A Heart of Faith – Chapter Five

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Time. Some think it’s something of which they have lots. But we never can know how much we do have, until it becomes jeopardized. That’s a lesson the Meltsner learnt the hard way, when just that happens to Eugene Meltsner.

  All of a sudden, time seems to be slipping away for him, quicker than anyone could have expected. Will the situation be able to be turned around before time is completely gone for good? Only time and faith will reveal what God could possibly have planned for them—of what use the situation could be. And maybe, as the saying goes, “One man’s loss, is another man’s gain.”

  Although the events prove to be a fright for the family, and even their close friends, they are all able to find that they can have Hearts of Faith that God will take care of them and their every need.

 John Avery Whittaker was wiping down a counter surface in the kitchen, after having cleared the clutter. With it being a busy day at Whit’s End, small messes—in the kitchen especially—were bound to compile here and there. Whit was listening to the crowd of kids on the other side of the kitchen door as he worked, hardly able to hear the voices of his employees over them.

  As Whit shook out the dirtied rag out into the kitchen sink, the constant sound of the customers’ conversations were interrupted by a loud thud. What followed was an exclamation from Connie. He was unable to tell what it was she’d said, so Whit guessed that someone had simply dropped something, and had startled her.

  Bringing his attention back to what he was doing, Whit turned on the tap of the sink to rinse out the rag. He was interrupted, once again hearing Connie call out. “Whit!” The man set the rag down, as she then cried, “Come quick!” Not missing the panic in her tone, Mr. Whittaker hurried out of the kitchen.

  “Connie?” Coming out into the Ice Cream Parlor, Whit spotted Connie standing behind the counter—her concern, panic and worry clear as day. “What happened? Is everyone alright?” He asked her, not able to see what the problem was from where he stood. Connie, trembling a little, shook her head ‘no’. “I-It’s Eugene…!”

  “What about him?” Connie opened her mouth to say more, but rather gestured to the floor before herself. Whit walked up to the counter—the surrounding kids stepping out of the way—and leaned over to see where she’d gestured to. His eyes widened. “Oh no…!”

  Without hesitation, Mr. Whittaker made his way around the counter and knelt on the floor next to Eugene. “Eugene?” Connie watched as he tried the same things she had to try and wake her co-worker up, but to no avail. “Hey, come on now, can you hear me?” Still nothing. 

  Growing continually concerned, Whit took hold of Eugene’s wrist to try and gauge his pulse with what knowledge he had. “Connie, call an ambulance.” He instructed, while simultaneously moving his hand to check the pulsepoint on Eugene’s neck. “Y-Yeah, okay.” With that, Connie took out her cellphone to call emergency services.

  “Aw, Eugene…” The older man said quietly. In the haste to try and wake Eugene up, and to call paramedics, Whit hadn’t gotten the chance to ask what had even caused this. “What happened…?” He asked, still quietly. Being unconscious, Eugene obviously gave no answer. However, Camilla heard the question. “Mr. Whittaker?”
  “Yes?” Whit glanced up towards Camilla. “I saw what happened.” She told him. The man nodded for her to continue. “Okay, so um… Eugene was standing behind the counter to take my order. He seemed fine at first.” She began, remaining impressively calm. “Then, he got kinda pale, I think… He seemed like he was getting out of breath.”

  “Out of breath?” Camilla nodded, before continuing. “Then Connie came to see if he was okay, and we noticed he looked dizzy.” Whit’s look of concern was beginning to grow—despite him trying to appear calm. “He started to say something, and then he just passed out.” Camilla explained. Mr. Whittaker hummed. “I ehm… I see. Thank you, Camilla.”

  “Yeah…” The girl nervously thrummed her hands on the surface of the counter. “Mr. Whittaker, is Eugene gonna be okay?” Whit glanced back down to Eugene, trying to think of how to answer. He wouldn’t lie, but he didn’t want to create any more worry. With a small sigh, he simply answered, “All I can say is to pray.”

  “Okay, sure.”

