by D. J. Wilson
Slamming on both brakes, I spun the bike into a slow U-turn and headed back down the road, weaving my way through the scattered bikes and bodies and into the blind curve. “Jump off now!” I screamed at Candi. “Stop every vehicle before it rounds this curve, otherwise it will make this already bad situation much, much worse.”
“But I can help, Jon David. I’m a nurse. Remember?”
“Stop the traffic now, Candi. You can help later; I’ll need you. But, for right now, we need to get traffic stopped.”
Thankfully, traffic was extremely light. The few cars we’d passed earlier could be both a Godsend and a curse.
I spun the bike around for the second time in less than thirty-seconds and made my way back to the horrific scene unfolding slowly before my eyes. I was expecting the worst, but honestly for the best.
Both riders were down, as well as the moose and calf. Blood was pooling in the middle of the road where Gio and the moose had landed. To my left, the calf lay motionless. Mile was pushing and pulling, trying to get her leg out from under her bike, using the only arm that worked.
I reached the kill switch on her bike first. “Mile!” I screamed, over the roar of the bike. “Look at me,” I said after the bike shut off. “On the count of three,” I held up three fingers, “I’m going to lift the bike. When I do that, you pull your leg out. One, two, three, now!” I lifted the 600-pound bike, using my legs and back, and flipped it off her. “Stay there!” I yelled, pressing my hands on her shoulders. “Don’t move.” Mile nodded, grimacing in pain.
Next, it was on to the blood pool and the two bodies. The bloody mess was composed of man and beast, and Gio was lying in its midst. “Gio, can you hear me?” I shouted, realizing I had one more bike to shut down. Moving to my right, I hit the kill switch.
“Sì, I did bad. Huh, D?” acknowledged Gio, trying to make light of a very bad situation.
“You did good, my friend. You’re still alive!” I exclaimed, frantically trying to ascertain just how bad he was hurt. “Can you feel your arms? How about your legs?”
“Sì, uh no,” Gio nodded yes and then no, while tapping his upper left thigh, which I realized lay at an unnatural 90˚ angle.
“Gio, your leg is broken. I need to move you out of all this blood so we can see what else is going on. Do you understand?”
Just as I was readying myself to move him, I heard a most welcome voice screaming behind me.
“Don’t move him, D, till I assess him,” shouted Candi. “You could paralyze him.”
“I’ve already assessed him, nurse. He can feel both hands and one set of toes. Other leg is sideways. You can however, help me get him out of all this blood.”
“My God, D, where is all this coming from?” asked Candi in amazement, as she struggled to comprehend the breadth and depth of the red goo Gio was lying in.
“I believe it’s all from the moose. I think the bike almost cut her in half, severing an artery. You’re gonna have to trust me right now, Candi. I’ve done this before, too many times. Get his left shoulder please.” We pulled Gio away from the moose, and all the blood and guts he was soaked in.
“Bad, Candice?” Gio asked, looking into her eyes for the truth.
“I don’t know, Giovanna. I don’t know,” Candi said and nodded solemnly as I moved her to the side and attempted to remove his chaps.
“Candi! Candi!” I shouted, realizing she, too, was in a fog. “Go check on Mile, while I cut away his chaps so we can assess the damage.” I grabbed my knife and cut the black leather chaps from his left leg, exposing a serious compound fracture to his femur. The bone was exposed and his skin was turning blue below the knee.
“It’s going to be okay, Gio. But we’re going to have to set your leg to get the blood flowing back into your foot. It’s gonna hurt like hell. You with me, Gio? Do you understand? We’ve got to straighten your leg.”
“Sì, D. I trust you,” Gio said softly, a faint smile on his lips.
“Mile is going to be okay,” Candi assured him. “She’s twisted an ankle and may have dislocated her shoulder, but she’s going to be okay.”
“Gio, did you hear Candi? Mile is going to be okay.”
“Good, D. She did good, huh D?” replied Gio, seemingly numb to it all.
“Candi, in my right side bag you’ll find a satellite phone, a bottle of water and a collapsible walking stick. Bring them to me, while I finish cutting away his jeans.”
