She attended to his head wound first because it was bleeding badly. “It isn’t as bad as it looks,” she reassured us. “Head wounds bleed easily, but this doesn’t look too deep. She cleaned the wound well, taped and bandaged it. She then washed his face, cleaning all the blood from his hair and skin, he looked much better. “Now tell me where else it hurts,” she said to Dad. “Is it just your ribs?” My father spoke for the first time, his voice rough from his dry throat. “Yes, just my ribs,” he confirmed. “Hayln, go get him a drink of water,” my mother said. But Zeke’s hand found my shoulder. “You stay here with him, I’ll get the water.” “Dad, what happened, are you okay?" I asked in a scared voice. “I’m fine now Hayln,” he said still in pain. Zeke helped him drink the water, then stood by my side with his arm around me. “He’ll be okay Hayl’s, just give your Mum a chance to fix him up.” I knew he was right. I sat back and watched Mum take my father’s shirt off to assess his wounds. There was bad bruising down his left side. My mother felt the bruised ribs and my father flinched as she examined him.
