Hortons Bend

don’t give away anything ok?” The old man grunted and said, “Will do. He’ll only know as much as we want him to. He answers to me in the county food chain so I see no problems. Ah Steve? I’ve got to catch this next call. Talk to you soon.” Banner hung up and left Price hoping this would be the last of any possible leaks in their little consortium.
    Brody was anxious all day thinking about the river trip that evening. Darwin brought it up several times but he was giving her the same answer every time so she finally let it drop and immersed herself in finishing the inventory. They both congratulated each other on finalizing the work by lunch. Darwin asked Brody if he wanted to join her on Broad Street for a vegetable hoagie but he declined and told her he would hang around the lab. He wanted to download the inventory data into the lab’s pc and knew it would probably take the rest of the afternoon to double check the files. And he wanted some time alone. He still felt a rising guilt about this little adventure but now was not the time to back out.
    At 3pm Brody noticed that Mrs. Peabody had left the museum and he decided that he would stick around for another half hour or so before he left to pick up the boat. Darwin would drive her jeep out to the river boat landing so he wouldn’t have to run her back into town. Brody left the museum at 3:45pm to go hook up the boat while Darwin stopped at her apartment to change clothes. Brody already had the boat launched into the river but securely tied to a stump when she arrived at 5pm. They double checked the trolling motor and the lights while they waited for the sun to set a little more. It was getting dark fast but not fast enough for either one of them. Neither spoke but it was on both their minds that they were apprehensive and wanted to get this little adventure over with. Darwin almost backed out but promised herself that she would see it through. She couldn’t help but think of how foolish she was to be trespassing onto Horton’s Bend after dark.
    While the two loaded the small johnboat, Jeanie King was seeing the EMTs out to the ambulance. She had been sitting quietly in the den where she had started a new needlepoint project when a strangled gurgling sound had come from her youngest son’s bedroom. She had thrown the needlepoint to the floor and rushed to find J.W. , still comatose, choking in a gagging reflex. She immediately grabbed a wooden spoon that she kept at his bedside and attempted to keep him from swallowing his tongue. This was not the first time J.W. had fallen to one of these seizures. This one counted the third time in just the past month alone but it was much worse than any of the others. Normally she was able to settle him down and get his breathing back on track. But this time had been different. This time was bad and she knew it. J.W. didn’t respond and had started turning blue. She had began to panic and called the hospital to request the emergency medical techs to come as quick as they could. Upon their arrival, the EMT’s were able to administer oxygen to the young man and revive him from what could have been a fatal asphyxiation. Jeanie listened patiently as the technicians explained to her that the young man needed to be relocated into a facility with round the clock care in order to monitor him and provide aid in such events. It was to no avail and they knew it. Most everyone in the medical field in this area knew about J.W. and his condition. They felt for Mrs. King but they also knew her financial burden. She was not the only one who was in this particular predicament as they knew of other local families dealing with tragedies that threatened to pull them apart. The only difference was that this patient was a young man and all of the other cases were situations that involved the elderly. The healthcare professionals finally gave up giving their advice and left the old woman to watch over her son. Jeanie King broke down in tears sitting by his bedside after they had left. Her faith in God had been tested for so long that she just didn’t know if she could carry on any longer. The bill that would be coming from the hospital would have to be paid in payments just as all the others were. She didn’t expect to ever get ahead but dear God how could he expect her to continue to carry on this way. “There has to be another way” she sobbed in the dimly lit bedroom. The pitiful old woman finally made her way to her bed and