Family Narrative: an Almost Tragedy

“Papa’s only cried twice” Granny said putting down a cold jar of sweet tea.
  “When was that?” I asked, shocked. Well, I guess I wasn't that shocked. Papa was a craggy, virile man, and he was always mad. Not about anything in particular, just grumpy. “Well, the first time was when Donny died”.   Donny was Granny’s second child. He died when he was three days old. “The second time was when your mamma fell in the bayou”.
  It was a hot, sunny day in May. David, Janie, and Jenny were playing in the back yard. Jenny was two going on three. You couldn't blame her for following David and Janie down the dirt road to where the water meets the land. It was her older siblings’ doggedness that led to chaos.
  When the children reached the bayou, David, being the take charge nine-year old he was, suggested a game of tag. Janie nodded her head with a smirk on her face, determined to beat her older brother at his own game. “Not it!” yelled David as he took off flying barefoot through the dead grass. Janie dashed after him, accidently bumping into little Jenny. All of the sudden, Jenny slipped and fell right into the murky, brown water. Janie came to a halt and screamed. David, who had turned his head just in time to see his precious baby sister flop in the water, ran for help. David could barely get out three words when Granny ordered Papa to call an ambulance and sprinted to save her child.
  She dove into the water and hoisted Jenny up from the mud just as the medical team had arrived. They shoved her in the ambulance and rushed to the hospital blasting sirens down the road. In no time Jenny was hooked up to machines and was being checked out by a doctor. The doctor called Granny and Papa over when the test had arrived.
  “She swallowed a large amount of water and is very vulnerable to disease right now. She is running a fever of one hundred and five, and most likely will not make it through the night. I’m sorry.”
  “There isn't anything we can do?” asked...