Passages
He caught up to her at the scene of an accident that had just occurred. A large pickup truck had gone out of control, and crashed into a public transportation stop. It had come to rest with its front end precariously balanced on what was left of the wood, and concrete bench. The people who'd been waiting at the stop were standing around, talking nervously among themselves as they recovered from their shock. None of them had been injured. The driver of the truck was still seated at the wheel, and appeared to be asleep with his head slumped forward. From the time she'd arrived, Jasmin had stood off to one side, observing the scene intently as if searching for something, and then she moved.
She went directly to the driver's side of the truck. The man inside didn't waken when she opened the door, and it now appeared that he might be unconscious. Jasmin's attention immediately fastened onto him as she leaned inside. He was an overweight, balding man in his mid-fiftys. He looked like a badly weathered, over-the-hill construction worker.
Jasmin looked him over, then held her open left hand before his face. She didn't touch him, but maintained a slight distance from contact as she slowly lowered her hand over him, moving it from side to side as she went. She stopped when her hand was over his mid-chest area, pausing there for a few moments, frowning in concentration. She then hurriedly moved her hand over the front, and to either side, of his substantial middle before returning it to his mid-chest area. Her eyes widened as she slowly moved her hand closer.
"Problem . . . ," she uttered very softly.
Her fingers began to tremble as they got closer. They came to touch the dirtied T-shirt that covered the man's chest.
" . . . here," she whispered as she pressed her palm firmly against the lower portion of man's sternum.
Instantly, Jasmin sucked in a gasp of air, and was thrown back violently as if from the force of a powerful shock. Her back struck the inside panel of the truck's open door so hard that the hinges gave way. The door swung open wide to crash loudly against the truck's front fender. In spite of this, Jasmin had maintained her hand where it was on the man's chest. Having seen her unexpected motion, Ray came running.
"Jasmin!" he cried.
"No!" she ordered him in a ghastly, pain filled voice. Her eyes were wide, her bared teeth tightly clenched. "Stay back!" she could barely tell him through her frozen jaw.
Not knowing what else to do, Ray obeyed her, and remained a few feet off. He looked on helplessly as she seemed to be in the midst of some horrible struggle. With her back pressed against the truck's door frame, her enormous chest heaved for breath as her powerful legs trembled with effort to keep her erect, all while maintaining her left hand to the man's sternum.
After awhile she began to move with what appeared to be superhuman effort. She pulled herself forward with slow, agonizing progress. It appeared as if she were trying to move in the face of a hurricane force wind. Her straining muscles looked as though they were about to burst from sheer exertion.
Eventually, Jasmin succeeded in positioning herself to where she faced the man again. Once there, her effort seemed to ease, and she was able to recover her breath. Maintaining her one hand firmly in place on the man's chest, she extended her other hand behind his head, and lightly pinched the muscles at the base of his skull.
"Clear," she said softly.
The difficulty of what she was doing evaporated from her. She even managed a faint smile.
"Come on," she said as if she was coaxing the unconscious man to do something.
After a moment, he drew a noticeable breath; his first since she'd encountered him.
"That's it," she uttered softly in encouragement.
He drew another breath.
"That's it," she said again.
The man began breathing normally as a strange fatigue began to overtake Jasmin. Her hand dropped from his chest, and slid down over his paunch.
Overcome by inexplicable exhaustion, Jasmin fainted, and fell across the man's lap. The dead weight of her limp body slowly pulled her out of the truck's cab as her knees sank to the pavement. Her body's own momentum sat her back on her heels. Her massive arms dropped to her sides. She paused in that position for a moment with her head lolled forward, then crumpled over sideways to the ground, and rolled onto her back.
Ray stood in a state of shock. In spite of his best efforts, he understood nothing of what had just happened, and now his Jasmin lay senseless in the street. He rushed to kneel beside her, mindless of what action to take. He leaned over her, gently calling to her as he stroked her hair. He was completely lost. He recovered enough of himself to note that she was still breathing, so he took her hand, and shook it gently, calling to her all the while.
The stimulus seemed to work as Jasmin's breathing appeared to deepen, and her head began to move. Her eyes remained closed, but she moaned weakly, and started making little sounds. Her lips moved as though she were trying to speak, but none of her utterances were coherent.
After a few moments, the cobblestones of her tummy suddenly erupted in tight contraction as one huge arm and shoulder shot up from the ground, and Jasmin laboriously raised herself up onto a hip, and an elbow. Ray tried to get her to lie down again, but she waved him off. She demanded of herself to rise. Slowly she struggled, and, with Ray's assistance, she forced herself to stand using the side of the truck for support.
