Acts of Mercy

Sara finds a wounded airman in a tree. 300-word flash.

Acts of Mercy {/center)

Sarah was walking home with her basket of meager provisions. The war made most thing scarce, so got what she could with her ration card. As she walked along briskly, she heard a faint voice above her head.
“Miss, Miss, help me!”

She looked up to see an airman hanging from a parachute in a tree. Setting her small burden down, she climbed the tree, unstrapped him and carefully lowered him to the ground. Sarah made him as comfortable as she could.
“My arm hurts, can you see what’s wrong with it?” the man whispered. It didn’t take long to see blood seeping down and out of his torn sleeve.
“You’ve been injured. Let me see what I can do.” She bathed his arm using water from her lunch canteen. She took off her apron and tore it into strips. Binding the wound firmly, she propped him up against the tree he’d been hanging in.
Soaking some bread from the loaf she’d bought in the small bottle of milk she’d found at the market; she fed him it slowly. He seemed to perk up after some with food.

“Thank you so much, miss,” he said gratefully.
“My name’s Sarah,” she told him.
“Mine’s Danny.”
Just then, Sarah heard the sound of hooves and wagon wheels. She jumped up and hailed the man behind the reins.
“Mr. Abernathy! Help!”
The man stopped immediately. Sarah explained about the wounded man. Together, they managed to get him into the farmer’s hay cart.
“Will you take us to our farm?” Sarah asked.
“You certain? He could be the enemy!” Abernathy argued.
“He isn’t though; he’s one of our brave boys who needs help.” That was all she had to say. War was a time for mercy, if no other time was.