“My four-year-old daughter is unresponsive on the kitchen floor after being hit on the head.”

My mother let go of my arm at once and stepped back toward the oak kitchen table.

She turned her face toward the side window, her jaw clenched.

“Is the patient breathing right now?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yes,” I said, watching the front of Emma’s yellow flowered sundress rise and fall.

“Her breathing’s fast and shallow.”

“Paramedics are on the way.

Stay on the line.”