See all