“Here, D. Now what?” asked Candi, ready to take more orders.
“Cleanse the wound. We’ve got to set it here in the field to restore the blood flow to his leg. In the meantime, I’ve got to call in an air evac.”
Standing up, I suddenly realized a small crowd had gathered around us. Apparently, they’d been attracted by the carnage I was up to my elbows in. “Does anybody have any more bottled water, tape, anything I can use to make a splint? If so, please run get it for me.”
A man in the crowd, yelled, “I have a large first aid kit in my RV.”
“That’s great, sir. Go get it please.”
A couple of more responses from the crowd said they had bottled water. I thanked them while I pushed a preprogrammed number on the phone. On the fifth ring, Jim answered. “Jim, this is D. I don’t have time to explain,” I said rushing my words as I walked to my bike and the GPS mounted on its handlebars. “Do you have a pen? Good. Write down these coordinates. I need an air evac sent here, like yesterday.”
“Hang on,” said Jim, my favorite U.S. Marshall. “I need to punch these into my computer.” Silence … then, “D, what the Hell are you doing in Canada? You don’t have permission to leave the country. We can’t protect you up there. What’s going on? I need to know!”
“Jim, call it in. I’ll answer any and all of your questions, but not right now. I’ve got two Italians on the ground. One is okay, but the other one,” I continued in a whisper, “could lose a leg or worse, die, if we don’t get him air-lifted off this Canadian highway ASAP!”
“Hang on, let me make the call,” said Jim, with a much more even temper. “D, I’m in contact with the Canadians now. They want particulars.”
“Tell them that two bikers from Italy slammed into a Bullwinkle and calf. The wreck is scattered across the westbound side of the Icefields Parkway. We’ll need Mounties, conservation officers and a rollback wrecker, too. That’s all I got. That’s enough, Jim. I’ve got to go set this leg now. Thanks. Talk later.”
“Candi, does Gio have any other injuries? It’s good to see you’ve elevated his other leg. Your nursing degree is paying off.”
“None than I can find, D,” replied Candi, “but I think he’s going into shock.”
“Gio, how you doin, pal?” I asked, noticing the ashen color of his face. Time was of the essence now.
“Hey, does anybody have any Canadian whisky?” I yelled into the crowd.
“Yes, sir-ee. I got me some of that Canadian Crown as a souvenir,” bellowed a middle-aged guy with a long southern drawl, sporting a well-nurtured belly.
“Great, I’ll need that, too. Could you please run and get it for me.” Run might not have been the best word to use I suddenly realized as I watched him waddle off.
Locating the large first aid kit that was graciously supplied by the RV driver, I found some antiseptic and two pairs of latex gloves, which I shared with Candi. “You’re going to have to hold his shoulders down while I set his leg. I’m afraid he’ll lose it if we don’t do it now.”
“Are you sure you want to do this in the field? Never mind, D. I know better than to ask you that. You’ve done this before. Just another chapter in your life you’ve failed to share, I bet.”
“Let’s do this,” declared Candi, just as the guy handed me the whisky.
“Thank you, sir,” I graciously acknowledged, while wiping off the newly opened bottle of Crown and taking a swig. “You want one?” I asked a startled Candi before tipping it to Gio’s lips. “Open your eyes, my friend. Drink this,” I directed, w
hile lifting his head to help him swallow without choking.
“Take another, now another. Good. Okay, we’re gonna do this and it’s gonna hurt like hell. Okay?”
With Candi holding Gio’s shoulders down, I pulled his leg down just enough to move the femur back into its natural position. Gio winced and moaned a whole lot less than I would’ve in his place. I figured that shock had probably set in.
Using my walking stick, I separated it into halves. With the surgical tape from the first aid kit, I made a splint to stabilize his leg and get the blood once again flowing to his foot. “Candi, stay with him while I go and check on Mile.”
Much to my surprise and relief, I found Mile sitting up. She was being attended to by strangers, and looking none the worse for wear.
“Mile, Gio is going to be okay,” as I reached down and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re going to be okay, too.”
