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Better than the auto club |
| Written by Darby | |
| Sunday, 13 April 2008 | |
 Better than the auto club It was a cold and wet night. The air conditioning was blasting so the windows would not fog up. My arms were shivering and my stomach was rumbling. It had been a long day. The warmth and comfort of bed was calling to me. Instead, a full night’s drive would just get me there in time for my interview. I was a feature writer. My assignments were to interview the best and the brightest. Why I was sent into God forsaken back country to interview an archeologist was beyond me. He was a renowned archeologist, or so I was told. That doesn’t cut it for me. It sounded like a big snore. I was unhappy and I wanted to go home. My windshield wipers were barely functional on high. I was gripping the wheel to hold myself up so I could see out the window. I’m not taking assignments like this again. There aren’t even any restaurants. Do the people living here just cook? I never cook, unless you consider those rolls of dough that make chocolate chip cookies. Thoughts of the cookies distracted me. The car veered over on to the side of the road. My heart moved up into my throat as I wrestled to get it back on to the road. That’s when my story really fell apart. What ever was on the side of the road must have been sharp and punctured my tire. Now that I needed to, I could barely get the car over on the embankment. My heart left my throat and hit my feat. I don’t change tires. My windbreaker didn’t do its job. Water streamed under the hood and my normally long, luxurious curls covered my face like wet spaghetti. I found the jack and the lug wrench. The lug nuts wouldn’t budge and I was stranded. I had not seen any other cars in quite some time. There was no hope of rescue. I took out my cell phone to work on calling the auto club. I was not expecting much from that either, as the demands on the club on a good day seems to overwhelm it. I heard the sound of another car pulling up. This could be really good or it could be really bad. If we are just going to go by looks, things were looking very good. A tall man stepped out of the car. It was dark but from what I could see he certainly looked amazing. His face looked like he thought the world was a happy place. Why guys look so terrific when they get laugh lines I do not know. His hair was short and curly and I think there was a touch of gray at the temples. He seemed hardly touched by the weather. I was definitely touched by the weather. I was usually well turned out. Think model worthy although better fed. I look more put together coming out of the shower then I did now. “I saw you pull over and it looked like you were having trouble controlling the car. From the wrench in your hand, I am assuming you are having tire problems. Would you like me to change that for you?” I actually thought about it. I watch a lot of TV. This offer could mean I was either going to get my tire changed or hit over the head with a wrench. If it was going to happen, there was nothing I could do to prevent it. “I would appreciate that very much. The auto club was projecting a three hour wait which means at least six hours. I’ll be dead by then”. That probably was not the best phrasing but the wrench did not come down on my head. He went around to the passenger side and started fighting with the tire. The spot that he was standing on was muddy and slick. The rain had weakened the structure of the embankment. He pulled and strained causing clumps of mud to slide down the hill side into the swollen stream below. A lug loosened sending him sprawling backwards and launching him over the embankment and down into the muddy stream. I only thought for an instant in time. I stepped out of my shoes and coat and crawled over the embankment and rolled down into the stream. People pay good money for this experience at theme parks. The difference is that water slides do not have sticks and assorted twigs sticking up to do grievous damage to your butt. The mud slide took long enough from me to have a bit of a think. I was going to rescue a guy I knew for 5 minutes tops. I guess the aura of being dispassionate that I try to maintain is just an act. I hit the water and came up sputtering. When I got the spaghetti hair out of my eyes I could see my stranger floating downstream just out of my reach. It was my worst nightmare. He was not conscious and his arms and legs were splayed out under the water. All those years of kayaking came back to me. Whitewater had been my passion. I grew up paddling rivers that would chew you up and spit you out if you weren’t careful. I know all of the safety techniques. His legs and arms had to get out of the water or he would be snagged on underground foliage and he would drown. I knew people who had met this kind of end and I was not going to let it happen to him. I went after him as fast as I could. He was going down stream away from me but I persevered and caught him by the jacket. I cradled his body on top of mine so that my body could lift him out of the water. It was rather intimate with a stranger but effective. I used my left hand like a paddle, reaching out and pulling the water towards me so that I could maneuver the two of us to shore. It was quite a struggle. Right before we reached the shore he woke up. He was groggy and startled and caressed by my legs. All things considered, it wasn’t a bad way to wake up. He caught on quickly and reached out with his arm to grab the water and help me out. With his help, we made it to shore bedraggled but still kicking. Believe it or not, mud made him look even more handsome. Or maybe it was a combination of his good looks and my relief at his rescue that made him look so appealing. “I can’t believe you saved me. You don’t know me at all yet you risked your life to save me. I can’t believe it. I think I had a near death experience as I was sliding down the hill. In fact, I’m not really sure I’m not dead now. Except I have never heard of an angel with spaghetti for hair” “Well I’m glad you’ve maintained your sense of humor. If you are going to criticize I can arrange to put you back where I’ve found you. Before you get totally euphoric, we still have one minor problem. I have no idea where we are or how far we are from civilization. My cell phone was in my pocket and I believe it is running a rapid about now.” “Not to worry. I knew someday my new waterproof cell phone was going to come in handy. When purchased it seemed like a frivolity.” “Not now it doesn’t. Now it seems like an essential. Does it have GPS by any chance?” ‘It certainly does. The full Boy Scout treatment. I am always prepared. He started to unbutton his shirt which concerned me. Is this where the TV shows come in and I get attacked within an inch of my life. “Don’t look at me like you are expecting to meet your maker. We have to share body heat or we are going to get hypothermia. With the right water and air temperature we could loose enough body heat to get seriously ill or worse.” “So you want me to take off my shirt and hop into your arms for a little shared body heat while we wait to be rescued.”
So I stripped and jumped. It may have been medicinal. It may not have been medicinal. I didn’t know and I didn’t care. A backpacking EMT with mountain climbing equipment showed up sooner then I felt like seeing him. We were rescued. They took him in an ambulance because he had lost consciousness. They sent me back to my car with a lovely young policeman who was good with tires. I decided to stay over in a motel and get an early start in the morning for the interview. Oh, I had some lovely dreams. I woke up refreshed and did a little work on my laptop before I started out. It was too bad that such a lovely day was going to be spoiled by a boring interview. All I could really think about was my tall, dark stranger. Maybe he was one of those angels people talk about that just appear when you need them. Arriving at the address, I was surprised at the attractiveness of the modern log cabin nestled in the woods. The archaeologist came out to meet me. Who knew archaeologists could be so amazingly attractive. I didn’t know whether he was cuter wet or dry. “So it is you, my savior from the river. I have been hoping I would see you again.” “It’s you, my protector from hypothermia. I have to tell you that I read up on hypothermia this morning. There is no way that it was cold enough last night for it to be a threat”. “You can never totally believe what you read. I felt it was better to be safe than sorry. Do you regret it?” “You never know when you might need hypothermia prevention skills. I think we should keep practicing.” So we did and we still do.
Copyright 2008 Darby |
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