Jess struggled onto the rocks and fell into the outstretched arms of her mother. They stayed frozen in a hug, sobbing on each other’s shoulders, water streaming from Jess’s hair, her torn jacket, and ruined jeans. Ruth wrapped them in blankets from the four-by-four.
“You did it, son! You did it!” Sonny grabbed Brian and hugged him so tight Brian could feel the pressure all the way to his heart. Brian shivered and shook, water streaming down his cheeks, as Ruth wrapped blankets around him and his father. Every muscle he owned screamed with exhaustion.
The jet boat’s motor slowed and two guys used poles to keep the boat from foundering on the rocks or moving downstream away from the shivering crowd on the beach. Ruth watched from the shore, water lapping over her sneakers. “Ernie are you all right? Why doesn’t he answer me?”
Holly waved from the cockpit of the boat and steered close enough to throw a line around a tree that hung over the river. The TV crew leaned out, cameras rolling.
The two guys let down a small dinghy. One paddled across for Ruth. She climbed in, loaded down with her purse, the first aid kit from Sonny’s car, and two more blankets.
“Keep him warm till I get there. He gets colds and flu so easily. How is he? Is he hurt?”
The TV crew stood by the prow taking pictures.
Mark hollered. “We’ve got it all!”
“Okay, that’s enough!” Sonny Dille hollered. “You guys can go back to the city now. This story is over. Jess is exhausted. Leave us alone.”
Mark shrugged his shoulders and turned away. The TV guys just kept rolling footage. Brian wanted to yell at Mark, tell him it was all right, that his dad was upset, that suddenly there on the beach all the anxiety of the last few days was stacked like a pile of driftwood. None of them seemed to be able to move.
Two people were coming to shore in the dinghy.
“What about the kid?” Holly’s dad hollered from the deck. “We could take Jess.”
“I’m not letting her out of my sight!” Naomi shouted, her green scarf sliding to the ground, making Jess giggle uncontrollably. She bent and picked the scarf up. Her mom was just the same. All this time and her mom was just the same. Jess leaned against Naomi, smelling the oh-so-familiar, wonderful smell of good shampoo and aloe vera skin lotion. Jess clutched the green paisley silk scarf in her hand as if it were a life preserver. She didn’t want to move.
Brian watched as Ruth disappeared with Mark and Holly. Ernie would be safe now. Jess was struggling up the beach, her blond hair soaked and tangled, her jacket torn, a soggy sweater wrapped around her, one knee oozing blood, dragging one foot, bare, swollen, and scratched, putting all the weight on the other squishing in a wet sneaker.
A woman from the TV crew and a camera man caught up to them by the four-by-four.
“We need to get Jess to the hospital.” Brian’s dad started the car. “You can wait for your interviews.”
“Just one question, Jessie,” The newswoman leaned against the door of the four-by-four. “Why did you go?”
Jess shook her head and let the drops of water from her head cascade to the ground. “Ernie needed me. When he started to drive away in his camper, I went with him – to keep him safe.” She shuddered, thinking about the bear and the river and the storm. “Ernie got hurt in the crash,” Jess’s teeth chattered. “He’s got a fever. He was getting real sick. I had to bring him down the river.”
“I can’t believe you came down the river,” Brian said. “You hate rivers.”
“I know. I don’t know how I did it either.” Jess stared at the roaring current and shook her head. “I was just trying to save Ernie.”
“It’s a good thing you did. You’re a hero, Jessie Baines,” the anchorwoman said. “Your story has gone all around the world. Where are you going now?”
Jess stared around her at her mom, Brian and his father, and down at her hands still clutching her mother’s paisley scarf. “Home.”
“We have to check into the hospital first, young lady.” Sonny Dille shifted into gear.
The TV woman leaned on the open window, the camera man close beside her. “Perhaps Jess would like to make a statement for the news.”
“No. That’s enough,” Naomi spluttered. “Let’s get out of here, Sonny.”
