Far Away Home Read Online Free PDF Page A

her damp dress over her head. “Sit and don’t
get heated again. I’m going to read to you.”
    Propped on his
parents’ pillows, Tim opened a book and began reading to her. Aislynn leaned
her moist, baby-scented body against his chest. After several stories, she fell
asleep. Though he wanted to get up and investigate the happenings across the
hall, he did not want to wake her. He looked down at the soft lines of her
small, round face. She was breathing through her tiny mouth that hung slightly
open. Her wet hair was stuck to her cheeks.
    Gazing at
Aislynn, he remembered his promise to Katherine. For the first time, the
thought that Katherine could die struck him. She has to live. She can’t
leave me with this girl . Fear swelled in his chest. Tim wrapped his arms
around the sleeping child. Holding her made him feel stronger. He rested his
head on the pillow and started to recite the prayers he had learned in school.
The monotony of the recitation, the heat and the exhaustion from worry overcame
him, and he slipped into a troubled sleep.
    Tim woke to find
Aislynn with one arm and one leg flung across his body. He carefully slid out
from under her and emerged drowsy and disoriented to find his brothers in the
kitchen, scouring for food. Remembering Katherine and her baby, Tim stumbled
out into the hall and crossed into the Denehy flat. Standing in the doorway,
Tim could see his mother’s dark, sweaty back; her hair was tentatively pulled
into a loose bun with wet locks randomly hanging down. He heard his mother
encouraging Katherine and knew the trial continued.
    Tim sat on the
floor and waited. In his flat, he could hear Aislynn awake and playing with his
brothers, oblivious of the struggle. Darkness began spreading its ominous wings
and descending on the dying day. The constant worry and fear added to the
wretched heat made time drag as though it towed a heavy weight. Still, he
waited.
    A high-pitched
scream cut the thick air. He listened breathlessly as frantic words were
exchanged inside the Denehy bedroom. With Katherine’s scream, Tim felt a river
of perspiration flow down his back. He was burning hot and shivering cold. The
boys volleyed into the hall and stood wide-eyed and silent. Sean held Aislynn’s
face against his chest as the child, sensing disaster, whimpered. Mrs. Nolan
appeared looking frantic. Her eyes caught Frank Junior’s, and he jumped to
attention.
    “Go get the
doctor quickly!” she commanded like a general in the pitch of a battle. Frank
Junior responded to the order like a well-trained soldier. He flew down the
front stairs, his footsteps quickly drowning in the din of the street as he ran
to complete his directive.
    Mrs. Nolan
turned to reenter the Denehy apartment when she suddenly stopped. The boys
could see from the tilt of her head and her arms suspended in midair, that she
was contemplating additional action. She turned back to the boys and took a
deep ragged breath, “Michael, go get the priest.”
    Getting the
priest meant someone was dying. Tim closed his eyes and prayed out his fears.
He knew it was wrong, but every part of him cried out to strike a bargain with
God. “Please, take that baby. We don’t need another baby. The priest can come,
baptize that brat, and I swear to You, I will never do anything bad in my whole
life. Just please, please don’t let Katherine die,” he supplicated.
    The screaming
grew louder. He could hear his mother saying words like breech, cord, and
something else about suffocating. Tim wanted to cry, but he could barely
breathe for fear he might miss some vital information.
    As Katherine’s
screaming stopped, Brendan began to wail. The sound cut through Tim like a
saber. It struck deep at a place in his heart he had never felt before. A
weeping man was not a part of Tim’s world; men did not cry. With that thought,
Brendan’s sobbing was muffled.
    Frank Junior
returned with the doctor. He entered the bedroom, and an “Oh, dear!” burst into
the