Landslide FV barring mistakes found
Chapter 4: Where, oh, where, are you tonight?
Don gathered his jacket around him and shivered, but it was his heart that really froze. Charlie was out there some where". He was probably in pain, injured; Don didn't even want to imagine he was dead – already starting down the road to decomposition.
That thought was really creepy, but his stubborn and very concerned brain kept wandering back to the damndable image of Charles lying on the autopsy table, battered and bloody and very, very dead. Please, don't let that be true. If there is a God in Heaven, please, I know You are a great guy, but Charlie is my brother. He does so much good here on earth, we need him. Please be with him and protect him some how. He's alone. I don't know where he is. Let him here me calling, please, God.
Maybe that last little rock was too much of a bonk or something, because the thoughts that were tumbling through Don's brain didn't make sense. Even to him, and he was the one thinking them. Right? Sheesh. Can we say head injury?
All Donnie could remember to phrase as a kind of a prayer were: here was the weird thing, words from a song from the TV Hillbilly Variety Show from his youth, Hee Haw, for pity's sake.
"Where, oh, where, are you tonight? Why did you leave me here alone? I searched the world d over and I thought I found true love….you met another (your mother yet) and phttt you were gone."
Wasn't it Grandpa Jones and Roy Clark who sang that? Sheesh. What a weird memory to pop up at a time like this?
It was immediately followed by another song. "Some where out there, beneath a clear blue sky, some one's thinking of me, and loving me tonight…"
Don didn't even realize he was actually singing it a loud, until he heard a weak quavering voice join him for the next few lines…
Somewhere out there,
Someone's saying a prayer,
that we'll find one another in that big somewhere out there.
Charlie's weak, pain wracked voice went on through the end of the next interlude.
And even though I know how very far apart we are,
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star.
"Charlie, God, you scared the crap out of me. Where are you? How can I help?"
"Whatever you do, Don, don't try and help me. Listen to me. This is really important. The rockslide took me over the side. I tumbled down quite a ways until I slammed into a boulder outcropping that is firm. I'm pinned in by other rocks and debris, but I am solid…provided you don't try and come down here!"
"That's crazy. You are hurt. I can hear it in your voice. You need attention… I'm not going to stay safe up here while you …you could go into shock and die on me, Charlie and that is not an acceptable option."
"Damn it, Don. For once in your life, admit you don't know everything. Ever taken a high rescue course? Or a fast water rescue course? Huh? Ever gone on an extraction rescue for a mountain slide before? That does not count snow rescue for like skiing and stuff because I know we have both been on both the searcher and the found sides of those. I am talking hiking, climbing, helicopter rappelling. You have that kind of background and I don't know it?" By the time he finished that spiel, Charlie was gasping, struggling to get air and calm himself down.
Don knew it too. "Look, Charlie. You are right. I'm sorry. I admit I am out of my normal element. I mean they teach us some basic stuff about that at the Academy and I learned some living in New Mexico, but I usually wasn't on the vertical rescue or anything. You have learned that stuff? I mean I thought a couple of years ago, Dad said you were doing stuff to try and get over a fear of vertical height climbs so you could rock climb with someone."
Amused and calmer…after a pause, Charlie replied. "Yeah, well, I got over it. And once I did, I took the plunge in a big way. Remember when I went to Washington to consult with the NSA later that year? Well, I told you guys it was for a consult with another government agency, but not which one.
"After the work was done? Bob Tompkins and I went to play. We went rock climbing. Afterwards, we went to Quantico and a couple of other training facilities and I got certified for high rescue, rapid rappel and mountain search and rescue – extraction and recovery. Been on a few in the mountains up here too. I'm not real high on the list most times, but when they can't locate someone and time is running out? The combination of my knowledge of the trails in Southern Cal and math can really do some serious corner cutting in searching for missing hikers and stuff. It isn't always a happy ending, but…."
"Charlie, you just don't know how to do things in a small way, do you?" Don responded. "I'm proud of you, Charlie. Overcoming a fear like that and turning it into another skill set to help people. That's really so, you, man."
"Yeah, well, unfortunately, I can't always predict when erosion and other factors will generate a slide. I was up here not that long ago and the ridge above us that gave way, looked okay. But we did have that one heavy rain since and I guess stuff shifted."
"Come on, Charlie. I may not be "Mother Nature's Son", but even I know that Mother Nature delights in confounding the scientific mind with yet another show of the fact that we can observe, but we can't really control her displays of power. Right?"
"True."
"How bad are you messed up, Charlie?" Don could hear the pain in his brother's voice. He knew the difficulty in breathing indicated broken ribs, possibly bleeding into his chest. His brother had described himself as pinned against a boulder by other rocks and debris. That meant pressure on his chest from both sides, restricting the amount his lungs could expand, whether or not he was actually bleeding into his chest or dealing with a collapsed lung or two already.
"It isn't good, but I will keep. For now, we both have to hunker down and hang on. Tonight is going to get chilly, but I will be okay. Let me go through what you need to know for the morning. Okay?"
"Right, but give yourself a few minutes now to get some decent air in your lungs, Charlie. You sound pretty breathless."
"Yeah. Okay, but not for long. I need to get this said. Give me just a few."
"You got it, bro. Hang in there, buddy. I really don't want to lose you."
"You won't lose me, Don. I really believe that. I'm messed up, but barring any more catastrophes I can hold out to morning and you getting help. I'll walk you through it."
"Fine, fine. Rest, Buddy. Get some wind back."
Silence fell…and suddenly the flood gates opened and Don Eppes found himself really, really praying for his brother. Their situation was perilous and if there was a higher power…they sure could use His help. Especially his little brother, Charlie.
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