Edward and Daniel hurried over and helped them with their burden that she now recognized was a man wearing a torn uniform.
Kristen forgot the cold for a moment, as she rose to inspect the scene with the others.
*
Calvin looked up from his misery. The husk of the destroyed airplane had long since burned itself out.
His thoughts had been from one continent to the next, retracing the last ten years of his life. He had been the best man at Alex’s wedding, and the witness at their divorce. He had been there for the birth of both of Alex’s kids and had consented to be their Godfather. He had comforted Alex through nights of despair, watching endless black and white spaghetti westerns with him until his friend had fallen asleep on the couch. He had seen the ups and the downs and everything in between.
Sensing commotion behind him, he rose shakily to his feet as the word “pilot” floated back to him and gained his full attention.
The other passengers parted as he approached and then dropped to his knees next to his friend. “My God, Alex… Can you hear me?” Calvin spoke gently as Edward examined the pilot’s injuries via flashlight.
Alex groaned, his eyes shut.
“I thought you said…” Calvin looked at Robert, utterly confused.
“We carried you out. He must have been behind us all along.” Robert was still shocked at the discovery.
“He has second and some third degree burns on his arms and legs, as well as numerous lacerations. My guess would be that he caught the back end of the blast and was blown clear, which means he could have internal injuries as well. It’s a miracle he’s still alive,” Edward whispered, his head averted from his new patient. “We need to get a fire going - now! These burns need to be kept clean and covered, and I can’t do much in this wind.”
Calvin stood, careful not to rise too fast and bring back the dizziness. “We’ll need to go back to the wreckage.”
“There’s nothing left to go back to,” Edward stated.
“There’s not much, true, but there might be larger pieces of debris that weren’t caught up in the fire. They may be cool enough we could cobble them together into a shelter,” Calvin reasoned, “It’s our only option.”
“I’ll go,” Robert volunteered.
“Me too,” Derek said.
“Yeah, alright. I’ll go, too,” Kirsten muttered.
“Daniel, I need you to help me with the Captain here, and Becky should stay with Amelia,” Edward said.
“We’ll be back in a jiffy.” Calvin suddenly felt full of energy.
Between them, they had one flashlight and a cigarette lighter. They decided to save the lighter for a fire, leaving them to find what they could with the guidance of moonlight.
The wind hadn’t slowed at all, and the temperature continued to plummet. Calvin could barely feel his fingers, and his face stung from wind burn.
As they stumbled and shuffled through the sand to the twisted wreckage, the moon’s rays glinted off twisted shards of metal that stuck out of the sand, forming them into the giant skeleton of some long dead creature.
Calvin felt a chill travel up his spine. This time, though, it wasn’t the cold. This time it was the view.
He shook off the feeling, knowing that he couldn’t afford fear right now. “Careful. Go for thinner pieces that may have cooled, and watch out for broken glass. We’re looking for anything that might form a shelter. Try to avoid anything with too many holes in it.” He shouted against the wind.
The three others nodded and began their search. In no time, they found two large pieces of hull that had peeled off from the main framework. Just light enough to carry between them, the metal panels were sturdy enough to resist the wind.
“Look at this!” Kirsten yelled, and the others gathered to see what had been found.
Calvin shone the light on a small suitcase.
“That’s mine!” Derek shouted happily as he took the bag from Kirsten and unzipped it. Scorched and torn, it was surprisingly intact.
“Anything we can use in there?” Robert asked.
“Possibly,” Derek said. “Some clean clothes, books, and a few snacks. My cell phone too!”
The others looked at each other. This could be their ticket home.
“Does it have any service?” Calvin asked as doubt filled his face.
Derek pressed the power button, but nothing happened. “The battery’s dead.” The disappointment in his voice mirrored that on the faces of his companions.
“Best take it anyway. Maybe we can use it somehow.” Robert tried to sound optimistic.
Dragging the pieces behind them, the four made their way back to camp.
Working together, the group dug the two pieces into the sand, forming a rough three-sided structure with the rocky outcrop that was large enough for the nine of them to huddle inside.
Derek took a t-shirt out of his suitcase and proceeded to cut it into ribbons with his pocketknife. He then piled them together along with a few playing cards and an old book he had brought on the trip. “That may take a few minutes to burn.” He looked up apologetically, then passed out the few snacks he had in his pack, as the book smoldered.
Calvin had remained close to his friend since his return, while Kirsten and Derek seemed to be getting along. Daniel and Becky were huddled together next to the tiny fire.
Robert played with the cell phone, hoping for another miracle. This was the worst Christmas Eve on record, but he would be damned if he was going to sit by and watch his son die in this desert.
As he fiddled, he considered the past few months. Things were strained between Derek and him – that much was clear to them both. Finally, they had stopped speaking a few weeks ago, for no specific reason he could think of. Honestly, he just didn’t know what to say anymore.
Derek’s grades had been slipping since he had dumped some girl in college, but Robert knew he was the last person who should give relationship advice to anyone, not after the miserable failure of his own marriage.
