Jason woke up suddenly. Funny, he didn't remember going to sleep.
In fact the last thing he remembered was – hmm. He couldn't remember what the last thing he remembered was. How strange was that?
He slitted his eyes open, and quickly closed them again. It wasn't bright, but the light hurt his eyes.
He allowed his eyes to open again; again just a slit.
He was in their cabin.
In bed.
In the daytime.
What the devil?!
He heard Jeremy speak and Josh reply.
They were all here?
In the daytime?
Was it Sunday?
Had something happened?
He started to try to sit up, and moaned. Movement hurt.
"What happened?" he croaked.
"T-told you he was w-waking up." Jeremy brought him a glass of water and helped him (!) take a few swallows.
"What happened?" he asked again, NOT moving again, but opening his eyes fully.
"You tried high rigging, without knowing anything about it. It didn't work." Josh came into his field of vision. Josh was unshaven, and Jason raised his hand to his own face. He was in roughly the same state. Even Jeremy looked a bit scruffy.
"I'm hurt." He could feel it now. His shoulders, hips, and legs were sore and his ribs were wrapped. "How bad?"
Josh glanced at Jeremy before answering. "You've been unconscious for four days."
"Alm-most five."
"Anything broken?"
"Besides your head? No. Three ribs cracked on your right, and your right hand is badly bruised, left hand somewhat bruised. We don't know about any mental injuries, yet."
Jason's lips twitched. Leave it to Josh to make a listed answer to his question.
"I know who I am, who you are, where we are, and , now that you mention it, I remember the high rigging. What went wrong?"
"We miscalculated, for one thing. When the section fell, when it hit the riglines, the weight was more than we calculated, and there was more of a recoil. Right back into you. That tree got its revenge right then and there.
"When you were pushed back into that tree, your safety line snapped, and you fell. I don't know how you didn't break everything. We're lucky you're alive."
Jason ran his fingers through his hair. "I must have been saying some mighty rash prayers on the way down. Too bad I don't remember any of them. Help me up."
Jeremy hurried to his side and draped Jason's arm across his shoulders while he helped him turn.
"That's better. Is the work getting done? Why aren't you working?"
"Yes and Because."
"Why did you bring me here? Camp was closer."
"Because."
Jeremy was trying not to laugh at Josh's short answers. He was working salve into Jason's injured hands. Jason appreciated that; it felt good. Both his brothers had their mother's healing touch, although he'd never much needed it.
"Did it really take both of you to watch me be knocked out?"
"Yes."
"W-we t-tried to w-work, but c-couldn't, because we were af-fraid for you. And even wh-when we t-took t-turns, it d-didn't help. And you've always said not to work if w-we c-couldn't concentrate. It's n-not safe."
"How do you know the work's being done, then?" Jason really hated it when his brothers used his own words against him, but at least it meant they were listening, at least sometimes.
"That's what we have foremen for."
Jason looked sharply at Josh.
Josh caught the look and grinned. "We figured if they were good enough to teach us – starting with you – they must know how to do it."
" 'thout high rigging," Jeremy added. "We all decided to wait on that. M-maybe it's s-something we c-can practice over winter?"
"Only lower," Josh agreed. "At least until we figure the angles and the loads better. I just wish I'd been there to see it, so I could figure how fast you fell."
Jason laughed – well, he started to. It was more than a little painful, even with his chest wrapped. Maybe especially with his chest wrapped. His brothers could, perhaps, be too thorough with such things.
Jason did make it at least as far as the table, all but collapsing in his chair.
He was pleased to spend the rest of that evening sitting up and they all talked all night long.
000
Jeremy had been up a tree when the alarm sounded. He looked around before descending, but didn't see anything. He wasn't too worried when he saw Josh's ground crew responding. That meant he was to ready a first aid station. They had discussed and assigned relative (who was closest to whom) positions. They'd even played them out a few weekends when there was nothing better to do. Just the three of them, not the whole camp.
