Over the Rainbow - Book One - 'The Gathering Place' by Robert Vaughan Page A

forgetting
all about the giant spider lurking within as he grabbed at the
cargo door handle, giving it a jerk and sliding it open, a blast of
warm, fragrant air and golden light streaming into the plane as he
leaped to the ground beneath.
     
    A lazy cloud of dust announced the arrival of the
battered, vintage-looking white panel truck with a simple gold
cross on its’ side. Chris swayed unsteadily toward it with hands
waving frantically over his head as its occupants slowly climbed
out, obviously unaware of the now-critical need for their
services.
    Chris yelled, “Hurry guys, I think he's having a
heart attack!”
    The lead Paramedic, an attractive and clearly
pregnant native girl whose name-tag identified her merely as
‘Francesca’, looked at this wild vision with confusion and asked
it, “What? But they said- I thought Buddy was bringing some
stupid-?”
    Chris interrupted, bent over at the waist, dizzy and
exhausted from his latest adventure and wheezed, “Yes. Well... No-
well, yes, but- Whoa...!” And then he abruptly passed out, again
toppling forward like a fallen tree, only to be caught one-handed
by another paramedic, this one’s name simply ‘Mannie’, just before
face-planting into the bright red-dirt. A third attendant walked
laconically over to Chris, slapping oxygen onto his face and
pulling up an eyelid to see who was home, as Mannie and Francesca
scrambled into the dark opening in the side of the ‘Menehune’.
     
    Francesca’s brows knitted with concern as she took
in the pale and sweaty vision of Buddy, who slumped still and
silent in the pilot’s seat. Quickly unlimbering her stethoscope,
she slapped it onto Buddy’s chest. “Shee- bro, you don't look too
good! What you been eatin'?” Her casual rejoinder suddenly changed
to one of alarm as she turned and yelled at her companion, “Dammit!
He's in de-fib! Mannie, get the paddles, NOW!” Mannie stumbled out
of the tight confines of the cockpit as Francesca fought to strap
an oxygen mask onto Buddy, at the same time ripping open his shirt
and awkwardly climbing atop the dash to face him. “Don’t you dare
die on me now you big ape!” she cried, fighting to gain a position
where she could start chest compressions, her arms reaching
awkwardly around her own bulk as she wrestled to help Buddy.
“Shit!” she exclaimed in frustration, “Why you gotta choose to go
belly-up in dis frickin’ tin can?!”
    Seconds later Mannie stumbled back through the
opening to the cockpit and flung the paddles of the defibrillator
at Francesca. Francesca quickly squirted a copious gob of contact
gel onto the paddles and rubbed them together as she called
frantically over her shoulder to her partner, “Mannie! Talk to
me!”
    Mannie replied, tension edging his voice, “Charging!
Not yet…! GO!”
    Francesca depressed the buttons, and the
defibrillator fired. Buddy flinched, but only slightly, his huge
bulk held in a tight embrace by the narrow confines of the cockpit.
Mannie slapped the stethoscope to his chest and shook his head
‘No’.
    Francesca yelled, “AGAIN!!!”
     
    Chris drifted back to awareness and glanced up at
the ‘Menehune’, which now rocked slightly back and forth from the
frenzy of heroic activity that echoed out of the open side window
of the plane. And then- a disturbing silence ensued.
    With his heart racing in fear, Chris ripped off his
oxygen mask and began to rise, staggering to steady himself against
the port-side wing, just as the trio of Buddy, Francesca and Mannie
emerged from the plane. Chris’ attendant, a quick glance reassuring
him that his charge would survive, quickly set up the gurney and
helped his comrades load the massive form of Buddy onto it, and
then slowly, carefully rolled it toward the waiting ambulance.

    Chris sat with a heavy sigh on the wide rear bumper
of the battered white vehicle and turned his face into the warm
Hawaiian sun, smiling vacantly at Francesca as she began to tend to
him, speaking