Stone Ranger

by Bob Blanton

  “Well, we could use it as long as nobody was standing too close.”

  “That’s right, too bad you can’t make it so nobody else can hear, like whispering in my ear.”

  “You know, I probably can do that; do you want to try?”

  “Sure, what are you going to do?”

  “I should be able to put your end right up against your ear when I talk, and then move it in front of your mouth when you talk.”

  “What about your end?”

  “I should be able to do the same for when I talk. I’ll have to see if I can move it in front of my ear when you’re talking.”

  “The girls are ready,” Yvette said, as she led the two girls downstairs. “I will have lunch ready for them at twelve o’clock, but you can bring them earlier if they get tired.”

  “Okay, thanks, Yvette,” Emily said.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  While they were watching the girls take their lesson, Matthew and Emily practiced their private 2-way radio technique. By the end of the one-hour lesson, they had it down pretty well.

  After the lesson, they took the girls on the Gopher Hill lift for an easy run. After a couple of runs, Matthew called Brea on the two-way radio.

  “Brea, where are you?”

  “Jen and I are in line for the Avanti lift.”

  “Where’s Bill?”

  “He’s got another lesson to teach, so he’s meeting us after lunch.”

  “Do you want to ski down to the base and meet us for the end of the girls’ last run?”

  “Sure, that’ll be perfect. The girls should be excited when we all ski to the bottom of the hill to meet up.”

  “Great, we’ll be coming off Windisch Way. We’re almost to the top of the lift, so the timing should be right.”

  “See you there; do you and Emily want to do lunch at the lodge after you drop the girls off?”

  Emily nodded her head. “Emily says yes.”

  Matthew used his portal to time it so that the six of them made it to the bottom of the hill at the same time.

  Hanna saw Brea first. “There’s Brea and Jen,” she shouted.

  “Where?” Emily asked, letting Hanna and Sonja show her.

  Brianna and Jennifer raced over to them and did a hockey stop in front, spraying them all with snow. The girls giggled as they wiped the snow off their hair and faces.

  “Hi, guys,” Brianna said.

  “Hi, yourself,” Matthew replied. “Do you want to help us lug these two back to the house, or would you rather just get us a table in the lodge for lunch?”

  “We’ll go get a table,” Brianna offered. “Come on, Jen. We’ll see you guys in a bit.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  The teenagers spent the afternoon racing each other on the slalom course. By the time the mountain closed, they were all exhausted and glad to relax while the Reeves prepared dinner. Jennifer helped her parents prepare a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Mr. Reeves had deep-fat fried a whole turkey. It only took 45 minutes to cook the ten-pound turkey, and it was wonderfully moist. Jennifer had made fresh cranberry sauce and biscuits, while her mother had made dressing, yams and baked a pumpkin pie. By the end of the meal, everyone was stuffed.

  A Reason for Thanks

  The next morning everyone one woke up to the smell of French toast and coffee. Tyler, living up to his commitment, had gone out during lunch the day before and bought all the ingredients, and then crawled out of bed at 7:00 to start making breakfast.

  “Tyler, he’s our man, if he doesn’t make it, he’s in a jam,” Jason sang as he sat down at the kitchen table.

  “You should go out for the cheerleading squad with material like that.”

  “Maybe I should. Is Alex up yet?”

  “I think she’s planning on a cup of coffee and a Danish to make her morning,” Emily said. “She just groaned when the three of us got up.”

  “Hey, that extra hour of sleep is important,” Brianna said. “She’s still worn out from taking care Jason the other day.”

  “Har, Har; it was all those slalom races yesterday.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson came downstairs. “Kids, it’s going to be cold today, so make sure you’ve got your warmest stuff on,” Mrs. Stevenson said. “And spend time in the lodges to warm up, we don’t want any icicles showing up for dinner.”

  “Brrr, it’s cold,” Alex said, as she came out of the bedroom still wearing her robe.

  “Hello, sleepyhead,” Jason said. “You’d better step on it if you want to make it to the lift when it opens.”

