A Friend in Need

The weather forecast had predicted this as I said goodbye to my daughter and left for work that morning; I watched it start to snow from my office window a few hours before it was even time for me to leave for home. As my friends passed my desk for the exit, I warned them all to drive safely. Most humored me and nodded. Others told me they were taking the bus or subway home, so no worries other than the overcrowding they expected.

I packed up and left thirty minutes later. I got that breakthrough I had expected around noon. I was both pleased and yet so pissed that I had taken this long on a what I thought to be simple coding. Sometimes, it just goes to show that overconfidence in one's ability, coupled with an underestimation of how clever some people are, can cause us all to have an attack of the stupids on occasions. When I came back and sat down with my coffee in hand, I finally gave the person who wrote it the respect he/she was due.

Once saved, closed down and now content, it was time to take on the snow and the cold, both expected, and yet unwelcome. With the busier routes behind me, I concentrated more on the roads that the county’s snow plows had done little to clear. Home was still several miles away, and the roads around there were mostly empty since the smarter ones of us left work early or had not gone into work at all.

The black car behind me was going faster than I would have dared. They even flashed their lights at me to get out of the way. The ass clearly wasn’t looking; the snow plows had cleared only what was deemed enough of the road to get people around. I wasn’t dropping into a snow bank for his convenience, that was for sure. Finally finding a clear part of the road, the driver roared past me.

The folks in that car clearly didn’t know that stretch of road, wooded on both sides, and the road itself dipped on one side into a sharp and lethal left-hand bend. None but the brave or stupid took on that stretch of road at any real speed. Add to that a good couple inches of un-cleared snow on top of the compacted stuff from earlier, and you had a nightmare in waiting.

Sadly, that nightmare happened before my very own eyes: the tail lights of the lunatic driving swayed from side to side. They hit the brakes, harder this time. That was the stupidest thing they could do, because they were then introduced to the slight dip in the road and all bets were off. I eased off the gas, slowed and watched the inevitable happen as they slid straight across the road, brake lights still on, and in a sideways skid, as the driver would be frantically trying to correct the tragic mistake he/she had initiated. To this audience of one, the driver was now in the hands of nature.

The tree, one that had been here longer than the town down in the valley below, still stood proud. Its trunk moved to the laws of physics, yet still won the duel. The car’s windshield resisted for a moment, but by those same laws of physics, it was doomed from the very beginning. The solid branch was angled upwards slightly, forcing the roof of the car to bend in the middle and shattering the windshield, before the front of the car connected with the battle scarred and very solid trunk, forcing the hood upwards at a horrible angle.

Any noise, dampened by the surrounding trees, kept its secret victory from any other people in the area. When I got beside the wreck, my first thoughts were of dealing with the engine fire as my priority, before even looking to see if anyone was alive in either the front or the back. With my trunk open and extinguisher in hand, the fire was out before it had gained any real hold on this twisted piece of metal, I then turned my attention to gaining access to the vehicle.

I used both hands on the handle of the rear door, but the condition it was in meant that much effort was a complete waste of time. My now empty extinguisher on the rear door window caused my hands to numb by the impact of the extinguisher hitting the glass. Going in through the now glassless back window, pushed out by the victorious branch that waved its victory to the breeze, this was the only option left to me, and even I wasn’t prepared for the consequences of the drivers actions.

One person was alive in the back: a young girl, her still form resting against the side window, the cut along her forehead and the way her chest moved back and forth at a regular pace gave me hope that she was just knocked out. A quick check of putting my fingers in search of the pulse on the side of her neck just re-affirmed my racing thoughts and calmed my anxiety that there may be more than one serious casualty in this wreck.

The woman in the front took the brunt of the trees displeasure that was for sure. Climbing between the seats wasn’t easy, at six-two and hugging close to the two-hundred-pound mark, I’m not exactly dainty in form, and it was times like these that continued to remind me I needed to lose those pounds I had accrued since I left the army. Once I got the front passenger seat down and crawled over it, I got a good look at the woman driver, silently cursing her for being so stupid. And with a child in the back seat, as well.

