The Little Fairy
Chapter 14

"I think we got it!" Sarah's voice squeaked with excitement as we put the finishing touches on my speech.

"Now all we have to do is make the flyers!" I commented and clicked the print button on the file.

There was a loud crash and bang that shook the whole house, Coon ran to the front door, barking and snarling like crazy.

Sarah and I ran after him, Coon escaping with urgency as we opened the door. We looked out along the field, "Where's the cherry picker?" She stated, her voice quivering.

"I-I don't know." My legs started before I could think of what was happening, moving towards the orchard at record speed, following the sound of Coon's crazed barking.

"Don?!" I reached the first tree in the orchard, looking around for the boom that was supposed to be looming over the tops of the trees.

"Dad!" Sarah's voice caught up quickly to me, fear seeped off of her like waves, making me nauseous.

"Over here!" His voice sounded strained.

We followed where his voice was coming from and the sound of Coon's now whimpering. "Don, are you okay?" The cherry picker was laying on its side a few trees down; smoke billowing from the engine.

"Yeah, the boom got caught coming down; tried to jimmy-rig it to come down to wait for a mechanic, the damn thing decided it was just done for." He sighed deeply, holding his arm.

"Dad, your arm." Sarah crouched down next to him, trying to touch it to get a better look.

Don winced and threw his arm backward. "Don't touch. It just needs some rest." he attempted to stand, but without both his arms to pick up his heavier set body, it proved to be impossible.

"Dad, you need an x-ray." Sarah gave him leverage with his good arm to help push him onto his feet.

"I said I'm fine, Sarah Beth. Can we please just go to the house so I can call Rich?" He leaned down to pet Coon for coming to his aid.

"I still want to take you for x-rays." Sarah crossed her arms over her chest but followed him reluctantly.

"Tell you what, if Tylenol and an ice pack don't help me in a few hours, I'll let you take me to the hospital." He rubbed his shoulder gently, sucking in a breath as he touched it.

"Fine," Sarah held a smug look on her face. Luckily she was behind him and he was too focused on getting to the house to look behind at her.

Rich, who I'm assuming was the mechanic came plowing down the long gravel driveway just 30 minutes after Don hung up with him. "Shit, man. You okay?" Rich bent down to pet Coon on the head.

Rich was a young-looking middle age man. Maybe around Don's age, with medium brown skin and sunken black eyes. He stood taller than Don by about 6 inches and wore oil-stained blue jeans and a plain, oil-stained blue shirt with a collar.

"I'm fine, just hurt my arm trying to fix the damn thing." Don sucked in a breath between his teeth as he tried to adjust himself on the couch.

"Tried telling him to go get some x-rays." Sarah piped in from the kitchen, emerging with a fresh ice pack.

"You should listen to the little lady." Rich wrapped her in a hug and gave her a cheek kiss. "How are you doing Sarah Beth?" He pulled her at arm's length to get a good look at her, but it seemed more in a familial way.

"I'm doing just fine, Rich." She replaced Don's ice pack with the one she just grabbed from the kitchen. "This is my friend, Kreya. She's staying here for a while. Wants to change the world, this one." She poked her thumb in my direction and headed back to the kitchen to put the old ice pack back in the freezer.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kreya." He had a deeper accent than Sarah and Don did, matched with a deep voice, he sounded very kind.

"It's nice to meet you too." I smiled sheepishly at him and stuck out my hand for a handshake. "If it's okay with you guys, I would like to go and start on the flyers."

They all nodded and let me ascend the stairs, the sound of Sarah and Don bickering faded behind me as I closed my door.