Take a Deep Breath (Lake of the Pines)

by Shar Dimick

  “He’s on to something,” Luke called out to Cam.

  Hope rose in Cam’s chest and he put up a silent prayer to let it be Sara. Cam blew the whistle loudly, simultaneously with Luke and called her name again. They paused to listen. Faintly in the distance, Cam heard the barking of a small dog. Pup-Pup. Cam’s heart leapt.

  “I think I hear Sara’s little dog barking.” Cam pointed due east.

  “Maybe that’s what Pogo smells.” They turned and headed in the direction of the barking. They blew the whistles again and called out. The little dog’s barking got a little louder. Cam and Luke moved quickly toward the sound. Pretty soon, Pogo began barking loudly too. Moments later Cam and Luke came over a rise and found Pup-Pup and Pogo nose-to-nose with each other. The fur on Pup-Pup’s back stood straight up as she growled at Pogo. Pogo cocked his head at the little dog as if to say, “Really? What’re you going to do to me?” Luke whistled for Pogo and the dog obediently fell into heel at Luke’s side.

  “Pup-Pup,” Cam called. On recognizing a familiar face, Pup-Pup ran to Cam, dragging her pink leash behind her. Cam picked her up and stroked her back as he scanned the area looking for Sara. He put the little dog back on the ground. “Okay, girl…Where’s Sara? Take us to her.” The little dog started jumping around and headed off toward a dried up stream bed that sloped down into a ravine. Pogo was already on Sara’s trail, nose to the ground. Luke ran to keep up with him, followed by Pup-Pup and Cam. Pogo stopped at the edge of the muddy slope. Both dogs barked non-stop. Cam and Luke looked down into the shadowy ravine.

  “Sara! Sara!” they called out to her. No answer. Cam scanned the ravine, dread filling him. She had to be here somewhere. Then he saw her small form lying next to a fallen branch. She didn’t move. “Oh God, please God, no!”

  Luke saw her too and was already descending into the ravine.

  “I’m right behind you.”

  Luke reached the little girl first. Her eyes were closed and her face contorted in pain. Her right ankle was bent at an unnatural angle. Luke moved the girl’s hair back away from her face. She was warm. He placed his thumb on her neck and found a pulse. “She’s alive.” A smile covered Luke’s face. This was the best part of his job. A few seconds later Cam fell to his knees next to Sara. Luke removed a blanket from his pack and covered Sara. He then radioed back to the command center to let them know they’d found Sara and were assessing her injuries. He requested an ambulance meet them at the Horse Shoe shelter house.

  “Sara, Sara,” Cam tried to rouse the girl. He took her hand in his and squeezed it. “Sara, Honey. Wake up. It’s me, Cam. Wake up, darling,” Cam continued to try to get the girl to open her eyes, while Luke found the materials to tend to Sara’s injuries. Besides the broken ankle, she had a small cut above her right eye and a scrape on her arm. Pup-Pup found her way down into the ravine and licked Sara’s face. Her eyes flew open in a start. She instinctively tried to get up and cried out in pain when she moved her injured leg. She started to cry.

  “It’s okay, I’m here. You’re safe now.” Cam comforted as he reached over and brought her into his embrace. Relief washed over him as he held her. She sobbed uncontrollably against his chest, unable to speak. A few minutes later she lifted her head.

  “I want my Mommy. I want to go home.”

  “I know you do Sweetie. We want you to go home too and we’ll get you there as soon as we can.”

  “I’m Luke,” Luke said kneeling next to her. “I’m here to help you too. You’ve been so brave. It won’t be long now before we get you back to your mom.”

  “Okay. Is she mad at me?”

  “She’s not mad at you,” Luke assured her, “Just very worried.” Liv. Cam needed to call her and let her know the good news. He dug his cell phone out of his pocket. No signal. Hopefully someone at the command center had called her already.

  “I didn’t mean to get lost. Pup-Pup ran off and I was trying to get her to come back. Then I tripped over my flip-flop and slipped in the mud. The next thing I knew I was down here. I was trying to get to that big tree over there so someone could find me, but my ankle hurt really badly.”