While the 911 operator kept me talking I could hear the sirens coming up the road; when their lights washed across the area, bathing us all in headlights and red and blue emergency lights, I thanked the operator and closed my cell down, some sort of inbuilt instinct made me look behind me, the girl was awake and staring at me.

My words offered some comfort, I hoped. “Help is on its way. Hang in there, honey, and we’ll get you and your momma out of here in a minute.”

I held out a hand towards her and she watched it close in on her and stop within easy reach of her own. I think her instincts came into effect just then, when she reached out and held mine. She gave my hand a slight squeeze and attempted a smile.

*******

The rational part of my brain looked upon what happened next, as the fire department quickly assessing the situation and forming some sort of action that wouldn’t make things worse, like trying to prevent the car exploding with us in it perhaps? Yet as I sat with one of my hands clasped tightly to the little girl, offering any form of comfort I could and the other hand placed against the neck of the unconscious woman in the front of the car feeling for her pulse, it sure felt like the calm before the storm.

A head appeared through the back window, he looked around, nodded to me and slightly turned his head and started shouting orders back out the hole that was once the back window. The little girl suddenly turned her head and both faces were inches apart. It may have been the confined space we all occupied and the sudden shock of seeing someone so close to her at the moment, but her silence remained a mystery to me. The tears of, perhaps relief, that I hadn’t lied when I said help was on its way were no longer repressed, and she just burst into tears.

The guy handed me a blanket and I followed his directions as best I could, since the little girl wouldn’t let go of my hand; using just the one took longer than I wanted. Within seconds, I had the driver covered in with the blanket from her head down. I’m not sure if what happened next was amongst the orders that the quickly departing head had given, but a tube rested against the base of the window, there was a slight puff sound from the tube and the window shattered into tiny pieces.

That’s when I spotted a pointed piece of metal protruding from the tube by a good inch. The tube was removed from the door and replaced by a medic, who then took charge of the women in the driver’s seat. She was doing her own shouting, both at the unconscious woman and to whoever was behind her, passing through bits of medical equipment she required.

Both I and some of the other emergency crew turned our attention to getting the child out. An interesting safety knife appeared, and I used it to cut through her seat belt. I was then asked to leave, and I left the rest to the professionals.

Now detached from the events in front of me, I was in awe at the professionalism and the speed of the emergency crew. With a little coaxing, the girl climbed out by herself, one of the fire crew held out his hand and she clung tightly to it. Once free, she stood, the guy removed his hand from her grasp and lifted her clear from the car and straight to the medic waiting by the ambulance.

It was as the medic used the light from inside the vehicle to treat the young girl that my own hearing picked up on something to which my own mind quickly made a connection, and I looked a lot more closely towards the little girl who was struggling with one of the medical team. He was trying to talk to her in the calming voice I’ve heard all medical people use, and the child was trying desperately to push him away.

I walked up to the medic and placed my hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

It was important that he turned to look at me before I said. “She can’t hear you, she’s Deaf, and my best guess is, she’s trying to push you away so she can lip-read what you’re saying to her.”

The look of confusion came first, the young lady and I read the ‘oh shit’ pass his lips a second later.

“You understand this stuff then?”

Although nodding my head in agreement with him, I’m sure he could have worded it better if he had just taken a second to think about it.

For the next few minutes, I technically became the translator between the medic and the little girl. It took some coaxing, but I did find out her name was Clare. The medic looked on this as a huge step forward, and although he did try his best to keep looking at her, and stop slowing down his speech to me and making himself sound like an idiot, his instinct slipped once in a while, and I ended up continuing to put my fingers to good use, using ASL with the girl.