“You guys have no right pestering Jess. She’s just been through a horrific ordeal,” Sonny fumed. He backed the car around so he could drive up the hill.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk to the rescuer. What’s your name, kid? Are you Jess’s boyfriend, or what?” The woman hollered questions after them as Sonny sped away. “How did you know where to look?”
Jess and Brian looked at each other.
“What are you doing here?” her voice rasped.
Brian shrugged. “I was worried.”
“Did you spot my ‘crumbs,’ Hansel?” Jess didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “How did you figure out where we were?”
“I saw your sports bag in the river, scared the bejeebers out of me it did… and the sock by the school. I thought you were drowned.”
“The bear took the bag, that’s all.”
“What’s all? What bear? He might have attacked. You could have been mauled.”
“You’ve always been an awfulizer.”
“I know. But I came, didn’t I? I didn’t run away. I wanted to say thanks to Ernie before it’s too late. I wanted to say, we’re friends whether you like it or not. I’m not leaving for anything.” Brian clamped his mouth shut. He could feel his eyes stinging and it wasn’t from the river water that had soaked him.
Brian’s dad and Naomi took turns telling Jess how great Brian had been, coming to the house, talking his dad into making the trip, spotting the sports bag.
“It’s thanks to this young man that you got rescued from the river, young lady,” Naomi said. “He deserves a medal.”
Jess turned and glanced back at Brian. He had curled in the trunk of the four-by-four behind Naomi. Knobby knees stuck out of his torn jeans.
“Thanks,” she said slowly. She could feel a big weight disappearing, like a rock she had been carrying had been thrown away. “Thanks a lot. You aren’t bad, for a boy.”
“Are you driving slowly for some reason?” Naomi leaned across from the passenger seat and tapped Sonny’s shoulder. “I guess having something scary happen makes all of us slow down and smell the flowers.”
“Sorry.” The car sped down the road. Brian shifted position so his elbow wasn’t leaning against the hard wheel well. His dad had started whistling and drumming his fingers in time with the music on the radio.
Brian could still smell the river, and the wet clothes stuck to his skin. And he was reaching for Jess, straining into the current to help her. The image of the rescue replayed and replayed. An overwhelming sense of relief made him shudder. Brian, the clown, the showoff who did things for a laugh. Who was he now? Had it only been yesterday morning that he’d tumbled in the grass to impress Jess? What a silly kid.
All of them had been on a journey – Jess and Ernie, he and his dad, Ruth and Naomi. All of life from this point on would date from today, before the runaway and rescue and after. Who he was, who he became, would be marked by this. He didn’t know how yet. He’d have to wait and that was no joke.
Chapter 27 – Look Homeward
Jess caught herself staring at the TV tower as it drew closer, too tired, too wet to care about anything except getting warm and dry and clean, and having a cheeseburger with french fries and a piece of pecan pie with vanilla ice cream on the side and two cans of root beer. She had been aiming towards that TV tower when the jet boat and Brian had rescued them.
Neither Jess nor Brian had spoken for several kilometers. Lines of tiredness were etched on everyone’s face.
Jess burrowed deeper into the car blanket and Ruth’s sweater wrapped around her shivering shoulders. She just wanted to be home, safe and sound in her own house, room, bed. She had the people she loved around her, her mom and Ruth, Brian
and his dad, who really cared about her, who came looking for her and Ernie. She had everything she needed.
“Too bad about your sports bag, eh?” Brian said. He looked really relieved. His jeans were soaking wet. He’d been in the river trying to save her, in that cold river. “You’ll have to buy another survival kit.” Brian laughed, sounding more like his old clown self.
Jess ignored what he’d said. “The boys will think you’re some softie, coming looking for me.”
“I doubt it.”
“Brian said this was important,” Sonny Dille glanced over his shoulder as he slowed for the junction where the road to Calling Lake met the road from Lac La Biche to Landis.
