I just shook my head. I felt nauseous now and very dizzy. I took deep breaths to keep myself from passing out.
“C’mon,” he said, taking my arm. “We’ll bring you along and get you checked out.”
He led me to the ambulance. I watched them load Adan in, and then they helped me in and had me sit while one of the paramedics began to take a reading of Adan’s vitals. Moments later, the ambulance started away.
Before I closed my eyes and sat back, I glanced through the rear window and saw that a small crowd had gathered on the dock, and the red-haired woman and her husband were telling everyone what had happened.
Mi dios, I thought, I hadn’t even thanked them.
19
Loss
When we reached the emergency room at the hospital, they took me to a room next to the one Adan was in, so I was able to hear them working frantically on him. Before anyone came in to examine me, I heard them wheel Adan off to radiology. The nurse at the desk came in to see me and ask questions about our identities and the accident. Finally, the emergency-room doctor came in to see me to treat the palms of my hands.
“Did you injure yourself in any other way?” he ask
ed.
I shook my head. I think I was on the borderline of being hysterical, and he could see that in my face.
“Just relax,” he said, getting me to lie back. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
“Can you give us a phone number of someone to call for you?” the nurse asked me.
Can you call the beyond? I wanted to ask. Can you reach my parents or my grandmother?
There was no point in delaying it, I thought, and gave her mi tía Isabela’s home number.
“Will Adan be all right?” I asked quickly.
“We’ll know everything soon. Just try to rest. We’d rather not give you any medications right now, Delia. Will you be all right?”
I nodded.
“We’ll look in on you frequently. Just close your eyes and rest,” she said.
I did, and I was blessed with sleep and grateful for it, even though it was obviously a result of mental and physical exhaustion.
When I woke, I clearly heard Señor Bovio’s voice in the hallway. I trembled at the thought of seeing him. Moments later, he looked in on me. The nurse came in before him and checked my blood pressure. He stood staring at me until she nodded and left the room.
His face was grim, dark, his lips trembling. Then he held out his arms and looked as if he would break into tears.
“How did this happen to my son?” he asked.
I began to explain, taking deep breaths between sentences. My chest ached with my own sadness and agony. I know I was practically blubbering, rattling off insignificant details, mixing English and Spanish, but he picked up on my mention of the RPMs as Adan had described them.
“So he went to check the propellers?”
“Sí. And the boat was rocking so much and so hard, I was worried for him.”
He nodded. “And then?”
“Then I lost my balance,” I said, and he looked up quickly.
“What happened?”
“I was falling over, so I grabbed the wheel, and it turned, and that’s when Adan went flying into the side of the boat.”