“Kong! Kong...” The voice now sounded stronger, closer.
Philip was now in a frenzy, muttering incoherently to himself. He started unzipping his jacket, hoping that would help free him. But the snow was too high up and wouldn’t allow him to unzip his coat all the way down. So he ripped at the zipper, trying to tear the coat off him. That didn’t work, so he pulled with all his might, trying to get his coat over his head, trying to yank himself free of it.
“Kong...KONG!” The voice was directly in front of him, just as Philip pulled his coat up over his head.
“Kong, holy shit, you’re alive...” Troy was standing about fifteen feet in front of Philip and screaming at the top of his lungs to get him to calm down. “Phil? Phil, what the hell you doin’?”
Philip didn’t stop; he was still trying to get his coat off his body.
“Mingma, he’s here...He’s over here!” Troy called out as he furiously threw the snow side to side with his hands, making a path towards Philip.
“It’s okay...Phil.” But Philip was still going crazy, pulling at his coat. “It’s okay, Phil...We’re here!” Troy yelled.
Moving the snow with his hands wasn’t working, so Troy threw himself on the bank of snow and tried rolling himself towards Philip so he wouldn’t sink into the snow. He rolled until he got behind Philip and then wrapped his arms around him to stop Philip’s arms from flailing.
“Whoa...easy, Phil...easy...”
Philip tried to throw Troy off him but Troy squeezed tighter to stop Philip from moving.
“It’s okay, big guy...you’re alright...You are alright,” Troy said as he pulled Philip’s coat back down, revealing his head.
Philip was now grunting and panting, “Ahhh...haaa...Tra...ahh...”
“Philip!” Troy almost yelled in Philip’s ear as he hugged him using all his strength.
“It’s okay...It’s okay!”
Philip turned his head. Troy’s face was an inch from his. Philip’s manic energy was slowing down. His body still shook with little minor quakes as the two boys spoke.
“Troy...Troy...why didn’t you come when I yelled?”
“I was kind of running from an avalanche. Which you should’ve done!” Troy smiled and then called out loudly, “Mingma...Mingma...I got Philip, he’s okay...He’s here...He’s here!”
“Where’s Nancy, Troy? Where are Nancy and Satya? Where’s Mr. Sanchez? Troy, where the hell is everyone?”
45. PRESENT DAY – AT THE HOTEL
“Change? Ah...I have talked about it so many times! How to deal with all the changes you encounter when climbing a mountain. How to plan for change, how to accept change, how to adapt to change. You’re all here today because the thing you do every day—your work, your job, maybe even your passion—is about to change, right? The place you go each day and spend a lot of your time, the place where you feel purpose in your life is going to change. And today is the beginning of that change! Maybe it’s a big change to some of you and well, maybe for some, it’s small. Regardless, you’re here because something...something is about to change. And what will that change be? What’s it going to look like?”
Robert pointed behind him. “Well, look at that picture of me.”
He then turned around and faced the screen. It was an amazing photograph. The top of Mount Everest. One arm jubilantly extended into the air in triumph. With his goggles up on his forehead, you could see the effervescent smile in his eyes. And through his snow-caked beard, Roberto Sanchez’s whole face reflected what looked to be a moment of pure, simple joy.
He turned to face the crowd. “Man, I was happy at that moment! It was the absolute toughest climb I had ever had in my whole life. There were so many times I almost quit. I never thought that moment would ever become that photograph. We had so many unexpected challenges and change of plans and it was just...just hard to believe it would ever become that reality!”
Robert then rolled his wheelchair to the very front of the stage. “And now...now look at me!”
Jenny let go of Kyle and moved to her mother. “Mom, what’s Daddy doing?”
Monique didn’t take her eyes off her husband but whispered to Jenny, “I don’t know, baby...I just hope...”
Robert then continued speaking.
