Relatively unharmed, Arden felt like he was floating, a mere observer as he propped himself up and looked at Mrs. Callahan’s face.
“Mom…?”
When he saw that she was breathing but unconscious, the adrenaline sent Arden to get to the nearest phone to call the emergency number. Torturous minutes passed, with him too afraid to do anything else except wait for the ambulance to arrive. He was in so much shock that he couldn’t keep track of what went on from there.
Not even Mrs. Palmer’s false concern and solicitude when she got to the hospital, aware that other people were watching, nor her hissed curses and blame-throwing when there was no one else around, got through to him.
He only snapped out of it when Mrs. Callahan was wheeled into a private ward. Her doctor said nothing alarming showed