It was time for Derek to know the truth about his mother, but that was another sore subject. How was he supposed to tell his son that Jenny had run off to marry a wealthier man?
Worse, it was all because his own gambling problem had gotten out of control. Basically, it was his fault that their lives had been torn to pieces. Yeah, there was no broaching that subject without caution.
In the end, he had remained silent and made suggestions about grade improvement, and Derek had interpreted that as criticisms, forcing them even farther apart.
Robert sighed as he tinkered with the useless object, and the noise caught Amelia’s attention.
Her broken leg had been bound with cloth and was elevated. Edward had produced some morphine from his medical kit, which had taken the edge off and allowed her to doze. She had awakened, though, since the four had returned from the crash.
“Hey, whatcha got there?” she asked, trying to keep her mind off her painful leg.
“Just an old cell phone of Derek’s that doesn’t work.” Robert tossed it to one side.
“Well, hang on. I’m pretty good with technology. Let me take a look.” She held out her hand.
“Sure.” He handed her the device.
For a moment, she inspected it in silence. “Here’s the problem. See this?” She indicated the small port on the side of the phone. “Something’s jammed in it that’s keeping the phone from maintaining a charge.”
“Can you fix it?”
“I’m afraid not. Even if we removed whatever is stuck in the port, we would have to recharge the phone, and there’s not exactly an outlet anywhere around here.” She shrugged and handed it back to him.
“How’d you know about all that?” Robert asked as he took the phone from her.
“Oh, you know. I’ve spent the last ten years of my life on a cell phone of some kind or another. Tonight will be the first time in years that I won’t have a laptop in front of me before bedtime.” She sighed. “What can I say? I
’ve had the opportunity of a lifetime, but unfortunately, I’ve allowed it to monopolize my life.”
“Makes you think,” Robert mused.
“Yeah.” She looked down at her hands, rubbing the bare skin on her ring finger. How many opportunities had she passed up to chase just this one?
She had no family to speak of, and her only “friends” were technically coworkers. Most of them didn’t even know her first name. “Derek’s your son right? It must be nice to have a family.” Her thoughts rose to the surface.
Robert glanced to the other side of the fire, where Derek and Kirsten were talking in low tones.
“He’s my son, but I can’t say we’re much of a family.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not much to tell. I screwed things up with my wife, and now Derek and I have almost nothing in common. I don’t know how to talk to him, and he refuses to talk to me.” Robert shifted into a different position, suddenly uncomfortable with the conversation.
“I see.” She gave him her best encouraging smile. “Still, you have each other, and you both survived this, right?”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Robert muttered as he stole another glimpse at his son still engrossed in conversation with Kirsten. What were they talking about?
Amelia noticed the curious look on his face and chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s just harmless chit chat.”
Robert felt his face flush, not having realized his thoughts were so transparent. “You’re probably right.”
The night wore on with whispered conversations and groans from the injured occasionally breaking forth. The wind whistled through tiny holes in the metal sheeting, and slowly, one at a time, all of the survivors of the Cessna crash fell asleep except Edward, although even he occasionally dozed.
*
As the sun rose Christmas morning, Calvin felt a slight tickle on his face. One at a time, he opened his heavy eyelids and found himself staring eyeball to eyeballs with the largest, hairiest, eight-legged tarantula he had ever seen. He froze, holding his breath.
“It’s just a bug.” Alex croaked, having awakened moments before. Gingerly, he lifted his hand toward the arachnid that was sleeping quite comfortably on Calvin’s nose, until finally he was able to give it a poke.
With lightning fast reflexes, the tarantula scurried away.
Losing control, Calvin jumped to his feet and screamed like a girl.
“Don’t make me laugh,” Alex hissed through gritted teeth.
“Sure, I’m just here to amuse you.” Calvin plopped back down, his antics having roused everyone else from their sleep.
The sun was quickly warming the desert floor to the point of being uncomfortable.
As a few of them left their makeshift domicile, Daniel pointed towards the wreck. “My God, look at that.”
The giant path carved by the fuselage through the desert the night before had disappeared, a victim of the night wind that had replaced it with a much more colorful sight. Sparkling bits of red, green, silver and gold now littered the swath of land spread before them. Shreds of Christmas paper, bows and bits of ribbon peppered the ground surrounding the crash site, glittering in the sunrise - beauty and horror all mixed together.
“It’s the Christmas presents,” Edward stated the obvious.
“What’s that?” Calvin asked as a strange noise rose in the distance - the sound of their salvation.
“A helicopter!” Edward shouted. “Quick! Make a commotion!”
All at once, it was chaos. Everyone who could jumped around and screamed at the top of their lungs.
Daniel and Derek took off their shirts and waved them like flags at a county fair.
The helicopter flew past, and their hearts dropped as it kept going. It had missed them.
Then suddenly, it veered right and circled back.
“It’s coming!” Robert shouted.
Again, the party burst into movement as the helicopter moved steadily forward, dropping slowly, until it settled a few yards away.
Calvin led the charge towards the craft, and the pilot disembarked and ran to meet him half way.
“We have wounded!” Calvin cried out.
