6 Miles With Courage (21 page)

“My father had a GPS unit and a compass in the backpack. I used it for direction.” He said pointing at the last reporter for the final question.

“How did you manage the courage to trek six miles through that h
orrible swamp? Spend the night without being scared, and you did it all alone. Can you elaborate on that?”

“I never said I wasn’t scared and I certainly was not
alone
.”

They all started to murmur amongst themselves as they tried to understand what he meant by not being alone. Were there other people on the plane?

Bob leaned in and tried to pull the microphone towards him but when he did two of the many microphones banged together and set off a high-pitched squealing which had everyone grabbing to cover their ears. “Sorry folks, but I think I can explain what Ryan is trying to say.” Ryan leaned in towards a microphone and looked at Bob.

“It’s ok Sherriff I got it.” He said with a look well
enough to assure Bob that he wasn’t going to say anything crazy like he did back at the ranger station.

“What I mean by not being alone is this. My father once told me that each and every one of
us carries within ourselves, all the courage of all our ancestors that have come before us.” It grew quiet. They listened intently and they all began to write down his words. Bob and Ryan looked at each other, content in knowing that Ryan had just taken control of the press conference.

“It was with this courage that I found myself
not to be alone, and it gave me the ability to go the six miles. Thank you and goodnight,” Ryan said as he and Bob walked away from the reporters. By the time they got to the car and shut the door they were still writing on their pads.

“You did a good job Ryan, you handled yourself well, your father would have been proud of you,” Bob said as he put the car in
gear. “What do you say we go home and get some rest?” And they drove off into the night.

Ryan put his arm around his mother as he looked out the car window at the passing
moonlit woods. Somewhere out there, camped out on an embankment almost twenty four hours ago he started his eighteenth birthday. He was about to end it. It would be, to say the least, a most memorable birthday. With the whining of the wheels he fell fast asleep.

The next morning Ryan awoke in his very own bed. It was a school day but the principal and his mother decided it would be best for
all
if Ryan stayed out for the remainder of the week and do his work at home. His presence would have been too disruptive. It was best to let things die-down for a while.

For the rest of the week Rob remained in intensive care. His vitals were
good. Ryan was doing so well with his school work at home that it was decided to keep things as they were. The excitement at school had died-down but still all-the-talk was about Ryan’s return. With finals coming up the principle did not need the added commotion, and just as well as Ryan seemed to be somewhat withdrawn.

H
is best friend Brent would pass-by and fill him in on what was happening at school. Ryan was his old self when he was around—so long as he didn’t mention the crash. Of course Brent being close to Ryan wanted to know
some
details. The kids at school were driving Brent crazy, always asking him, did you talk to him yet? What did he say? Brent had nothing to tell them because Ryan simply refused to talk about it. Ryan did promise Brent that once he had some of his questions answered from his dad, he would then answer Brent’s. For now, if anybody wanted to know the details, it would have to wait until Rob regained consciousness.

The week
passed and Rob’s progress followed the doctor’s predictions to the letter. In two weeks the bone-flap was to be removed from his abdomen and put back in his head—barring any complications of course.

For the next two weeks Ryan and his mom took turns sitting next to Rob. Sometime
s Ryan would talk to him, but not much as Ryan knew he was still in an induced state of coma.

That didn’t stop Judy from fill
ing Rob in on every detail of the day. Including how his land surveying peers stepped up to the call and kept his business running without a hitch. Most of them did it for little or no compensation.

Two more weeks passed. The bone
-flap was replaced without incident. Rob being removed from all life sustaining equipment and off of the induced coma was left to wake up on his own.
Ryan knowing that his father was past the critical stages began to regain his composer.

He went back to school without the commotion that was anticipated
as one of the football players had single handedly stopped a robbery at a local hamburger joint. When he came back to school the same week as Ryan, it was like “Who is Ryan?” It was exactly what he had hoped for, a blessing in disguise. Now he didn’t have to answer questions—not that he would have done so anyway, but it made it all the easier.

Everyday Judy would go in and shave him, and when he needed it, cut his nails a
s she generally kept Rob well groomed. Ryan would anxiously wait outside the room, wanting his mom to hurry up and finish so he could go in and tell dad all about the day. To a stranger it may have looked kind of sad, but to Ryan and Judy it was just good ole Rob only he wasn’t being very talkative.

