A Family Made at Christmas

His voice was eerily calm. But she could hear some shouting in the background. ‘April? There’s an accident on the motorway. I can’t get off. And I need to help. The school phoned. Can you get Finn? Can you check he’s okay? He’s had a head injury. He was knocked out. Don’t come this way. You’ll have to drive through the town. Check his reactions. Check his pupils. If he’s nauseous or sleepy take him to hospital.’

April was stunned. It took a few seconds to find some words.

‘Of...of course. Of course I’ll get Finn. No problem. Riley, are you okay?’

She could almost physically feel his pause. ‘I’m fine. I have to go and help. Just take care of Finn.’

She stared at the phone. Her hand had the slightest shake. April moved into automatic pilot. She wasn’t sure if Riley had spoken to anyone when he’d left, so she followed procedures and spoke to her boss, making arrangements for someone to cover her workload, and then left a message for Riley’s boss. Waterloo Court was a real family-friendly place. No one had problems about her leaving. It only took fifteen minutes to drive through town and reach the school.

Finn was sitting at the office as she arrived, looking a little pale-faced. He didn’t seem surprised to see her as she rushed over to sit next to him and give him a hug.

The head teacher looked at her in surprise. She held out her hand in a way that only a head teacher could. ‘I’m Mrs Banks. I don’t believe we’ve met. I was expecting Dr Callaghan.’

April nearly opened her mouth to speak, then had a wave of realisation. She pointed through the doors. ‘Can we speak in there, please?’ She didn’t wait for a reply before she whispered in Finn’s ear, ‘I’ll be just a second, honey.’

Once they’d walked through the doors she held out her hand to the head teacher. ‘Apologies. I’m April Henderson. I’m a colleague of Dr Callaghan. He’s stuck at a road accident on the motorway. I didn’t want to say that in front of Finn, since he lost his mother in an accident.’

The head teacher gave a nod of acknowledgement and shook April’s hand. ‘Of course. I understand. But we have a problem.’

‘We do?’

She nodded. ‘I’m afraid Dr Callaghan hasn’t named you as an emergency contact. It means I can’t let you take Finn away.’

‘Oh.’ It was all she could say. Her brain filled with distant memories of conversations with colleagues over the years about making things safer for kids at school. Of course they wouldn’t just hand Finn over to anyone. But that hadn’t even occurred to her on the way there. It must not have occurred to Riley either. They were both treading waters unknown.

‘I take it Riley didn’t manage to call you and tell you I was coming?’ Why did she even ask that? Of course not. She shook her head. ‘He’s treating people at the accident scene.’

The head teacher gave her best sympathetic look. ‘Well, I’m sorry. But we have good reasons for our rules. Until we hear from Dr Callaghan, we can’t let you leave with Finn.’

April glanced through the glass panel in the door, where Finn was so white he seemed transparent. She took a deep breath. ‘Let me keep trying to get hold of Riley while I keep an eye on Finn.’

* * *

Riley surveyed the scene. Two cars—both had their bonnets completed crumpled, one had its side doors crushed inwards. He ran towards the cars, checking in one, then the other. Another man was talking to a lady in the first car.

‘I’m Riley Callaghan, a doctor.’

The guy looked up. ‘I’m Phil—just Phil. I know a little first aid but that’s it.’

Riley gave a nod and took a quick look in the car. It was an elderly couple. The man was unconscious, the woman making a few groans. Both looked trapped by the crumpled front end of the car. Riley tried to pull the door open nearest to him. After a few attempts he put his foot up to get more leverage. The door opened but not completely. He put his hand in and felt for a pulse, watching the rise and fall of the man’s chest. He grabbed some gloves from his back pocket—life had taught him to permanently have them handy. He then put his hand down the non-existent footwell. He fumbled around. There was no way to see clearly, but after a few seconds he found a pulse at one ankle, but couldn’t get to the other. He pulled out his hand; unsurprisingly the glove was covered in blood. He pulled it off and found another. ‘How’s she doing?’ he asked Phil.

Phil pulled a face. ‘I’m not sure.’

Riley was around the car in an instant. ‘Mind if I have a look?’

Phil stepped out of the way. Riley was keeping calm; his main aim was to have assessed the occupants of both cars in as short a time as possible. He’d take it from there.

He checked the woman’s pulse. She was terribly pale, but that might be her normal colour. He checked her breathing; it was erratic and he put his hand gently at her chest. She’d broken some ribs. He was sure of it. And it could be that one had pierced her lung. He did a quick check of her legs. One was definitely broken; he suspected both tib and fib. The second seemed okay.