Within 15 minutes, a bright red Canadian Air Force Rescue helicopter arrived, compliments of Jim. The chopper set down in the middle of the road, less than 50 yards away. I was surprised to see both a flight surgeon and nurse coming our way along with the crew.
“Doctor, nurse, guys, I’m glad to see you. I’m D, and this is Candi. She’s a nurse. Candi, if you please, fill them in on triage and their stabilization. I’m off to find the whisky.”
Sitting on my bike sipping whisky, I watched the Italians being whisked into the helicopter, while I could hear sirens growing louder off in the distance.
Walking back towards me, Candi looked like she'd been rode hard and put up wet.
”D, that offer for a drink still good? If so, I’ll gladly take it now.”
“My pleasure, baby,” I said, handing her the bottle. “Drink as much as you want. I’m driving.”
“I might just do that, D. After all that’s happened today, I now know why they use the term “organ donors” for bike riders so liberally. It may take me getting plastered right now just to be able to climb back on your bike with you. In the meantime, before I get too wasted, loan me your Sat phone, please. I’ve got to call the family.”
Just as I handed Candi the phone, a whole fleet,of emergency service personnel arrived, whereby, I began the long discourse of what happened, while coordinating their bike removal to a secure storage location in Calgary.
Walking over to the mother and calf still laying in the road, I discovered the cow moose had mercifully bled out, while the calf could possibly be saved if Fish and Wildlife could get it to a vet in time. What a scene, I thought to myself, if only I had taken some pictures.
Then I remembered Gio’s video camera and found it lying beside the road, still recording. “Look at this Candi, it’s been taping the entire time. I really don’t want to see what Gio saw at impact. I think I’ll just hang onto to it and give it to him … later.”
Chapter 35
“Did you reach your family?” I asked Candi.
“I did, D. After all the yelling and screaming died down, mom was thankful that I was okay. She said someone would be flying in to tidy up things and help Gio and Mile get home. Oh, and mom said to tell you ‘thank you’ for taking care of them.”
“What did she mean ‘tidy up things’?”
“I asked her that, D, and she wouldn’t say. She just said we would probably need help and she wanted to make sure Gio and Mile, as well as the both of us, were taken care of. I’m supposed to call when I know what hospital they’ve been air lifted to.”
“You might as well call your mom back, baby. Doc said they were taking them to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary for treatment.”
“I’ll do that right now, D. Thanks,” breathed a much-relieved Candi.
“I’ll need the Sat phone when you’re done, baby. I’ve also got some thank-you’s to shell out, along with some explaining to do to the powers that be.”
“Done. Your turn,” Candi announced, as she handed me back the phone.
I hit the preprogrammed number and heard Jim’s voice on the first ring. “Thank you for sending the Calvary, Jim. Canadian Rescue landed not long after I got them stabilized. The rest of the force is here mopping up and I’m going back to the hotel to get drunk.”
“What the hell are you doing in Canada?” demanded Jim.
“Ridin’,” I replied, rather succinctly, suddenly feeling the effects of the whisky. Really good whisky, I must say.
“There are jailhouse rumor’s flying around Texas that A.J. has put out a hit on you, because of something you’ve been involved in recently. Is there any truth to that?”
“How could I have done anything, Jim? I’ve been on this bike going on two weeks.”
“When are you coming back, D? I hope sooner, rather than later. Be prepared, we may have to move you again if there’s any substance to this rumor. If you’re holding out on me, you need to tell me now. You know we’ll find out, sooner or later. We can’t protect you if you won’t let us, D. I’ve never lost anyone under my protection, and I’m not about to start.”
“Thank you, sir. Right now, I think I’m fairly safe. Who’s going to find me on a bike while I’m on a road trip out west, especially since I’m making the route up as I go?”
“Watch your ass is all I can say to you. You need to check in with me every day until you get back. You copy me, soldier?”
“I do, sir. Loud and clear. But again, there’s a girl riding with me. She keeps me pretty occupied. Maybe every other day, since sometimes she doesn’t let me come up for air more often than that.”