  “The ambulance is on its way.” Connie announced, returning to the counter. “Good.” Whit answered shortly. Carefully, he reached to take off Eugene’s glasses to keep them from possibly getting scratched or broken by accident—neither of which had happened when he’d fallen, thankfully. 

  Slipping the glasses into his shirt’s pocket, Whit glanced over his shoulder to Connie. “Can you escort the kids out of the room for when the paramedics get here?” He began, before then saying, “And you’ll have to close up early. I can call Renee to help you out the rest of the afternoon, if you’d like?”

  “I can handle the shop just fine, Whit.” Connie assured him, trying to calm her nerves. Her trembling had stopped, thankfully. “The day’s half over anyways.” She added. Whit smirked briefly, before Connie went to gather the kids out of the Ice Cream Parlor.

  Not much time had passed before the sound of the little bell above the shop door sounded—Connie holding it open for a duo of paramedics. “He’s over here.” She told, escorting one of them. The other had gone to get supplies from the ambulance before catching up. 

  Whit stood up and out of the man’s way as he came and knelt down next to Eugene. “What happened?” He asked, doing what seemed to be a routine in checking him over. “He got short winded and pale rather suddenly, before becoming dizzy and collapsing.” Whit explained, thanks to what Camilla had told him moments before. “Was he doing anything strenuous?”

  “Not at all, no.”

  “Any pre-existing medical conditions?”

  “No.” The paramedic hummed, just as his partner caught up. She had a bag of supplies that she set down next to her partner, before also getting on the floor. The man relayed to her all of what Mr. Whittaker had said. Then he asked, “What’s his name, please?

  “Eugene Meltsner.” Whit replied, pronouncing his last name as clearly as he could considering the amount of times folks had gotten it wrong. 

  Using a stethoscope to check his heartbeat, one of the paramedics noted, “He has an irregular heartbeat and is having difficulty breathing.” Connie looked to Whit worriedly. The paramedics stood up. “We’ll be right back, we just have to get the stretcher in… somehow.”

  “Oh, you can bypass those stairs out front from the kitchen door.” Whit answered, going to open the doors in the kitchen to create a clear entryway for the stretcher. Both paramedics thanked him, before they went to move the ambulance closer to said entrance to close the distance between the kitchen exit and the vehicle. They left Connie and Whit alone with Eugene as they did.

  “This is so weird!” Connie commented, arms crossed before herself in a worried manner. “I mean, the last time I saw Eugene, he was totally fine! I don’t get it!” Whit shook his head a little and sighed. “I know it is.” Connie gave Whit a bit of a questioning glance. “Eugene would’ve said something earlier if he wasn’t doing well,” She began, hesitating slightly. “… Right, Whit?”

  “I don’t see why he wouldn’t, Connie.” Mr. Whittaker answered. “He did seem completely fine when he came in earlier… so it could very well have been sudden.” 

  The two fell quiet again, just as the paramedics returned speedily. They maneuvered the stretcher through the kitchen, and out to the parlor and as close to the back of the counter as possible. Whit and Connie watched as they carefully lifted Eugene to set him on the stretcher. 

  As one of the paramedics went about setting an oxygen mask on Eugene’s face, the other turned to address the two. “We’ll be taking him to Odyssey General. Would either of you like to come with us?” Whit nodded, having already made up his mind before even being asked. “I’ll go with him.”

  “Alright. Let’s go.” Whit gave Connie a pat on the shoulder as a gesture of reassurance. “Pray.” He told her, as both paramedics began back out the kitchen with the stretcher. He then followed after them, as Connie watched with a worried expression. Whit closed the kitchen’s backdoor on his way out, leaving her standing in the almost silent Ice Cream Parlor.

  Not wanting to keep the kids waiting, Connie went to let the crowd back in the Parlor. Some of the kids had gone home, leaving her with a smaller number of customers for the rest of the afternoon.

  Before going back to serving the kids ice creams and sodas, Connie first had to make a phone call. She took her phone out of her back pocket, and turned it on. Scrolling through her contacts, she selected one from the M section. The phone rang as Connie held it up to her ear. A moment of the tone sounding, and the other end picked up. “… Katrina?”