With the medic’s new change in attitude, between us, we got the girl bandaged. Her mother, of course, was a different story altogether. The more senior medic once again leaned into the car, held the woman’s wrist while the people around her kept busy and quiet as best they could while her pulse and then listened to her chest. The medic's hand went behind her and her assistant placed a C-Collar into her hand; within seconds it was around the driver’s neck and the medic pulled herself out of the way.

The fire crew got to work after that. Posts were placed in front of each side of what was once the windshield. More posts appeared and were placed behind the drivers and passenger seat. Once the fire chief checked and gave a nod of his head, a wicked looking pincer thing was jammed into the door and pried it open, the same was done on the passenger door.

The medic came back, and between her and the fire chief they came to the decision that the roof was next, and the pincer thing sprang into action again, slicing through everything to which it was attached. The roof was then folded back and a board was slid down the back of the seat, and between the fire crew and the medic, they inched the driver onto the board and secured her to it with straps and foam blocks so that she couldn’t move her head.

Little hands wrapped around my arm as the medic put a needle into the driver's arm and attached the tube to a bag with what looked like water to a metal rod that was positioned at one corner of the board. When the medic pulled an eyelid open and checked her by waving a light in front of her eyes, that’s when the little girl grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. Her chest heaved as pain wracked sobs were muffled against my shirt.

The police officer stood close by; we both knew he also had a job to do, but at the moment to much emotion was being let out by the little girl in my arms. I knew things could get real tricky quickly if I didn’t identify myself. I nodded him over and he stood next to me. It took just a second to size him up, late forties and a good one-eighty to two-hundred pounds on a six-two frame with eyes that told me he had seen a good chunk of life as a Police Officer, and arrested much of it. .

“Officer, as you can see I have my arms around this scared little girl, but I do need you to pull the wallet out of my suit pocket and read it for me before things get out of hand.”

His partner listened in, and both wore a puzzled look, I could clearly see his name badge now. Officer Andrew Cowan nodded to his own partner, and he in turn took a couple of paces to the right so he had a clear line of sight of us both. I’m sure I was meant to see him place his own hand close to his service weapon before Officer Cowan went anywhere near my pocket.

When he flipped open my ID, the look on his face told me what he was thinking, and when he pulled the back of my jacket up, he got his confirmation. Officer Cowan’s partner grasped his own service weapon really tightly as my own Sig, still in its holster and strapped to the small of my back, came into view. Cowan quickly flashed his partner my shield and ID to ease the tension that little Clare had just started to pick up on and in turn, caused her to hold me tighter.

Officer Cowan left his partner to look after me, while he walked back to his cruiser and made a call. The puzzled look was still on his face some minutes later when he came back. He nodded to his partner and they both calmed down. The woman was now being prepped for the move to the hospital.

The medic seemed to have noticed more than I realized when he said to Officer Cowen, “Look, I don’t know what’s just gone on between you three, and frankly I don’t care.” He sideways nodded to Clare, who was paying close attention to what was going on and seemed on the verge of a fresh wave of tears. “But I need him to travel with us so we can keep the rhythm going with this little girl.”

My attention was instantly transferred to the medic; he looked ready for a fight of logic and gave me both barrels.

“Look, Sir, I don’t know any ASL, I’m close to dead certain that none of my colleges know any, either. That leaves you to keep this young lady calm, even more so when we can’t have her travel with the lady driver. Even from here it’s clear to see that her wounds are too extensive, and I can almost guarantee there is going to be a lot going on in that ambulance before we reach the hospital.”

Although I could see this man’s logic, it didn’t stop me turning my head towards Officer Cowen’s once again. “But my car?” was my only question.

“We’ve been told to render any assistance possible, Sir. My partner will drive your car and place it in the hospital parking lot for you; I’ll lead the convoy of vehicles to the hospital in the cruiser.”

It seemed every decision was already made and re-affirmed when he placed my ID back in my pocket. The senior medic was still franticly working on the driver, one of the officers walked over to the wreck that was once a decent looking car and leaned inside; he pulled a woman’s bag out of the front and his partner joined him. They placed the bag on the only level piece of hood that was left of the car and carefully placed the contents on it.