She regained enough consciousness to find herself looking inside of the truck's cab again. Her eyes saw the man, and, for some reason, watched him, her congested mind unable to wonder why. She saw him breathing, resting peacefully. She became to wonder why, and then she recognized, and then remembered. She could smile, now that she remembered, and her own breath then came easier. With Ray standing attentively behind her, Jasmin stood erect with her face uplifted. Her enormous chest heaved a tremendous sigh, and with it, all remaining burdens left her.
Though still weak, Jasmin was feeling more, and more revived, almost by the second. She could feel her entire body positively swelling with renewed strength, and it felt so wonderful, so right. The extraordinary sensation made her refreshed, and even light headed as she turned to her distraught lover, and giggled girlishly.
Her changed behavior only caused Ray more concern to wonder what new thing had just come over her. Jasmin still didn't speak, possibly she couldn't speak, but she reached up and, as if she was playing, pushed him away lightly, but forcefully.
She pushed perhaps a bit too hard since, in doing so, she compromised her own uncertain balance, and leaned back against the doorway of the truck. Discovering herself in this position made her frown at first, and then she started giggling all over again. She righted herself, without apparent difficulty, but then she walked unsteadily to where she had dispatched her man, moving as if she was drunk. Once she'd gotten close enough, she reached out, and lightly stroked his chest, giggling, and laughing all the while.
"Alright now," Jasmin finally said in a low husky voice as she stumbled away from Ray. Some five paces off she stopped, and, standing solidly now, looked off to who knew where with a hand lightly pressed to her cheek.
With her back to him, Ray wondered at her stillness. He approached, and tentatively reached up to touch her shoulders. Surprised, Jasmin spun around to face him. She seemed to require some time to recognize him, then, as her strength returned to her in waves, she clasped him firmly at his sides, and lightly tossed him up into the air, catching him against herself as he came down.
"Put me down," Ray demanded as she hugged him lovingly.
She looked up at him. She was now crying for some reason.
"I want you here against me," she sobbed.
"Impy, please put me down," he insisted. "We have to find out what's happening with you."
Reluctantly, Jasmin granted him his wish, letting him slide along her front as she returned him to the ground.
"He's alright," she said, once Ray's feet were solidly placed again.
"What's alright?" he asked perplexedly. "Who?"
"He was gone," she told him, wiping the tears from her face, "but he's alright now."
"What are you talking about?" Ray asked, fearing that she'd lost her mind.
"Him," said Jasmin, turning to the man in the truck who still sat quietly with his eyes closed where she'd left him. "He was gone," she said, and then she looked back at Ray as if to assure him, "but he's alright now."
"Gone where?" Ray asked, completely lost. "But how?"
A frown of confusion creased Jasmin's brow.
"I don't know," she confessed. She appeared to struggle mentally, then said, "I just . . . did."
Ray saw her eyes become unfocused. The internal agitation reflected in her face appeared to gradually intensify, and then he witnessed as every cloud of doubt appeared to be magically swept from her mind, and she regarded him clearly for the first time.
"I did," she stated with unwonted sureness, and authority.
Ray exhaled his tension, glad to have her back from wherever she'd been, but still he wondered if she was fully returned.
"Are you, uh . . . okay now?" he asked her cautiously.
Jasmin seemed to visibly wonder about his question, causing him to think that she mightn't've either heard, or understood him. A furrow of curiosity creased her brow as she asked him, "What do you mean 'now'?"
Ray's eyes explored her face. Didn't she realize what had just happened, or what she'd just done? he asked himself.
"I'm fine," Jasmin then told him.
"Are you sure?" he insisted.
She looked at him curiously.
"What's the big deal?" she asked him. She seemed nettled by his persistence on the matter.
All of Ray's tension suddenly returned as he began to wonder if she was developing multiple personalities. He didn't want to, but he had to ask, "Do you have any idea of what's happened?"
His query made Jaswmin travel inward once again. A second search revealed that she didn't know what had happened, but, then again, she did. A part of her did know, and yet another part of her didn't know. There was no split in personality, but rather an awareness that held itself aloof from her conscious understanding. All she truly knew at that point was that something right had happened due to her.
Jasmin smiled at his concern, took his fingers in her own, then closed her eyes, and leaned closer. Ray reciprocated, and their foreheads met.
"Deedee," she told him tenderly, "I'm fine."
