Bruce nodded, “What happened?”
“The plane crashed.” The man was wearing a gray wool sweater that was torn and covered with blood and grime. He helped Bruce to his feet. “Your head’s bleeding, here hold this.” The man pressed a piece of cloth to the cut. And then put Bruce’s hand over it. At least now the blood wasn’t dripping in his face. The man tied a scarf around his head to hold it in place.
“Can you help me?” the man asked. “There are a lot of hurt people.”
Bruce glanced around at the surreality and what looked like a war zone. He nodded and finally found his voice. “Yeah, sure I’ll help.”
****
The sun was streaming in the window when David woke. He could hear voices in the kitchen as he rolled out of his twin size bed. He pulled open his bedroom door and stayed close to the wall. And that’s when he saw his mother sitting at the table, still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Uncle Paul was there as well. But no one else. David wondered if everyone stayed over, and when he peeked into the living room he saw Uncle Mike asleep on the couch with a knitted blanket draped over him.
It was Uncle Paul, not Mom, who held out his arms to David and said, “You’re awake. Did you have a good sleep?”
It was awkward walking past Mom who stared with big eyes that were red rimmed and puffy. She looked so tired, and appeared ghostlike. She rubbed her neck with her hand, and then pushed away from the table without a word to him. So of course the jagged lump in David’s throat throbbed worse than a toothache. And of course the only thing David could think is she didn’t like him, and that hurt too. He cried inside, his heart breaking as his little voice screamed in his head. Why couldn’t she hug me, and tell me it was going to be okay?
Uncle Paul pulled David on his knee and hugged him. But David couldn’t hug him back because it felt as if his guts had been yanked out and he’d lost his family overnight. “Why doesn’t Mom love me?”
David didn’t realize he’d said it out loud until Uncle Paul narrowed his eyes at the empty doorway Mom had slipped through. And then stared back at David with the same tired eyes.
“Don’t be too hard on your mom. She’s not coping well with what’s happened. She’s trying to get through the day. She loves you very much.” Uncle Paul rubbed David’s bed head. “You need a haircut. I could pull out my clippers and take care of it right now.”
“No, I like my hair. Uncle Paul, if I tell you something will you think I’m weird.”
He stared at David and quirked his lips in slight smile. “You know you can tell me anything and I won’t think you’re weird.”
“I had a dream last night and I saw Dad.” David held his breath waiting for his Uncle to say something. But he didn’t. He stared at David with wide eyes, and that’s when David felt stupid for saying anything. So he looked down and slid off his lap.
Uncle Paul stood up and peeked down the hall. And then strode across the kitchen and yanked open a cupboard door. “Do you want some cereal?”
David just shrugged his shoulders. When you were under four feet and still a kid there was one thing that was truly annoying, and that was how adults ignored what you said as if it was of no importance. At least he didn’t say what his mom always said: Oh that’s just your imagination. Uncle Paul placed two bowls on the table along with a box of corn flakes and then rummaged in the fridge for milk. He poured David’s cereal and a bowl for himself, and it was when he dug into his cereal that he asked in a quiet voice, “I’d like to hear more about your dream.”
And that’s when David really looked at him. He was serious.
Chapter 6
“He was sitting around a fire. He was dirty, his coat was ripped, and he had this dirty cloth wrapped around his head. Dad looked so tired. You think I’m making this up don’t you?”
Uncle Paul leaned closer when David shoved a spoon into his cereal. “No, David, I don’t. What I think is you saw your dad in your dream. It’s a gift.”
When David gazed up at his Uncle Paul his ears were doing that buzzing thing when something weird was happening. And it took David a moment to realize, Uncle Paul wasn’t just messing with him. He really did believe him, and David wanted to shout out loud that hey there are adults that listen.
Paul must have known because he reached out and touched his arm to stop him from shouting out that he saw his dad, and racing down the hall to tell his mom. Even though David was convinced she’d be as excited as him.