Eventually everything went into a plastic evidence bag and was then tagged. By now the senior medic had announced that it was time to get to the hospital, and my new found friend and this frightened little girl climbed into our ambulance. The doors were closed as the medic made sure we were both belted in and secure. The engine revved only once and then moved, Clare grabbed my arm and I signed that she was safe now and kept her informed about what was going on, even down to the fact that she would have to put up with me on the journey. She visibly smiled, and eventually relaxed as we headed down the hill.

As we finally got onto the freeway and the convoy could safely increase its speed, now comfortable with what was going on, I pulled my cell out, dialed Jodie’s number and inwardly I smiled like I always seem to do.

*******

Jodie and I met when I was moving into my new home, quite literally met, that is. I was still moving boxes in with the aid of a very reputable moving company, as announced all the way along the side of the moving van. Jodie just walked in carrying a lamp that looked remarkably like one of a set of two I had, we both stopped and looked at each other. She was late forties, dressed casually and with a smile that could disarm a mad axeman. I told her that once, and she laughed and said she wouldn’t like to give that a try. I had to agree with her.

Her hand came out and she said, “Don’t worry; I’m not stealing it.” She then showed that smile again before saying, “Although if I could find the other one, I may have a change of mind on that last statement.”

Thus began a friendship with the Freeman family for which I was truly grateful. We were still standing in the day room when my daughter Hannah walked in and Jodie was introduced to my family. I explained that my daughter was deaf, but if she spoke slightly slower than usual she could lip read. Jodie got down on one knee and held out her hand, instinctively Hannah watched her do it and after a second's hesitation, she added hers.

Jodie’s smile was even brighter. “My goodness, aren’t you the cutest young lady ever.”

Hannah’s cheeks turned a cute shade of pink and we all knew she had understood what Jodie had said to her. Jodie slowly leaned in, delicately held my daughters head between her hands and kissed her forehead before standing up and telling us that she was off to make dinner and she would expect us both at six. Jodie would also send over her husband and daughter to help with the moving in.

True to her word, a younger version of Jodie came to the door followed by an older man. Introductions were made, and as soon as April spotted Hannah they were joined at the hip, and to a large extent, still are. April scooped my daughter into her arms, Hannah squealed as her new friend spun her around the day room and then placed her back on the floor. The words, “Show me your bedroom,” barely left her lips before Hannah grabbed April’s hand and they both headed towards the back of the house.

Both fathers caught glimpses of their daughters from time to time throughout the day, but only in passing. As we worked, Arnie at first apologized for his wife’s forwardness; I waved my hand before telling him that if anything, she was a breath of fresh air. Arnie rolled his eyes and begged me not to say that out loud or she’d hear me. I knew even then that I liked this family. It had taken a personal tragedy, a promotion and moving over a thousand miles away from my old support network to find these great people lived next door to me.

Arnie was in the middle of helping me size up one of the closets in my bedroom, ready to bolt my gun safe against the back wall, when he started to get nervous. “You now live in Dullsville, USA; please don’t tell me you’re a gun nut?”

Like almost every conversation I had with him over the last three hours, I was either laughing or smiling. I opened the gun safe and handed him my badge, he did spot the gun and ammunition, plus several magazines, further back in the safe. It was plain to see, he didn’t even want to open the fold over ID case, but I suppose curiosity got the better of him and my shield and ID stared right back at him when he did.

With a sigh of relief, he said, “Well I pay my taxes so you can’t come after me, I’ll point you towards the wife though; she always looks like she’s up to something.”

Arnie handed me back my ID, then did something I didn’t expect. He held out his hand to me and we shook on it. It was perhaps the closest either of us were comfortable to a man hug, and the words welcome home. It still took another hour, and even the girls came out of hiding to help, but we got there. All rooms but the kitchen were done, everything had a place and everything was in its place, Arnie left with April to get showered and changed, ready for dinner.