The car stopped, its engine still running. And then she heard the cows. She smiled to herself. Even in a war-ravaged country like this, some basics can still go on. Soon, they were on their way again.
At last, the car came to a halt, and the engine stopped. Dana tensed. What next? The doors opened, and the man and the woman both got out. The woman moved her seat, and beckoned Dana to get out.
Uncertain of what would come next, Dana clambered out. The man and the woman were standing right in front of her as she straightened up her body. Gently, they turned her round and pointed.
To her surprise and joy, a hundred metres away was the gate and guard post of CFB Betsevac. She turned back to the couple. They were all smiles. She embraced them both, long and hard. This was almost too much. Tears fell from her eyes as she realized the man and the woman were weeping, too.
They had to part. The man indicated to her to go to the base. She embraced them both again, waved farewell, turned, and walked, as a peasant girl, toward the gate. Halfway there, she turned to wave. The couple and the car were gone.
- 39 -
Caroline Munro turned her head at the sound of the doorbell. So many times in the past days had that sound been the beginning of yet another difficult visit with friends and family, and strangers too, all coming with the best of intentions to offer their sympathy to Bob and herself.
Of course she appreciated their coming, their concern, their sadness and horror at the loss of Dana. But it was so hard to cope. She had felt so empty, so cold—as if there was no purpose anymore.
But she and Bob had come closer to one another, closer than they had been for a very long time. She knew he was taking it badly too, but differently. The shock, the tragedy, seemed to have brought him out of himself, out of the quiet, almost shadowy person he had been since Bryce’s death. Maybe it was by way of helping her, helping to shield her from the social niceties that seemed to be necessary at times like these. She was proud of what he had said at the memorial service—she knew he spoke from the heart.
Bob came into the room. “Hem—Caroline, dear, we have visitors.”
Caroline looked up. These visitors were very welcome. They really had been supportive. “Hello, Kelly, Mike. Come on in.”
“Thanks, Caroline,” Kelly sat on the sofa with Caroline. “I hope you and Bob don’t mind, but Mike and I were just sitting there feeling lost, and we knew your family visitors were out tonight, so we thought we would come over to see if there was anything we could do to help. If you two want to have the time to yourselves, just say. You know we’ll understand.”
“I’m glad you’ve come, both of you. I must say, I did wonder, when the doorbell rang—there’ve been so many people. And it’s been so hard to talk with some of them—I guess they’ve wanted to show their concern, but after they’ve said that, they’ve seemed lost for words—which puts the onus back on Bob and me. Don’t get me wrong—we do appreciate what people have said and done—but it’s been a real drain on us. But you two, we know we can talk easily with you.”
“I know what you mean, that’s what happened to me, when I lost Mum and Dad and Ted so quickly. And at that time, I really didn’t have anyone to turn to for help. I really was alone.”
“Can Ah get you anything?” Bob was hovering by the doorway through to the kitchen.
“No thanks, Bob. Come and sit down, relax, don’t feel you have to do anything special at all for us.”
“Okay.” Bob came over to the group and sat on the edge of his easy chair. “Mike, if ye have jist a moment, Ah’ve got a wee problem downstairs you might take a look at for me. It’s the electronic dust-trap thingamajig.”
“Sure, lead on. You mind?” Mike was asking Kelly and Caroline. They waved him on. Mike and Bob disappeared downstairs.
“Kelly, dear, I just have to tell you something. I don’t know what it means, and I don’t understand. But last night we were in bed. Everything was dark and quiet. Bob had finally dropped off to sleep, and was on his side, so he was quiet. I couldn’t go to sleep. It’s been awful these past nights—thank goodness I’ve not had to go into school each day.
“Anyway, I don’t think I had dropped off, but it was like a dream—but then, it couldn’t have been, because I remember distinctly hearing the furnace motor cut in as it was happening—anyway, I suddenly had this strange feeling of relief about Dana, a feeling of uplift. It really was uncanny. Kelly, I don’t know what to make of it, I really don’t.”
