Kathryn Alexander - The Reluctant Bride

“Didn't I tell you? The meeting will be held in the cafeteria. They're leaving the displays in the gym until tomorrow afternoon. Career Day was such a success with the kids that the principal arranged for most of the volunteers to return tomorrow for a couple of hours.” They neared the front door.

“Rob is one of the only ones who can't come back,” Angela explained, disappointment obvious in her tone. “He has a hearing first thing in the morning.”

“That's too bad,” Micah said. “For the kids, I mean.”

“Uh-huh,” Angela said in agreement. “I didn't know that you and Rob knew each other. He's never mentioned you.”

“We met because of a car accident,” Micah told her. “He represents the injured driver, and I was supposedly a witness, but I didn't really see much.” Abruptly, Micah changed the subject “So Career Day was quite a hit with the kids.”

“Too much so,” was Angela's sharp reply. “Remember, I told you that my son Nathan wanted to be a doctor?”

“Want ed? Past tense?” Micah responded.

“He's giving up medicine for a career in karate.”

Micah laughed.

“This had better be just a phase he's going through,” Angela said. “I'm going to have his father discuss potential gross income with him tonight.”

Micah laughed heartily. “He's only ten years old, Angela. Give him time. How much could he understand about potential gross income anyway?”

“He'll know plenty about it by bedtime this evening. His future wife, wherever the poor child may be, should be out there somewhere praying that I can talk some sense into him.” Angela pushed open the door.

“See you tomorrow. Good luck with Nathan.”

“Thanks,” Angela responded as she left Micah standing in the doorway.

“You'll have to let your kids choose their own careers, Angela.”

“Not when they're eight and ten, I don't,” She waved as she neared her car. “Well, the kids are waiting for me, and I have a lot of 'steering in the right direction’ to do tonight…and for the next decade or so. See you!”

Micah pulled the door shut tightly, remaining in the building. Turning to her right, she walked down the hallway toward the gym and the side exit that led to the parking lot where she had parked her car. The building had cleared out quickly, and she hastened her pace a little as she continued down the long, empty corridor. Then she heard the comforting sounds of someone else in the building. Probably a janitor, she assumed. They worked later than everyone else normally did so they could lock up the school. Metal chairs that were being folded and returned to their rack made clanking, banging noises that reverberated through the gymnasium. She walked past the bakery display and the unattended office equipment of the secretarial exhibit toward the noise and the side door leading to the parking lot.

“Hello, again.”

Micah gasped at the unexpected voice.

“I didn't mean to frighten you,” Rob said as he folded the last chair.

Micah's hand was on her chest, feeling the rapid pounding of her heart. “What are you doing here? I thought everyone but the janitor had gone.”

Rob motioned toward the vacant floor space where his mock courtroom drama had played out. “I'm putting away the chairs and tables that I used today since I can't come back tomorrow.”

“Angela said you had a hearing in the morning.” She pushed her hair away from her face and adjusted the books that were shifting in her arms. “The kids really liked your presentation.”

Rob smiled, a lazy kind of smile. Micah noticed her heart continued to pound too quickly. And she was no longer frightened.

“Some of them seemed to get caught up in it. I think Wellspring Elementary School has several potential attorneys in it.”

He stopped talking, and Micah knew she should respond, but she had barely heard his comment, having been too busy studying the contrast between his black hair and blue eyes. The soft pastel of his pale blue shirt seemed to enhance the clear color of his gaze. After all, Micah reasoned, artists notice things like that. Don't they?

“You don't care much for courtroom drama, do you?” Rob asked.

“No,” she replied flatly. “I don't”

He was no longer smiling as he considered her serious expression, and he did not respond. Micah suspected he was waiting for her to elaborate, and since she had no intention of doing that, she repeated what she'd said earlier.

“You had a nice presentation, and the kids really did enjoy it. It's a shame you can't come back tomorrow and give more of them a chance to be part of the trial.”

“Maybe next year we'll try again,” he replied. “Maybe by then I can convince you to participate.”

“Hello,” came a voice from the other side of the military display. An elderly janitor stepped away from the booth out into full view. “How did Career Day go?”

“Very well,” Micah answered. “It's to be continued tomorrow, so at least you don't have to tear down the displays tonight.”

“It's a good thing, too, ‘cause I don't feel like doing much of anything.” He wiped beads of perspiration from his forehead with a handkerchief. “Too much lunch, I guess. Feels like a bad case of indigestion.”

“Let's get a seat for you,” Rob was saying as he reached for a folding chair. “You look pale.”

“Are you okay?” Micah extended a hand to grab the man's arm as he wobbled and then slumped to the floor.

“Are you all right? Can you hear me?” Micah knelt down, frantically shaking the man's shoulder.

Working quickly, Rob loosened the janitor's shirt and tilted the head back. He leaned near, watching the chest area that failed to rise and fall. Pressing his fingers against the man's neck, he searched for a heartbeat. “No pulse, no breathing,” he said. “Get his arm out of the way,” he ordered, and Micah complied. “He needs to be lying flat”

Micah's own heart raced wildly. Did people really die like this? In gymnasiums on warm Monday afternoons?

“Find a phone, Micah. Call for help,” he instructed then began the required breaths before starting compressions. Micah had taken CPR classes, too, but that had been six months ago. Maybe longer.

“Now, Micah, call,” Rob demanded. “One and two and three and…”

Micah heard Rob count as she ran across the gym toward a phone that she thought she remembered seeing in the kitchen. Grabbing the receiver, she dialed 911. The operator answered after the first ring. Confirm the location? There had been so many different schools she had subbed in this year. “Oh, Lord, help me remember…Wellspring Elementary Schooll Yes, that's it. It's on the corner of Oak and…something…I'm not sure…yes…it's a heart attack, we think…right, no pulse, no breathing… yes, CPR… Please hurry!” she added before ending the conversation. Running back to the south side of the huge gymnasium, her footsteps echoed off the walls in hollow sounds.

“Five minutes,” she said as she knelt beside Rob. “The emergency squad is on its way.”

After the next series of compressions, Rob stopped to check the janitor's pulse. “Still nothing.”

“I can help. I think I remember the two-man compressions,” Micah offered.

Rob nodded, and Micah leaned forward to give the next series of breaths. Less than five minutes later, help arrived. The counting and compressions continued until Rob and Micah were relieved by the rescue team and a pulse was reestablished.

Everyone acted promptly and precisely, and it took only a brief time to transport the man into the waiting emergency vehicle. Soon the squad pulled away, lights flashing, sirens blaring.

“We did it,” Micah said softly in near disbelief as tears filled her eyes. They stood, alone, on the steps outside the school building.