“You see...something changed.” Robert opened his arms again, but this time he lifted his stumps as high off the chair as he possibly could. He waited a moment as he extended each limb as far out as he could, but there was no reaction; the room was deadly quiet. Monique could feel Greg’s concern as he turned to her. Why wasn’t Robert speaking about his mountain climbing adventures? But even as painful as it was to watch Robert struggle, these were new words to her and she desperately needed to hear each and every one of them. So she didn’t dare let Greg know she felt his gaze.
As Robert held out his arms and stumps, Jenny let out a little sigh. She suddenly realized that this was the first time since his accident that she had ever seen her father mention or show his legs so prominently. They were always hidden under some blanket or some kind of cover. And now here he was, showing himself off for all the world to see, like some exhibit in a museum.
Robert put his arms and legs down. “You see, this is what my change looks like. I didn’t choose this change. And just like you dealing with this change, I have to ask myself: How did I get here? Why am I here? Do I want to be here? Do I need to be here? And how do I deal with this change?”
The audience gave a generous applause, feeling the focus of the talk was now approaching.
“On that screen you saw the words ‘QUEST-I’m-ON.’ That’s the name of my company. And through my company, I’ve helped a lot of other people deal with change. I thought I knew a lot about that subject but...this—whoa, this is new! This is really unknown territory for me! And yet, look, here I am. That man who climbed Everest. I’m here to talk to you about how all those challenges on the mountain helped me deal with change right?...Can I?...Can everything that I learned on that mountain—can that really help me deal with losing my legs? Well, let me tell you...”
As Robert raised his arm, his finger must have accidentally caught the string on the brown leather bag he had been clutching all day. And as his arm went up, so did the leather bag. It flew up high into the air and landed about five feet beside him.
The loud noise caused some people to let out a little gasp. Amir quickly stood up from behind his table to see what had made that loud bang.
Monique brought her hands to her face. “Oh my God! No!”
“What? Mom, what is it?” Jenny whispered to her mom.
“It’s that bag your father has been...he never lets it out of his sight and won’t let anyone touch it.”
“What’s in it, Mom? What’s in it?”
Monique turned to her daughter and gravely said, “Really, Jen...I...I think that’s where he keeps that...gun.”
“I’m sorry,” Robert reached out one hand towards the audience, “that wasn’t really planned.”
He then maneuvered his chair to go pick the bag up. But at exactly the same moment, Lou ran out of his seat to the front of the stage to pick it up for him.
“No, please! Don’t touch it,” Robert snapped as he reached for the bag. Lou reacted as if he was a robber caught in the act. He quickly shot both his arms high up into the air. The quick gesture of being caught red-handed made the audience roar with laughter.
Robert then sat back up, leaving the leather bag on the floor and looked directly at Lou. “No, I’m sorry about that, Lou. Actually, if you could, would you please pick it up for me?”
Jenny shot a worried look at her mother. “You think there’s a gun in there?” Her mother winced as Jenny said the word ‘gun.’
Lou turned to face the audience with his hands still in the air and made a humorous questioning face that said, “Should I?” This brought even more laughter. With both arms still in the air, Lou comically inched his way over to the bag. Then he very slowly leaned over, keeping one a
rm in the air, and snatched the bag off the floor with the other. He held it up high to show the audience he had it. They applauded heartily.
“Whoa, it’s heavy. What do you have in here, Mr. Sanchez?” Lou said, looking out to the crowd. “Hope it’s not going to explode!” The audience laughed even louder.
“Okay Lou, could you please open the bag?”
Monique moved closer to Jenny and Kyle. Lou then lowered the bag and slowly untied the thick yellow string that held it shut.
As Lou struggled a little trying to open the bag, Robert addressed the crowd. “Here I was, facing this great change and what did I do? Well, like most people, whenever we feel we are about to lose something, we tend to hang on tighter to everything that’s connected to it right...? And that’s exactly what I did...I hung onto that bag with all my life. Why? Because I thought it was the only thing I had left. So, open the bag, Lou. Tell them what you see.”
Lou knew how to play the crowd. He held the bag in front of him like a magician would. He lifted one arm up as if he was about to pull a rabbit out of a hat. He slowly opened the bag and looked inside. His head jerked up in shock.
