The Winter People by Bret Tallent Page B

blood, and he hadn't come near any major arteries.  He probed into her
abdomen but didn't see any bleeders, or even an inordinate amount of blood. 
Yet, she had to be bleeding from somewhere.  All the signs were there.
    Tom still stood
there, slightly confused.  How could this be happening?  There had to be a
reason.  He probed the abdomen again but could find nothing out of the
ordinary.  There was simply no reason that he could see for this child to be in
this condition.  He just didn't know what to do or how to proceed.
    Suddenly, Jamie
was going into full cardiopulmonary arrest.  Panic swept over the room and it
cleared Tom's thinking.  This was something he could deal with.  It was
straight forward.
    "Pure O 2 and bag her Jake!" Tom barked.  "Get me some epinephrine and some
sodium bi-carb," he said to Beverly, "then prep the paddles." 
Both of them were already way ahead of Tom and she handled the syringes to him
just as he finished asking for them.  Tom pumped the epi into the catheter, and
then the bi-carb.
    "She's
fibrillating!" Jake said.
    Beverly handed the
defibrillator paddles to Tom before he could ask for them.  He took them and
waited for her to pull back the drape and expose Jamie's chest.  He rubbed them
together to make sure the gel was well dispersed on both paddles then placed
them on each side of her rib cage.
    "One
hundred," Beverly said, indicating the charge.
    "Clear!" 
Tom yelled.
    "Clear!"
both Jake and Beverly replied.  Then Tom hit the buttons on the paddle
handles.  Jamie arched her back in response to the current then fell back to
the table.  They all stared at the heart monitor for a moment but saw nothing.
    "Give me two
hundred," Tom said to Beverly.  She turned the dial on the defibrillator
and hit the charge button.  A moment later a red light on its panel came on.
    "Charged,"
she said.
    "Clear!"
Tom yelled.
    "Clear!" 
Then Tom hit the buttons again.  Again she arched her back, and again she fell
to the table without response.
    "Three
hundred!" Tom yelled, "…and get me some bretylium and more
epi!"  Fear was seeping into Tom's stomach and he had to swallow hard to
keep it down.  He stood there with the defibrillator paddles held out before
him, staring at Jamie's lifeless body, and waiting.  Waiting for Nurse Price to
administer the drugs he'd called for, and waiting for a sign from Jamie.
    "Charged!"
Nurse Price yelled.
    "Clear!"
    "Clear!"
    Then Tom hit the
discharge buttons for the third time.  Jamie's entire body jerked to the charge
then fell to the table.  The three of them stared at the monitor for a brief
moment of anticipation.  There was a flutter in the line that was her
heartbeat, then one more.  Then nothing.
    "Charge it
again!" Tom yelled.
    Nurse Price bit
her lip and charged it again, "Charged."
    "Clear!"
Tom's voice cracked this time.
    "Clear!"
came the replies.  And Tom zapped her again.  Again there was a flutter on the
monitor, but nothing more.
    "Charge
it!" Tom commanded once more.
    "Tom?"
Jake said shaking his head.
    "Charge
it," Tom said again.  Nurse Price glanced at Jake and he nodded to her, so
she hit the button.
    "Charged,"
she said.
    "Clear!"
    "Clear,"
came the replies.
    Then Tom hit the
discharge buttons for the final time.  Again Jamie's entire body jerked to the
charge then fell to the table.  Tom stared in horror and disbelief at the
single line moving across the cardiac monitor screen.  Its monotone signal was
deafening to him as he shut everything else out.  It filled his head and
amplified his panic, little Jamie Gibbs was dead.  Then the tone turned into a
scream.
     
    ***
    Tom jumped the
second time he heard the scream, coming fully awake.  Above him he could hear
Lucy's heavy footfalls as she ran across the room.
    "Tom? 
Tom?" Lucy screamed as she continued towards the stairs.
    Tom flung himself
out of the recliner and met her at the bottom of the stairs, "What?  What
is it?" he demanded.
    "Tom,