“Just settle down, champ. We’re going to keep this between you and me for now. Because not all adults will get this connection between you and your dad. It’ll scare some adults and some will think you’re making it up, or lying. And that’s only because they’re not believers. They’re stuck too much in the physical world, and unless they can see it physically, it’s not real. And dreams are just that to many people, just dreams.”
David looked at Uncle Paul with a heavy heart because he knew this would help Mom feel better. If she knew Dad was okay—he was alive. Because even though Uncle Paul said she loved him, right now David didn’t believe it.
“Tell me again what you saw?” He kept his voice low when he asked.
“Dad was sitting on something, he was dirty and had something wrapped around his head. He looked tired and upset, like the time when Grandpa died.”
“Well what about where they are? Tell me what you saw around him. Anything familiar?”
David squinted his eyes and tried to think. “He was outside. There were lots of trees. There was a campfire. Other people sitting around it. It was a forest.”
“Did you see water, anything unusual, like big rocks or colors. Anything?”
David squinted as he didn’t understand what his uncle wanted, but a forest was a forest; they all looked the same to him. And he felt as if he was letting his uncle down. “Well maybe…”
“Don’t guess, only tell me what you saw.” David glanced up as his mom walked in and stopped.
“Did the phone ring, did you hear anything?” She was wearing her pink pajamas, the two-piece ones she wore only in the winter.
“No, nothing Gloria. I was just having some breakfast with David.” Uncle Paul said nothing about the dream.
Mom went straight to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup. She didn’t even glance at David, but stared straight out the kitchen window.
Uncle Paul ruffled David’s hair when he gazed at his mom and said, “Go get dressed, champ.”
Chapter 7
Bruce couldn’t shake the overwhelming sense of holding his son. When he’d leaned against the luggage and closed his eyes, he’d fallen asleep. But where he went had left him confused when he awoke. It was as if David had been with him in that dream.
It was raining again. And the survivors had managed to get a fire going. But keeping it going took all of them. Well, those of them who could still get around. Which was only a dozen or so. Many hadn’t survived the crash, and they’d dragged the bodies to the other side of the airplane that was split in two. Many were injured and thankfully a stewardess with first aid knowledge had been among the survivors. Those injured were lying close to the fire. Some of the suitcases recovered had been rummaged for any bits of clothing to keep them warm.
Food was scarce. There were only a few packages of nuts and pretzels. Some water bottles survived, along with some juice and pop.
Bruce expected a rescue team in before now. But still none had shown. So he could only surmise they didn’t know where they were. He knew they were somewhere in Montana… or maybe it was Idaho. But if he was right, and the emergency locator was working why hadn’t they heard any planes or helicopters overhead? So that left one big problem: The locator box had either been damaged in the crash or wasn’t turned on. And it was a tall brown-haired lady in her forties, named Sally, who knew where to look. She went to the panel and showed the few of them still walking where it was. The switch was on, so the only thing to do was wait. Fortunately for them, she had some survival training.
<
br /> Jack and Ed were two college students flying home to Seattle to see their family. And both wanted to set out on foot to get help.
Sally never raised her voice when she said, “Stay by the aircraft. They’ll find us. If you leave they may never find you. This is a wilderness. You’re young, but you can only go so long without water and food. And you’ll most likely succumb to the elements.”
“What if they don’t find us?!” It was Ed who shouted, but Jack flanked him. Two gangly young men operating on pure emotion.
Bruce didn’t have the energy to fight. And he was thankful when Adam, the man who’d wrapped his head and was helping all the injured, stepped up. He was a big guy and someone who easily took the lead. A man not that old, probably closer to Bruce’s age of 35. Bruce recognized the young male arrogance in Jack and Ed, and where patience had yet to be learned.
