DAWN WILL RISE 

By Tessa Harvey

    Mark had phoned, grumbling a little. Without thinking, Ella walked to the roadside along their slightly pitted driveway. It was hot. The babies were very listless now and somewhat limp. She tried to stand under the shade of one of the lime-tree street plantings. She could not risk the ambulance missing them.
    Mark was talking away as usual about work, about his new job, new friends.....Ella tried to listen to be a good wife. The minutes seemed like hours. Then she saw the ambulance. Mark pulled her arm. "Don't walk in front!"
    Two male paramedics hurried from their vehicle, each taking an infant carefully. "Come on," they asked Ella, helping her up the steps with Rose and Dawn. It was blessedly cool inside, welcomingly clean and wonderfully equipped. Quickly the infants were hooked to various monitors and a fluid line gently inserted into each tiny arm.
    Ella relaxed a little, sitting near them on a fold-out seat out of the way of the experts. One of the men hopped out, then shut the vehicle doors. "Hey, I need to come," Mark protested but another vehicle pulled up as the ambulance left.

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