They had even worked out what to do if any one of them ended up injured, somehow, although they had never taken that too seriously. (Josh said if Jeremy was the one hurt he could yawn and say, 'him again. Jason'll take care of it.' Jason had laughed when Jeremy pretended to pout.)
Jeremy entered the camp from one side while Josh came in from another side.
"Good," Josh said.
"Is it bad?"
"Three men. Two broken arms, so far. Third man's still under. Haven't heard from him. Be ready for anything." Josh looked beyond Jeremy, at his men. "You all come with me." To Jeremy, he said, "I'll send the others on up here."
Jeremy nodded. There was something funny about the way Josh was talking, but then, they didn't have this kind of accident very often. "What happened?"
"Rebound."
Jeremy nodded again.
When the injured men arrived, they were too shocky to talk about it, and the men who had accompanied them hurried back to the accident. Jeremy busied himself with dosing them and checking for any other injuries, since they had already been splinted.
Josh was there as he was finishing up.
"Jeremy," Josh said. Quietly.
Jeremy knew then, and Josh saw it. Jeremy paled, held his breath, shook his head, and took a deep breath before looking directly at Josh.
"He's alive," Josh said quickly. "Knocked out, I don't know much more.I wanted to warn you. They're still cutting him out."
Jeremy nodded.
Josh nodded back, and vanished.
It was their time to prove themselves; to themselves as well as the rest of their world.
When they returned with Jason, Jeremy had splints, bandages, several types of medicines, both patent and homemade. He had water on the fire heated, and cold water reserved nearby. He had threaded needles. Off to the side, where he could reach them but couldn't see them, he had different cutting tools, if amputation or opening a wound was needed.
It made him sick to think about it.
Now he knew how Jason had felt when he broke his arm a couple years back.
The first day they stayed at the camp, watching for signs if other injuries, waiting for Jason to come to. He had never been unconscious for long. Not in either brother's memory.
The second night the rains moved in. Not just any rains, but the kind that signaled a seasonal weather change. There was coolness in the wind, and the air was heavy with dampness that seemed to soak into the bones of every man.
How much worse that could become for an inert, unmoving patient!
At the end of the working day, the decision had been made to move Jason to the cabin. He needed to be inside to be kept warm and dry. Pneumonia always lurked for the injured and unmoving.
Josh supervised the move; Jeremy supervised the patient, as he had all day. Josh had decided that would be safer than trying to have Jeremy do any of the day's work. He was getting the trembles randomly – not a good thing around sharp tools. Other than that, Josh was impressed with how well Jeremy had been keeping it together.
Joshua had impressed Jeremy just as much. Josh had let the men help with Jason as much as they could , and had then managed to redirect their attention to the work. Firstly, because Jason would expect them to. Secondly, because they didn't have anything better to do. Unless they were ready to quit? If so, he'd pay them off and they could go.
He went over the schedule of work that they had been working from, and he discussed the ways and means of getting it done three or five men short. That depended on how long it would take Jason to recover.
None of the men wanted to quit. All the seasonal men had already been paid off and were gone. They all agreed to the adapted schedule.
Josh cautioned them that the schedule was tight, but if any man needed to take a break, they should. This would be the wrong time to disregard Jason's safety protocols.
"And his fancy new tricks," someone said, and Josh smiled.
"When we learn the tricks, you'll be amazed. But, no, we're not going to be high rigging for a while. I will be going back and forth, at least for a while, and Jeremy will be, too. So if you have any questions, complaints, or comments, we'll be here to listen. You can come to the cabin if it's urgent to you. Or just to visit. If it's a bad time, we'll tell you."
There were problems, of course, but they worked together on them.
.
There had been lessons learned, Jason thought.
He wasn't immune from accident and injury, and could easily have been killed.
Joshua and Jeremy could each do all the work in some form or other– they'd just have to find their own way of getting things done.
They had done so.
They could survive; they would succeed.
They were his legacy, should the unthinkable happen, and he was proud of them.