Free The Slow Road by Jerry D. Young Page A

twin girl. She was getting close to exploding.
    “Greg, I want to get the children down in the hospital shelter in case there is an aftershock. Normally I’d just go home, but I want to stay close to Jasper, too. Would you help me retrieve a few things from the Suburban and get us set up in the shelter?”
    “Sure, Millie. Anything.”
    It took a little while, but Millie got the kids settled where she could keep an eye on them and their favorite traveling toy in the shelter, and still lend a hand to those still straggling into the hospital shelter.
    Greg didn’t want to take up space in the shelter, so he camped out in his truck during the night. He came in to use the bathroom the next morning and watched the still sleeping children again while Millie went upstairs to find out how Jasper was doing.
    He was awake, in a moderate amount of pain, but the doctor on duty assured her that the concussion turned out to be nothing to worry about. He’d come out of it not long after Millie had left the day before.
    Millie was allowed to stay for a few minutes. When they were alone together Jasper urged Millie to get him checked out. “Millie, I don’t want to be taking up bed space. There must be hundreds of injuries. I don’t want to be a burden on you, either, but I’d rather be at home recovering.”
    Millie was adamant. “Not today, Honey. Maybe tomorrow.”
    It was actually three days that they, Millie and the Doctors, could force Jasper to stay. Mostly due to his stubbornness, but also because Jasper was right, the hospital needed the bed space, Millie checked him out on the fourth day. Greg had been staying close during those three days and helped Jasper get into the back of the Suburban so Millie could get him home.
    Millie had made arrangements to get a wheelchair for Jasper to use at home. Greg loaded it into the back of his truck and followed Millie home. Fortunately cell phone service was back up in area and Millie was able to get Alvin to come over to help Greg get Jasper into the house.
    The next day the two men came back and cobbled together a ramp so Jasper could get in and out of the house in the wheelchair. Jasper fretted during the entire process, watching from the front porch. He said not a word in complaint, but he knew he would have done the ramp all different than Alvin and Greg.
    Jasper was not a very good patient. Oh, he didn’t make it unduly hard on Millie, but he did make it hard on himself. He was always trying to get up and do something, despite the two broken legs. The shoulder had been put back in place the first day at the hospital and it was healing nicely, so he was able to use the wheelchair to at least get around inside the house and out the back, as long as he stayed on the mounded areas.
    He got off once, to try to water the garden and had to drag himself back up the retaining wall while Millie got the wheelchair up it for him, scolding like a wet hen the entire time. At least that was the way Jasper remembered it.
    But finally he resolved himself to the situation and let Millie do what she needed to do and he did what he could, mostly entertaining the kids when Millie needed to be unencumbered. Greg lent a hand with the garden and the animals, as did Alvin, each one coming over for a couple hours every other day, on alternate days.
    Knowing how much going to Church meant to Jasper and Millie, Greg showed up that first Sunday the Church had services after the earthquake and helped Millie get Jasper into the Suburban and then the Church. He sat quietly in back during the service and again helped get Jasper back to the house.
    Millie saw the Minister take Greg aside on the second Sunday and thank him on behalf of the Church for helping one of its members, and then welcome him to the Church on his own if he chose to come after Jasper recovered.
    Which Jasper finally did. And went back to work with the county. The lack of work, despite the benefits the county had, strapped the family for