Immediately the pilot rushed to the handset on the helicopter’s console. “Air Traffic Control, this is H-Bravo Niner Delta requesting emergency assistance for a downed craft, over.”
The Comm crackled as they replied, “H-Bravo Niner Delta, this is Air Traffic Control, what is your location?”
As the pilot gave specifics, his co-pilot pulled a stretcher from behind a seat and headed for the encampment. Alex was deemed to be in the most immediate danger and was carefully moved onto the stretcher with Calvin’s help.
The pilot reported that other rescue assistance was on its way for the rest of them, and sure enough, thirty minutes later, their salvation arrived and carried them back to civilization.
*
Alex awoke in Central California’s Burn Trauma Center to another beautiful January day. During the past two weeks, he had received regular updates from the survivors via Calvin, who had stayed in contact with them all.
Having eased himself off the hospital bed, he made his way to the room’s tiny closet, where he had stuffed the new suit his ex-wife had gotten him for Christmas, after she had heard what had happened.
His bandages had been removed yesterday, and even though there was a little pain, the still red scars were the primary reminders of the horror he had survived. Today he would leave the Burn Center for the first time since his emergency arrival.
A few minutes later, having dressed and packed, he picked up a cup of red Jello from the hospital tray, relieved that it would be his last.
Right on cue, Calvin strolled in - a giant smile on his face. “Congratulations partner, you’re getting out!”
“Trust me I’ve been keeping up with that.” Alex tossed the cup of Jello at his friend, who caught it mid-air.
“Looks like your all set, Mr. Renfroe.” A heavy set nurse pushed a wheelchair into the room, a notebook and clipboard under her arm. “Sign here, and you’re ready to go.”
Alex signed with gusto, and Calvin ushered him from the room.
“Easy Cal, don’t wrinkle the suit!” Alex feigned irritation.
They turned the corner to the waiting area, and Calvin brought the wheelchair to a halt as the crowd filling the room burst into applause.
“What’s all this?” Alex scanned their faces.
“We wanted to thank you for saving our lives.” Becky approached, Daniel at her side. “Air Traffic Control told us that based on data from the plane’s black box, we should have all died. It was your handling of the plane that saved us.”
Alex was speechless. One by one, the survivors shook his hand, while Calvin beamed at his side.
“I didn’t save you.” He finally managed, and the others fell silent. “I lost control of the plane. The controls were frozen. Whoever saved us wasn’t onboard.” He looked down at his shoes, expecting someone to contradict him, to accuse him of being a religious nut, but when he glanced up all he saw were head nods and teary eyes.
“He’s right,” Calvin chimed in. “We had no control over the plane after we started losing altitude. Our survival was a miracle.”
“I believe that.” Edward met each of their gazes before going on. “I asked the helicopter pilot why he turned around when he did.”
“What did he say?” Amelia asked. “I’ve wondered about that.”
“He said that it’s not every day you see Christmas lights blinking in the middle of a desert.”
The others looked puzzled.
“The Christmas paper. The presents that were sucked through the hatch,” Robert said, realization filling his face. “That’s what he saw!”
And at that moment, the nine people who stood in the room silently arrived at the same conclusion. Together, they had lived through an honest to goodness Christmas miracle.
*
The crash had changed e
ach survivor forever.
A few days later, Edward discovered that his cancer had gone into remission and spent the next five Christmases with his grandchildren, before he passed away in his sleep one June afternoon. After hearing his story, a hospital opened in Uganda dedicated to him and his wife.
Once she discovered that her parents had called every airport, emergency room, and taxi service from California to New York after she left, Kirsten figured it was time to give them a little more credit. She remained a rebel, but came to terms with her mother’s remarriage. Having a nice stepfather worked out pretty well for her, too.
Derek and Robert spent the next summer fishing together, and each found the courage to talk out their problems. Derek learned the truth about his mother, and Robert understood the depth of the trouble Derek had been having. Together, they made a pact never to stop speaking to each other again, and slowly they became a family.
Daniel and Becky honeymooned in the Blue Ridge Mountains – by train. Becky found her own strength, and Daniel realized that being weak once in a while is okay. Both appreciated that their experience in the desert had taught them more about each other than all their months of dating. They were a perfect match.
Amelia backed off from her tedious work schedule, and found more time for romance and adventure. Despite giving up a fortune in brokerage deals, she experienced immense joy and peace of mind, when freed from a phone attached to her ear 24-7. She stumbled into her soul mate, while on a trip to see Angel Falls in Brazil.
For Calvin, the crash had ironically cured his fear of flying. He was promoted to Pilot and flew large passenger carriers until his retirement. He never had another incident. He did, though, discover that he had developed a new fear of arachnids. He and Alex remained close friends.
Alex and his ex-wife remarried shortly after his recovery and remained happily so for another twenty years. Alex’s son became an Air Force pilot, stating that his father’s story had inspired him to learn how to fly. Alex’s daughter never left the ground. Instead she became a doctor, eternally grateful to Edward for having saved her father’s life, despite lack of sufficient medical supplies and terrible desert conditions.
The Ghost of Christmas Present and Other Stories Page 9