“First time I’ve gotten this close to the land in fifteen years. I could get to like it, you know. It’s not Trinidad, but…”
“You live here now, right?” Naomi said slowly. Her voice, Brian noticed was softer, more relaxed. “If you lose your family, you build a new one – like Ernie and Ruth did when their kids moved away. Like we did when Jess’s dad left. We’re all survivors. Keeping in touch with those who care for you is important.”
“The folks in this car are getting too downright philosophical for me,” Brian said, loud and clear. “The deputy sheriff votes we get this here young lady to the hospital, pack our bags, get some food, and check on Ernie so we can take the whole bunch of us back to the city. We ought to have a party to celebrate.”
Chapter 28 – In the Hospital
Ernie Mather lay sleeping in a high white bed with the sides pulled up. He had been bathed and dressed in fluffy blue-striped pajamas. His white hair had been blown dry and lay softly like a halo around his pink, scrubbed-looking, shaved face. He woke slowly and began plucking lint off the pale green bedspread. A bowl of silk flowers from the Landis relatives was on the side table. An intravenous tube was attached to his right arm and a machine that monitored his heart stood to the left of the bed. His left arm was in a cast. The floor was polished and the air smelled of disinfectant and cabbage. Luncheon trays clattered in the hall.
Jess stood at the door to Ernie’s room, leaning on the door frame. Her mom had gone back to the Olnichucks’ to pack. An ambulance was taking Ernie to the University Hospital tomorrow morning. The Mathers’ family doctor had notified the specialists and they would be waiting to run tests and see how sick Ernie was.
“Hi, Ernie,” she called.
“You saved his life, you know.” Ruth Mather appeared beside her.
“Is that you, Ruth?” Ernie’s worn-out voice called.
“It’s me.”
“Tell that young nurse beside you to get me some fresh water for these flowers. They’re wilting.”
“That’s Jess, Ernie. You remember Jess, don’t you? She brought you back to us.”
“Have I been away a long time? Why am I in hospital? When can I go home?”
Ruth pulled up a chair and took Ernie’s hand in hers. She started talking quietly.
“I’m really glad you’re alive, Ernie. You know that, don’t you?”
Tears filled Ernie’s eyes. “Are you sure about that? I’m not myself, you know.”
“Yes, you are, you are. We have great times still. I’m afraid I haven’t been very honest. I thought if I didn’t tell you how bad it was that you wouldn’t know. That’s the way they did it in the old days. The patient was the last to know.” Ruth was patting his right hand, holding it up to her cheek.
“I know, Ruth. I’ve known for a long time.”
“I realize that now. Brian told me about your files. It’s hard, doing it alone. You don’t have to do it alone, Ernie. I’m with you.”
“You won’t leave me, will you?” Ernie asked.
“I’ll stay with you.” Ruth’s usually firm voice wavered.
“I’m not very good company. Ask the princess there. She’ll tell you. I caused her a lot of grief, I think. Did I?”
Jess limped over to the bed, leaned across the pale green bedspread and planted a kiss on Ernie’s freshly shaved face. She felt suddenly older than last week. Life had been pretty dramatic for her and Ernie this last few days. She had faced her worst nightmare. There had been storms, but they had come through them. She grinned at old Ernie.
“Keep singing, Ernie, remember.” Jess started to sing. “‘When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high, and don’t be afraid of the dark. At the end of the storm is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark.’” Then Jess sang slowly as she made up a second verse, changing the words of the old familiar song to fit her and Ernie’s experience. She sang about boats and water and friends at the end of the journey and the splash of an otter. Everyone chuckled.
“Thanks, princess. You sing well, you know.”
“I had a good teacher.”
“Enough of this silliness,” said Ruth. “We’ll have to have a big chicken dinner to celebrate Ernie’s safe return.”
“What are we celebrating now?” Ernie asked, scratching his chin.
Jess left them and wandered down the hallway towards the waiting room, her mind churning like the waves in the Athabasca. The doctor had said she could go, that her foot was just sprained and her knee bruised, but she needed a couple of days rest, some home cooking and normal life. She bit her lip. Stupid orange socks. They’d stayed in her drawer for a whole year. Now they were lost in the Athabasca woods along with her sports bag. Her life was full of losses. Midas was gone and Ernie was going.
