needed reassurance, she needed her own kind of care. “Honey, your gran is going to be fine. She’s ornery as ever, and that’s definitely a good sign.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.”
Barb placed a hand on Sela’s arm. “I have some pain pills left over from my surgery last year.” She hurried away, but when she reached the stairway she slowed her pace, taking the stairs up to her room with extra caution.
Olivia dropped down and very gently rested her head on Carol’s stomach. “You’d better be okay,” she whispered.
Carol stroked Olivia’s head, and that was when Sela saw the scrape on her forearm. It was a minor injury, but another one that needed to be tended. Carol had taken quite a fall, and if the broken leg was her only serious injury they should count themselves lucky.
Mike said, “I’ll go fetch Terry.” Terry Morris was a medic with the volunteer fire department. “Be back as soon as I can,” he said as he went out the door.
“I’ll definitely be okay, sweetie.” The bite was gone from Carol’s voice as she continued to stroke Olivia’s hair. “I’m just pissed that I fell.”
And still not herself, if she’d use the word pissed in front of Olivia.
Barb returned, still taking extra care on the stairway. They all needed to be extra careful, now that medical care wasn’t readily available. She detoured to the kitchen to get a cup of water, then handed a single pill to Carol, who raised herself enough to toss it back and chase it with water.
Sela said, “Olivia, get that wet towel, and a dry one to put under her leg so we don’t get the blanket wet.” This time, Olivia darted off to get the requested items.
Sela focused on what needed to be done next. What could they use for a splint? Someone in the neighborhood would have crutches, and she was pretty sure Mrs. Armstrong had had one of those portable toilets when her mother had lived with her. Maybe it was still around. Prosaic matters, but the prosaic had to be handled, too.
All this, and more, was whirling through her head when Carol said, “You’ll have to take over.”
“Take over what?” Did Carol want her to move in? It would probably be a good idea, at least for a few days, so she could help Barb and Olivia take care of the patient while she was in the most pain.
“Everything,” Carol said in a weak voice. “I know, I was the one elected, and you were just supposed to help, but let’s face it, I’m not going to be able to make the meeting tomorrow, or the one next week.”
Before Sela could voice her instinctive protest Carol added, “My leg really does hurt like hell. I didn’t want Olivia to see, but I expect I’ll be taking Barb’s pain pills for a while, so I won’t be in my right mind.” Gingerly she touched the sore spot on her head. “I don’t know how bad the head injury might be, but the fall knocked me out. It’s probably not smart for me to make any decisions for a while.”
Instinctively Sela began, “Someone else can—” then stopped herself, bracing for the inevitable.
“You want Teddy in charge of Wears Valley?” Carol snapped.
No. No she didn’t.
“You know damn well he’ll take any opportunity to bully his way into a position of power.”
That was assuming there was any power involved in the position, but it was the idea of being “in charge.” Yes, he would. “Just for now,” Sela finally conceded. “I expect you’ll be back before you know it.”
“Oh, honey, I don’t think so.” Carol grimaced and closed her eyes and hissed a low and angry “Shit!” right before Olivia returned with the cold wet towel.
Terry Morris came, carefully felt Carol’s leg, and said it was likely both of the lower leg bones were broken, but the good news was they were simple fractures and the bones weren’t out of place. The leg needed to be immobilized, though. Terry used two short pieces of plank for the splint, and Olivia sacrificed several old T-shirts that he cut up and used to tie the splints in place. Carol cursed, mostly to herself, as she was moved from the couch to her bed. She usually watched her language around Olivia, trying to be a good role model and all, but she was in a lot of pain and muzzling herself was something she thought of only after she’d