Saving Katie Baker by H. Mattern Read Free Book Online Page A

stories in the morning.
    After Blake went to put away the Don Julio and get rid of the bloodied towels, he returned to find Katie completely asleep. He pondered what to do. He couldn’t just leave her lying on top of the disheveled couch cushions. He knew any gentleman would carry her to the bed so he decided that was what he would do. He gently picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, where he had already lay Micah down. He knew it would be the most comfortable spot for her.
    He wished Katie had taken him up on the t-shirt. She would’ve been more comfortable and dry before falling asleep. He ignored the idea of waking her and convincing her to change. Blake didn’t want to deal with her sarcastic remarks, so he voted to leave her alone and let her sleep as she was, in the wet and sticky bloodstained top.
    Just as Blake was pulling up the blanket that lay across the end of the bed he noticed Katie’s jeans had what appeared to be bloodstains mixed with red clay on her right pant leg. She hadn’t said anything about another injury. He tried to recount the events that happened and was sure he didn’t miss her mentioning it. He began to panic and wondered if she had another gaping wound. Blake decided he had to take a closer look at that leg.
    He didn’t want to wake the child that was still sound asleep on the bed so he decided to throw together a little pallet of blankets in the corner of the room for her to lay on while he checked out Katie’s leg. He didn’t want to take the chance that Katie’s stirring would wake the girl and cause her to panic.
    In that moment his big golden retriever, Montag, came bounding into the room.
    “So now you decide to show up? Where were you hiding? I thought the tornado had whisked you away. We’ve got to be quiet boy. They’ve had a rough day. Hmm, I wonder if you’re the reason she seems so irritated by us? If you had stayed with me yesterday, instead of running over to her house she’d probably like us a little more. Look at the trouble we’re in now.” He told the dog to go lay down and it whimpered, with it’s ears back, going right to a corner spot on the floor, as if knowing he was in some sort of trouble. Blake went searching for scissors.
    “The best way for me to have a look at that wound is to cut open the pant leg. It’s that or trying to take the pants off, and she surely wouldn’t be happy about that,” he said to the dog. Once Blake found the scissors he stood at Katie’s foot contemplating if this was really a good idea or not.
    “I have no other option.” He hoped that when she woke up, she would understand, but he had serious doubts.
    He started at the hem of her pant leg and kept cutting up towards her knee until he found the wound. This was not as easy as he thought it would be. These were some thick jeans and the scissors felt as though they were becoming dull with each snip. After what seemed like forever, he finally succeeded. Her one leg had lots of dried blood on it but he knew from experience that was a good sign. He’d been afraid he’d have to do more stitching, but from what he found, it looked as if she had simply scraped up her shin.
    Blake knew he needed to clean up the area to prevent infection and at least put a bandage on it. She must have fallen on something when she was at the house. Blake put ointment on the scrapes and a bandage. She’s going to be furious in the morning, he thought. He momentarily wished the wound was more significant to better justify his actions, but realized the absurdity of the thought.
    Blake looked at Micah, lying on the pallet of blankets that he had made for her on the floor. Montag had already found her and was sniffing all around, checking out this new creature that lay quietly snoring in his house. Blake watched the dog to ensure the introduction would be gentle; he was glad that the little girl was sleeping soundly. The small nudges from the dog didn’t seem to faze her at all.
    Blake briefly