Comfortably assured for the moment, Ray tightened his grip on her, and then he raised his head, and kissed her where she'd touched him. He let his lips rest against the spot. Looking out just over the top of her head, he saw the truck a distance behind her. His mental gearing began to change.
"Do you . . . think you could move that truck?" he wondered out loud.
Jasmin leaned away, and looked up at him, then turned her attention to the direction of his gaze.
"No," she answered when she saw the truck. She turned back to him. "It's a standard shift. I noticed it when I was inside."
"Well uhm . . . ," Ray intoned as he continued to eye the truck. His voice kind of trailed off.
"You know I can't handle a stick," Jasmin told him rhetorically.
He was not finding this easy, but pressed on none the less.
"Well, I didn't mean actually drive it, but, uh . . . you know . . . "
Jasmin eyed him suspiciously.
"No, I don't know," she said, "and I'm gettin' t' think that I don't want to know."
He was expecting to encounter resistance, but still . . .
"Ya think, uh . . . ya think you could, uh . . . pick it up?" he asked her.
Jasmin barked a brief, nervous laugh, and stepped away from him. She knew her bulldog had latched onto something.
"Uhh-no," she stated firmly.
"Wul why . . . ," he persisted.
"No," she restated.
"I think you could handle it," he said, trying to challenge her.
"In yer dreams."
"That's beside the point," he countered.
"Do you have any idea how much that thing must weigh?" she asked.
"And that's beside your point," Ray countered again.
"No," she said with finality.
"Why not?" he asked with an anything, but innocent shrug.
"No," she said with more finality.
"Wul just . . . ,"
"No," she said again with even more finality.
" . . . give it a try," he suggested.
"Ray, it's a truck, for God's sake!" Jasmin pointed out, tiring of his persistence.
But he was now convinced.
"Jasmin, you can do this," he told her.
"No. No," she maintained, shaking her head. She gestured as she strove to inform him, "That's a truck. I'm a woman. End of discussion."
Now he was in her face.
"The model's math, you're geometry, discussion reopened."
She looked to the heavens for assistance.
"Do you remember the doorways you almost broke?" he asked.
"Do you have to bring that up?"
"Three pounds shy of three hundred, and almost all of it muscle."
"And do you have to bring that up?"
"You're a generator," he insisted, "you're getting stronger."
Jasmin stood before Ray with her mouth open, trying to respond, but her mind was drawing only blanks. Finally, she gave up, and threw the only argumentative shot she had, "I can't talk to you," and then turned to walk away.
She hadn't gotten four paces when the perched end of the pickup truck dropped suddenly, and then there was screaming. A woman's toddler had wandered from her sight, and wound up underneath the part of the bench that the truck was setting on. When she'd gone to retrieve the boy, he'd moved away out of her reach, thinking that his mother's gesture was a game. It was at that moment that the wreck of the bench collapsed. The supported front end of the truck dropped, pinning both mother, and child under it.
In an instant, both Ray and Jasmin were at the center of the new crisis. A couple of men were lying on the pavement underneath the truck, trying to assess the situation. Ray joined them on his belly, and, after some discussion between the three of them, and after trying a couple things, it looked anything, but good. Because of the way the woman, and her son, were caught, the truck couldn't be moved either forward, or backward without killing one, or the other. To make the situation worse, the truck had to be moved soon, because the mother's ribs were slowly being crushed.
"Is there anything we can do?" Jasmin asked as Ray emerged from under the truck.
"There's only one way this thing can go," he told her, "and that's straight up."
"How are we going to do that?" she breathed helplessly.
"You Jasmin," he told her sternly. "You're going to do it. You are going to have to move this truck."
"Ray, I can't," she whined fretfully, "I . . . "
"You can't," he spat at her with contempt, finally at the end of his patience.
"I . . . I, I don't know . . . "
"You can't, huh," he said, his anger mounting. "Well if you can't," he told her, "then I will!" And he got to his feet, and left her.
"Ray?" Jasmin asked desperately, looking after him. "Ray, wait."
She rose, and followed him to the truck's front end where he readied himself to do the impossible.
"You can't, huh?" he stated, challenging her.
"I . . . ," she answered, feeling lost.
"Well, screw can't!" he shouted at her. He squatting down low, and thrust his forearms underneath the bumper as far as they would go. He then attempted to lift the truck by himself, but he could scarcely budge it.
"Come on!" he commanded her. "Get yer ass in here! You expect me to do this by myself."