“Hey, we don’t need this right now. Everyone sits tight here. They will find us. You two, I know you’re scared. But running off half-cocked because you don’t know what else to do is only going to put you in a worse situation, one that could get you killed. Neither of you are dressed for a trek through the wilderness. And don’t let this weather fool you. Where we are we could have a ton of snow dumped on us by morning. If it’s raining, it’s still warm enough we won’t freeze. And we need everyone to help. To find wood for the fire, and food we need now. Water, too.” Adam stumbled a bit and then pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose.
“Adam, sit down, before you fall down.” Bruce stood up and grabbed Adam’s arm. “Look, you need some rest. The rest of us can look after things for a bit. You’ve been pulling everyone together.” Bruce was so exhausted he ached deep inside, every muscle right through to his bones. And he was cold. Everything he had on was damp. And he was hungry, thirsty, just like everyone else. And he hadn’t been pulling his weight. He’d sat in shock for hours.
Adam rested his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “Thank you Bruce, but we need to get every able body now doing something. It’s going to be night soon, and we can’t go on without water.”
Sally strode over, her tangled brown hair drooped in her eyes. She pushed it back with a shaky hand and tried to tuck it behind her ears. “Adam is right. We need water. I can go with one other person to search. We won’t go far, but we need to find a stream, something, as there’s nothing left.”
“I’ll go with Sally.” Bruce wasn’t an outdoorsy guy by any means. He’d grown up in Seattle, lived there his entire life. Camping was done only at those campgrounds that offered every amenity, including showers, flush toilets, and even swimming pools. He’d never even gone on a hike in the woods. Sally glanced at the loafers on Bruce’s feet, and the suit pants he wore. At least he had a somewhat decent jacket, fleece lined with a red shell that was waterproof.
“Well, let’s find something to bring water back in.” She turned away and strode back to the front part of the aircraft, wedged in the thicket of trees. She gazed back at him, and where he stood frozen as if he didn’t know if he should follow or not. “Come on, Bruce. Daylight’s wasting.”
“Sure.” He said, as he stumbled over a suitcase and walked to where Sally now rummaged.
Chapter 8
“I’m scared to go to sleep. What if I see something bad?” David lay in his twin bed with the blue airplane quilt. His Uncle Paul sat beside him on the bed. He’d set his long hair free from the pony tail and it now hung in strands around his shoulders.
“You won’t see anything bad. Because before you go to sleep, you’re going to tell your Dad you love him. And you’re going to see a way to help him.” Uncle Paul glanced at the open door. And forced a smile on his lips when he glanced back, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Call me and I’ll come running in here. I’ll be in the next room sleeping.”
David ached for his parents, even a hug and kiss from his mom would be nice. But Uncle Paul was all he had right now. Mom didn’t say goodnight. She’d been in her room for hours, and David had been told by his aunt not to bother her. Which stung. After all, she was his mom: he should have the right to bother her.
“Could you stay just until I get to sleep?”
His uncle watched him and then said, “You bet, slide over and I’ll lay beside you. But I’m warning you, if I fall asleep don’t get mad if I snore.”
David slid his small boy’s hand into his uncle’s much larger one and scooted over on the bed to make room for his uncle who now lay beside him on his twin bed. The comfort he felt melted away the twisted-up ball of lead that had parked itself in his stomach and hadn’t left, since hearing the news of the crash.
···
Bruce Hines followed Sally up a steep incline. As he’d quickly discovered, dress shoes with soft-soled bottoms were completely the wrong thing to be trekking the backwoods in. He’d slipped on an incline when he stepped on a pile of wet leaves covering a tree root, and landed hard on his backside.
“You all right?” Sally shouted back.
Bruce wasn’t hurt, but his pride was. “Fine.” He pushed himself up on his knees. This woman with him watched him in a way that let him know he was an obvious hindrance than a help. And of course that did little to help boost his confidence. Never before had a woman, a very obvious alpha woman who appeared comfortable in the backwoods, had to look after him as if he were a wet behind the ears boy. But he had to remind himself that was only because he was way out of his element. Reverse the situation, put this woman in a boardroom with a bunch of politicians and he wondered how fast she’d sink; until it dawned on him as he watched the way she studied the ground and the path ahead, she’d most likely conquer and stomp on many a fragile male ego without much effort.