Kelly put her hand out and rested it on Caroline’s arm. “Our feelings and our emotions do lots of strange things to us at a time like this. I had all kinds of strange thoughts, some quite frightening, others warm and reassuring, after Ted was drowned. I don’t know, some of them I’m sure were dreams, but I think others came from constantly thinking about him and the life we’d had together. It was a long time before they started to fade. Even now, sometimes, a subtle feeling comes back—maybe when I see something, or do something we used to do together. But you know, Caroline, Mike is wonderful, he’s so understanding, and he knows I love him.”
“I can see you two were meant for each other.” Caroline laughed. She felt so much better now, it amazed her. Whatever it was, the stress was falling away; she felt light-hearted—and yet, still, she felt guilty for feeling that way.
“Well,” said Mike, shaking his head, still holding the guts of the electronic air-filter in his hands, “it doesn’t look good, Bob.”
“No, Ah guess not.” Bob was glum. “Just something else tae go wrong.”
“But not too serious. Look, let me take it into work tomorrow, and I’ll get Gilles to have a good look at this capacitor here—it looks to me as if it might have blown. We might be able to replace it, if that’s all it is.”
“Go ahead, it’s nae use as it is. What’s a new unit cost?”
“Oh, about two hundred or so, I think. Not too sure, as I don’t deal too much with the cost side of things—I just fix ’em or replace ’em.”
“That’s the way it was in the Air Force.”
“I didn’t know you were in the Air Force, Bob.”
“Aye, a long time ago now.” Bob sighed.
“What did you do, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Ground crew, CF104s—Starfighters—they were challenging birds.”
“Wasn’t that the one that …”
“Aye, the newspapers called it the ‘widow-maker’. That’s the one, all right.”
“Was it really that bad?”
“No, but we lost a few real good guys.”
Mike waited. He sensed there was more to come.
Bob was wrestling to say something. “A—Ah lost a real good friend, a real good officer …”
Mike waited patiently.
“Ma plane was one of the ones we lost.”
“I’m sorry, Bob; I didn’t know, or I wouldn’t have pressed the topic.”
Bob grimaced a smile. “Dinnae worry, Mike. It’s a thing Ah should’ve got over years ago, but Ah guess Ah never have. He was a great guy, was Flight Lieutenant Crowther—Roy.”
Bob fell into a wistful silence. Mike waited.
“Y’know, Mike, when Dana first told me she wanted to join the Army, she started off by asking me about ma time in the Air Force—y’know, what was it like. But Ah jist couldna tell her the real story. Ah made some half-assed comment about there being some good times and some god-awful times and left it at that …”
The sound of the phone ringing broke Bob’s sentence. “Ah guess Ah’d best go see who’s callin’ now.”
Bob and Mike made their way back upstairs.
Caroline picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Is this Mrs Munro?” a female voice asked.
“Yes, who’s calling, please?”
“This is Master Warrant Smith; we met the other day, ma’am. I have some very good news for you. Please hold the line; I need to patch you through …”
Caroline held on, her pulse racing. What on earth
is happening now?
“Mrs Munro?” It was a male voice now, a bit fainter.
“Yes, may I ask what is happening?”
“Of course. I have someone who would very much like to speak with you. Just a sec.”
Caroline’s heart was really racing now.
“Hi, Mom! It’s me, Dana, I’m alive.”
“Oh my god …” Caroline’s legs gave way, as she sank back onto the sofa. She waved the phone toward her husband. “It’s … Dana.”
“Put it on speaker.”
Caroline fumbled for the button, but Mike reached out and pushed it for her.
“Are you there, Mom? I know it’s a big shock, but I really am here, and I’m okay. Is Dad there?”
“Aye, Ah’m here, my love. This is wonderful. Where are you, pet?”
“I’m at the base here, Betsevac. I’m in the hospital being checked out.”