  “You did the right thing,” Luke reassured her. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Cam and I need to get your leg immobilized, so it doesn’t hurt so much when we move you. Do you know what immobilized means?”

  She shook her head no.

  “It means we’re going to make it so you can’t move it for now. Once we get you out of here, then the doctors will be able to take a look at it and make it better for you. Okay?”

  She nodded okay.

  “First, I’m going to let Cam examine you. Then we’ll put the splint on your ankle.”

  “All right, Sara. I want you to follow my finger with your eyes.” Cam moved his index finger slowly to the right and across her field of vision to the left. Then he brought it toward her nose. “That’s great Sweetie. Do you remember hitting your head when you fell?”

  “No, just my foot.”

  “Does your head hurt at all?”

  “No.”

  “Do you feel dizzy?”

  “No, my ankle just hurts really, really bad.”

  Cam could tell just by looking at the angle of her foot that her ankle was broken. It would probably need surgery, but at least the bone wasn’t visible. He felt both her feet. Her right one, already swollen, was definitely hot to the touch. Next Cam touched each of her toes.

  “Can you feel that? Which toe am I touching?”

  “My big toe.”

  “Good. What about now?”

  “My pinkie toe.”

  “Good,” Cam reassured her as he made sure she could feel each toe. “Okay, can you wiggle your toes for me now?”

  She flexed her toes once and cried out in pain.

  “I know it hurts. We’ll get you some medicine to make it stop hurting so much as soon as we can. Luke and I are going to put the splint around your leg now. It might hurt a little while we’re getting it on, but we’re going to be as gentle as possible. You’re doing great.”

  “Okay, Cam.”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.” She squeezed her eyes shut tight.

  “Hold my hand. Squeeze it as hard as you want.”

  Luke slid a piece of stiff cardboard that he’d bent into the shape of a “U” and lined with one of the towels in his pack, under her leg. Next he placed another folded towel under her ankle to give it more support. Finally, he used medical tape to hold the splint together. Sara grasped Cam’s hand harder and harder. She screamed in pain and tears streamed down her face, but didn’t pull away from Luke.

  “You’re so brave, Sara. He’s almost done.”

  Luke felt her foot and repeated the steps Cam had performed earlier, making sure she could still feel and move her toes.

  “Hello?” voices called from above and over the radio.

  “Down here,” Luke yelled.

  A team of paramedics appeared on the rim of the ravine. Cam and Luke waved to them.

  “Gotcha you, Luke,” one of the paramedics yelled down to them.

  “If you go about 500 yards or so that way, you’ll see where it slopes down gradually,” Cam yelled up, pointing toward the east. They nodded and headed that way.

  “Okay Sara, these guys are going to put you on a stretcher or a little bed. You won’t be able to move your head a lot, but you are going to be okay. We just don’t want you to get hurt any more than you already are when we move you.” Luke continued to explain what was going to happen and reassure her.

  Minutes later the paramedic team had Sara secured to the board and ready to go. They slowly carried her out of the ravine to the path that led back to the shelter area. Once they were out of the ravine, Cam checked his cell phone again. He finally had one bar and punched in Liv’s number.

  Her cell phone began to ring. Startled Liv and Hannah both dropped their hand of cards. Liv held her breath as she answered. Caller ID told her it was Cam.

>   “Hello?” Liv braced herself for the worst.

  “Livvy, we found her. She’s okay!”

  “Thank you, God. Thank you, Cam.” Liv broke down. She looked over and saw her grandmother’s worried face. Liv gave her a thumbs-up sign and mouthed “they found her!”

  “We’re headed to the Horse Shoe shelter area where the ambulance is waiting. She’s hurt her ankle and she’s a little dehydrated, but she’s going to be just fine.”

  “Hurt?” Panic returned to the pit of Liv’s stomach.

  “Try not to worry. She fell and broke her ankle, but she should make a full recovery. We’ll be transferring her to the hospital, but we’ll need your consent first before they’ll be able to do surgery. She’s asking for you… Liv? Are you still there?” The line was silent. He lost the connection. Liv was already out the door running toward her car with Hannah right behind her.