Jenny squeezed her mother and Kyle so tightly that Kyle actually let out a sound.
Lou looked back into the bag and up to the audience and said loudly, “Rocks?!”
The audience exploded into laughter.
“Yes, Lou, a rock from every mountain I ever climbed! And even yesterday, if you would have asked why I was holding on so tightly to those rocks, I couldn’t really have told you.”
Lou pulled out a rock and presented to the audience. As the crowd applauded, he handed the leather pouch back to Robert, waved to the crowd and went to sit back down.
“But I get it now. I think, after I lost my legs...I just clung so tightly to the past...hanging onto the time when I had legs because, well, I couldn’t accept the change that had happened. And more importantly, I couldn’t handle all the change that was now happening around me! And since I couldn’t even walk anymore, let alone climb, I looked for something tangible...something concrete to remind me of everything I had done when I had legs. You see, I thought I was...trying to find my way back to who I was! When I should have been...looking for who I am now!”
The crowd cheered warmly. Robert smiled in surprise, for he had no idea that what he said was worthy of cheering.
He put his hands over his eyes to look out into the dark room. He was trying to see where Monique was, but the angle of the light and where he was prevented him from seeing past the edge of the stage. Everyone was mostly in silhouette.
“Change is kind of like—I know you have to look back first in order to move forward but I think my problem was that I got stuck in the looking back. You know, just this morning my wife was driving us here. And she played this song—the same song she always played whenever she would drive me to the airport to drop me off for one of my climbs.” He smiled to himself. “We would always get into these funny and sometimes very profound discussions on what the lyrics were trying to say. And this morning, my poor wife, she was trying her best to get me back into one of those conversations about that song. Now, we have played that song so many times I thought I knew it inside out but...as it was playing this morning, suddenly I heard this one question in the song...and I heard it as if was brand new to me, like someone rewrote the song just for me. Do you know that feeling? The question was this: ‘Can I handle the seasons of my life?’ Pretty simple question, right? Seasons are changes, right?”
“Yes!” a voice was heard behind him on stage. Robert paused, looked behind him and saw Amir’s face, stunned that he had actually reacted out loud. Amir whispered that he was sorry and then motioned for him to go on. Robert gave him a thumbs up this time and then turned back. “But for me it wasn’t simple. ‘Cause I sure the hell couldn’t handle this season of my life! So I did what any reasonable person does when facing a question they don’t like the answer to. I asked my wife to ‘turn that damn song off!’”
The crowd laughed. Jenny looked at her mother and wiped away a tear. Greg looked at Lou and accusingly nodded. And Monique? She looked as if she was in a trance. Not a muscle in her face moved; she just stood there with her arms at her sides, staring at Robert.
“Yeah...that’s how I handled every question lately...I just tuned them all out. And of course, after my wife did turn it off, well...I just grabbed my little bag of rocks and held them even closer. I thought what was in that bag was the last of my identity—it was the only thing left of me. Rocks...that’s right, rocks! It’s like I was clinging on to the one thing I couldn’t do any more and completely forgetting about everything else I could still do.”
46. SIX MONTHS AGO – MT. EVEREST
Mingma ran into the alleyway of snow Philip was caught in.
“Is Satya, my son...was he here with you?” Mingma sounded worried and his breath was terribly laboured.
“No,” Philip cried. “And Nancy, where is she?”
“Are you sure they not here under snow?”
“No...Well, maybe, I don’t know. I don’t know for sure, Mingma, I’m sorry. It all happened so...”
“Baba...Baba!” They heard Satya’s voice from around the huge bank of snow.
Mingma turned too quickly and fell face down in the snow after hearing his son’s voice. And from his knees he lifted his arms up high and called out, “Satya, Satya...my boy...my boy!”
Slowly, emerging into the alleyway of snow where Philip was stuck came Satya, Nancy and Ang.
“Philip, Troy, thank God...Thank God, you’re okay.” Nancy looked pale and winced in pain. Satya and Ang were holding her up on their shoulders.
“Nancy, you okay?” Troy asked.
