“Hold on, Elizabeth! Breath slow, darling. Please stay with us!”

Cornelius held his 7-year-old daughter in his arms, rocking her as gently as he could manage, as the oxen raced along the dusty, violently bumpy road. What kind of snake had it been, he asked himself as he tried to visualize the serpent that had struck his daughter’s lily-white ankle. And how did it even get in the wagon? Did someone throw it there? A stealthy Indian, perhaps? Whatever the circumstances, time was running out.

“She’s stopped breathing!” Harriet was sobbing, screaming, as she felt for any signs of life on the thin skin covering young Jane’s ribcage. “Do something,” she wailed, “Please do something!”

“I see a small camp up ahead, I’ll seek help there!”

The oxen hadn’t even stopped moving when Cornelius leapt from the wagon and sprinted up to the family of five picking berries and herbs from the earth near their makeshift camp.

“Please, you must help us,” he called. “My daughter has been bit by a snake, and I fear her wound is mortal!”

“Heavens,” exclaimed the fair-haired, sunburnt wife. “Matt, get the cell phone!” But the grizzled farmer was already diving into the tent, retrieving the razor-thin talking machine from his supplies. He flipped it open, and within seconds was barking directions to some unheard official on the other end.

“The county’s got a chopper in the area, they’re re-routing it here,” Matt yelled to the worried father. And sure enough, the words had barely left the air when the unmistakable sound of whooshing helicopter blades boomed louder and louder.

“Honey, carry Jane up to me,” Cornelius screamed over the din. “The mechanical flyin’ box is here to take her away!”

As the copter floated to the ground, Matt’s wife was holding a clear container of bright liquid to Jane’s lips.

“Drink this, darling. Keep yourself hydrated.”

“Gatorade! You’re a godsend,” gushed Harriet, her tears finally subsiding as she sensed the danger’s end.

By the time the chopper touched down, the lead EMT was already barking orders to his personnel. “I need 10 cc’s of anti-serpent elixir, and four of our thickest leaches!”

As the magical hovering machine began to ascend back into the Kansas sky, Cornelius smiled. He didn’t know when Jane would re-join the rest of the family, but he knew that when she did, she would be healthy once again.