On a Sunday morning, Tim Abernathy walked off the dance floor at the Barn Dance and sat down in a chair to rest with his wife, Rachel. Then something felt wrong. His 1 got tight, then tighter. He grabbed Rachel's hand, then 2 to the floor.
"His eyes had 3 back," said Rachel. "His lips were getting darker." The band stopped playing. People started yelling, but nobody 4 to act.
Someone 5 did. It was Johnny "Digger" Tucker. He swiped (挥动) his fingers through Tim's mouth, thinking he could be choking. He started beating on Tim's chest and began mouth-to-mouth. More 6. More mouth-to-mouth. Then finally, Tim 7 a breath. The paramedics (护理人员) came, and Johnny quietly left.
"If Johnny hadn't been there, I would be 8 my husband now, "said Rachel. Folks say Johnny Tucker is the type of man you'd call at 2 a. m. Maybe it's because he knows more than most how 9 life is. Every day, he faces 10.
Johnny is a gravedigger. He has dug the final resting places for about 20, 000 people, each grave 11 a half feet deep in 12, frozen ground. "I treat everybody as if it were my family I'm burying," he said. He is so respected that funeral directors arrange their schedules around his 13.
So maybe it's not 14 that Johnny often finds himself in a position to lend a hand. That night Johnny and his wife were 15 when the band played an old song. They turned around for one more slow dance. Minutes later, the gravedigger saved a life.
