Jimmy Wright and the Woodpecker (part 5)

It was raining buckets when we decided to take Jimmy to the hospital. He was in such bad shape that afternoon, there was no denying something had to be done. He didn't even argue. I tried to talk Betty into staying at home with the kids, but she would not hear of it. One thing about Betty, she was sweet as honey most of the time, but she would get a certain hardness in her look and not even a bulldozer could move her. I had learned to be careful with her, like you could win a battle, but lose the war. As it was, we barely got out of the driveway, the ground was so soggy. Normally we would have snow in December. I guess we were lucky, with all that rain we would have had snow up to our roof.
Driving in that downpour was very difficult. I almost turned back, it was so bad. The wipers couldn't keep up with the rain and we poked along at 15 miles an hour. Even though it was late afternoon, the clouds and rain darkened the countryside, the headlights were nearly useless. When we got into town, it let up some, so the going got better.
It was another hour to the hospital. Soon as we were about a mile from home Jimmy had fallen asleep, probably the first good sleep he had in weeks. I hated to wake him, he looked so peaceful. As a matter of fact, we couldn't wake him. I didn't know what to do. Betty took charge. She marched into the emergency room and like some Army Commander had the nurses sprinting to the car, pushing a gurney. I couldn't believe it. Jimmy slept through it all.
We wrestled him onto the gurney and he didn't even stir an eyelid. We were there for hours, the kids asleep on chairs, with me missing my bed and Betty bristling with energy and authority. About midnight, we decided to get a motel room, it was late and I was, well -- it made sense to stay off the roads that night.
In the morning we called the hospital, Jimmy was still asleep. We got some breakfast and returned to town. I was anxious to get into work, it was nearly Christmas and though not as busy as fishing and hunting season, would be better to have an extra hand around. The rain had let up, so driving was much better. I stopped at the store to check in.
Soon as I walked in, I knew that something had happened. "Oh my Lord, you are alive. We have
been so worried, Mr Tillman, is your family with you?"
"Yes, they are in the car. What?"
"There's been a big mudslide over at the bluffs. The sheriff came by my house early, to ask if you were on vacation or something. They have been working all night, looking for survivors. your house was swept into the river. A section of the bluff got washed away."
"What!?"

to be continued....