“Stay calm,” I tell her. I move quickly to Emily. “I’m going to put my arms around you and thrust, okay? There may be some slight pain. Don’t panic. Everything is going to be okay, I promise.”
Five abdominal thrusts. The lessons return to me as though I took them yesterday.
I race around behind her, wrap my arms around the back of the wheelchair and Emily’s midsection, and apply the squeezes, just like I was taught way back when. Nothing. Not a peep. She’s still choking, shaking in my arms. That cannoli is really lodged deep. When five thrusts don’t work, I bend her over slightly and give her five swift slaps on the back.
“This is going to be a bit gross,” I tell her, trying for a smile, and doing my utmost to remain the picture of calm, like a Hindu cow.
I reach into her mouth and gra