Being more afraid of him than she was of her own limitations, Jasmin did what she was told. She stood beside him, and imitated his posture; stooping low, and extending her both forearms under the bumper as far as they would go. As her fingers groped to find something to hang onto underneath, Ray stood up when he spotted two beefy looking men standing at the scene.
"You two!" he barked at them. "Yeah you! Comir! Come on, get in here!"
The two men responded to the call, and ran to place themselves to Jasmin's other side. They put themselves to the task as she found the truck's tow brackets, and managed to hook a couple fingers into the hole of each one. Ray took his place again beside Jasmin, and then all of them then strove to push themselves upward.
Jasmin tightened her grip on the tow brackets. The weight of the truck pressed hard against the flesh of all their forearms, but then it moved. The front end began to lift. Just a bit at first, then progressively higher as the they applied more of their strength to it.
The truck rose slowly, but steadily in response to their combined efforts. The pressure was gradually removed from the trapped woman's ribs. The truck's suspension groaned as the springs stretched, and then one front wheel cleared the ground. Higher, higher, and then the other front wheel cleared.
"Okay, she's clear," called the one man among them who could see the injured woman. Instinctively, he left the others so he could assist in getting the debris off of the woman, and see if she could be moved from under the truck. His companion expected to assume his partner's share of the load, but then he felt the pressure on his forearms becoming lighter. He was surprised to notice the truck continuing to rise, even without any effort on his part. Glancing over at the huge woman beside him, he saw that the full weight of the truck was now on her thickly muscled arms. He backed away in shock to see that she was still lifting the truck, and continued to lift it until she was standing fully erect. He then saw the man who'd shouted at him appear from around her other side. He wasn't lifting, or holding anything at all. This monstrous woman was holding up the forward end of a two ton pickup truck completely by herself.
The man looked back to the unusual looking woman to see her breath a sigh. Her face seemed to be completely calm, and relaxed. He then noticed the truck lurched upward slightly, and saw that the woman had hunched her enormous shoulders. He watched as she rotated her shoulders back, then lowered them again, the truck in her grasp following her motion. She then leisurely stretched her neck out by tilting her head to one side briefly, then to the other side. After she was finished with her stretch, she just stood there, bearing the weight with apparent comfort, and, with what seemed like, hardly any effort. He then saw the woman's head turn in his direction. Her eyes saw him. He'd never seen a look of such purity, such innocence. Unconsciously he took another backward step as he hurriedly crossed himself, and softly uttered, "Holy mother of God!"
Jasmin had seen, and heard, the man just before he ran away. His words, and gesture, brought a tidal wave of self consciousness washing over her as she fully realized what she was doing. She tentatively looked around at what she could see of the scene's periphery. Everywhere her eyes darted she could see people looking, and pointing at her. She knew that what she was doing was humanly impossible, and their looks made her burn with shame, and embarrassment. More than anything, she wanted to run away, and hide herself from all the inquisitive eyes that were watching her so unmercifully, but she knew that she couldn't, because others were depending on her, and her alone.
Ray had, meanwhile, gone to see what was happening with the two victims. When he returned to give Jasmin a report, he found another victim.
"Are you alright?" he asked her as he passed a reassuring hand along her back. The way she looked concerned him greatly.
"I'm holding up the front end of a truck," Jasmin sobbed.
He stoked her back in an effort to comfort her.
"I know," he said. "I'm surprised too, okay?"
She didn't answer.
"Are you alright?" he asked again.
She wasn't, but she answered, "Yes," anyway.
It wasn't easy for him to tell her, "Jasmin," he began, then, "Impy. They got the kid out okay, but the woman can't be moved." He had to pause a moment, but he knew she was listening. "Do you think you could move the truck over a bit so it's not on top of her anymore?"
She already felt bad enough about what she'd done, and now another impossible request. She knew that she could do what was being asked of her, the truck actually felt light in her grasp, but she couldn't reconcile her tremendous strength with the people's stares.
"I'll help if you want," Ray told her.
Jasmin saw his arms disappear under the bumper beside her.
"Come on," he gently coaxed her, "we'll do it together, okay?"
"No" she said, not wanting him to hurt himself. "It's alright," she assured him. "I'm okay," she tried to assure herself. She struggled to get herself under control, and stop her crying as Ray respectfully backed away. "Which way do I need to go?" she asked him.
"Over to your right," he answered.
"Okay," she said, looking about herself as she prepared to move.
"I'll let you know when to stop, okay?"
"'kay."
