<span class="bbc_u">  <strong>Delilah Brookes</strong></span><br/><br/>Delilah held Mandy close to her side while she,  along with the rest of the bakery's patrons and staff,  looked on in growing horror as the obviously very ill man went from bad to worse within a matter of minutes.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Maybe you should get her out of here luv..." </blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>His comment, delivered with a sharp nod of his head towards Mandy, had her shuffling her daughter back away from the scene with a swift but gentle nudge.   "Come on Mandy, we need to leave now."<br/><br/>"But mom, I have to go to the bathroom,<em> really</em>bad..."<br/>Delilah stopped her mad rush for the front door and sighed as she looked back over her shoulder.  The man's wife was completely freaking out at this point and Mrs. Marquette along with another customer were doing their best to calm her.<br/><br/>With a firm hand on Mandy's arm she ushered her past the crowd and led her to the back where the restrooms were located  " Alright honey,  but you need to be quick alright..?"  Delilah heard the faint sounds of sirens in the distance and felt relief that the ambulance would soon be there and prayed that they were in time.<br/><br/>Once inside the women's restroom, Mandy went into the first stall and Delilah went to the sink and washed her hands thouroughly with soap and very hot water.  Although she did her best to remain calm for Mandy's sake, the incident with the man had terrified her.  It wasn't as if the man had collapsed due to a stroke or heart attack, which would have been bad enough, but the way he seemed to cough up his internal organs in a mixture of blood and guts made it quite evident that something was<em>terribly and abnormally wrong.</em><br/><br/>A few minutes later,  the toilet flushed and Mandy slowly opened up the stall door,  "Mom, I don't feel so good"  The gaunt and nearly colorless palor of her daughter's usually bright, peachy skin tone took her breath away.   "Mandy?" she said in as calm a voice as she could muster despite her rising panic  "Honey, what's wrong....what is it?" Delilah rushed to her at the same moment Mandy turned back around into the stall and began throwing up.<br/><br/>Delilah bent over her slight form and gently held back her hair and tried to soothe her by rubbing her back.  Delilah had never been one to react well in panic situations, especially when Mandy was involved, yet she reigned in her fear and reassured her trembling daughter that everything would be O.K.<em> Please God! Let her be O.K.</em>