AN AMBULANCE MAKES A BIG NOISE

If there was something different then
Well I know it now
To be young and to know it
Is something profound
— 23rd Street, by Companion

A bit of fiction based on a true-life family event from when I was little.

I like to imagine the grass is super tall when I lie down in it, so tall no one can see me. The neighbors had all gone back inside. It was strange to see them all in their yards and at their doors looking at our house, but I guess I’d look too and want to know. The ambulance didn’t use their siren when they left. That’s because it wasn’t an emergency anymore, Daddy said. He was away when it all happened.

I named my bike Remy. It sounds friendly to me. It’s a blue bike with a horn Mama says I shouldn’t toot so much. Jeremy has a red bike he named Pluto. He said it used to be planet. He’s the oldest and knows more things but I’m catching up. Jeremy and I had a lemonade stand on Saturday. Daddy set it up in the front yard. We liked getting money but when no one was there we just kinda wanted to ride our bikes.

“Tina, you can’t drink the lemonade, only if you have fifty cents!”
“But I’m thirsty and I don’t have any money!”
“I know, that’s why you can’t drink it!”

Tina was going to cry because she’s only three, but Mrs. Walsh walked over and bought her a cup. Tina acted all cute and people like that. They like that she’s the baby of the family. Mama likes Mrs. Walsh like a sister. I’ve heard her say she can’t count on her sister, Aunt Lynn, for hardly anything. Mama didn’t think I was listening, but I like to listen to what grown-ups say. Aunt Lynn and Uncle Roger don’t live very far but don’t come over as often as Grandma does. Grandma is here every birthday and holiday and other times too. Grandma sits on the porch and watches as we ride our bikes. Tina still has a tricycle.

“Paramedic” is the newest word I’ve learned. It means people who ride in ambulances. We were playing with Legos, Jeremy, Tina, and I. Tina was being annoying and trying to build on my part and I told her to leave me alone. Tina stood up and I looked because I thought maybe she’d kick at my Legos or run and tell Mama I was being mean because she likes to be a tattletale but all of a sudden her eyes rolled back all weird and her body went stiff like a board and she fell to the floor.

“Tina, don’t be all dramatic,” Jeremy said, but right then Mama came into the room and suddenly she was on the floor beside Tina, and I knew something bad was happening.

“Jeremy, my phone is on the counter, call 911,” she said. Jeremy ran for the phone and Mama had Tina in her arms. Something white was coming from Tina’s lips, like little bubbles, and her eyes were still weird. Jeremy came into the room with the phone saying, “Yes, my sister just fell over.”
Mama held out a hand to take the phone.
“She’s having a seizure,” she said. She told our address, and I knew a seizure was bad and I felt scared. Mama looked at Jeremy and I and said, “Boys, go wait outside for the ambulance.”

We went outside and waited until we could hear sirens in the distance. They came closer and closer and then the ambulance drove past our house. I went and told Mama and she told the person on the phone.

Tina is annoying and gets too much attention, but I love her, and I was scared for her, and I decided I’d try to be nicer to her if she would just be okay, please, truly please, let her just be okay.

I looked out the window and the ambulance was back. Jeremy was waving to it and pointing to our house and the ambulance pulled into the driveway.

The paramedic people put a kind of mask on Tina’s face. Daddy told me later it was oxygen, which didn’t make sense to me because that’s what we breathe all the time. They asked Mama about a fever and she said yes, Tina woke up with a fever but it went away. They said sometimes a fever can make a seizure in little kids, but she’d be okay. When they left Mama took Tina to the doctor just to check on her all the way. She went to call Aunt Lynn, but Mrs. Walsh was knocking on our door and said she’d stay with Jeremy and I. We all went outside and that’s when we saw all the other neighbors looking at our house and Mama called, “It’s all okay,” as she put Tina in the car. I road my bike then lay in the grass and thought about when Tina’s eyes came back to normal and a paramedic talked to her and asked if she had a tricycle and she said, “Yes, named Minnie,” and that’s when I knew she’d be okay.