The truck jostled slightly as Jasmin reset her grip on the tow brackets. The movement caused the people tending to the injured woman to voice concern, but Ray told them that there was no danger. Jasmin then carefully side stepped the truck over to her right. Ray told her when the woman was clear, and it was safe for her to set the truck down. Again he offered his assistance, and again she shyly declined. He watched her as she lowered the truck with what seemed like a minimum of effort, and was, yet again, astonished by how strong she had become.
Once her work was done, Jasmin freed her fingers from one tow bracket, then sat down heavily on the pavement in front of the truck. She leaned her massive body against the truck's bumper, then drew herself up into a ball, and tried hard to disappear. It was the only way she could think of to avoid the growing number of people who were staring, and pointing at her. She seemed to neither know, nor care that her other fingers were caught in the other tow bracket's hole. Ray was at her side the whole time, giving what comfort he could.
"Are you okay now?" Ray asked her.
"No," she moaned. "I don't know." She sounded terrible.
He noticed her one hand still under the truck.
"What about your hand?" he asked. "Is your hand okay?"
His question brought her back to a part of the reality she sought to escape.
"My fingers are stuck," she told him without concern, or care.
Ray briefly looked for more from her, but she so wanted to be away from where she was. He left her long enough to crawl under the truck, and gently worked her fingers loose. Once free, her hand merely dropped to the pavement. It pained him to see her strong, beautiful hand lying on the asphalt, limp and unmoving. He emerged to face her again, but her head was deeply bowed. Her hair had found a way around her shoulder, and flowed like a silken black veil over the length of her enormous upper arm. Ray reached up, and lightly stroked the hair that covered her massive shoulder.
"Impy?" he called to her softly.
Jasmin looked up at him through a glaze of tears. Once her focus included him, she asked, "What am I?" Her voice sounded so weak, so helpless.
Ray was incredulous as he regarded her. Her face was burdened with hurt, and sadness. It was like she had no inkling of what she'd done, but rather felt that what she'd done was somehow wrong.
"Ray, what am I?" he heard her ask again.
He tenderly cupped her head in both his hands to make sure she was looking at him.
"You're a wonderful person who's just saved two lives," he told her.
He saw her face relax a bit, but only just a bit.
"You are a very, very wonderful person."
She'd heard him, and then believed him. His assurance lightened her oppressive self consciousness. She opened herself to him, and felt the security, and comfort of his embrace as Ray gathered her into his arms.
"Everyone's looking at me," she told him quietly in a frightened voice as she tried to hide herself against him. "I don't want them to look at me."
Ray already knew that now, more than ever, Jasmin was being subjected to the relentless stares of dozens of people who had gathered around the scene. What he hadn't realized before was that those stares were affecting her so deeply. She'd always had a dread of attracting attention to herself, and now, because of how she looked, and especially because of what she'd done, she was now the recipient of so much of just the kind of attention she dreaded most. He didn't want to leave her, but he kissed her sweetly, and said, "I'll see what I can do," then he stood up to face the crowd.
"Alright, show's over," Ray announced as he approached the onlookers. "Go on. Leave her alone, and go on about your own business."
"Who the hell are you?" a man at the forefront of the group wanted to know.
Ray's response was both immediate, and ferocious.
"I helped out here!" he raged at the man as he gestured to the scene. "What the fuck did you do? Huh? Where were you?" He then turned on the crowd as a whole. "Where the fuck were any of you!" He picked out a woman who was close by. "You," he addressed her as he advanced, "where were you?" The woman hesitated. Ray exploded. "Where the fuck were you, huh!" He then addressed the crowd again, referring to his beloved. "She did something nice here, and what've any of you done? She's done something really nice, and you look at her like she's a criminal. Leave her alone! She doesn't deserve this! Go on! Leave her alone."
By confronting the people with their own morbid curiosity, and inaction, Ray succeeded in shaming most of them into leaving. As they reluctantly, resentfully, drifted off, he returned to Jasmin to see that she wasn't really noticing much of anything anymore.
"I wanna go home," she pleaded softly. "Please take me home."
He helped her to her feet, and maintained a protective arm around as much of her as he could. He did this to reassure her, but also with the intent of leading her, and he prayed that she wouldn't resist.
"We're going to go home," he told her, "but I want you to see something first, okay?"
"Noo . . . ," she protested weakly. She stopped where she was, and nearly folded herself to the ground again.
He knew he couldn't physically move her against her will. She was simply too big, and powerful for that. He could only try to coax her into trusting him.
"It's going to be alright, okay?" he gently urged her. "You're going to be alright. There's just something you need to see before we go, okay?"
