"911...can you hold, please??"

OMG!!

So, Jordann and I are in Wendy's. I'm enjoying a delightful double stack with fries and a frosty. (Counterproductive to the plan, I know...but it was close and I couldn't make it another centimeter without something to eat, so I gave in.)

In rushes this woman. She is young and panicked. She is in tears...so upset that I can't understand a word she is saying. Though she is sobbing uncontrollably, the manager apparently understands her, because he yells "Call 911" and dashes out the door behind her. I look around, and since Jordann and I are the only diners this evening, I assume he is talking to me.

Now, because I am from Brooklyn, I am sensing a scam. She runs in, gets the manager to run out to the right, and in from the left rush armed, masked gunmen poised to rip off the joint. OR...She runs in, the manager runs out, then gets jumped in the parking lot by a group of rival gang members. I am a New Yorker, I know how this works.

"What did she say?", I ask the woman on fries.

"She say her son is having a seizure." I turn around, look out the window, and sure enough, there is a young boy half in/half out of the car. Because I have been scammed before, I am still a little suspicious, but in the event that this is real...or not...I figure a call to 911 is really in order.

I dial.

"911, what is your location?"

"I am at the Wendy's in Brier Creek and someone in the parking lot is having a seizure."

"What is your location?"

"Wendy's in Brier Creek. Someone is having a seizure."

"Do you have the address?"

"Wendy's...in Brier Creek. I am a patron, I don't know the address. A little boy is haaving a seizure."

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I have to look up the address." (OK, for those of you who don't live here, there is only 1 Wendy's within a 10 mile radius of Brier Creek, EVERYONE knows where Brier Creek is, and I am fairly certain the paramedics are familiar.)

I can see the boy out the window. This is not a scam and this is not looking good.

"The boy is having a SEIZURE! Brier Creek Wendy's!", I say emphadically as if my tone will substitute for the address.

Jordann hands me the receipt. It has the address on it. She IS a rocket scientist. I feel stupid for not thinking of that myself.

"It's 8000 Pooler Rd."

"OK. Dispatching. Is the boy breathing."

"I don't know. I am inside." I didn't want to take Jordann out there, I thought the hullabaloo may have upset her, but I figured we needed to be helpful. We go out. By this time, there are several Wendy's employees, the manager, a few onlookers and two crazed-crying women...one the mother, and the other, I imagine, a teenaged sister. Chaos! I must give mad props to the Wendy's employees, who jumped in to do what they could. Someone laid the boy on the back seat, one woman was doing chest compressions. Another employee was attempting to calm the mother while someone else diverted the drive-thru traffic. Jordann and I walked quickly to the back seat. Only about 30 seconds had passed, and I could hear the sirens nearing already. "I am here. He is breathing, but not steadily, more like gasps. He's gasping." Then about 10 seconds later, "OK, the paramedics are here."

I ended my call with the dispatcher, left the professionals to do what they do, and headed back inside. Of course, Jordann had about 7,000 questions, all of which I was too flustered to answer. The experience was nerve rattling.

I think I would have experienced this whole thing differently if I weren't a mother. I kept thinking about how helpless that mother must feel, and wondering if something like this could ever happen to my child.

I hugged Jordann extra tight inside that Wendy's...I couldn't even eat. I left my double stack and fries (but not the Frosty, I brought that home with me) and watched tearfully through the window as they loaded the boy into the ambulance, so glad that my own child is safe and healthy.

I wonder...how long would it have taken for the paramedics to arrive if Jordann hadn't handed me the address?? And how many calories would I have consumed if I had eaten that double stack and fries??