Alive and Alone (6 page)

“Ok, I’ll make the appointments, but right now it’s off to the shower for you and as soon as you're done get something to eat.  I want you in bed and asleep within the hour.  You need to stay rested with a clear head Frank, if you’re going to help Jim and Dave.”

Cathy rolled around in the big bed for hours and she was unsure if she ever slept or not.  Her exhausted mind filled with horror at the prospect of losing half of her family in one day, so what rest she got did not come easy.  It was near noon when she got out of bed and showered.  She had brought a small overnight bag, so she removed her jeans, underwear, and blouse and quickly dressed.  Cathy knew she needed to talk to some people because she knew her body well and she could not continue with little sleep and no eating.  
I must stay strong for Marie,
she thought as she pulled her socks on.

Upon entering the kitchen, Carol gave Cathy a big friendly smile and said, “Well, you still look tired, but much better.  Cathy, I hope I don't upset you, but I made an appointment for you to see your doctor this afternoon and your pastor this evenin’.  Both of them are concerned about you and worried about Jim and Dave as well.”

Cathy sat down at the kitchen table as Carol walked toward her with a small plate in her right hand and replied, “No, I did some thinking this morning, before I went to sleep about the same thing. I haven’t slept much the last two nights because I'm worried sick over waiting.  Maybe I can get through all of this with the help of the doctor and my pastor.”

Carol placed the plate in front of Cathy and said, “Now, there ain’t much on this plate, two eggs, two strips of bacon, and two pieces of toast, but Cathy Wade, I want you to eat all of it.”

That afternoon after a short visit with Doctor Williams, Cathy stopped by the pharmacy to pick up the prescriptions he had given her.  He explained that she was suffering from the stresses of the missing plane and as he result he prescribed some medications to help her relax and to sleep.  When she’d voiced her concern about becoming dependent on the drugs the doctor had laughed and said, “Cathy, I have only ordered enough medication to last you two weeks.  You are suffering from what we call situational stress and the medication is justified with what is going on in your life right now.  Additionally, if you do not abuse these meds and take them only as directed, you have no need to worry about addiction.”

Her next meeting with her Pastor was a much better meeting as far as she was concerned.  Pastor Lucas was an older man, with a small gut just starting to peek over his belt buckle, dark brown eyes, and a friendly smile on his face for everyone.  While his hair had once been red, now it was streaked with strands of gray.  He was married, had three children, and was actively involved in the community.  He was a scout troop leader, ran the local community choir, and stayed busy helping kids with homework problems.  Pastor Lucas was a man who looked, thought, and acted, as a pastor should, as far as Cathy was concerned.

They'd discussed Cathy’s fears and how God could help her in her time of need.  Pastor Lucas promised that he’d have the whole church pray for her men and that the hand of God sometimes worked wonders.  But, he also reminded her that God didn’t always make things turn out the way we want them to be.  Cathy realized later, this simple, but open discussion with her pastor had the most calming effect on her.  

He told her he would do his best to rally everyone to pray and assist her, yet ask them to respect her privacy at the same time.  Both the pastor and Cathy knew most of the members of the church would want to call on her immediately to assist, but right now was not the time for visits.  Pastor Lucas promised he would remind them to allow Cathy Wade time to determine what had happened to her son and husband, and then perhaps they could become more personally involved.  They said a short prayer together and then she had driven home.

Cathy arrived home just before four, so she started dinner.  She took one of the pills Doctor Williams had prescribed and discovered it did not affect her mind much, other than relaxing her just a little.  She was still very worried about Dave and Jim, but the deep anxiety she had carried the last few days disappeared.

Just as she was placing the beef roast into the oven, her front doorbell rang.  She closed the oven and made her way to her door wondering who might be visiting that time of the day.  Upon unlocking and opening the door, she gave a loud laugh and looked into the dark eyes of her daughter Marie as she asked, “Why didn’t you just walk in honey like you always do?”

“I couldn’t do that mom.  I left my keys on the dresser at the Colonel’s house when I left for school this morning and I didn’t want to walk over there to get them.  It’s too cold to do much walking right now.”

“Well, come on in.  I’ll have dinner done in about an hour.”

“What are we having?”

“I’ve cooked your favorite, roast beef, with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions.  How does that sound?”

Marie sat at the table, lowered her head and then asked in a low voice, “Mom, what do you think dad and Davie are eating?”

Cathy kneeled beside her daughters chair and raised her small chin with her right hand and spoke, “I think they're eating well, because you know how good your dad is at hunting.  And, remember, the airplane has a survival kit and all of those kits have some food in them.”

“Mom, I don’t know if I can eat, because what if they don’t have any food?”

“Marie, you and I have no control over what has happened to Dave or your dad.  We can only hope God protects them and returns them to us unharmed. Right now, we have to take care of ourselves.  Do you understand what I mean?”

“Sure, kind of.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“Mom, I’m scared.  I mean, I fought with David all the time and now that something might have happened to him I feel terrible about it.”

“Marie, listen to me honey, all brothers and sisters fight.  They always have and always will.  It’s okay to argue, I even fought with your Uncle Ralph when we were growing up.”

Marie gave a weak grin and asked, “You did?”

“Sure and we fought all the time.  So, I want you to forget about your fights with Dave, they were healthy fights, Marie.  And, don’t worry about what our men are eating.  If I know your dad, they're mostly like both sitting around a blazing fire right now eating moose steaks!”  Cathy said to her young daughter as she thought,
please God feed my loved ones now that they need you.