Jasmin didn't answer, but stood up again with her big shoulders slumped forward. She kept her head bowed, and let him guide her where he would. She trusted him, but she couldn't help feeling that she was only going to be subjected to more indignity. Jasmin kept her eyes lowered, and avoided looking at anyone. She didn't want to see, or hear, anything of where Ray was taking her. She could hear voices, and she could hear Ray talking to people, but she didn't, didn't want to hear what was being said. She could feel his gentle grasp on her tighten slightly. She slowed her pace when he did. She stopped when he did. She didn't want to stop. She felt humiliated, and afraid. She wanted to go home. She wanted to hide herself. Hide that she was gross, and ugly. Why had he stopped? she was wondering as she dared to raise her eyes a bit, and then she saw a pair of tiny legs come into her view.
"Look at him," she heard Ray coax her tenderly.
Hesitantly, Jasmin complied. She raised her head enough to see a toddler held in someone's arms immediately before her. All feelings of mortification left her as her eyes fastened on the boy. She looked him over briefly, noting that he bore some minor scratches, then she focused her attention on his face. There was a large bump on his forehead which he no longer seemed concerned about since he was quiet, and looking at her intently.
"This is the little guy you saved," Ray informed her, watching her closely all the while. "He wouldn't be here now if it weren't for you."
Jasmin had heard Ray, though she gave no sign, her attention being focused on the boy. Her morbid preoccupation with herself faded as she studied the child. He was a handsome little fellow, being well formed, and without flaws, or blemishes. His dark eyes seemed to harbor an unusual intelligence.
Am I responsible for his continuance? Jasmin wondered. She expanded her view to include the man who was holding the boy. She noticed that he was watching her. Their eyes met briefly before the man looked down at the boy in his arms.
"You owe this big lady a whole lotta thanks, baby," he said happily to the child, and then he returned his gaze to Jasmin. She noticed that he was smiling at her warmly.
Jasmin thanked the man with a hesitant smile. As she tentatively reached up to touch the child, he twisted his little body suddenly, and lunged toward her, throwing his tiny arms around her upraised wrist. His action caught both grown-ups by surprise, but they reacted quickly to return the little guy's center of gravity to the man's supporting arm.
"Hoo!" the man laughed as he regarded Jasmin. "Looks like you've got yourself an admirer."
Jasmin smiled shyly at the man, then focused her attention back on the toddler who still held her wrist captive. She gently freed herself, and tenderly stroked the child's back. Feeling Ray's guiding hand on her, Jasmin moved where he directed her. She saw people passing from her view in front of her as she proceeded with Ray at her side. She stopped when she felt his hand tighten on her shoulder, and then he came into her line of vision.
"And this is his mother," he told her, indicating a woman lying quietly on the pavement, her head cushioned by someone's rolled up jacket. "They say she's got some broken ribs, but she's going to be okay."
Jasmin looked on the woman, whose eyes were closed. She judged her to be slightly younger than herself. Through the woman's obvious pain she could see that her face was burdened with too much care. The woman's eyes opened as Jasmin knelt beside her. She seemed, at once, to recognize who the massive woman was. As well as she was able to with her damaged chest, the woman spoke to her. She spoke in Spanish, which Jasmin do not understand. She studied the woman's face intently, trying to glean her meaning, but then she had to look up, and raise a pleading hand.
"What's she saying?" she quietly asked someone, anyone.
A man crouched beside her, and softly asked the woman to repeat what she'd just said. The woman raised a hand which Jasmin lightly took into her own. Though she was in intense pain, the woman started speaking again, and the man translated for Jasmin as she spoke.
"She says that you've been send by God," he translated, "and she thanks you for saving her, and her son. She says you will always be in her prayers."
Almost against her will, Jasmin expelled a heartfelt sigh, and fought hard to hold back her tears. The two women looked on one another, communing in the privacy of silence as their joined hands gently pressed, and touched. Jasmin recovered her emotions, and lowered her hand to place it on the woman's injured ribs. She could feel the injury through her touch. The woman held her gaze. Jasmin smiled, and then her powerful hand pressed her firmly.
The woman's eyes closed, and she groaned loudly. The onlookers who'd been observing the two were aghast at what seemed like an inexplicable act of cruelty. Several men, including Ray, lunged forward. They grabbed Jasmin wherever they could. They tried to pull her back, tried to move her hand, to break her grip. They tried, but Jasmin's strength alone was greater than their sum. Throughout all their efforts, she remained unmoving, and unmoved. At length, Ray drew close to her ear.
