Renewal 4 - Down on the River by Jf Perkins Page A

with a sheen of sweat, and his left leg was covered in blood.
    “Ah, shit,” Dad said. “Arturo! Hey, Art! It’s David. You ok?”
    Arturo opened his eyes. “Hey, David. What’s up, my friend?”
    “What happened, Art?”
    “Oh, some white asshole shot me, right through the car door. He might have been a cop. Who knows anymore?”
    “Shit, Arturo. Let’s get you out of there and take a look.”
    “It’s ok. Juannie stopped the bleeding. It might be a little infected though.”
    “Come on. Help me out.” Dad grabbed Arturo’s hands and pulled him into a seated position. Dad squatted down and threw Arturo over his shoulders, carrying him to the nicer of the picnic tables. Mom cleared it before Dad even got there. Dad laid Arturo on the table as gently as he could. Dad took his knife and cut off what was left of Arturo’s pant leg. Mom showed up with a wet cloth and Dad cleaned around the wound. Once the caked blood was gone, Dad took a sharp breath. The wound was oozing with puss, smelled terrible, and Arturo’s leg had red streaks all over it.
    “George, can you hand me that jug, please? Beth, we’re going to need the first aid kit and probably some sewing stuff.”
    Everyone was gathered around. Juannie was just realizing that her husband had a serious problem. After everything they had gone through to get here, I guess one little bullet wound didn’t seem like a big problem. George handed Dad the moonshine.
    “Arturo. This is going to sting like crazy,” Dad said before pouring the pure alcohol into the wound.
    Arturo screamed like a bobcat in a blender. Dad went to work with the first aid kit. He was debriding the wound as best he could, and building a disgusting pile of dead tissue next to Arturo’s leg. Arturo had passed out after the first scrape or two, which was a good thing. When Dad finished cleaning the wound, he poured another round of alcohol in the hole, swabbed some around and started sewing the entry and exit wounds shut. Mom watched in amazement. She had no idea her husband could do surgery of any kind, and here he was, sewing Arturo’s leg.
    “Ok, he’s got a shot at making it now, but it’s not a great shot. We really need some antibiotics.”
    George said, “I’ll be right back!” He jumped on his tractor and roared off in top gear, bouncing crazily as he disappeared around the corner.
    Dad noticed Mom staring at him. “I was on nuke subs. Lots of us had big time first aid training since we couldn’t call for help when we were on patrol,” he said, as if that explained it.
    “Oh... Just think of the doctor bills we could have saved,” she said.
    “Yeah, well if you know a doctor around here, I would gladly give him a burger to do this job.”
    That broke the tension for most of us. Juannie was wrapped up in guilt and worry now, and even Jimmy seemed to read the seriousness of the situation.
    George was back in less than ten minutes. He practically catapulted off the tractor while it was still grinding to a halt. Geroge could apparently forget his cane when properly motivated. He ran over to the table and started pulling medicine bottles from his front pockets. We watched in awe at the sheer number of drugs he was producing. Dad was picking each one from the pile and sorting them into antibiotic and non-antibiotic piles. When they were done, George had six different kinds of antibiotics. He looked up at George.
    “What can I say, David? I’m old.”
    Dad went with the second newest bottle, since it had the biggest supply. He was guessing at the correct kind of drug, but he figured something was better than nothing. “George, when is Rodney due at your place?”
    “He may be by today. It depends on how busy he is. I guess the 4th is about more than kids with fireworks these days. Anyway, if he does come by, then he’ll see the note and head out this way. If not, he’s due in a couple of days. Why?”
    “If you don’t mind. See if he can find us some injectable