“This is amazing, dear.” Caroline was regaining her composure. “It’s a miracle. What happened to you?”
“Mom, it’s a long story, and I don’t really know all that happened. I’m a bit fuzzy on it. Can we talk about it later, please?”
“Kelly and Mike are here too, dear.”
“Yeah, this is fantastic news, Dana, great to hear you,” Mike added.
“Kelly here. So relieved to hear your voice.”
“And it’s great to hear all of you. I thought I would never see you again. Er … my doctor is saying I need to close off now. I’ll be able to come home soon. Love to everybody.”
“This really is a miracle. Bye, my dear, we look forward to you coming,” said Caroline.
“Bye then, my sweet, we love you,” added Bob.
Dave Adkins was pleased, very pleased. Once again, the Brewster community had shown its stuff and put on a party, this time to celebrate Dana’s return. As soon as he had suggested the idea, it had spread quickly through the Gardens and the Mews, and the response had been immediate. People were overjoyed, and wanted to show it.
The contrast to the preceding days of sadness, emptiness, darkness, and gloom was complete. If the community had shown the full extent of its sympathy and caring at the Memorial Service, then it had outdone itself in joy and thanksgiving this day.
Even newcomer families, who knew little of the role of Dana in the Gardens community years ago, had contributed. The Hennigan Centre had never seen a celebration so spontaneous, so heartfelt, not even at the gala opening back at the beginning.
Dana was overwhelmed, and so was her family. Poor Caroline, her mother, had burst into tears as she entered the hall. Dana was speechless at the ovation she received. During the course of the afternoon, she had managed to talk with just about everyone there.
Dave felt especially thankful for her safe return. He was forever grateful to Dana. Without her inspired initiative in the first place, he wouldn’t have this job of Administrator of the Centre. He could honestly say that these years at the Centre had been the most contented years of his life. The Centre had gone from strength to strength. Dana had come back to visit whenever she could, though in these last years her visits had been fewer, as her army career took her far away.
Whenever she had dropped in at a Youth Council meeting, a spark was ignited, and something new and good came out of it. But then, he recalled the last council meeting, after the tragic news had come through. The spark, the fire, had gone—nothing new could be done that night; they could only remember.
But now, life had returned. All was well.
“This is a great sight, Dave.”
Dave turned toward the voice, at his left. Graham Stennings had joined him. “Oh, hi there, Graham. Yep, it’s real good to see her back. She’s really something, eh?”
“You bet. You know, it’s marvellous how even the young kids seem to take to her, considering that she hasn’t really been around much during their lifetimes.”
“Yeah, goes to show how much charisma she has, and how the older people have passed on her image to the little ones.”
“Oh—hello there, Caroline—and Dwayne, too.” Caroline Munro and Dwayne Hampden had quietly joined them.
Caroline laughed. “David, I really do want to thank you for organizing this party. It’s been wonderful. Bob and I are so grateful to everyone, and I know Dana is too.”
“It was the least we could do, Caroline,” said Dave. “It’s just so great to have her back.”
“It’s a miracle—it really is. You can’t ever appreciate what this has done for Bob and me. Sorry.” She turned away to dab tears in her eyes. “It’s just overwhelming. I feel so happy and relieved.”
Jane had just joined the group; she took Caroline’s arm. “Don’t worry about a few tears. We know how you must feel, even though we can’t fully appreciate it.”
“Thanks.”
Dwayne spoke. “Caroline, if you don’t mind me asking, have they figured out how Dana survived?”
Caroline took a deep breath. “We-ell, so far as they’ve been able to piece bits together from reports from the other vehicles behind hers and what Dana has remembered—you know she has a mental blank, and doesn’t know what happened right at the time of the explosion. And please, please don’t press her on that when you’re talking with her, it’s probably for her own good that she can’t remember.
“Anyway, it seems that as they were approaching the top of a hill, Dana was in the lead vehicle, standing half-out of the hatch, glancing back at the following ones. Suddenly, there was a great explosion, and her vehicle was blown upward and over the cliff edge to the side.