Once and awhile
Judy would come back while Ryan would be speaking to his father. She would stay outside the room and try not to listen. Sometimes she could not help but overhear Ryan talking. She would hear him speaking the same “tall-tale” he had told back at the ranger station. She worried about Ryan’s state-of-mind.

Several weeks had passed with Rob not
regaining consciousness. Judy stayed the course with her grooming. Ryan was becoming more withdrawn and Judy notice that his babblings became more intense. If she interrupted him he became angry. She wanted so desperately for Rob to wake up so they could get on with their lives. She decided to have a conference with the doctors.

“What can we do to make him wake
up?” Judy pleaded.

“There is nothing that anybody
can
do. Sometimes a certain word or song will wake the patient. It can happen at any moment so keep talking, keep singing to him,” the doctor said.

“You know Mrs. Sykes there really is no reason why he can’t go home. In fact we were going to bring this up to
you that perhaps you may want to take him home.”

She looked down into her hands and without raising her eyes she said. “I had hoped to bring h
ome a whole man.” She looked away shamefully just for uttering those words.

“Mrs. Sykes there are documented cases where once the patient gets home to familiar surroundings, it jogs their memory and they
wake up,” the doctor said with enthusiasm. “This is especially true when a childhood memory can be brought back but it’s most difficult to do as most people have rid themselves of their childhood possessions.”

Judy sat there gazing off in the distance. It looked as though she were not even listening. The doctors looked at each other and shook their heads and standing up to leave one of them said
. “Well alright then Mrs.—”

“Wait a minute!” she said, “Great
-Grandpa Benjamin’s cabin!” she sat up straight and asked the doctors, “Old childhood memories is that right?”

“Yes,”
said both doctors sitting back down.

“Rob’s great grandpa ha
d a cabin over on Sunset Lake.  It’s still in the family. Rob would spend his childhood summers there fishing with his grandpa. Rob’s sister has renovated it along with the rest of the property. She is going to open it up as a bed and breakfast Inn.”

“And you say your husband ha
d spent time there—as a child.”

“Yes, when he was a young boy he
couldn’t get enough of fishing. He would fish off the dock all day. When night rolled around he would beg his grandpa to let him sleep in the front bedroom. The dock was very near that bedroom window. He would throw a line in and fall asleep and wait for the sound of the, you know, what do they call that thing?”

“I believe he would have set the ‘drag’
, loosely to make that clicking noise.” One of the doctors said.

“Yes, the drag. Anyway when it would go off he would jump out of bed and reel in a catfish or some kind of fish—I’m
not really sure about the fish.”

The doctors began to murmur to each other, closely, and then they parted with excitement.

“Judy there could not
be
a more perfect situation,” one of the doctors said while the other one was shaking his head in agreement.

“How is that?” she asked.

“You get yourself a hospital bed and bring Rob to the cabin. Set him up comfortably in the front bedroom and open up the windows. The smell of the evening air coming off the lake alone may wake him up.”

“Yes, and if after a few nights that doesn’t
work, then get yourself a fishing pole, and cast out and wait for a fish to take the bait. With the sound of the drag going off I bet my life on it that he would
wake up
.
”

“I can do that? I can just move him there?”

“Of course, there is nothing stopping him from going home, and better still, going back to a place that is filled with the fondest of childhood memories.” They looked at Judy as if to say, “What are you waiting for?”

“That’s it then
, I will talk to his sister and we will get him over there as soon as we can. I can’t wait to tell Ryan.”

“What? That ruddy old cabin! Last time I was there dad wanted to cry!” Ryan said.

“You haven’t seen it lately. Your aunt has completely remodeled it.”

“Well alright then, if you think it’s going to help dad wake up then I’m all for it.”

Judy hired an ambulance to transport Rob to the cabin. She also purchased a hospital bed and had it delivered. She had them set it up in the front bedroom of the cabin. Ryan’s aunt and his mother rearranged the furniture to get the bed as close to the window as possible. The fishing dock was just a few feet from the window.

Judy pulled back the curtains and opened the window to let the fresh afternoon autumn air in. Ryan was out on the dock. He was mounting something to the dock railing.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m installing a rod holder
it’s going to hold the fishing pole at night.”

