I, Gracie - Sharon Sala Page 0,67

your hand. You could work at any upscale clothing store in Austin, and all you'd have to learn is how to ring up sales."

"Oh, I can't do that," Mamie said. "What would my friends say if they came in to shop and saw me working like that? They'd think we were hard up, and I'd be out of the lunch bunch in nothing flat."

Joel frowned. "That would be my sign to pick new friends."

"I can't. I won't," Mamie said.

Joel shrugged. "Then kindly discard your abandonment issues because you have none."

Mamie slumped in silence and said nothing for a few minutes more until she realized they were already in their neighborhood.

"I thought we were going out to dinner!"

"I've completely lost my appetite. I've chewed all the fat I care to tonight," Joel said.

"Well, you just hurt my feelings," Mamie said.

Joel shrugged. "And you hurt mine, which is why we're in the state we're in."

Mamie pouted.

Joel pulled into the garage, got out while the door was still lowering, and walked into the house, leaving Mamie to get out of the car on her own.

She didn't know how to act and sat there getting madder. Finally, she got out, slammed the door, then stomped into the house, and nearly fell over Joel, who was slumped on the floor in a spreading pool of blood. A masked assailant stood over him, holding a bloody knife and a duffel bag.

She screamed, and without thinking, grabbed the cast iron skillet off the stove beside her, and swung it just as he lunged. The assailant slipped in Joel's blood, and as he started falling, she swung the skillet like a hatchet, hitting him on the back of his head. He dropped like a felled ox over the lower half of Joel's body.

Mamie was still screaming as she hit him one more time for good measure, then dragged him off of Joel, grabbed a hand towel from the counter for a compress to Joel's wound, and dropped to her knees at his side, pressing the towel down with one hand as she called 9-1-1 with the other.

"9-1-1. What is your emergency?"

"I need an ambulance. An intruder just stabbed my husband. He's bleeding badly. Help! I need help!" Mamie cried.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm dispatching now. Are you safe? Where is the intruder?"

"He's on the floor, unconscious. I hit him with my cast iron skillet. I hope I broke his damn head," she cried, and started to shake.

"And your husband—where is his injury located?"

"His stomach," Mamie said. "I have a compress on it, holding it as tight as I can, but I'm not very strong." Then her voice broke. "Please hurry. He's bleeding so much. I can't lose him. He's everything to me."

"You just took out a bad guy with a skillet, so you're strong enough. Now stay on the line with me. Help is on the way. You need to unlock your front door."

"I can't leave Joel. He might bleed to death."

"Seconds, just a few seconds, and you can come right back," the dispatcher said.

Mamie bolted through the house screaming, "Don't die, Joel! Don't die!" at the top of her voice, unlocked the door, and raced back.

The assailant hadn't moved.

And neither had Joel. She dropped back at his side and pushed the folded-up towel back on his wound.

"I'm back. He's still bleeding!" Mamie screamed.

"What about your assailant?" the dispatcher asked.

Mamie moaned. "He hasn't moved. I'm afraid he's going to wake up!"

"Stay with me. Just stay with me," the dispatcher kept saying. "Help is almost there."

Then Mamie heard sirens. They were coming closer—getting louder—and then they were in the drive. Suddenly, people were in her house, and she was screaming... "In here! In here!"

Police were first on the scene, followed moments later by paramedics, who immediately moved Mamie aside and began examining Joel, then stabilizing him for transport.

Mamie stood against the wall, covered in blood, shaking so hard she couldn't catch her breath as she stared at all of the policemen in their kitchen.

One officer came in, eyed the masked man on the floor, then a knife and the iron skillet beside him.

"Where did the skillet come from?" he asked.

"I hit him with it," Mamie said.

His eyes widened. "You took him out with a skillet?"

Mamie nodded, still shaking.

A paramedic glanced up. "Are you injured anywhere, ma'am?"

"No. It's my husband's blood." And then her legs slid out from under her. "I'm going to fall down now."

The officer caught her before she hit the floor and got her to a chair. Within moments,