"Jasmin," he implored her quietly, "you're hurting her."
But Jasmin remained calm, even peaceful as she observed the woman in her grasp.
"No," she murmured in a strange, sure voice.
She maintained her hand on the woman who lay quietly on the pavement with her eyes closed. Her head was turned sharply to one side, her short breaths came, and went, quickly through her open mouth. Strangely, very strangely though, she appeared to be experiencing no discomfort.
And then the woman's chest suddenly swelled with a very deep breath, and she sighed aloud. Everyone around the scene was astonished to see that someone with broken ribs could breathe like that. The woman's breath made Jasmin smile, and she let her hand caress its way down the woman's side. After another deep breath, the woman came to breathing normally again. Her eyes opened, and she immediately began looking about. Seeing Jasmin still beside her, the woman began speaking excitedly. She seemed to be greatly agitated. The man who'd acted as translator before leaned closer to hear what she was saying. The woman spoke so fast he had to struggle to understand her, but when he did, he was amazed at what he heard.
"She says it's a miracle," he translated. "It's a miracle from God." He then turned his astonished eyes toward Jasmin as he continued reporting what the woman was saying. "She says that you're a saint . . . that you're of God Himself."
Jasmin regarded the man with stunned disbelief. She was speechless, and was even a little confused. She was wondering if she'd heard right, if the man had heard right, and then she felt something. Looking down at the source of the sensation, she saw that the woman had grasped her hand in both of her own, and was kissing it repeatedly as she cried. Jasmin was completely at a loss, with no idea of what to do, or say. She came to her senses, and gently drew her hand away from the woman's lips as she leaned over her, and stroked her hair. The two women regarded each other briefly, then Jasmin raised herself to lightly kiss the woman's forehead. It was the only way she could think of to repay such gratitude. She leaned back then, and kindly addressed the man who was translating for them.
"Tell her that I'm happy she's feeling better," she asked of the man, "and that I'm only glad that I could help."
Jasmin looked back upon the woman, and said goodbye with a smile, and a touch. She said a quiet, "Thank you," to the man, then stood up, and moved away. Ray materialized at her side as she made her way through the gathered crowd of curious onlookers. She immediately entwined her massive arm with his, and held him close to her, but she no longer took any notice of the unwanted looks that came her way.
Hers and Ray's hands clutched each other in tight embrace. Was it any wonder why she felt the way she did about him? He'd known exactly what to do to bring her out of herself. True, he was a bugger, his was sneaky, he was underhanded, but it was only because he cared so much about her. She reflected on this, and the recent events, then looked in his direction.
"Thanks," she told him in quietly, "I needed that."
Ray deliberately kept his sites forward, but she could see that little smirk of confidence he'd sometimes get when he knew an action of his had turned out well.
"Any time," he assured her casually.
They turned around the back end of the truck, and nearly collided with the man who'd been driving it. He looked a bit flustered, and not the least bit happy. He took a moment to look Jasmin up and down briefly.
"I've been lookin' fer you," he informed her truculently.
"Wul, hi there," Jasmin greeted him cheerfully. "It's good to see you up, and alive."
The man stared at her for a confused moment, then remembered his purpose, and pointed to the damaged door of his truck.
"Did you do that?" he demanded.
Jasmin gave a tokenistic glance in the direction the man had indicated.
"Mmmm," she intoned noncommittally, before returning her attention to him. "What are you referring to?" she cautiously inquired.
"Aw don't give me that," the man said. "There're people who saw the whole thing."
"Oh, really?" Jasmin asked as her eyebrows pricked.
"Yeah," the man declared, "really."
"I'mm, uh . . . not quite clear . . . " Jasmin intoned vaguely.
"Look what you did to my truck!" the man ejaculated angrily with a sweep of his hand.
"Look what you did to the street!" a now angry Jasmin retorted with a sweep of her own hand.
"Who's gonna pay for that?" he demanded heatedly.
Jasmin's temper was simmering badly now. Her already prominent chest rose, and projected even further forward as she straightened her spine, and eased her shoulders back. Now comfortably satisfied with her carriage, she told the man in a smoldering, somewhat befuddled tone, "I . . . really couldn't tell you."
"Aside from which she really doesn't care," Ray leaned in to add.
"Ray," Jasmin warned him.
Ray, reluctantly, butted out.
"Eh, sorry."
"Hey, I got witnesses," the man asserted, up close, and impersonal.
