In the Heart of the Canyon - By Elisabeth Hyde Page 0,90

very hard but couldn’t come up with anything that would be quite so humiliating. And his heart went out to this girl whose sexual history was about to become the topic of conversation among a group of people who, until eleven days ago, had absolutely no connection with her. Lena the kindergarten teacher, wondering if it had been a serious, meaningful relationship; Evelyn the biologist, wondering how it could have possibly escaped a girl’s radar for six, seven, eight months; Mitchell, thinking this would make his book that much more interesting; and Mark, wanting to know how old the father was and whether statutory rape laws would apply.

And all of them who, against every last shred of conscience, would at some point in the next twenty-four hours find themselves shamefully yet inescapably challenged by the notion that somebody like Amy might have had a serious boyfriend.

Amy reached for her T-shirt, which was lying nearby on the sand, and laid it over her stomach. “Don’t let my mother come over here.”

But Susan, Jill, and JT were already walking in their direction. JT was carrying a beach umbrella over his shoulder, and when he reached Amy, he opened it to reveal dazzling panels of turquoise, pink, and purple. He twisted its post into the sand to shield Amy from the hot midday sun, and there in this small circle of shade, with her mother and three strangers looking on, and another ten wondering what the problem was, Amy covered her face with her hands and began to cry.

43

Day Eleven

Below Lava

Once JT was able to grasp the full implications of the situation, he was able to act with astonishing speed. He told Abo to radio for a medevac. He told Dixie and Evelyn to string up a tarp for shade, for they would need more than a tiny beach umbrella. He told Mitchell to pump water and Mark to get out a kitchen table and set up the stove and start boiling whatever water they already had in the jugs. He told Sam and Matthew to go tell everyone pulling onto shore that they had a serious medical emergency and see if anyone was a doctor. He told Lena where the lunch materials were kept, in which cooler, in which boat, and asked that she set up the lunch buffet. He told Mitchell to put away his camera, please. And he told Ruth and Lloyd to find themselves a place in the little patch of shade by the tamarisk bushes, because it was going to be a long afternoon.

Lloyd recapped his water bottle and wiped his grizzled chin. “I’m a doctor,” he said. “What’s the problem?”

“Lloyd, come and sit,” Ruth urged, taking his arm. But Lloyd brushed his wife’s hand away. He planted himself before JT. His tattered beige shirt was half tucked in and the shirttails sagged loosely around his hips. His beard was patchy and his eyes, when he removed his sunglasses to look directly at JT, were rheumy and yellow.

“If I can be of some assistance,” he said.

And JT, who was willing to grasp at any straw that appeared before him, told Lloyd about Amy’s situation.

Lloyd nodded. “Well,” he said carefully, “it’s not my area of specialty, but I might be able to be of some use.”

“Come with me, then,” said JT.

“I seem to remember a few things from my medical school days,” Lloyd said, trudging along beside JT. “That and being on the reservation. Do you know how many weeks along she is?”

“I don’t think anyone knows.”

“Even her husband?”

It occurred to JT that this might not be a good idea, getting Lloyd involved. On the other hand, what harm could he do? Even a confused mind could offer comfort, at the very least.

“There is no husband,” he told Lloyd.

Lloyd nodded somberly, one doctor in on confidential information with another. “I trust this is her first child,” he said. “But babies can come quickly, even in a young primigravada. You never know. Ruth, for instance, delivered our first child in five hours.”

JT wasn’t happy to hear that. He also couldn’t help but think back to twenty-five years ago, to Mac’s labor with Colin at the hospital in Flagstaff and how they went for thirty-six hours before the doctors finally agreed it was time for a C-section. The memory of that C-section right now sent an electric zing up the backs of his legs. Mac had lost a lot of blood, her life was at risk, and they were both terrified.