‘Stay with her,’ he said. ‘I’m going to check the other car.’

He crossed quickly to the other car. There was a man of a similar age to him, coughing, with a little blood running down his forehead. The airbag had deployed and the air was still a little clouded around him. The man was clearly dazed. In between coughs he spluttered, ‘Aaron. How’s Aaron?’

Riley felt his heart plummet. He looked into the back of the car. A little boy—around two—was strapped into a car seat. He yanked at the rear car door, pulling it with all his might. It was stiff. Part of the door was buckled, but after some tugging he finally pulled it free. The little boy greeted him with a big smile. He started babbling and wiggling his legs.

Riley’s actions were automatic. This car already had smoke coming from the engine. He reached and unclipped the little guy, grabbing him with both hands and pulling him out. He leaned Aaron towards his father. He would never have thought to do something like that before. But he could see that in amongst his confused state the man’s first thoughts had been for his son.

Finn. As held the little body next to his, all he could think about was Finn. Was he okay? Had April got to him yet? He should be with him. Not here.

Not stuck at a roadside.

‘Aaron looks good; the car seat has kept him protected.’ He glanced anxiously at the man as his head slumped forward a little. It was obvious he was still completely dazed. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Ben,’ came the mumbled reply.

‘Well, Ben, I’m going to hand Aaron over to someone else to keep an eye on him and get him somewhere safe. We need to think about getting you out of this car.’

A woman had appeared from one of the cars stranded in the traffic jam. She arrived just as he turned around. He moved away from the cars. ‘Can you hold this little guy for a second?’ She held out her hands and Riley thrust Aaron into them. ‘Wait a second,’ he commanded and he gave Aaron a quick check over. No apparent injuries. Breathing fine. Moving all limbs. No abrasions. He pulled his pen torch from his back pocket, choking back a gulp. He’d meant to use this on Finn. He quickly checked Aaron’s pupils. Both equal and reacting to light.

He looked at the woman. ‘This is Aaron. Everything looks fine but can you take him over to the side of the road and keep an eye on him for now?’

She nodded quickly, seeming relieved to be of some help. ‘No problem.’ She started chatting to Aaron as she walked away. Riley’s phone rang.

April.

He actually thought he might be sick. Something must be wrong with Finn. It must be something terrible. A subdural haematoma? Skull fracture? Intracranial bleeding? His hand fumbled with the phone. ‘April? What’s wrong??

??

‘Riley. Are you okay? Finn looks fine. But the school won’t let me take him home. They say they need permission.’

Relief flooded through him, rapidly followed by frustration. ‘Let me speak to them.’ He turned back to the car. The smoke looked a little worse. He needed to get Aaron’s dad out of there.

A stern voice appeared on the phone. ‘Dr Callaghan? Mrs Banks, head teacher. I’m afraid you haven’t listed Ms Henderson as an emergency contact for Finn. We really need you to sign some paperwork so that, like today, we can release Finn into her care.’

He was instantly annoyed. He knew why Mrs Banks was saying all this, but it felt like a reprimand for an unruly child. As he stood, flames started licking from the silver car holding Aaron’s dad. ‘Damn it!’ He started running back towards the car. He tucked the phone under his chin, put his foot on the car and started pulling at the driver’s door with all his might. ‘Come on!’ he yelled in frustration at the door.

‘What?’ came a squeak from the phone.

‘Mrs Banks,’ he said between yanks at the door. ‘I’m trying to pull a guy from a burning car. You—’ he stopped and pulled again ‘—have my permission to—’ every muscle in his arms was starting to ache ‘—release Finn into April’s custody.’ He pushed the phone away from his ear and shouted to some guys who were talking near the front of the traffic jam. ‘Can you give me some help over here?’ He could feel the heat from the flames near the bare skin on his arms. He pushed the phone back to his ear. ‘Could you do that, please?’

He pushed the phone back into his pocket, not bothering to wait for a reply. April was there. She’d seen Finn. She’d said he was okay. Maybe his definition of okay was different from hers, but he had to have faith in his colleague. Had April worked with kids before? Hadn’t she mentioned something about kids with cystic fibrosis? Maybe she knew more than he thought.

Three men ran over; one joined him, two tried the opposite side of the car. Why hadn’t he thought of that?

The man’s hands squished over his at the handle. ‘Now,’ he grunted at Riley as the two of them pulled in unison. His hands were nearly crushed beneath the guy’s vice-like grip but the extra strength gave him what he needed. The car door was finally prised open and they both landed on the ground.