CHAPTER 5

A
T
THAT
MOMENT
,
Dave was thinking about eating, but it wasn’t a steak from a moose.  The young man was sitting near his fire warming his hands as a large chunk of fox meat roasted on a green stick over the fire.  He had eaten some of the fox the night before and didn’t care much for the strong gamy tasting meat, but he had little choice.  David knew he had to eat what was available and at that moment, it was fox.

An earlier check of his traps had produced no new food, so he'd returned to camp, boiled a canteen cup of pine needle tea and placed the meat on to roast
.  Funny, I haven’t had a soft drink in days or any chips either and I don’t miss either one of them.  What I’d like right now is a big thick steak and a salad with lots of veggies!
 Dave thought as he reached over and rotated his meat over the coals.

After a few minutes, he pulled his wild tasting meat from the heat and took a small bite, making an ugly face unconsciously as he chewed it.  As he ate he thought,
I’ll take a look on the other side of the mountain this afternoon and see what is out there.  I doubt there is anything, but dad said the Air Force used to have radar sites
from World War 2 in this area.  I don’t think anyone would still be in one of them, but at least I’d have shelter and maybe a way to contact someone for help. I might even find a telephone that'll work!

As soon as his meager meal of fox meat and pine needle tea was finished, Dave started cutting the meat he had on hand into thin strips.  He had made jerky as a scout and new the meat would last for years once it dried out.  Due to the cold weather, he didn’t fear his meat spoiling, but it would be easier to pack if he had to walk out.  While his scout recipe called for lots of salt and pepper, both of which he lacked, he could make it without either of the spices.  Also, in the scouts they had used an oven to dry the meat, so David wondered how it could be done in the bush.

He opened the damaged survival book and on page 110 he noticed an illustration of how to dry meat by smoking.  The illustration showed a tee-pee looking frame made of wood and a covering of parachute material.  Inside of the frame were wooden racks that ran over a small fire at the base. He noticed the racks were high enough up that the flames from the fire could not touch them.  David wondered what he could use to cover the frame, since he didn’t have a parachute.  It suddenly dawned on him; he could use this casualty blanket during the day to smoke meat and then sleep with it at night.  He quickly jumped to his feet and started working on a wooden frame.

Less than an hour later David had a small frame constructed of green wood and had his casualty blanket wrapped around it.  Following the instructions in the survival manual, he then made a small fire at the base of his frame.  He left a tiny opening at the top to allow the smoke from the fire to escape.  

David then filled the drying racks inside the tee-pee with meat and then closed the casualty blanket to allow the meat to dry.  He had no idea how long it would take, but he knew it had taken over twelve hours when they had used his oven.  He remembered once the meat had dried it was lightweight and tasty.  
Maybe drying the fox meat will make it taste better,
he thought as he glanced around his campsite.

He had run out of water at breakfast so using his canteen cup he packed it full of snow and placed it near his campfire.  David knew not to put the cup on the hot coals or flames because the cup would get too hot and the melted snow would become scorched, which left a bad taste.  He had done it once on a hunting trip a few years before.  He decided to melt enough water in his cup to fill the empty water bottles he had with him.  The young man knew it would take hours, because he’d not only have to melt the snow, but allow the water to cool down enough to pour into the empty bottles without damaging them from the heat.  

The morning and most of the afternoon passed slowly with David melting snow, filling his one-liter water bottles and adding more wood to his tee-pee as the meat slowly dried.  He felt a deep sense of accomplishment when he realized for the first time since the crash, he was actually in control of what was going on around him.  
Now,
he thought as he tightened the plastic cap on a water bottle,
if I can just get rescued
.

It was taking longer than he thought to smoke the meat, so he decided to look on the other side of the mountain the next day.  His first priority was food and water, and then he could safely check the other side of the mountain.  His father had always told him that a survivor must constantly make an effort find and prepare food in the bush.  He had also stressed that any and all sources of food should be stored for rough times ahead; in case the weather turned bad or something happened to prevent the survivor from looking for food later.

At one point earlier in the afternoon, David heard the faint sound of an aircraft, but when he ran to the wreckage he could see nothing against the dark gray of the cloud cover over head.  As the sound slowly disappeared, he suddenly felt a great loneliness settle upon him once more.  As he stumbled back to his camp he thought,
They’ll be back. They know dad and I are missing and they’re looking for us.  Next time, if they fly closer, I’ll use the flare.

It was late afternoon when David noticed movement in the trees.  Knowing the country could contain everything from grizzly bears to rabbits he picked up his rifle and chambered a round.  He stood and glancing toward the movement, he felt his heart beating fast in his chest and each beat sounded like the big bass drum he’d played in the school band.  For a second he wondered if the animal could hear the pounding of his heart as clearly as he could.

Once again, he spotted movement and the color seemed to be brown.  As he held the gun in his shaking hands ready to fire, he knew real fear for the first time since the crash.  If it was a bear, David knew he might be able to frighten it away, but then again, they were notional animals and he might have to shoot it.  He had grown up hearing tall tales of grizzly bears being shot ten times and then walking back into the wilderness as if they had nothing more than a few mosquito bites.  He didn’t have the courage to face a grizzly, or so he thought. He flipped the rifles safety to the off position.

As Dave stood at the ready, the upper limps of a large pine moved and out stepped a bull moose.  
It must weigh well over a thousand pounds,
he thought as he felt his fear dissolve rapidly.  The animal was meandering around the mountain eating and David knew deep inside moose could still be very dangerous, for some reason it did not scare him like a grizzly bear would have.  He’d heard stories of people attacked by moose, even on the Iditarod dog race from Anchorage to Nome, but a moose just didn’t look vicious to the young man.