"And I got you, buster!" Jasmin roared back in the man's face. Enough was enough already. "There are also a whole lotta people you almost ran over when you lost control of your vehicle, and when their lawsuits for your reckless, negligent driving start trickling down on you like rain, you're going to have more to think about than yer stupid truck!"
Her words hit the man where he wasn't expecting. It brought him to consider how he, and his truck, had gotten where they were. Unable to recall what had gone on between the last time he could remember driving, and then suddenly looking out over the hood of his stopped truck at all the people milling about, he found himself uncomfortably bereft of a response, aggressive, or otherwise. After a few, indecisive moments, he suddenly turned, and lumbered away muttering, "Musclebound dyke!"
Both Ray, and Jasmin, looked after the man, then Jasmin shook her head forcefully, trying to dismiss the unpleasant experience.
"Agh!" she growled as she threw her disheveled hair back from her face, and began walking away from the scene. "The nerve of that guy!"
"Impy," Ray pointed out meekly as he took his place at her side, "you did break his door."
Jasmin stopped, and turned on him.
"I also saved his life!" she declared.
Now Ray stopped as Jasmin resumed walking angrily away.
"What?" he asked.
Jasmin stopped again, and turned about to reiterate impatiently, "I said I sa - " and then she stopped as if she were suddenly frozen, her mouth still in the process of forming the 'a' sound of the word she almost spoke.
The anger melted away from her features to be replaced by a look of shocked surprise. Ray was the first of them to thaw out from the impact of their exchange. He tentatively approached her.
"Impy . . . ?"
"Ray . . . ?"
She thought she should be scared, but she wasn't, and that scared her even more.
"W . . . what did I just say?" she asked.
But Ray wasn't sure of how, or even if he could respond.
"Impy?" was all he dared.
"What'd I just say?" Jasmin wanted to know.
"You . . . you saved . . . his life?"
"No," Jasmin stated more to herself. She looked away, and began to shaking her head. Her memory of what had taken place since they'd arrived at the accident scene wasn't adding up right. In fact, a lot of it wasn't making sense at all. Her awareness of things she knew were true, yet knew could not be true, began to frighten her.
"No, I couldn't have," she said at length. She tried to sound convincing, but, somehow, it just didn't work. "It's not possible."
Ray stayed with her.
"How did you save his life?"
Jasmin's eyes, and attention, latched onto him.
"No, I didn't," she insisted without conviction. "I couldn't have."
Ray took hold of her by the arms.
"Okay, okay," he told her, seeing the awful struggle she was in. "It's okay, alright?" he tried to tell her, and himself. "It's okay. Now le . . . let's - just - slow this - whole thing - way - down. Okay?" he suggested. He was having difficulty himself dealing with the implications of what had come out between them. "Let's just . . . " he was able to say before his voice mysteriously failed. Jasmin was hanging on his every word, desperately needing reassurance. "Let's just - " he said again before his voice again deserted him.
"Home," she said.
"Yeah," he quickly agreed.
"Go home."
"Yeah, let's - "
"Go home."
"Let's just - go home."
"Let's go home."
With both of them deeply shaken, their hands clutched tightly to each other as they walked away from the scene.
"Hey, lady!" a male voice called out from behind them.
"Oh God, what now?" Jasmin moaned as they stopped.
"It's alright," said Ray. "I'll take care of it."
They turned to the direction that the voice had come from to see a man hurrying toward them. In his upraised hand they saw the bag containing Jasmin's new shoes. The man's pace slowed as he got closer to the couple. His arm lowered to extend the package in offering to Jasmin.
"You uh, left this back there," he said as he cautiously approached the huge, Oriental woman with the curiously massive physique.
Relieved that the stranger hadn't come to gape, or stare, or humiliate, or accuse her, Jasmin relaxed, and graciously extended her own hand. The package changed hands as the man arrived.
"Thank you," Jasmin bid him in a way that went far beyond her shoes.
The man lingered in the couple's presence. Awkwardness overtook all three of them as he continued to hesitate. He was visibly struggling with himself over something, though he was trying hard not to show it. When he was finally able to bring himself to speak, he addressed Jasmin with difficulty.
"You, uh . . . y'know lady, uh . . . yer, uh . . . yer alright."
His words seemed to relieve the tension in their atmosphere. Having made the initial effort made it easier for him to go on.
"Y'know . . . "
Jasmin's, and the man's, eyes met. For a mutually reassuring moment, each of them could see the other's sincerity, and confusion. The man gave her an affirming nod.
"Yer alright," he said again.
And Ray could tell that she was alright, because Jasmin smiled shyly, and then she had to look away as she blushed.
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