“She just hurt her knee—a twist is all,” Satya explained as he let Nancy stay in Ang’s arms so he could greet his father.
Mingma jumped to his feet and Satya hugged him with every ounce of energy he possessed. “Baba...baba, I was so worried. ”
“Nancy, Nancy, Satya, Ang, Troy, Mingma...Great...great, we’re all safe!” Philip joyfully exclaimed. “BUT can someone please...PLEASE get me outta here?!”
“Here, take this,” Ang said, first letting Nancy down to sit on her backpack and then holding out a small folding shovel to Satya. “You dig out Philip. Mingma and me, we go find Mr. Robert.” Ang and Mingma quickly ran out of sight.
“Where the hell are your gloves, Phil?” Troy asked Philip.
“I don’t know...I...I...kind of threw them off.”
“Here, take my extra ones,” Nancy said as she pulled out a pair of fleece mitts from her pocket and tossed them to Troy.
As Satya used the shovel, Nancy got up and rolled herself to where Troy was and the two of them began digging with their hands. It took them almost ten minutes to free Philip from his frozen wall.
The moment he was free, Philip checked his camera and a horrible thought came to him. “Oh my God! This thing is still running. All those kids back home who were watching this today might think we’re all dead.”
Nancy and Troy both said, “See if it’s still working...Let’s...tell them we’re okay.”
“No way, we lost the connection. Oh my God, those poor kids...We have to tell them we’re okay. We have to call base camp first. Mr. Sanchez...Let’s tell him we need to get back in contact with the schools. Tell them everything’s okay.”
They all moved swiftly out of the hallway of snow into the open space. Twenty yards away, they saw Ang holding out his pickaxe and poking the ground in front of him as he gently walked around. It was where—only fifteen minutes before—a huge crevasse and a ladder were. The ladder Roberto Sanchez was crossing. Ang picked at the snow until he uncovered a backpack. Ang picked it up and slung it over his shoulder.
“Where is Mr. Sanchez?” Philip asked. “Where did he run to?”
“Mr. Sanchez...Mr. Sanchez!” Nancy called out. Then Troy and Philip started screaming Robert’s name as loud as they could. The three of them then m
oved around in different directions calling for Robert. Nancy looked behind her and was surprised that the Sherpas were not helping in the search. Ang was shaking his head while walking slowly towards Mingma and his son.
Nancy stopped calling out and watched Ang put his arm on Mingma’s shoulder.
“Troy...Phil...” she yelled at the two boys. But they didn’t hear her, so she screamed out their names once more. “TROY! PHIL!”
The two boys stopped and looked at her. “Do you see him? Do you see him?” They both said excitedly.
Nancy didn’t answer them she just held her arm up and pointed at the Sherpas. Philip and Troy looked and saw the three Sherpas. None of them was saying a word.
“What’s wrong with Satya?” Philip asked. Troy took Nancy under his shoulder and helped her quickly get back to the silent Sherpas.
When they were about ten yards away, Ang held up his hand, warning them to stop moving.
“Please do not go further. It is too dangerous. The snow might move more into the crevasse.”
“But Ang,” Troy said, “where did Mr. Sanchez run to?”
Ang’s eyes were filled with tears as he spoke. “We must go back to base camp now. I am sorry, but we must go now.”
“Wait!” Nancy said sharply. “Wait a minute. We are not leaving until we find Mr. Sanchez.”
“Yeah!” Philip added. “Yeah, of course we don’t leave without Mr. Sanchez.”
Then Satya let out a loud painful cry. “He is gone...I am sorry. He is gone...Mr. Robert is no more.”
Nancy, Philip and Troy all quickly looked back and forth at each other with shocked expressions.
“No more? What the hell do you mean, no more?” Troy took a step towards Satya.
Ang then reached out and put his hand on Troy’s shoulder. “When the snow came...I tried to unhook Mr. Robert from the ladder, but Mr. Robert, he fall with legs between ladder...and then the ladder turn over and Mr. Robert and ladder go down the hole.”
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