CHAPTER 2:

Mom opened her eyes and turned her head toward me. "Scott, go to the radio and see if it's working, would you?"

I got up and picked up the microphone. None of the lights were on. I turned the buttons on and off, then tried to open the little door in front of the radio. When I pulled at it, the door fell off and I could see the snow sifting through the open back. "The radio's smashed, Mom."

"Okay, Honey, go find my purse and we'll try my cell phone." I glanced at her, worried, her voice sounded so faint. I began to rummage through what was left of the cockpit but didn't find her purse. "Mom…I can't find it…" I said at last, looking through an open hole in the plane's side. "Maybe it got thrown outside. I can go look for it," I offered.

"No! Don't go out into the snow, Scott, I don't want you to get lost," she said in a breathy voice. "Do you have your cell phone?"

I reached into my jacket pocket. Dad had given the phone to me for my birthday last year, saying that he felt I was responsible enough to have one and not to sneak calls during class. I'd obeyed his instructions..pretty much. It had an atomic battery and was guaranteed not to need charging. I pulled it out and showed it to Mom. "I've got it, Mom."

Her eyes were closed now. "Good…good…Dial 911 and tell them your name and that our plane crashed…"

I punched in the number, but kept on eye on Mom. She didn't look too good. Even though it was dark in the plane, her face looked pale and gray. The phone dialed, then all I heard was a busy signal. "Nothing, Mom, just a busy signal," I said.

She nodded, her eyes still closed. "Okay, Honey, now would you find the emergency box and go through it and tell me what's in it, okay?"

"Okay, Mom," I put the phone back into my pocket, then pulled the box closer to where Mom and Alan lay. "Okay, Mom...uh..here's a flashlight with batteries in it," I said and lit the flashlight up. I could see that Mom's eyes were still closed but she kept talking.

"Okay, Scott, go ahead and turn it off. You want to save the batteries. Don't use it unless you have to. What else is there?"

I rummaged through, "I've got two flares, a first aid kit, a knife, some rope, a box of matches and five packages marked..um..MRE."

"Those are ready to eat meals. There should be directions for heating them on the packages," Mom said.

"Good," I replied. "'Cause I'm really hungry."

"Scott…go ahead and pick one but only eat half of it, share it with Alan. We don't know how long the storm will last and you want to save as much as you can." I could see her eyes open now, glittering in the near dark.

"But what about you? What will you eat?" I demanded.

"I'm not hungry, you go ahead," she said. "My stomach kind of hurts."

I nodded. "Oh. Okay," and followed the directions to heat the meal. It felt good, warming my hands even though there was no flame in the heater.

Alan was awake and in a good mood. He smelled the food and crawled over to me, giggling. I grinned back and sat him up next to me and began to spoon the…I read the label…spaghetti into his mouth. We only ate half the package, but we could have finished it off. Instead I put the lid back on and stored it in the back of the plane, where it was cold. I remembered that mom had a bottle of water in the stroller, so I left Alan sitting on the blanket and used the flashlight to find it.

I found baby wipes, the bottle of water and more food! Mom had packed a sandwich bag full of crackers and a banana for Alan. I put the food next to the MRE and took the wipes and a diaper back to Alan and wiped his face and hands down, then changed his diaper. I was glad that Alan was a good tempered baby. He rarely fussed and I don't know what I'd have done if he gotten upset out there. Mom was asleep again, so Alan and I each had a drink of water.

I tried the radio again and the cell phone. The phone was still busy. Maybe when the sun was up the next day I'd see if I could fix the radio.

I tucked Alan back under the blankets again next to Mom and snuggled up to them to sleep and really tried to rest. But my eyes kept opening every time the wind came up and it was so cold. Finally I dozed off.

Dad told me much later about what was happening at home.

JEFF TRACY

I was in Houston at the Johnson Space Center when my mother called. She told me that Emily, Scott and Alan had been flying back in the Cessna when she'd called in a mayday. They'd never landed and nobody knew where they were or what had happened to them.

I was frantic to get the first flight home but by then the blizzard had hit and all flights were grounded. Instead, I rented a four wheel drive with snow tires. I was lucky enough that the freeways were clear, although traffic slowed to a crawl as the snow increased. While I drove, I telephoned the tower to get a firsthand report from them about what happened.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Tracy, but they flew out this afternoon," said the Controller who had been on-shift that day. "Your wife and two kids, right? In a Cessna single engine plane, silver with red and blue stripes? Emily Tracy? Yeah, I was on duty. They took off about three fifteen in the afternoon. She was trying to beat the storm home."

I leaned back against the seat and watched the bumper to bumper traffic flow by. "Did you hear anything from her afterward? Any distress call? Are they searching?"

"I'm sorry but we got a brief and very faint mayday. The transmission cut out before we heard her position. Of course, the storm hit like a barrel of bricks and the interference is pretty bad. Nobody was expecting it to be this bad," the controller said mournfully. "You know, they're planning to send search teams out just as soon as it clears enough."

I controlled my temper and didn't tell him what I really thought about rescuers who waited for good weather to search for the lost. "Thank you, Earl. You have my cell number. Would you call me if you hear anything?"

