“Miss, please, when will the ambulance get here? The fever’s almost ‘104,’ and we just can’t bring it down…”
“All our teams are currently out on calls,” a weary woman’s voice replied. “Please hold on.”
Barely holding back tears, Kate hung up and rushed to her daughter. Little Sophie lay on the couch, covered with a light sheet, breathing heavily. The five-year-old’s body was burning with fever, edging dangerously close to 104 degrees.
The doorbell rang unexpectedly loud. Kate jumped up so quickly she almost tripped before hurrying to the door.
“The fever’s coming down; we’ve got things under control. Your little one has wheezing on both sides. I’d suggest hospitalization,” a tall, gray-haired man said, rubbing his nose wearily while watching a young nurse put a syringe into a medical case.
“Can’t we manage at home?”
“No, you can’t. We’ll need to take her to the hospital to be observed.”
With her passport and a bag of belongings, Kate stepped into the hallway.
“I’ll dress Sophie now and… Oh, who are you?”
Another ambulance crew had entered through the open door: a stocky, bearded doctor in his forties, a slender 32-year-old paramedic with glasses and a small bag, and a freckled, red-headed trainee.
“Did someone call for an ambulance?” the bearded doctor asked.
“Yes, but… there was another doctor just now,” Kate said, confused.
“What other doctor?” the young trainee chipped in.
“Well… tall, gray-haired. He brought Sophie’s fever down and said we needed to go to the hospital,” the young woman explained, bewildered.
The doctor and paramedic exchanged glances.
“Freeman!”
“Two teams for one call?” the trainee exclaimed in surprise.
The bearded doctor addressed the young woman.
“Get your daughter ready. We’ll take you to the hospital.”
Kate returned to the room. The puzzled trainee inquired of the doctor,
“Aren’t we going to examine her?”
“Freeman knows his stuff,” the doctor replied.
“Who on earth is Freeman?”
The paramedic chuckled.
“Freeman was the most experienced specialist in the ambulance service… was. They tried to recruit him to London numerous times, and he always refused. Said his job was saving lives, not sitting around in an office.”
A year ago, Freeman’s team was rushing to an emergency. A reckless driver tried to cut them off.
The paramedic fell silent, staring at the floor. The bearded doctor patted his shoulder and continued,
“There were no survivors from that crash. But forty days later, strange things started happening in town.
Some thugs stabbed a young fellow on the street. An anonymous call to the dispatcher came in: a stab wound in the liver area. It was our shift. We arrived. The stabbed fellow was on the pavement, already bandaged, and some guy was holding an IV drip. We asked him who provided the first aid. The guy shook his head and said, ‘The ambulance was just here, a tall, gray-haired doctor and a young nurse. They helped and got the drip going. The doctor said to hold it like this… I just turned my head for a second, checking if the guy was breathing. Then you guys showed up. Where’d the gray-haired doctor go?’
We were chilled to the bone. Because by the description, it seemed like Freeman and his team had provided the initial help. They took the young man to the hospital, noted in the records that first aid was given before we arrived, but didn’t mention Freeman. This started coming up openly at our station later. But that day, we were in shock.
‘And nobody would’ve believed us!’ the paramedic added with a chuckle. The bearded doctor adjusted the stethoscope around his neck and carried on.
“A few days later, a worker fell at a warehouse: a stroke and head trauma. By the time the local ambulance got there, the ‘tall, gray-haired doctor and young nurse’ had administered first aid: set up a drip, provided oxygen, and stated the diagnosis. ‘Then they disappeared as if into thin air,’ it was said.
‘Remember the delivery at the traffic light?’ the paramedic grinned, adjusting his glasses.
‘What, ghosts delivering babies too?’ the red-haired trainee asked in surprise.
‘Mind your words,’ the doctor frowned. ‘I don’t know what Freeman and his team became, but they’re certainly no ghosts. More like guardian angels around town.’
‘Sorry…’ The trainee blushed, his ears even turning red. ‘So, what happened with the delivery?’
‘A taxi driver was taking a woman to the maternity ward: 34 years old, second child, 39 weeks along. He stopped at a red light, and then labor started prematurely. Panicked, the driver put on his hazards and called the ambulance, but he had no idea what to do, running around the car, shouting for help. The dispatcher told him, ‘Sir, stay calm, put your phone on speaker, I’ll guide you through it.’ But the guy was in such a state that he couldn’t understand a thing.
Then Freeman appeared with his nurse to help. The baby was coming breech and had the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. If it weren’t for them, the baby wouldn’t have survived. Just then, the ambulance arrived to take the joyful mother and her healthy, wailing newborn.
There’ve been so many such cases in a year; it’s hard to remember them all. ‘Freeman’s team’ only shows up for the toughest ones. If it weren’t for Freeman, those patients wouldn’t have made it to the local ambulance’s arrival. That’s how it is.’
‘We’re ready.’ Kate emerged into the hallway with her daughter. The bearded doctor took the bag from the woman and smiled at the little one.
‘Everything’s going to be alright now!’