“Why don’t you do some fishing now,” Judy said anxious to get all the familiar sounds going.

“I will soon mom,” he said putting in the last of the screws.

It had been a beautiful week at the cabin. The days were cool and breezy
and the nights were the same. It worked out that they all stayed in the cabin for the week. It was a great test run for the renovations to the cabin and surrounding amenities. Ryan found out that the dock had no cleats to secure a small fishing boat. The clothes dryer kept tripping the breaker, as well as the coffee pot. The dishwasher backed up into the sink. There was a whole list of problems that kept Rob’s sister busy. She had the handyman coming and going.

With her sister in-law busy Judy had time to spend long hours by Rob
’s side. Ryan fished from the dock day and night for the first few days. The later part of the week he fished only at night. Sleeping on a cot next to his dad he waited for the sound of the drag to go off. He reeled in a catfish or two every night but the sound of the drag had no effect on Rob. Ryan began to become discouraged.

Near the end of the week Ryan had Brent
come over and they explored about the old place more than they fished. Ryan confided in Brent that he believed that his father would have to wake up on his own.

“I don’t believe the sound of a fishing pole is going to wake my dad up. I just don’t.”

“Stranger things have happen,” Brent said as he pulled open the creaking door to a long forgotten storage shed next to the dock.

“Wow, what is all this stuff?” Brent asked.

“I have no idea but it looks like a flea-market in here.” Ryan said holding his nose from the dank smell.

The light from a single
dirty window filtered weakly into the shed. It took some time before their eyes became accustomed to the dark. Within moments they were astounded at what was in the shed.

“We could spend a month in here Ryan.” Brent said as he picked through piles of family heirlooms—stirring up a cloud of dust.

“Slow down you’re choking me,” Ryan said with a cough.

They cleared out a path and found the pull
-chain to switch the light on above. A pull of the chain and the old clear-glass light bulb came to life.

“That’s an old bulb,” Brent said.

“Not as old as half the stuff in the room,” Ryan said with a look of wonder on his face.

The hours past as they explored throughout
the storage shed. This is where the Sykes family had traditionally placed—dumped would be a more appropriate word—their unwanted items. Peeling back through the layers of stuff was not unlike the rings of a tree or the layers of sediment in the side of a creek bed. The first few layers were 80’s and 90’s things.  Then there were the 60’s and 70’s stuff, and so on and so on, until you reached the turn of the century. It even held things from the 1800’s and older.

One time
,
forty-five years ago
, when Ryan’s
dad
was a child, he went searching for his grandpa and found him in the old shed.

“Grandpa, could you please untangle my fishing pole?” Rob asked him.

Grandpa was sitting on a tall wooden stool and he
was arranging items that he had removed from an open trunk. His grandpa removed the cover from the front of Rob’s fishing pole and began to work on the knot. Rob set his tackle box down and watched him. A few minutes later he handed the pole back to Rob—all fixed up.

“Thank
you grandpa,” Rob said starting to run off. Stopping he asked his grandpa, “What are you doing?” He was just trying to be polite.

“Let me show you something,” He told Rob reach
ing down, lifting him up and setting him onto the stool where he could see the work bench. Lying out before Rob’s eyes were old pictures. Some on paper, some on glass, and some were even on tin called ferrotypes. Some were old hand-drawn sketches. There were also old papers, certificates, and letters by each one. “Someday Robby,” grandpa said, “you’re going to want to know all about your ancestors.”

“I don’t have any Anne-sisters,” Rob replied
. To which grandpa struggling to hold in a laugh set Rob back down.

“
You’re too young to even care right now, but when the time comes all this will be in that trunk.” Grandpa said pointing to the old trunk next to the work bench.

Rob looked at it for one-second, then he grabbed his fishing pole and tackle box and went running back to the dock. Grandpa chuckled as he watched him run away.

T
o this day Rob has not seen the inside or the outside of that trunk. That was
forty-five years ago.

The old trunk was in the same place as it was. In time Brent and Ryan would have made their way to it. But the old yo-yo’s, baseball cards, lava lamps, bowling pins and vast array of
flying gizmos held their attention until Judy yelled out for them to come and eat. They reluctantly turned and headed out of the shed.