"I'll be sure to do just that, Mr. Tracy," Earl replied and I put the phone down. They'd disappeared in the teeth of a blizzard and nobody, not the KHP, the police, even the Air Force Reserves would go out to search for them. The storm was too heavy for helicopters, the controller had said. They didn't have any heavy duty land vehicles or snow-cats to spare for a ground search when the search area was that large and so many other people needed help.

I drove all night without stopping, fearful that they would close down the road because of the snow. So far, so good, they had kept the highway relatively clear and my luck, such as it was, was holding.

I tried to call home but got a busy signal. Could be that the local phones had gone down, they often did in heavy snow, along with the power. The old farmhouse was well equipped with firewood, fireplaces and an iron stove. Mom and the boys would be all right, especially since she'd canned a bumper crop of vegetables and fruit last summer. They had a good pantry to live on, no matter how long they were snowed in.

My thoughts turned back to Emily and my two sons, my eldest and my youngest. Emily, so bright and strong. She's a better pilot than I am, although she'd never admit it. Scotty takes after her. He's friendly and smart and so very good with his brothers. He's determined to be a pilot and I think he has the discipline to be a good one. And little Alan, who looks like a cherub and charms everyone he meets. His smile can light up a room. They just had to be all right.

I listened to a news report during the drive about a billionaire's daughter, caught in an avalanche at an expensive ski resort, who was promptly rescued by the Kansas Highway Patrol. I'd met her father. He was a big campaign contributor to the Senator's reelection fund. Emily, Scott and Alan were small potatoes and I just wasn't important enough to make the governmental agencies search for them. I was an astronaut, for God's sake, but I wasn't famous enough or rich enough and in Houston, men who'd walked on the moon were a dime a dozen.

I rubbed my hand over my face. How long had it been since I'd slept? At least twenty four hours and I knew I wasn't going to sleep until they were home. I'd been on the road a good twelve hours and should be home by now, but the blizzards had snarled everything up.

I couldn't help but think of them. All I could do was try to get home to the rest of my family. And pray that my Emily and my two sons were alive.

A FARMHOUSE IN KINSLEY, KANSAS-DAY 2

Ruth Tracy looked down when she felt, rather than heard, her seven-almost-eight year old grandson Virgil standing next to her waiting to be noticed.

"Hi Virgil, did you want something?" Ruth asked this most sensitive of children. Virgil had been very quiet since Emily had taken Scott and Alan on that shopping trip. He had been even quieter since they got the call yesterday from the police about her daughter-in-law and grandsons.

Virgil nodded. "Scotty's crying."

Ruth's eyes widened. "What do you mean, Virgil? How do you know?"

Virgil shrugged. "I just know. Scotty's crying and he's scared. He wants us to go get him."

Ruth knelt down in front of Virgil. "Now Virgil, I want you to tell me just how you know about Scotty. Did you see him somehow? Did somebody tell you something?"

"Nobody told me anything, Grandma," Virgil said solemnly. "I always know when Scotty's hurt or upset. And he always knows about me, too."

"Do you know where he is?" Ruth asked tensely. Her Aunt Susan had been like that, too. She'd been able to tell when a family member was in trouble, but nobody in the family ever talked about her talent much for fear of being taken for kooks.

Virgil shook his head. "No. Just that he's cold and there's a lot of snow." He looked out the window. "But there's a lot of snow everywhere."

Ruth slowly got back to her feet. "Well, if you find out anything else about Scotty or your mother or Alan, you be sure to tell me, okay Sweetie?"

Again, Virgil nodded. "Okay, Grandma," he said and went back to watch television, leaving Ruth shaking her head. If there were even one survivor of the plane, which she was now certain had crashed, there was still hope. She bit her lip and wished that her son would get home.

SCOTT

I woke to quiet. The wind had died and all the sounds were muffled. There was light. I opened my eyes and saw that the sun was up and the sky looked blue. I moved and knocked snow off the silver blanket, then saw that lots of snow had gotten into the plane, but I felt pretty warm so that was okay. I rolled over and saw that Alan was still asleep and so was Mom.

I had to go to the bathroom, so I slid carefully out of the blanket and crept over to the side of the plane that had the big hole in it. I poked my head through and saw a blue sky with more clouds on the horizon and guessed that there was more snow coming. When I climbed through the hole, I was walking on what was left of the wing. It was shining silver in the sun. I'd loved that plane, not least because Dad let me pick the colors for it. I chose silver with red and blue because that made it look fast. Now it was just a broken-winged bird.

At the end of the wing I took care of business and looked around, hoping I'd see a house or a road or something, but there was nothing but ground and snow-covered hills and more trees.

I heard a squall from inside the plane and it was pretty clear that Alan was awake and wanted breakfast. Spaghetti was a weird breakfast, but I'd eat it and I knew he would too. Maybe I could talk Mom into having some, too, and a drink of water. Slipping a bit on the icy metal of the wing, I climbed back into the airplane.

Alan had started crawling across the floor, looking for me. I picked him up before he could reach the broken glass and went to check on Mom. Her eyes were closed, but she didn't wake up when I shook her shoulder gently. I put Alan down and tried again, harder. Then I put my hand on her cheek and it was cold, so cold.

My knees gave way and I found myself kneeling beside her, feeling for her wrist. Her hand was cold too and there wasn't a pulse. I pulled my hand away like it was on fire. I sat back on the blanket and pulled my knees to my chin without once looking away from her. My Mom was dead.

She was dead.

She was dead and I was alone.

I was all alone in the snow.