12 Rescue Rangers
A short while later, the sounds of
motorized snowmobiles came to them in their little refuge.
By the time Z. Tyler climbed from the
enclosure, following Goldie who took the lead, the noisy, shiny black machines
had started down the slope toward them. Scrambling out from under the limbs, he
shouted and waved as the big dog barked his own greeting to the rescue team.
Bapa could hear muffled voices as the
engines shut down and he heard Z. Tyler laugh.
The branches over his head shook and snow
plopped on his face again; that darned dog!
“Goldie!” he half yelled, “that’s the
second time you covered me with snow!”
A tiny giggle met his objection and he
looked up from his snow removal job to see bright-eyed Lauren scrunching under
the evergreen limbs.
“Hi! Bapa!’ she greeted. “It’s not Goldie,
this time. It’s me!” Then, she hugged him, tightly.
Bapa kissed the little girl’s rosy cheek,
laughing in happiness and relief.
“Well! Now!” he managed, “This is a
pleasant surprise.” Sobering, he quickly added, “I am so glad you could come to
visit in my little home,” he teased his eldest granddaughter.
Lauren laughed at his perpetual
shenanigans. “Are you okay, Bapa?” She inquired, looking him over for any
obvious injury, not that they would have been evident in his bundled condition.
Like a doting mother she eyed him carefully, gingerly touched and poked both
arms and legs while giving his chest and abdominal area a cursory observation,
just like a miniature nurse.
Bapa laughed at her mock medical
ministering; he always said that this girl would make one fine mother someday;
she was already well on her way to fulfilling that prognostication.
Z. Tyler entered the makeshift abode with
pronouncements and orders.
“First thing we’re going to do is get you
out of here and onto the sled. Nanny fitted it with some soft blankets and,
even, a pillow. Then one of them will shuttle you to the truck; it’s just about
three hundred yards up the hill. They are getting the horses out of their
shelter, now. We’ll tack them up and ‘Nurse’ Lauren can ride one, I’ll fork the
other and lead the pack horse while Dad or Alex drives the snowmobile.
“Once you and Lauren are safe and sound,
and warm, in the cab and the animals are loaded in the trailer, the two of us
will hike back down here and help with loading the sled. Dad and Alex and I
will clear out this campsite and secure all of Ole Sam’s winter supplies on the
snow sled and they will shuttle the provisions up to his place. Then, I’ll
drive the three of us home.”
Bapa nodded his agreement to the plan; Z.
Tyler sounded like an officer issuing commands to a subordinate; he looked the
part and took an easy, natural control of the situation.
Shortly, Graig and Alex had led the horses to
the area immediately outside the tree shelter. Z. Tyler went out. He held the
three animals as his dad and his uncle slid into the confines of the temporary
camp under the overhanging branches.
They greeted Bapa and inquired as to his
condition; an “I’ll be alright” is about what they expected and was exactly
what they got. The old man was not partial to complaining.
“Oh! Dad and Uncle Graig!” Lauren assured,
“I already checked him over. He’s a little sore, but once Nanny gets a hold of
him, he’ll be good as new.” Then, she laughed.
The three men looked at one another in
amazement; the “little” professor had spoken.
“We brought a board to lay you on so we
can slide you out of here and onto the sled,” Graig informed. He pulled a half
sheet of plywood into the shelter. Then, he and Alexander maneuvered Bapa on
top of it without causing him to have to sit up; he experienced some pain in
the jostling, but it was minor and he did not object. Once lying flat on the
makeshift gurney, Alex backed out of the shelter while pulling the board and
Graig pushed from the lower end.
“Wow!” Bapa exclaimed, once outside, as he
shaded his eyes from an intense sun, “it sure is a bright day.” He fished his
sunglasses from an interior coat pocket.
Lauren took the lead ropes from her cousin
as the three men lifted Bapa onto the sled as gently as possible. Alex got on
the snowmobile to which the sled was attached and said, “Hang on!” as he
started up the hill with his patient in tow.
Z. Tyler quickly saddled and bridled the
riding horses; while he performed that task, his dad brought the contents of
the camp from under the branches and started sorting it for packing on the snow
sled when Alex returned with it.
“You go on ahead, get Bapa into the truck
and send Alex back. We’ll load this stuff and get started up the mountain.”
“I can come back down and lend a hand,” Z.
Tyler offered.
“No! Won’t be necessary. By the time he
gets here with the snow sled, I’ll have it all in good order. Won’t take us ten
minutes to get it loaded, secured and be on our way,” his father advised.
“Okay, Dad. We’ll see you back at the
house in time for supper.” The boy waved and hoisted Lauren into the saddle on
Magic, then swung atop Applejack and led Desperado up the slope.
“We’ll be there,” Graig called after them, smiling, “Nanny’s having
fried chicken!”
It was his
favorite. He often bragged that she made the best golden brown fried chicken in
the world; Nanny would be embarrassed at such flattery and say she had learned
the recipe from Bapa’s mother. In fact, her culinary skills were the result of
hand-me-down recipes and know-how gleaned from generations of trial and error,
and, Nanny’s loving heart which made everything she tried---perfect! They all
knew it to be true and they all loved her for it.
Lauren took to the leather like an old
pro. She and sister Anna Marie and cousin Lexi had been around horses and had
ridden since a very tender age. Lauren and Annie took lessons, were learning to
jump and each wanted to pursue dressage training. Lexi loved the big horses,
too, but she studied dance and painting. All three played the piano and enjoyed
varied sporting interests.
When Lauren and Z. Tyler reached the
pickup truck, Bapa was already climbing into the passenger seat, with Alex’s
help. He winced a little, but, surprisingly, he seemed fairly agile.
“Looks like you’re not going to keep him
down, Alex,” Z. Tyler laughed, dismounting.
Alexander shook his head. “No! I’m glad
I’m not in charge of his well-being; I don’t know how Nanny does it,” he
teased. “I believe she must be a saint.”
“An angel!” Bapa corrected as he lifted
his right foot into the cab and closed the door.
Z. Tyler put Lauren in the driver’s door
while Alex piled the blankets from the sled on top of the plywood board which
he had placed in the truck bed.
Lauren sat in the middle of the seat next
to her grandfather and poured him some hot homemade chicken soup from the
thermos Nanny had sent; she prepared a piece of apple pie for him which was
contained in a plastic dish; she even had a fork and a napkin for his
convenience.
Alex straddled the seat of the snowmobile.
“Looks like Bapa is in good hands now,” Z.
Tyler laughed, giving a back-handed compliment to his little cousin’s motherly
attentions to their grandfather.
“No doubt!” Alex affirmed, smiling at his
daughter’s mature attitude toward the situation.
Then, he added, “I better get back or
Graig will have toted those supplies up the mountain on his back. See you for
supper. Be careful!” And, offering that caution, he made a wide circle with the
long snow sled in tow and headed back to the river bank that had once been Tall
Pine Beach.
Z. waved as he watched Uncle Alex close
the distance to the abandoned campsite.
He un-tacked the riding horses, stowed the
saddles, bridles and blankets in the truck bed and loaded all three animals
into the stock trailer for the ride home. They seemed not to have suffered any ill-effects
from their little adventure. Once home, he would curry them and if they ate
their feed with the usual appetite they displayed, he fully expected that they
would be just fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment