Over the Waters Read Online Free PDF

could easily have gone around it, but the tap-tap's sheer bulk parted traffic like the Red Sea, and Samantha merely followed in its wake. Thank you, Lord, she whispered.
    The sidewalk vendors were beginning to pack up their wares for the day as she bounced through the city streets. After two wrong turns, she turned onto Rue Chareron and followed the signs, many of them painted on the sides of the buildings, to the Hopital Sainte Anne. She squeezed the Rover into a narrow space in the potholed street in front of the hospital. The sun slunk below the skyline, forming a wavering backdrop to the building.
    With a short blast of the horn, she cut the engine and jumped out. She opened the back car door and lifted Kala out. Alarm shot through her as the little girl sprawled limply in her arms. "Hang on, baby," she whispered. "We're almost there, ti pitit. "
    She slammed her door shut and spoke to Josh through the open window. "Stay here. I'll be right back."
    It frightened her that he didn't protest, but instead nodded almost imperceptibly. Clutching Kala to her chest, she reached in and laid on the horn once more before running around the back of the vehicle toward the entrance.
    A small crowd of Haitians materialized from nowhere, gathering around her as she approached the door.
    "Blan-an malad, wi," an old woman called out, pointing back to the Rover. That white guy is sick.
    Several wandered over to the curb, murmuring their curiosity. "Sa li genyen?" What's wrong with him?
    Samantha was accustomed to the inquisitiveness, especially where Americans were concerned, but their distracting questions angered her now. Ignoring them, she elbowed her way through the crowd and went inside.
    An orderly met her just inside the entrance. "I have a sick baby." She held Kala out to him like a bag of sugar. "She's dehydrated," she explained in her halting Creole. "My friend is out in the car. He's a doctor, but he is ill also." She spotted a wheelchair folded up in the corner by the vacant nurses' station. "May I use this?"
    The orderly nodded and took the child from her arms. "I take the baby," he said slowly, obviously recognizing her limited knowledge of his language.
    "Thank you." She hastily set up the wheelchair and rolled it outside to the Rover.
    A few of the Haitians still loitered near the building. Joshua appeared to be sleeping. He jerked and lunged for the dashboard when she unlatched his door.
    "It's okay," she said. "It's just me. Can you manage the chair?"
    Without speaking, he eased his legs over the side of the seat and slid down to sit on the running board and try to catch his breath again. Samantha's blood pressure plummeted. Josh was deteriorating quickly. She moved the wheelchair beside the Rover and put an arm around him, hoisting him to his feet. He turned and plopped into the chair, seeming barely able to cooperate as she lifted his feet onto the chair's footrests. She slammed the car door shut with one hip and pivoted the chair around to back it through the wide hospital doors.
    The entrance was empty. Joshua started coughing again from the exertion. She pushed him down the tiled corridor until she spotted a different orderly round the corner and head in the opposite direction. "Wait," she shouted. "Please..."
    He spun around and stared at her, curiosity plain on his face. "Yes, Mademoiselle?"
    The Haitian man had kind eyes and she found comfort just looking into them. "Please, can you help? This is Dr. Joshua Jordan. He's very ill."
    She pulled Madame Duval's note from her pocket and handed it to the man. He glanced at it, and handed it back to her. "He is an American?" The man's hospital ID badge said his name was Albert Reaux.
    "Yes." Samantha nodded. "He's been helping at the Duval Children's Home where I work. I am Samantha Courtney. But Dr. Jordan needs to be admitted. Can you help?"
    "What is wrong?"
    "I think he has pneumonia," she said.
    As if on cue, Josh started another spasm of uncontrollable