As I got closer to the girl, I heard someone yelling and glanced up to see a construction worker waving his hands frantically at something. I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the sound of the machinery, but suddenly he jumped out of the way and there was more yelling. I quickened my pace to see what was happening. A large bulldozer came speeding out of nowhere. It had two huge cement culvert pipes attached with chains to the front of it. From the way the driver was jerking the steering wheel and the levers that I assumed controlled the machine’s speed, there was clearly some kind of problem.
Someone screamed as the bulldozer veered to the left to avoid a huge dump truck. It hit the curb hard and I watched in stunned disbelief as the chains holding the cement pipes broke and the pipes tumbled to the ground.
But they didn’t stop there.
No, they began rolling down the hill towards the pond.
And straight for the little girl feeding the ducks.
I yelled at her to run, but she didn’t even look up. I saw the young man with the little boy realize what was happening. He too yelled and waved his arms for a split second before he began running towards the girl, leaving the boy behind in the swing, since he was in no immediate danger.
I began running towards the girl because I was closer and I knew the other guy wouldn’t make it in time. My lungs burned as I saw the pipes pick up speed. Panic curdled in my belly because I knew they had to weigh at least a thousand pounds. They would crush the girl to death.
“Move!” I screamed, but the little girl still didn’t look up.
Terror ripped through me as I got within feet of her and looked up to see the first pipe less than a dozen feet away. I wrapped my arm around the little girl’s waist just as the ducks took flight. I heard her let out a little cry and prayed I’d hadn’t hurt her. I flung myself forward as I saw the first pipe in my periphery and knew I wouldn’t outrun it. I hit the ground hard, but managed not to crush the child beneath me. I felt a searing pain across the back of my shoulder as I curled myself around the little girl in the hopes I could protect her body from the impact. Seconds passed as I waited for darkness to claim me, but it never came. I could hear yelling and the splashing of water. I looked up to see both pipes had missed us and had landed in the water.
“Nicole!”
The young man’s frantic voice had me shifting off the little girl who was crying beneath me. I quickly sat up, ignoring the pain in my shoulder and skimmed my hands over her, searching for any signs of blood. Thankfully, she looked okay.
“Oh my God, Nicole!” the man shouted as he reached us. He dragged her into his arms and held onto her as she cried. “It’s okay, honey,” he said as he gently pushed her back and began moving his fingers in front of her. It hit me then why she hadn’t heard me telling her to run and hadn’t reacted to the crash at all.
Because she was deaf.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” the man said out loud as his fingers flew.
The girl watched his fingers and then shook her head as she signed something back to him. He dragged her back into his arms.
“Thank you!” he said to me and then he reached out to touch my arm. “Thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome,” I said with a nod.
“Are you guys all right?” one of the construction workers yelled as he came tearing down the hill. Several more men followed. One of them helped me to my feet as another helped the young man and girl up. The girl clung to him and he picked her up. She wrapped herself around him and continued to cry.
“We’re okay,” he said. “Can someone go inside and find their father? He’s with Phoenix Jones. Room 127.”
“I will,” one of the construction workers said as he turned to run back up the hill.
He knew Phoenix? I was about to ask him how he knew Phoenix when he said, “Jamie” and turned to make sure the little boy was still okay.
“I’ll get him,” I offered, since it looked like the boy was on the verge of tears.
“Thank you,” he said.
I moved out of the circle of men surrounding us and hurried up to the little boy who’d managed to climb off the swing.
“Hi, my name’s Levi. What’s yours?” I asked, though I already knew.
“I want Daddy,” he whispered.
“I know you do,” I said softly. My shoulder hurt like a son of a bitch, but I ignored it and leaned down to pick him up. He put his arms around my neck and I quickly turned and started walking back to the young man who was still standing in the same spot, reassuring the lingering construction workers that the girl was okay.