  Cam and the team of paramedics arrived with Sara, just as Liv and Hannah pulled into the Horse Shoe shelter parking lot. They lowered her stretcher onto the gurney from the ambulance. Cam held her hand as they wheeled her towards the back door of the ambulance.

  “Mommy, Mommy,’” Sara cried when she saw Liv. “I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so, so sorry. Please don’t be mad at me. I was so scared.”

  Liv bent down and wrapped her arms around the little girl, laying her head on top of hers. “It’s okay baby. I’m not mad. You’re going to be okay now.”

  “You must be Sara’s mom,” Luke said, offering her his hand. “I’m Luke, search and rescue coordinator. You have a brave little girl there. You should be proud of her.”

  “I am. Thank you so much for finding her… I am so grateful to you. To both of you…” She met Cam’s eyes. “I can’t thank you and the whole search team enough. I don’t know what I’d have done if…”

  “I’m glad it’s a happy ending,” Luke interrupted. “It looks like she broke her ankle when she fell, though. She might need surgery, but we won’t know for sure until they x-ray it. We need your permission to transport her to the county hospital.”

  “Yes, yes. Of course.” The paramedics loaded Sara into the ambulance.

  “Did he say surgery?” Sara screamed. She was immediately alert. “No! No! I don't want to go Mommy. Please don’t let them take me!” Sara screamed in terror, hysteria taking over.

  Cam came up behind Liv and put his arm around her shoulders. He reached over and squeezed Sara’s hand.

  “It’ll be okay, Sara. You won’t feel a thing. You’ll be asleep the whole time and when you wake up, your ankle will feel a lot better. Your mom will be with you in the ambulance and when you wake up.” Cam helped Liv up into the back of the ambulance.

  “Thanks,” she mouthed. Sara grasped her mother’s hand and Liv pressed a kiss to her forehead.

  “I’ll take your Grandmother and Pup-Pup home. We’ll meet up with you at the hospital.”

  “Okay.” The paramedics closed the door and pulled out of the parking lot.

  Sara looked so small and pale lying on the stretcher. She continued to sob uncontrollably. Liv squeezed her hand. “You’re going to be okay now. The doctors are going to make you all better. Cam’s right, you won’t feel a thing when you’re in surgery. They’ll give you some medicine to make you sleep. I’ll be right there with you when you wake up. I’m not going to leave you.”

  “I was playing with Pup-Pup.” Sara sobbed. “She saw a chipmunk crawling around the birch tree in the side yard. She started chasing after it into the woods and I couldn’t get her to come back. Pup-Pup kept on running and I ran after her. Then I got scared. I didn’t know which way to go. All the trees looked the same. I saw Pup-Pup sitting on a fallen log just watching that dumb chipmunk. I ran to get her and my flip-flop got caught under my foot and I tripped. It was slippery and before I could catch myself I was falling down a big hill. My ankle twisted and hurt real bad.” Sara tried to sit up.

  “Shhhh. It’s okay now. Just rest and try to stay still.” Liv brushed her daughter’s hair away from her face.

  “Pup-Pup saw that I was hurt. She came over and sat right by me. I tried to make it over to a big tree so someone could find me. I must have fallen asleep though. When I woke up again, Cam was there with Luke. I was so, so scared I’d never see you again.”

  “I know you were. I was scared too. You’re safe now though.” Liv smiled and squeezed Sara’s hand again as one of the paramedic’s started Sara’s IV.

  “You are such a brave girl, Sara. I’m so proud of you.”

  “I love you, Mommy.”

  “I love you back.” Liv kissed the top of her head.

  Chapter Ten

  Liv sat in one of the gray upholstered chairs on the far side of the pediatric surgery waiting room. She was tired, but felt surprisingly calm as she flipped through an old issue of People magazine. The ambulance arrived at the emergency room within twenty minutes of leaving the park. The ER staff was amazing. Not only efficient, they were great with Sara. Liv marveled at how fast they had Sara in and out of x-ray and prepped for surgery. Dr. Brack, the on-call orthopedic surgeon, was waiting for them. After reviewing Sara’s x-rays she explained that Sara would need pins placed in her ankle to help keep the bones in alignment while they healed. Soon after Liv signed her consent for the surgery, the nurses wheeled Sara into the operating room.