  “I know, but I’m still tired. Would you be willing to swap chaperone duty with me?”

  “I don’t know. It’s going to be freezing today, and tomorrow’s supposed to be nice.”

  “Please, please, please,” Alex begged.

  “All right, just because I love you so much.”

  “Thanks, now I have time for some French toast,” Alex said, holding her plate out to Tyler.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Brrr, it is really freezing out here,” Jennifer said, as she put her balaclava up over her mouth.

  “You look like you’re wearing a burq'a,” Jason laughed.

  “Laugh now, but we’ll see who’s laughing when we get to the bottom,” Jennifer retorted.

  “Are we going all the way down?” Tyler asked.

  “I’m staying up here and skiing mid-Vail. That way I can pop into the lodge anytime I want,” Emily said. “There’s not a lodge at the bottom of Avanti, so I’m not skiing down the whole mountain until it warms up.”

  When they got to the bottom, everyone headed for the lodge except Matthew. He went directly to the lift line and hopped on the next chair going up.

  “What is that guy, a polar bear?” Tyler asked, as he hugged Emily and went into the lodge.

  They were all waiting at the lodge when Matthew skied down the second time and they went out to meet him at the lift.

  “What have you got, a heater in your pocket?” Emily asked Matthew when she and Jason joined him on the lift chair.

  “Where are Jen and Tyler?” Matthew asked.

  “Jen and Tyler are going to sit this one out. They’re not taking too well to the cold,” Jason said, “typical Southern California natives.”

  On the chair, Emily leaned over and snuggled against Matthew, “You’re as warm as toast.”

  “I know, pretty neat, huh.”

  “How are you doing it?”

  “I’ll tell you in a bit,” Matthew gestured at Jason, obviously not wanting him to hear.

  “Okay, but until then, share.” Matthew put his arm around Emily and let her put her hands inside his jacket.

  When they got off the lift, Emily and Matthew huddled up to talk. “You two are crazy, I’m not waiting while you chat,” Jason hollered, “I’ll see you at the lodge.”

  “Okay, Matt, we’re alone, so what’s up?” Emily asked.

  “This is so cool. I just stick the other end of the portal in a warm place and this end on my neck, over the jugular vein.”

  “Isn’t that dangerous?”

  “I don’t think it’s dangerous. It took me a while to think up a good heat source. I finally thought about the hot tub; I just put the other end at the bottom of the hot tub over at the Vail Lodge, it’s always running full blast”.

  “That sounds dreamy.”

  “Yeah, a constant 103 degrees is perfect.”

  “Well can you do me?”

  “I’ll try, but you’ve got to be close.”

  “Anything to get warm.”

  “Okay here goes; it’ll be on your skin right over the vein, so tell me if I’m making it too hot.”

  “Ooh that feels nice.”

  After a couple of minutes Emily warmed up enough to go down, “We share 50-50 on the way up.”

  “Okay, but make sure you don’t let anything slip. This is going to be hard to explain as it is.”

  “How were you going to explain it?”

  “I was going to tell
everyone that it’s because of my Tai Chi and Qi-Gong meditation.”

  “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, but all this nice powder and nobody on the slopes is too tempting to pass up.”

  Matthew and Emily skied the rest of the morning without taking a break. They didn’t see the rest of the crew until they went into the lodge for lunch.

  “Where have you guys been?” Emily asked when they joined everyone else. “And Jen don’t you have kid duty?”

  “The kids decided that it was too cold, so they opted for staying in and playing. So Yvette has them for the whole day,” Alex said. “I stayed in the house until just now.”

  “Now I really feel gypped,” Jason said. “I only get two runs in, and you don’t have to do anything. But tomorrow when it’s warm, I’m stuck with the babies.”

  “I’ll do my shift tomorrow. I wouldn’t have done any skiing this morning anyway, too cold.”

  “Yes, how did you two manage to stay out the whole time?” Tyler asked.