“Banging your way across the U.S. and Canada on a motorcycle? I should’ve known there was a girl in that mix somewhere. Keep it in your pants long enough to check in — daily. That’s an order.”
“D,” Jim pondered long and hard before he could get the nerve to ask. “Is she really that good?”
“Yes, sir. She’s really that good. Bye.”
“Candi, how much is left in that bottle?” wanting one last swig to take the edge off, before riding back to the Fairmont.
“Not much,” giggled Candi, “and I don’t even drink whisky.”
“Are you okay riding back with me or would you like one of these emergency guys to drop you off at the hotel?”
“Don’t be silly, D, I came with you, I come with you, and I’m going back with you. Remember my ole saying, ‘we ride, baby we ride.’”
Note to self. Candi is a cheap drunk. Liquor is definitely quicker too.
Chapter 36
Riding back down the Icefields Highway, I was again immersed in the unequaled beauty of the Canadian Rockies through this part of Alberta.
“How are you doing, baby?”
“I’m good, D. A little hungry, but I’m good.”
“What say we order room service after we check on Gio and Mile, and just hang out? It’s too late to drive back to Calgary today and we’ve done all we can do. Besides, we need to collect all their gear and ship it back to them, via your family.”
Finishing up a relatively uneventful and cautious ride, Candi and I arrived at the hotel in just under two hours. I immediately made the call to the medical center and after much back and forth, I managed to speak to the admitting ER doctor who confirmed they were both stable. Oh and it didn’t hurt that he wanted to compliment whoever set and stabilized Gio’s femur in the field. Had it not been done so, timely, he might have lost the use of it or even worse, lost it. “Thank you sir,” I humbly acknowledged, before hanging up, “I’m just glad I was there to help.”
“What were you able to find out, D?” asked Candi, after she emerged from a shower.
“According to the admitting ER doc, they’re both stable.”
“I’m afraid that’s as good as you’re going to get without showing up in person,” Candi assured me.
“As long as they’re both stable, I’m good with that. Oh, and the doc complimented us on setting his leg.”
“Speaking of that, you really knew what you were doing out there. You didn’t need my help. You ha
d everything under control. I mean, I’m the RN here, and all I did was assist. Just where did you learn your skills?”
“Special Ops, I was a forward air combat controller during my stint in the Air Force. If you don’t know what that is, look it up sometime. It just means, I got to work with many cool people and everyone of us had to be able to do each other’s job; just in case.”
“Like CIA, Seal teams, extraction teams, baby. Is that who you worked with?”
“That’s all I’m at liberty to say, Candi. For now, that will have to be enough.”
“You continually surprise me, D,” offered Candi, shaking her head in amazement.
“I have to say, you continue to surprise me, too, which has not always been a good thing,” I readily confessed.
Just as Candi was about to respond, I’m sure defensively, a knock on the door signaled room service had arrived. Candi and I ate whatever it was I ordered like ravenous wolves. The events of the day had taken their toll on the both of us. Too tired for sex, too tired to talk, sleep came quickly.
Chapter 37
Waking to my 5 a.m. alarm, I dressed quietly, grabbed my phone and made my way out the door and down to the parking lot.
Finding Vic’s number, I called her at 6:20 central time, hoping she was still hanging out in Seattle, still on pacific. On the third ring, I heard a slightly groggy voice, say “hello” … followed by a long pause … “Asshole.”
“Morning Vic, it’s good to hear your voice. I’m glad you’re still out west somewhere, because, evidently I’ve woke you up again.”
“And, just how did you deduce that in that sexually depleted little brain of yours? Tell me, please, I’m waiting.”
“You have the sweetest, endearing seven-letter word for me when I wake you up after little sleep. Are you still in Seattle darlin’?”
“Nope, asshole, I’m now in Canada, just like you are or were the last time we talked. I’m in Victoria, BC.”
“What took you there? I asked perplexed.
“Well, I flew up to Seattle and went shopping. There was this cute guy down at the fish market offering these 2 night gambling junkets to Victoria with first class accommodations for $499. So here I am, at least for one more night. What’s going on, spill?”