Blindsided (27 page)

Natalie opened her cane and made her way quickly to the grain bin off the main barn hallway several yards away. She dropped the cane on the floor and reached up overhead to where her father had said he would hide the weapon. She needed both hands to lift the heavy shotgun down.

Pressing the safety, she broke open the gun and felt inside the barrels for the shells. The chambers were empty. The gun wasn’t loaded.

“Nat, hurry up! The bear is pushing the back door! If he slides it open, he’ll come in! Maybe we can climb up into the loft!”

“But the bear will climb up, too!”

“So what do we do?”

On her toes, Natalie reached above the grain bin and felt around the shelf. Spiderwebs, paint chips, old nails—yes! A box of shells. She grabbed the box, unloaded two shells, and dropped them, one at a time, into the chambers. She snapped the gun shut with a forceful, metallic sound, and again put the safety on. She’d forgotten how heavy the gun was.

“Nat, I don’t hear him anymore,” Meredith said, touching Natalie’s arm. “Maybe we should make a run for the house?”

“But what if he’s out there?” Natalie asked.

“Yeah. Oh, my gosh.”

The goats were on edge now, bleating and moving about in their pens. Natalie could hear their excited hooves against the walls.

“Let’s check Nuisance,” Natalie said. “Listen to her. She’s making a really weird noise. Where are you, Meredith?”

“Here, right in front of you.”

“Take the gun,” Natalie told her. “It’s loaded. If that bear comes in, you need to aim and fire.” She felt for the safety on the gun. “Here, let me undo the safety. Careful now—that gun is ready. Don’t point it at me!”

“Wow, it’s heavy,” Meredith said, taking the weapon.

“I know, but you can do it. Just put the stock against your shoulder.” She patted the wooden end of the gun. “Aim with the bead at the end of the barrel. It has a big kick, but if you aim right, one shot ought to do it.”

“One shot?”

“It’s a shotgun, Meredith. A whole bunch of pellets will fly out.”

For a full minute or so, they stood still, listening. The goats were still agitated and bleating, but the back door was still. Natalie picked up her cane. “Let’s get back. I need to check Nuisance.”

“What do I do with this gun?” Meredith asked.

“Put the safety back on and leave it on the table.”

It was still quiet. Thank God, Natalie thought. She hoped the bear had moved on.

In the pen, Nuisance was lying down, breathing rapidly. Natalie kneeled down and ran her hands along the goat’s side and felt a moistness at tail’s end. “Meredith, she’s having her baby!”

“Oh, great! So now we have a bear at the door and a goat having a baby! What do we do?”

“Nothing, I hope. Calm down, Meres. She should be okay. I just need to be here in case something goes wrong.”

Natalie desperately hoped the bear had gone, although she was aware it might be lured back by the smells of birth.

Nuisance groaned.

“The baby’s coming out!” Meredith shouted with alarm.

Natalie reached into the corner of the pen, where they had stacked a pile of clean towels, and grabbed one. Then she kneeled again beside Nuisance. “Take it easy, babe,” she murmured, trying to soothe the goat.

Nuisance kept groaning. Natalie could tell she was pushing. But why was this baby taking so long? Was something wrong? Natalie reached down and felt a warm liquid. Was it normal? Was it blood? Then she felt one leg, not two, coming out of the mother.

“Oh, no,” Natalie moaned. This meant the other leg was stuck inside. If her father were here, he’d reach inside the goat right now, find the other leg, and guide it out. If the leg wasn’t freed, it could tear up the mother’s insides, making her hemorrhage and bleed to death! Like Daisy, she thought, panic gripping her as she flashed back to that terrible night six years ago and the pool of blood when Nuisance was born. It couldn’t happen again, could it? No! She did not want Nuisance—or her baby—to die.

Natalie whipped off her coat and pushed her right sleeve back above her elbow. Her dad always took off his wedding ring when he had to do this so it didn’t catch on anything. Quickly, Natalie pulled the pearl ring off her right finger and shoved it deep inside the pocket of her jeans.

“What are you going to do?” Meredith asked.

“One leg is caught,” Natalie replied. Then, taking a full breath, Natalie wiggled her hand in—then her arm—trying to follow the kid’s slimy, protruding leg. It was wet and warm inside the goat. Natalie did not want to think about it. She just wanted to get in there and find the other leg.

Suddenly, there was a solid
thump
! against the back doors.

“Nat, the bear’s back! He’s banging the door! What do I do?”

“Meredith, I can’t help you! Get the gun. If he comes in, fire!”