  “Matt’s got this Tai Chi thing going, and it kept him warm.”

  “Well how about you, then?”

  “I made him share.”

  “Well he has to share with me this afternoon,” Brianna said.

  “I’m not sure you’re going to need much this afternoon, the sun’s really shining and with the wind dying down it’s going to be nice.”

  “Should I call and see if the girls want to go out?” Jennifer asked.

  “No, Dad will let you know; it’s up to him to call you if he wants you to come back,” Brianna said. “Don’t worry, he’s got your number.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Although it was cold that afternoon, Matthew was able to get away with just holding Brianna close on the rides up to keep her warm. Emily tried to get a seat next to him when she could so that he could warm her, too.

  At 3:30, the lifts stopped letting people on.

  “Everybody, down the mountain,” a voice droned over the loudspeakers.

  “What’s going on?” Jason asked. “It’s only 4:30.”

  “We need everyone to go down the mountain and into the lodges,” was all the ski patrol and lift operators would say.

  When the friends skied up to the main lodge, they saw Bill standing next to a man wearing a National Ski Patrol jacket and holding a clipboard.

  “Let’s go and see if Bill can tell us anything,” Emily said as the friends took off the skis and clumped over to Bill.

  “Bill, what’s happening?” Emily asked.

  “We need you to go inside,” the man said.

  Emily gave Bill a pleading look.

  “Some lady lost her son up at the top of Avanti lift. We’re forming a search party to look for him.

  “My mom is a doctor, she can help when you find him,” Jennifer offered.

  “We’ve got about twelve doctors, I’m sure her name is on the list,” the man said. “Now go inside.”

  “We’d like to help with the search,” Emily said.

  “We can’t afford to lose anyone else.”

  “Well the three of us are on the Junior Ski Patrol,” Emily said, indicating herself, Matthew and Jason. “You’re going to need everyone you can get to search that mountain.”

  “I don’t know,” the man said, giving Bill a look.

  “They’re all expert skiers,” Bill said. “I’ll vouch for that; you won’t have to worry about getting them off the mountain.”

  “Okay, but just the three Junior Patrollers; you’ll be on the second wave of searchers. We’re going to form at the top of Avanti in ten minutes. Get yourselves ready.”

  “Where’s the lady?” Emily asked Bill.

  “She’s in the main lodge, you can’t miss her. She’s crying and talking in German.”

  “Come on, Matt; let’s check it out before we have to head up.”

  “Where do we get flashlights?” Matthew asked.

  “Over there,” Bill pointed.

  “I’ll get us three,” Jason offered as he headed for the flashlights.

  Matthew and Emily went into the lodge where they saw the distraught woman surrounded by several people. She was holding a balaclava.

  “That’s what I was hoping for,” Emily said.

  “What?”

  “She’s got a balaclava, and from here it looks like a little boy’s.”

  “So?”

  “So,” Emily said, giving Matthew a knowing look.

  “Oh that! I’ll have to hold it.”

  “Don’t worry, just follow me.”

  Emily walked over to the crowd of people like she was in charge. She walked up to the lady and took her hand.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find him. Where was the last place you saw him?”

  The woman sobbed but finally said, “My older son was watching him. He wanted to ski Avanti so he tells Ben to take Overeasy. But Ben, he never come to the bottom.”

  While she was talking to the woman, Emily eased the balaclava from her hand and handed it to Matthew. Matthew immediately focused on it and prayed that it would lead him to the little boy, like Sonja’s elephant had led him to her. The other end of his portal snapped onto a dark space. He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel the cold and hear a child crying.

  “Got it,” he said to Emily.

  Emily patted the woman’s hand one more time, “We’re going right now to get him, don’t worry.”

  “Let’s go,” Jason hollered at the two.

  “Where are you going?” Mrs. Reeves asked as she walked up to the trio.

  “We’re joining the search party,” Jason said.

  “You’ve got to be careful. One child’s death is enough.”