Then again, she had rescued Ernie, braved the river in an inflatable, and finally, with the help of Brian, conquered the river. She wasn’t sure she’d ever want to go in a boat again. She would probably play it safe for the next few years. But she would know inside that she had done what she had done. It would be enough. Jess returned to her hospital room and ran water in the sink in the corner of the room, took a fluffy white washcloth and sponged her face with warm water and soap. She wiped her hands dry with the soft towel and walked back into the quiet corridor.
Her mom, Brian, and his dad came through the swinging doors at the other end of the hall. Jess could smell the hamburger and fries the second the door opened. She dragged her bandaged foot to the grouping of green plastic chairs and table and flopped down.
“It’s double cheese,” Brian laughed. “The guy at the takeout threw in a second burger and an extra piece of pecan pie when he found out who it was for. Mark and Holly are bringing doughnuts. They want an exclusive interview. Nice kids. Teenagers. They seem to get along together. We should be able to do that too – get along, you know.”
Jess stared at Brian, thought about what she’d just been through, thought about Ernie and how alone he’d been and how mean Brian had been about him. She had to say something. “This is great. Thanks. But it doesn’t make up for all the dumb things you’ve done this year.”
“What dumb things?”
“Like making a joke about how I threw a ball. How I was a mess.”
“When did I do that?”
“Friends don’t gang up on each other and laugh.”
“Honestly, I don’t remember.”
Jess described the day in the playground in full detail, her voice raised loud enough to startle a nurse in the corridor. “You didn’t just stand by and let the bullies say things, you dolt, you added your two cents worth. You called me a mess. I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a mess.”
“Boy, oh. Is that why you’ve been so cold all year? I thought friends were supposed to talk to each other, eh?”
“That’s just for starters. Where do you come off, talking about Ernie as if he was dead? Calling him gaga? What about that?”
“Yeah, well, I wanted to talk about that,” Brian sighed. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t want to lose Ernie. I sure didn’t like you acting so cold. Maybe that’s why I acted so stupid. I am going to see Ernie when we get home and thank him for everything. Maybe he’ll let me read to him or play gin rummy, if he can. I didn’t know when to stop making jokes.”
�
��You’re right. You’re a clown.”
“Jess? Brian?” Naomi put an arm around Jess. “You could have died, and you’re arguing. Kids.” She shook her head.
“It’s probably shock.” Brian’s dad sighed. “All the little things pile up like those logs jammed on the island in the middle of the river. You have to work things out.”
“Yeah, like we have, eh Dad?” Brian grinned. “Dad says he’s going to talk Mom into going on vacation with us – to Banff. It would be a first. We might get to like it.” Brian was feeling pretty good about the long talk he and his dad had had as they packed up at the motel. They’d worked well together over the last few days.
Jess looked at her old friends gathered around her. She started to shake. It had just dawned on her that she wasn’t in danger any more.
Brian scrunched down, tugged at his socks, felt in his pocket for his lucky coins. He really didn’t mean half of the stuff he said – why couldn’t Jess see that? He had a big mouth and he knew it. Maybe he could give her his lucky coins and she’d forgive him. They could start again.
“Brian’s turned into the class clown. His best friends are the bullies.” Jess was still upset.
“The boys laugh if a guy spends too much time with girls.”
“I’m not a girl, you dolt. I’m a person.”
“You’re right. But a guy has to get along, make a mark.”
“You think making fun at other people’s expense is making a mark? It stinks.”
Brian nodded. “Okay, I’ve got the point.”
Jess unwrapped the burger and with her mouth full said, “You eat the second one, Brian. If we are back to being buddies again, like we were when Ernie took us fishing, then we need to remember to share the good as well as the bad.”
“And no laughing at the way you throw a ball, right?”
Jess and the Runaway Grandpa Page 14