Disclaimer: All characters from Early Edition belong to those who created this magnificent ensemble. The others are created by me and my only be used with my permission.
May my humble offering appease the craving of those who hunger for more Early Edition.
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A Stitch in Time
By Ms Spider
"Come on, Nicky," The taller of the two boys insisted impatiently. "A little farther, that's all." He grabbed his brother's mittened hand and tugged him across the ice-covered lake.
"I'm scared. I want to go home, Jimmy," the little boy dragged against his brother's pull.
"Nicky, if you don't stop being a cry baby, you'll never come with me anywhere, ever," Jimmy threatened as he fixed his eyes on his destination. The small island he had seen all summer long from the lakeshore was now accessible across the sheet of ice. He knew he had about an hour of daylight left for this adventure so they had to hurry.
His brother answered but a man shouting their names drowned out his words. The boys turned to see who was calling them. "Do you know him?" Nicky glanced at his brother.
"No," Jimmy looked warily at the man approaching. He glanced around for an escape route. Ice was the only way to run.
"Jimmy and Nicky, stop right where you are," The man slipped as he walked carefully across the frozen lake.
"Who are you?" Jimmy shouted backing away dragging his brother with him.
The man stopped in his tracks and held up his hand. "No! Don't go out any further. The ice isn't safe!" He warned. "My name is Gary Hobson. Your mother was worried you might be out here. So I told her I'd check on you two for her." He hated to lie to kids but this was a matter of life and death.
The boys looked uneasily at each other. If their mother had sent him they were in big trouble. "We were just going to see the island," Jimmy sighed. "Mom will be pretty mad."
"Just get off the ice and she won't have to know," Gary told him then added. "And if you promise not to come out here again."
"It's a deal," Jimmy tightened his hold on his brother's hand and bolted for the bank of the lake.
Gary followed on a parallel course so he wouldn't be a threat to the boys once they were off the ice. He sighed in relief as the two kids made it to the shore and clambered up the incline. Gary hurried toward the lake's edge. He could feel how soft the ice was beneath his feet. He wondered how he had gotten out as far as he had without breaking through it. The thought barely flashed in his mind and the ice gave a sickening crunch.
The shock of the frigid water drove the breath from him as he sank through the cracked ice. Kicking hard, he gasped as he drew in the sharp cold air near the ice. Gary knew he had to get out of the water quickly. Trying to haul himself out of the water he just broke more of the ice. Panting hard, he forced his arms and legs to keep moving. Inch by inch he broke the ice toward the shore. The cold water was quickly sapping his energy. About ten feet away from the bank Gary felt, or knew his feet had touched bottom. His feet felt nothing now. Staring at the short distance, he sank lower in the water, as his legs refused to hold him up. He shook the cobwebs out of his mind and tried again. This time he managed to crawl out flat onto the thicker ice near the edge of the lake. Shivering violently, Gary paused to rest for just a moment.
The shore was just inches from his hand. He tried to reach for bush hanging out over the lake but his wet clothes had frozen solid to the ice. A surge of panic swept over him. Using all of his strength, Gary thrashed to break free. The ice beneath him broke and he sank once again into the water. This time, the water felt wonderful warmer than the chilling wind. Gary let the warmth envelope him as he floated in the shallow water. A loud meow caused him to look up the bank. He saw a cat's tail disappear.
"I'm trying," Gary wearily told the cat. Taking a deep breath, he forced his legs to move and his hands to grab the bushes on the edge of the lake. Slowly he struggled up to the top and then collapsed. As he lay unable to move again, the wind bit at his wet face. He gritted his chattering teeth to pain. "It wasn't in the paper," he murmured out loud. With no more strength to hold his head up, he dropped his cheek against the jagged frozen ground.
Faintly, Gary thought he heard another meow. "Help me, Cat," his whispered plead was lost to the chilling gusts blowing off the lake. It wasn't in the paper. He thought as he closed his eyes. The wind didn't feel so bitter now. Sounds and images of McGinty's flashed through his mind. Marisa's smile warmed him as Chuck's voice made him wonder what his friend was up to. Gotta breath. Gary forced more icy air into his lungs. His Dad's sudden laugh made him jerk. Then his Mom's face appeared. She seemed to be trying to tell him something but a curtain of darkness faded her image out.
"Why in the world did I go this way?" Jennifer Gannon said out loud as she drove past the last turn off before the lake road. "I must be losing my mind." She sighed exasperated with herself. "First I drove the truck this morning without thinking and now I go miles out of my way to go home." She glanced at the clock on the dashboard and sighed again. It will take her a half hour longer to get home. It wouldn't be so bad it I could enjoy the lake view, she thought as she peered into the darkness toward the lake.
Glancing back to the road, Jennifer slammed on the brakes and came to a screeching stop. A cloud of dust drifted into the beams of her headlights and swirled around, giving a ghostly appearance to a cat sitting in the middle of the road. Her heart pounded as she beeped her horn.
"Get out of the road, cat!" The cat merely blinked and looked off toward the lake. Jennifer laid on the horn and let the truck roll forward a bit trying to get the cat to move. The creature didn't even flinch. Wondering if something was wrong with the animal, Jennifer sighed and shoved the truck into park and opened the door. As she approached, the cat ran off down a dirt road then the turned and meowed at her.
"Now I know I'm losing what little I have left of my mind," Jennifer shook her head to the thought that entered. "I'm expected to follow you? You don't look like Lassie." She called to the cat twitching its tail, waiting. For a moment she stood undecided then hurried back to her truck. As she put the truck in gear she noticed nothing blocking her path. She could go home. But the hairs on the back of her neck stood up when she heard the plaintive cry of the cat again.
"Lucky for you I drove the truck today," She muttered as she turned down the rutted dirt road. A short drive down but past the point it could have been seen from the road sat an abandoned jeep. Jennifer grabbed the spotlight hanging under the dash. She did a quick sweep of the ground then slowly panned the brush near the lake's edge.
"Oh my God," Jennifer opened the truck door and grabbed a backpack behind her seat. She raced to the body her light had found. "Come on be alive!" She pulled off her gloves and felt for a pulse on the man's neck. She pressed harder and waited, silently praying.
"Yes! You're still here," She shouted patted the man's back. She grabbed her backpack and unzipped a pouch. Pulling out a phone she punched some numbers.
"Yes, this is Jennifer Gannon. I'm an off duty paramedic. I need a medical helicopter to the lake road off of Delmont. I have a thirty to thirty-five year old male. Looks like he barely managed to crawl out of the lake. His pulse is slow, 25. Respirations are about 5. No BP yet. Stand by." Quickly, she accessed his condition. She tried to roll him over but his clothes had frozen to the ground. Picking up the phone she continued. "I can't get a BP but tell that chopper to hurry. I'll set out flares." She ran back to her truck and quickly lit several flares and tossed them to the ground. Then she returned to the truck and moved it closer to the frozen man.
"I hope this reaches," She muttered as she unfolded a small blanket with an electric cord. She plugged it into a panel on the dash and draped the blanket over the man's chest and head. Jennifer sighed, there wasn't much more she could do for him. Her ears strained for the sound of the helicopter but all she could hear was her heart pounding in her chest. The heating blanket moved slightly. Jennifer lifted the edge. "Hold on. Help is coming." She put a comforting hand on the dark hair. The man moaned and whispered something she had to bend closer to hear as a throbbing beat in the air broke the silence of the night.
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