  “He’s not dead yet,” Emily looked at Matthew, he gave her an affirmative sign.

  “Not yet, but unless they find him quickly there’s not much hope,” Mrs. Reeves said. “Even if we find him, getting him to a place where we can start warming his blood may take too long. If he lives, there’s serious risk of brain damage.”

  “We’ll find him,” Emily said emphatically as the trio headed out.

  “Do you know where he is?” Emily whispered to Matthew as they put their skis on.

  “Somewhere just below the lift. It’s too dark to really tell where he is.”

  On the way up the lift, Matthew used his portal to warm the boy up, placing the portal on his jugular and the boy’s, so his own body heat would warm him. He alternated between warming the boy and himself so he could keep his own body temperature high enough to help.

  “What are you up to?” Emily asked.

  “I’m using my body heat to warm him until we can get to him. I can’t get my end of the portal far enough away to find a heat source other than me.”

  “You can use my body heat, too.”

  “No, I’m warming myself from the Jacuzzi and relaying the heat to him. We just need to get to him.”

  When they got to the top, they gathered with the Ski Patrol leader. “All right, this is the last place he was seen. Since he couldn’t have gotten onto another lift by himself, he’s got to be between here and the bottom of the mountain. You’re the second wave of searchers so fan out and search the trails and the inside areas. Look for places the first search wave missed.”

  “Can you tell where he is?” Emily asked again.

  “It must be over there between Avanti and Overeasy. The light is just terrible, and it’s even worse through the portal. Let’s get closer.”

  Matthew and Emily skied down the common part of the Avanti and Overeasy runs. Matthew kept trying to see something in the area around the boy that would give a clue to where he was. The dark, moonless sky wasn’t much help, and the lights on the slopes didn’t light up the area he was in.

  “I’m pretty sure he’s over there,” Matthew pointed. “He must have skied down this way, then … that’s it. He must have done a jump off this little hill and landed there. Yes, I can see where he landed. There must be a hole or something, call them,
” Matthew hollered as he kicked his skis off and started walking into the wooded area.

  Emily was already calling on her radio while she tried to shine her light where Matthew was walking.

  “We’re pretty sure we’ve found him. No we haven’t seen him yet, but you can see where someone crashed into the snowdrift.”

  Matthew was furiously digging away at the snow; finally he uncovered the head of a little boy. He was barely conscious and his teeth were chattering as he cried.

  “I’ve got him,” Matthew yelled, “get some help here!”

  Matthew took his jacket off and laid it on top of the boy, then he focused and took the game he and Emily had played that morning and made it life or death for the boy. With his teeth chattering from the cold, Matthew focused his portal on the child’s skin where the jugular veins flowed below, desperately trying to warm the child up. He was able to make it large enough to cover most of his throat.

  It took only five minutes for the first of the Ski Patrol to show up with the additional blankets and more heat packs.

  “We’ve got him,” the leader said.

  “No, I’ll hold him; check him for breaks or other injuries. I’ll let go when we can move him.”

  The leader and his partner quickly removed the rest of the snow from around the boy. “It looks like he’s got a broken arm. Legs look sound. I’ll immobilize the arm while we get the toboggan in here. You should get yourself up.”

  “No, I’ve still got him,” Matthew yelled, fighting the cold as he focused his portal to warm the boy.

  “Okay, we’re ready to lift him to the sled,” the leader said. “We’ll wrap him with the blankets and we’ve got lots of heat packs, so put your jacket on.

  Matthew helped them put the boy into the toboggan, then put his jacket on. The boy was now too far away for him to maintain contact with the portal.

  “How is he?” Emily asked as she put her arm around Matthew.

  “I-I-I don’t know,” Matthew stuttered. “I tried to warm him up as much as I could.”

  “Well how about warming yourself up now? You’re turning blue.”

  “How stupid,” Matthew grimaced, he started focusing on getting himself warm.

  “We’re taking him down now, have the doctors waiting,” the Ski Patrol leader said. “You two should follow us.”