“Shake a leg, Bruce. Or are you waiting for breakfast in bed?” The woman was tough as nails, and Bruce had a hard time picturing any man having much to do with her.
He stood up, gathering the scattered pack filled with empty plastic water bottles that had survived the crash, and looped it over his shoulder. His head ached, his feet were wet and throbbed from the cold. And he couldn’t shake the chill that had melted into his bones, but he followed Sally up the path through the bushes, making a point to step where she did and nowhere else.
“How do you know we’re going the right way?” Bruce didn’t have the faintest idea where they were as he glanced around; every tree looked the same. He gazed up to steep mountains visible through a break in the trees.
Sally turned back when she spoke, stopping where she was on a mound at the top of a hill, “Listen, hear that?”
Bruce grabbed roots and branches as he climbed up beside her. “No, what am I listening for?”
“Water. That would be one of the smaller rivers that flows into the Columbia. And that I guarantee you is the Bitteroot Mountains… and we are situated most likely on the west side.” She smiled this time, a wide toothy smile.
Bruce blinked. “So if you know where we are, can we hike out of here? Are we close to civilization, a town?”
Her smile faded. “No, we need to get water and get back to the others. We’re not prepared for a trek through the mountains. None of us. Our best bet is to stay put. If we can get water, we need to hunt for food, keep a fire going. Help will arrive.”
“Well, what if help doesn’t come?” Bruce couldn’t help playing devil’s advocate. It came easy, working with a pessimist like his boss, who always looked for what might and could go wrong. It always grated on Bruce’s nerves, and he’d laughed about the guy with his associates. But now in this situation, he couldn’t find the bright side of any of this as he slid down the hill in Sally’s wake.
“They will.” This time she snapped her response without turning around. A response that sounded far from convincing.
Chapter 9
David blinked, stuck somewhere between a cold illusion of a dream and the darkness of his bedroom. He was alone in his twin bed, his comforter tucked under his chin. He didn’t understand what his dad was doing and what he saw
. But he did know he needed to talk to his uncle.
David gripped his door handle and pulled open his door. The hallway was dark and he clung to the doorknob, shivering in the chilled night air. He heard nothing, he didn’t know where to look. He tiptoed into the darkened hallway and into the kitchen, flicking on the light. He heard a rustling behind him and a hand grip his shoulder. He jumped and stared into the dark eyes of Uncle Paul, bare-chested and his long hair a tangled mess.
“Come on, let’s go back to your room before you wake everyone.” His uncle flicked off the light and lifted him, carrying him back to his room and dumping him on his bed. “It’s just after midnight, bud. Why are you up?”
“I had a dream about Dad. I was watching him in the forest with some woman. And he doesn’t like her.”
His uncle flicked on his bedside light. “Scoot over. Under the covers.”
David slid over as his uncle propped the pillow. “What was your dad doing?”
“He had a backpack, and him and this lady were looking for water. Dad sucks in the forest. He hates it.” David twisted the quilt with his fingers; Uncle Paul chuckled, and when David glanced up he was pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, his eyes closed tight as if David had told him some big joke.
When he opened his eyes and gazed at David he said, “Your dad and the great outdoors couldn’t be more opposite. You’re right though: your dad wouldn’t know how spend a day hiking through the woods. He sees a tree as an obstacle that makes a huge mess in the yard. And doesn’t have a clue about the importance of such diversity in nature. He’s much more comfortable navigating the boardroom filled with politicians and administrators solving problems such as where to get the best coffee for their break.”
David stared at his uncle, not sure what to say.
“Tell me everything that you saw in the forest. You said your dad was with some woman, what about others?”
From the Heart: Romance, Mystery and Suspense a collection for everyone Page 21