The Scroll 3

The sound of wheels crunching over sand reached Leslie’s ears. She looked up. A white jeep with California’s state park seal on the side was making its way down the beach. Leslie jumped up, brushing sand off her clothes and the side of her face. Waving her arms, she shouted, “Over here. We’re over here.”

The jeep pulled up next to Leslie. A state park ranger, with his funny wide-brimmed hat, jumped out of the jeep, followed closely by two paramedics carrying a stretcher board. The paramedics knelt next to the boy. One paramedic started taking the boy’s vital signs as the other took medical equipment out of a pack.

“He’s alive,” the first paramedic said. Suddenly, the boy moaned, his eyelids fluttering. “He’s conscious. Sir, can you tell me your name?”

The boy’s head rocked back and forth. Leslie tried to move closer, but the ranger stopped her. The boy’s eyes opened briefly. “Gray,” he croaked. “My name’s Gray.”

The paramedic smiled, relief evident on his face. “Okay, Gray. I want you to focus on my voice. Keep talking to…” Gray’s head fell to the side, his eyes falling shut. “Gray, stay with me….He’s unconscious.”

“Let’s get moving,” the second paramedic said. The two paramedics stripped off Gray’s shirt, tossing it aside. Leslie picked it up.

Gray clutched a long, thin wooden cylinder in his right hand. The paramedic tugged at the cylinder. Suddenly, Gray’s eyes flashed open. He gripped the cylinder, his knuckles turning white. “N-no,” he gasped. “Don’t.”

The paramedic dropped the cylinder. “Okay, okay. You keep it.”

Gray collapsed on the sand, falling unconscious once more.

The paramedics wrapped Gray in a blanket and carefully lifted Gray onto the stretcher board, strapping him in place. They lifted him into the back of the jeep. Leslie started to follow them, but the ranger stopped her. “I’m sorry, miss, but you need to go home.”

Leslie glanced from the moustached face of the state trooper to Gray’s unconscious form. “Please,” she said, her voice quivering. “I need to know what happens to him.”

“Come on, officer,” the first paramedic said. “She saved this kid’s life. Besides, when he wakes it’ll be comforting for him to see someone his own age.”

The ranger frowned, but nodded. “Fine, come with us.” Leslie sat in front of the jeep with the ranger, while the paramedics perched in back with Gray. They made their way up the beach past the dunes to the parking lot, where an ambulance sat waiting. The paramedics transferred Gray to the cot, piling more blankets on top of him and fixing an oxygen mask to his face. Leslie scrambled into the crowded back of the ambulance.

It was the longest ride of Leslie’s life. There was no hospital in Half Moon Bay, so the ambulance screeched to the next town. Throughout the ride, Leslie watched as the paramedics worked over Gray, who was turning a color that matched his name. They placed heated compresses on his chest and neck, piling blankets on top of him and making sure the oxygen was running.

“Core temperature at ninety-three degrees,” one paramedic said.

Leslie was sure that wasn’t good.

Finally, they made it to the hospital. There, Gray was whisked away, leaving Leslie to wander through the Emergency Room’s waiting lounge. She paced back and forth, nervous for Gray. She didn’t even know why—she didn’t know the guy, and he definitely wouldn’t remember her when he woke up.

Finally, a doctor in a white lab coat came for her. He led Leslie to a small windowless room packed full of machinery bleeping at Leslie and showing numbers and graphs she didn’t understand. Gray was asleep on a white cot. His face had been washed, and some of the salt had been brushed out of his hair. It was brown with sun-bleached streaks.

“Is he going to be okay?” asked Leslie.
The doctor nodded. “Yes, thanks to you. This boy had a severe case of hypothermia, probably from being out in last night’s storm. If you hadn’t found him, the next person to cross his way would probably have found a corpse.

“As it is, we’re going to run a warm saline solution through his blood to help raise his body temperature. After that, we’ll give him fluids and other nutrients to bring him back to normal. He’ll be fine in a day or two.”

“Thanks,” said Leslie. The doctor left, leaving her alone with Gray. She sat in a small chair next to the cot, wondering what she would say when he awoke.

Suddenly, her cell phone rang. Leslie jumped. She’d forgotten all about her satchel on her back. She fished the phone out of her bag in a matter of seconds and answered the phone. “Hello?”

Savannah’s angry voice answered. “Where are you? What part of five-mile nonstop run don’t you understand? You said you’d help me with my homework! What’s with you? Have you gone all anti-social with me too?”

Leslie put a hand to her forehead. Savannah’s science report. She’d completely forgotten. “I’m sorry, Savannah. It’s—I’m in the hospital.”