“From one of the other vehicles behind, someone saw Dana’s overturning as it fell, and then it crashed against a crag, careened off, and down into the gorge. There was another explosion, and black smoke rose up from below. They can only surmise that Dana was thrown from the vehicle as it hit that crag on the way down.”
“Wow.” Dwayne sucked in his breath.
“But then it seems she was trapped on a ledge on the cliff-face, and it took her many days to get off and be found by some locals, who drove her to the base. She seems all very woolly about it, and not eager to talk.”
“Quite an ordeal,” Dwayne said quietly, quite moved.
“Yes, it has been, for all of us.” Caroline smiled wistfully.
“But this is so fantastic, after what we’ve all gone through these past days,” said Jane. “We’re so happy for you.”
“Thank you again, you’ve all been so kind and supporting throughout. And Graham, we really did appreciate Reverend Olney organizing the ceremony, and Captain Legendre and the other soldiers coming to us. Were they going to the other families?”
“Actually, the captain was visiting each of the other families, but who went with him depended on where. Two of the crew came from Nova Scotia, and one from Saskatchewan. Chaplains in those regions would go with him.”
“And those poor families have no joy.” Caroline wiped her eyes.
Tony and Gina slipped into the hall, into a wall of sound—of voices and laughter and music.
“There she is.” Gina motioned with her arm.
“Okay, but I don’t want to butt in when she’s with people.”
“But Tone, if you want to talk with her, you’ll have to. Everybody wants to talk with her today.”
“Yeah, I know.” Tony knew this was not going to be the right time—there were too many people vying for Dana’s attention. But he desperately wanted to talk with her. When he and Gina had gone to the Munro house the day Dana arrived home, she had given him such a warm embrace. But they couldn’t talk, not then. Her parents were there of course, and some relatives too, and other people kept coming to the door to welcome Dana home.
No, he knew he would have to wait. And he wasn’t at all sure what her reaction would be. After all, he’d made a disgusting mess of his life—but she had been his angel, she had pulled him up, she had saved him.
A sudden stir and drop in the sound level caught his attention. Dana was rushing from
the group she had been with into the washrooms. Gina put her hand in front of Tony.
“Wait there!” Gina followed Dana.
Tony stood there, puzzled. Is something wrong? What had Gina seen that he hadn’t?
After a few minutes, Dana appeared, looking decidedly unhappy, and walked quickly toward the exit doors. Gina had followed her out of the washrooms, and rejoined Tony.
“Go with her,” whispered Gina. Tony’s eyes were following Dana as she left the hall. He hesitated. Gina nudged him. “Go on, Tone, go to her—she needs help.”
Tony squeezed his sister’s arm and made toward the door.
Outside, Dana was sitting on one of the park benches along the sidewalk to the parking lot. She was staring vacantly into the distance.
“Mind if I join you, Dan?” Tony was apologetic.
Dana looked up and smiled tearfully. She patted the bench beside her. Tony sat down. They sat in silence for several minutes. He could sense that something was troubling her, but hesitated to pry. He felt the urge to offer help, but could not bring himself to speak.
At last, she turned her face. He could see the tears in her eyes. “Tone, I just had to come outside. It was such a wonderful party, with everyone so happy to see me. And I was happy to see them too—but …”
She lowered her head. “I just can’t forget my guys that didn’t survive. How can I be happy when their families are so devastated? It’s just not right. I should be helping their families, their parents, their brothers and sisters, not here celebrating like this. If only we’d not been on that damn road …”
“Dan, you can’t take any blame, you’re not at fault. Look, we’re all happy that you survived—”
The sounds of people coming out of the Centre interrupted Tony. They were joking and laughing.
“Bye, Dana. Glad you’re home safe!”
“Bye, Dan. Bye.”
“Great party, Dan. You take it easy now.”
“Bye, Dana, see you soon.”
Angel in Blue Jeans Page 27