She glanced around the back and saw the problem. One of the timber floorboards wasn’t flush with its neighbor and the corner of the bookcase was jammed against it. She’d need to lift and shuffle to get over the ridge. April smoothed back her hair, pulled up her shorts, licked her lips, and wrapped her arms around the offending side of the bookcase. She yelled with the effort of lifting the heavy object but refused to give in. With a final burst of energy, she pushed back on one side hoping to get it over the ridge.
It moved, jammed and teetered back toward her. Once it was got to a certain place, the weight took over and down it came. April’s head hit the floor seconds before the bookcase pinned her down. Fire burned up her leg, and stars blocked her vision. She cried out in pain, fighting the blackness that threatened to take her under.
*
David locked his office and flicked off the lights in the kitchen when the frantic barking of Hamish came from April’s shop.
“April?” He knocked on her door and dog’s claws raced toward him followed by a loud thump as he threw himself against the door. It sounded as though Hamish was trying to scratch his way to get to David.
“April. Are you in there?”
The only response was Hamish barking frantically. What if she was in trouble? Or what if she’d only gone out without her dog? Hamish started to whine. What could it hurt to check? If she was out, he would pat the dog, shut the door again and leave him alone.
David turned the handle and immediately Hamish was pushing his nose into David’s hand. “What’s happening boy?” Hamish turned and walked a few paces, looking back at him.
When David didn’t follow, he came back and nudged his hand. “Right, okay. You want to show me something.” He put down his briefcase and followed the dog into the darkened shop. “April.”
“Here. Over here.” Her voice was weak and he could hear the pain.
“Oh no.” David hurried into the front room where she lay on the floor, a large bookcase pinning her to the floor. He moved to the other side of her and assessed the situation. “I think I can lift it. Try not to move until I check you out.”
She gave a strangled snort followed by a jumble of muttered curses. David crouched down, knees bent and lifted the heavy object off of her, and shuffled back until her leg was clear. He let it drop to the floor with a thud and scrambled over to her. April was at least conscious so that was in her favor. “Without trying to be brave, tell me how you feel.” He could see blood but it seemed to be more a deep graze than any artery damage. If he was to guess what happened, he’d say the bookcase fell and sheered down her shin taking off the skin and top layer of flesh. His biggest fear right now was broken bones. If he could rule that out, then he would deal with keeping infection at bay.
“Freaking sore.” She gripped his arm and tried to pull herself up into a sitting position. A moan surfaced and her head wobbled precariously. David grabbed her and held her close to his chest. “Don’t move. Let your head settle and we can take it from there.”
Hamish sat the other side of her, his eyes never leaving April’s face. “You’re a good boy, Hamish. You deserve a big bag of treats.”
April gripped David’s shirt with both hands, her breathing heavy as she dealt with the waves of pain. “Oh, my goodness. Ow, heck that stings.” She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. “Please fix it. Make it stop.”
“I’d suggest you lie down again. I need to see how much damage you’ve done and I can’t do that while I’m busy holding you up. If I let you go, I don’t want you passing out on me and giving yourself a knock to the head.”
He eased her back down on the floor and stood up searching for the light switch. Once the lights were on, David was able to see the damage clearly. Luckily for her, it was only one leg that had suffered the weight of the bookcase. He crouched down and put his hand around her calf, lifting it a couple of inches off the floor and noticed the long shallow scratch. If he checked, he’d find a nail or a screw had done the damage. He gave himself a mental note to check for her last tetanus shot. “Can you move your foot?”
Tears trickled down her cheeks as she rotated her ankle. She sniffled as he prodded down her leg checking for obvious broken bones. “I don’t think anything’s broken but it’s hard to tell without an x-ray. We can arrange that for tomorrow if we need to.”
“Okay.” She blew out a breath. “I might need help up the stairs. Would you mind, David? And before you suggest it, I don’t want to call my sisters. They have their own lives.”
“I really think you should let them know. It’s going to be difficult to get around when you’re in so much pain.” He helped her sit up, keeping a hand on her back for stability.
“Look, once I’m upstairs, I’ll be fine. If I sit too long my leg will go stiff and it’ll only get worse. Agreed?”
“You’re right, it will. But, I have to insist you take it easy. At least until we know if you’ve broken any bones.”
April bent her knee and touched her fingers to the torn skin down her shin. “Ow, that hurts. But I don’t think anything is. Very lucky but I’m pretty sure it’s just a flesh
