Sol moaned. “I need more ice,” he murmured.

“Okay.” This might be a losing battle, she thought, going around the bed and lifting the ice bag off his goose egg, covered with his damp hair. She left the room, silently asking God to help her know what to do to keep Sol awake . . . and safe from a coma.

———

By the time Ellie returned, Sol was struggling to prop himself up with two pillows. “Here, I’ll help ya,” she said, carrying two ice bags, one for his head and one for his hand. She placed them on the bed.

With her help, Sol slowly sat up and scooted back closer to the headboard to elevate his head. He reached for her hand to help him gradually lower back against the pillows, then smiled faintly. “Denki, Ellie. That’s better.”

“I should’ve raised ya sooner,” she said, then left the room to check for more pillows in another closet. She returned with two more. “Here we are,” she said as he moved forward a little so she could push them down behind him.

Once he was settled, she placed one ice bag on his right hand and the other on his head, which he’d tilted back. Then, sitting in the cane-back chair again, she hoped he was more comfortable in this position.

Sol was quiet for a while, but soon he said he disliked bothering her again, but he needed relief from the throbbing in his head. “My Mamm uses cold vinegar on a cloth and wraps it around her head sometimes. Might that help?”

“I’m afraid that might sting, if not burn your wounds,” she told him. “But what ’bout just an ice-cold cloth around your head?”

He smiled faintly. “You could be a nurse, Ellie.”

“S’pose so.” She smiled as she headed out of the room. No one had ever said such a thing to her.

By the time Dawdi returned from the Bontrager farm and Ellie had bound Sol’s forehead with cold cloths, it was suppertime. She asked Sol if he wanted anything to eat, but he asked only for some chamomile tea. For comfort, she thought, knowing he’d suffered trauma. So while Dawdi sat and talked with Sol, Ellie heated water in the teakettle to make some blended chamomile and lavender tea. Dawdi kept some in the cupboard next to his kitchen sink.

After making a hot sandwich for Dawdi with leftover roast beef, she located his tray and placed the sandwich and some coleslaw on it, along with a glass of lemonade and Sol’s hot tea. As for herself, she would wait to eat once Dat and Mamm arrived home. They must have stayed longer to visit at Onkel Amos’s than they’d planned, maybe even for supper.