Meredith left the pen. Natalie heard the latch click.

Another loud smashing sound at the back doors. The bear was throwing his full weight against it.

“Natalie! I’m scared! I can’t do this! Let’s hide in the loft!”

“Meredith, I can’t see! You can climb up there—or you can do what you have to do and help me!”

Even then, even in the frenzy of that moment, those words resonated with meaning. But there was no time to dwell on it.

Natalie had to concentrate on what she was feeling because she was inside Nuisance up to her elbow. Even eyesight wouldn’t help her now. She was groping in the darkness. All at once her fingers felt a little hoof. One tiny, little hoof. She ran her fingers along the leg until she had a grip, then carefully pushed it back and straightened it against the other leg. Slowly, keeping a grip on both feet, she pulled her arm back.

Meredith screamed. “It’s trying to open the doors!”

“Pop the safety and get your aim up!”

“I can’t do this!” Meredith cried.

Gently, Natalie tugged on the baby goat’s legs. When her arm was out again, she let Nuisance do the rest, and within seconds a small, slimy goat slid out into Natalie’s waiting hands. She laid it on the ground and waited for Nuisance to turn and lick her new baby. Seven big licks and she’d have it cleaned off. Then she’d nudge the baby to stand up.

Things were quiet again. Relieved, Natalie stood up and wiped her arm and hands with a towel. “You okay, Meres? She asked.

No answer. Had she gone up into the loft?

The silence was unsettling. Even the goats were quiet.

“Meredith?” she called urgently. “Are you there?”

Still no answer.

Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass and a horrible, heavy crash.

A shotgun blast filled the air and Natalie dropped to her knees.

N
atalie loved listening to her mother read the article from the Oakland newspaper. There were more interviews, too; three other reporters called and one came out to the house. There was even a television spot in the barn with lights set up and cables running all over the place. The goats went nuts with excitement. Meredith said they were climbing over one another to watch.

“You are truly an amazing person!” the television reporter gushed to Natalie. “Loading that gun and delivering goats even though you’re blind!”

“No!” Natalie protested, almost laughing. “No, I am
not
an amazing person. Please don’t write that. I’m a girl who grew up on a goat farm, and I know about guns because I once hunted with my father. It just so happens that I am blind, too.”

Natalie turned to where she knew Meredith stood beside her. “Meredith is the one who’s amazing, because she had never fired a shotgun before!”

Behind both of them stood Natalie’s father, who had a hand on each of their shoulders. “I couldn’t be more proud of these girls.”

Part of Natalie was actually sad for the bear, which turned out to have had rabies. It was just a living creature, she thought, who happened to get sick. But the shooting and the births—life and death at the same time—had marked a turning point for her. She knew that if she could do what she had to do that night, she could do just about anything.

But no more deals with God, she decided as she rode the bus back to the school in Baltimore on a frigid Sunday afternoon in mid-January. From now on she would put aside the anger, the doubt, and all the regrets, and just try to move forward.

Good memories from her extended holiday break kept her warm on the cold, bumpy ride back to Baltimore: the time spent with Meredith at the mall picking out fuzzy socks and earrings, and her new friend, a furry, one-eared cat she had named Oliver (for Oliver Twist, the Charles Dickens character who also lived through hard times). Not to mention the three kids, which Natalie’s mother said looked just like Nuisance. Natalie named the two little does Hunky and Dory, and called the feisty young buck Mr. Lee. And then, of course, she recalled the moments spent with Jake in her own living room, talking about school and what she had yet to learn, and how they might finally be together again on the student council, perhaps as early as next year, but probably not until senior year.

“But I think we ought to get together this summer to start planning,” he told Natalie. He touched her hand again, only this time he held it for a moment and even played with her pearl ring. Natalie’s heart beat double time.

“As soon as I learn JAWS, I’ll e-mail,” she promised.

Natalie felt on the bus seat beside her to be sure she had her new cane, already identified with the whistle from her old cane. She touched her backpack, too. There was a small, refrigerated pack of goat cheese for Arnab, and a tin of chocolate chip cookies she had made to share in the dorm. There was her completed essay on gun control, which she had carefully Brailled out, and, attached to the essay, a newspaper clipping. Also in her backpack was a note from Miss Audra with a date on it—a date for when they would visit the Baltimore City Jail to try to make a voice identification of the two men who had attacked Natalie and Bree. Miss Audra said that in addition to assault, there was now talk of charging the men with manslaughter, or possibly second-degree murder.