I turned, but before I could head toward the noise, a dead limb cracked loose far higher up the trunk than it should have.
“Heads-up!” a man yelled.
The branch wasn’t fully cut, so instead of dropping clean, it sheared sideways, swinging and hitting another limb. Only then did it finally crack, and that sent it bouncing wide toward the edge of the clearing where a crowd had congregated.
“Move,” I shouted.
As folks scattered and yelled and stumbled, I darted for the overeager kid with the chainsaw.
Grabbing Marty by the back of his jacket, I yanked him clear an instant before the branch slammed to the ground in an explosion of bark, making the earth beneath us shake.
Silence followed as I hauled in breath after breath.
When I could see clearly, I took his saw and turned it off.
His face was white, his eyes huge.
“Never cut above shoulder height,” I said flatly. “Ever.”
“I-I thought?—”
“Wrong,” I said, pointing at the road. “Hauling duty. Now.”
He nodded, swallowing hard, and trudged away.
Heart still pounding, I scanned the group. “Everyone back toward the road unless you’ve been assigned to cut. There are still several flagged trees here. Iwill confirm with each of you where you need to be. Please wait for my instructions.”
No one argued. No one made a sound.
Squeezing the bill of my hat, I slammed my eyes shut, collecting myself. When I opened them again, I noticed Julian.
He stood next to Wayne, inspecting the massive fallen tree limb. I’d need to slice this with my chainsaw just to get it out of here. God, it could have crushed Marty. Dumbass.
But the boy hadn’t run. He hadn’t hidden.
Celine was moving toward him, panic etched in every line on her face.
I held my hand up and approached him slowly so I wouldn’t spook him.
“Julian,” I said calmly. “You okay?”
He nodded, still staring at the tree limb. “It didn’t fall where it was supposed to.”
“Good eye,” I said.
I crouched in front of him, keeping my voice steady. “I could really use your help right now, bud. Do you want a job?”
His eyes widened, roving over me.
Behind him, Celine stopped, watching me just as intently.
“What kind of job?” he asked.
“The most important one.” I rested my elbows on my knees and clasped my hands. “I need you to be my spotter.”
“What’s a spotter?”
“You stand here.” I patted the bed of the ATV. “Then you watch and listen. If you see limbs falling or people cutting branches too close to one another. You wave thisflag and yell.” I handed him an orange safety flag. “If you see anything that looks unsafe at all, wave it and yell.” I snapped my fingers, signaling for Wayne to sit. “I’ll leave Wayne here with you. He can bark to get my attention.”