  Liv swallowed back the lump in her throat as she remembered how small and scared her daughter looked lying on the gurney in her hospital garb. A green cap covered her hair. Sara hugged Liv tightly and gave her a weak smile. Liv kissed her one last time and squeezed her hand.

  “I love you, Sara. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “I love you back, Mom.” Sara disappeared through the double doors that led to the surgical wing. A nurse took Liv to the pediatric surgery waiting room. The doctor told her the surgery would take a couple of hours. She’d only been waiting thirty minutes and she already felt restless. The day had been full of waiting. Liv tossed the magazine back onto the table next to her and rifled through the stack of magazines for something else to read. Nothing interested her. She glanced up and saw Cam standing in the doorway. Her heart leapt at seeing him. He’d showered and changed into a pair of dark, straight-legged jeans and a long sleeved white shirt that he’d rolled up to his elbows. He had a brown, overnight bag slung over his left shoulder.

  She met his eyes with a warm smile. She stood and walked over to meet him halfway. “Thanks for coming. You didn’t have to, but I’m glad you did.”

  “I didn’t want to be anywhere else.” Cam pulled her into his embrace and held her close. “Waiting is the worst part.”

  “I’ve been waiting all day.”

  “I know, but the worst of it is over. She’s safe now.”

  “I know I just wish we could go home and this nightmare would be over.”

  “Me too. Hopefully, you’ll be able to in a day or so.” Cam released Liv from his hold and took her hand in his. “It’s been a long day. I know it’s been hard on you. How’re you holding up?”

  “Actually, not too bad. Of course, I’ve been better, but I feel pretty calm now.”

  “That’s good.” Cam leaned over and kissed her forehead.

  “What about you? You must be exhausted after traipsing through the woods searching for Sara.”

  “I still have too much adrenaline pumping through me to be tired. Besides, I couldn’t let myself feel tired, I had to find Sara. I knew I wasn’t going to stop until I did.”

  “Oh, Cam…” Tears brimmed over her eyes as her emotions overcame her. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t. With her hurt like that, who knows what would have become of her overnight.” Liv shuddered.

  “I’m glad we don’t have to think about it.” Cam put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. She rested her head on his shoulder and looked up into his eyes.

  “Thanks to you and Luke.” Liv touched his cheek with her hand and gently pulled his head down toward he
r. She sweetly kissed his mouth, pouring all the love she felt for him into it for him to feel. She knew in that moment she was gone. She was completely in love with him. Again.

  He smiled down at her and rested his chin on top of her head. She relaxed against him. She felt safe too.

  “How’s your dad’s friend doing?” Liv asked, lifting her head up to look at him. “I heard he had heat exhaustion from one of the paramedics.”

  “He’s doing well. I talked to my dad on the phone on my way over. He and my Uncle Roger brought him to the ER earlier as a precaution. They gave him some IV fluids and sent him home an hour or so ago. Dad said they’re getting ready to play cards. He wanted me to tell you that he’s glad Sara is safe and hopes she’ll recover quickly.”

  “That’s good to hear. I’d hate to think someone got hurt looking for Sara. I really appreciate your dad and his friends helping with the search.” Liv sat down in one of the empty chairs along the wall near the door. Cam sat next to her and set the overnight bag on floor.

  “I know they were glad to help. Dad likes to feel needed.” Cam bent over and unzipped the overnight bag. “Here, I thought Sara might want this when she wakes up.” He pulled out Boo-Boo bear.

  Liv took the bear from Cam and hugged it to her. “Thanks. That’s so thoughtful of you.” Her emotions threatened to overcome her again.

  “I remembered seeing it on the counter this morning when I was cleaning up after breakfast.” Cam shrugged. “So I grabbed it when I took your Grandma home. She helped me pack a few of your things too. I figured you probably wouldn’t go home tonight and leave Sara here alone.”

  “Where is Gram?”

  “She looked really tired and worn out when we got back to your cottage. I was concerned about her and suggested she lie down and rest awhile. She argued with me, but in the end she agreed. I told her we’d call as soon as we had an update on Sara.”