And then Mitch remembered an incident, just a few years ago, when Frankie was six months old, and Mitch had stupidly placed him on the kitchen table in his infant seat while he was making a snack. The game was on and it was halftime. Mitch was watching their three boys, and he figured he’d whip up a sandwich just before the second half. His sixth sense told him he shouldn’t place the baby on the table (okay, Carolyn’s rule was that the infant seat should never be placed on the table), but he reasoned that he was just a few feet away, and it would only be for a minute or two.

He kept up a running dialogue with the baby, glancing at him every few seconds to keep him amused and make sure he was okay. He didn’t notice, however, that Frankie’s rocking had caused the chair to creep to the edge of the table. In the instant it took to cut the sandwich in half, the chair tipped over and he smacked his head on the tile floor just before Mitch could grab him. That awful crunching sound would haunt Mitch for years.

He picked Frankie up and screamed for Carolyn. At first the baby was wailing, and then he suddenly stopped crying and went silent. When Mitch and Carolyn felt the back of his head they were convinced serious damage had been done, and so they rushed everyone into the car and Carolyn raced to the hospital while Mitch sat in the backseat and begged his son to cry or make any noise at all, but he just looked at his father with a terrifyingly blank stare.

After the CT scan, the specialist said there was indeed a fracture, but the only thing they could do was to wait and monitor the progress. If his brain swelled, they would have to operate, but there was a possibility he would be fine and it would heal naturally. However, it was obvious the entire medical staff was mightily concerned at little Frankie’s total lack of responsiveness.

Mitch and Carolyn were beside themselves with worry, but all they could do was wait and pray. Then Mitch realized that he should call Pastor Tim, Tim McConnell, the associate pastor of their church. The indefatigable Tim immediately agreed to drive directly to the hospital, despite the fact he was on another ministry call over an hour away, way up in Bainbridge, and it was now snowing heavily and well past ten o’clock when they reached him.

Mitch and Carolyn were sitting quietly when they heard a flurry of activity, accompanied by shouts of greetings, and presumed Pastor Tim must have arrived. They immediately felt better as soon as they laid eyes on him.