There were those in town that were being left behind. You were either for the Williams or against them and that had certainly split the community. Still over all, people had warmed to her especially as she had sorta married in what with living with Janet Williams and Robbie's sister marrying David Potts.
He headed out of his small motors shop as firefighters were starting to arrive, pulling their cars and trucks into any available space. One of the arrivals was David Potts leading Dufus on a leash. Those firefighter volunteers who lived close would ride in the truck or follow behind while those farther away would meet them at the site. George pulled open the doors on the new shed to reveal the emergency rescue vehicle that Robbie and Janet had given to the town a number of years back to help with the medical emergencies that were on the rise. More and more city folks had bought in the area and built homes or cottages, swelling the small town's population. He knew that the Williams were also part owners in the new medical clinic that had been built in town. That was the good side of them. The down side was a lot of time and energy seemed to be spent in rescuing that family from one thing or another.
"Come on boys, we gotta rescue Robbie and Janet again. They got themselves lost up at the old caves looking for the river of gold, I suspect. You know how damn curious that family is."
The others laughed but still took the situation seriously. Within minutes, they were on their way.
Janet had somehow spun around as she had skidded down with the debris. So when her forward movement had finally stopped she was facing head down buried up to the shoulders in mud and rock with her legs higher than her head. She tried to move her feet and discovered that other than wiggling her toes inside her boots, she was pinned tightly by the debris. The blood running to her head and the total darkness around her made her feel disoriented and kind of sick. "Robbie!" No answer. "Robbie?"
With effort, Janet managed to free one arm and then worked to get the other one out. It was slow and difficult work. Each small movement caused loose rocks and stones to rain down on her face and she was afraid of being buried alive. Still she knew she had to take the chance and hurry because if Robbie was buried she would not have long.
The cold and pain crept into Janet's body along with fear. She could hear herself whimpering as she worked to free her other arm. The flashlight she knew was on a cord around her wrist. She was hoping it had survived and stayed on her wrist and that she could use it to locate Robbie.
Suddenly, there was a glare of light in her face that was blinding. She closed her eyes against the pain and watched the red and orange swirl across her vision as she wiggled the rest of her arm free and grasped the torch. Stones and dirt bounced around her but she was beyond fear now and just working mindlessly to free herself.
Finally the arm and flashlight broke free of the dirt and with a cry of relief Janet fumbled to get a good grip on the torch. "Robbie?" She tried to control her panic as she forced herself to move the beam in a slow arc of the room. The beam quivered reflecting her shock and nervous tension.
Nothing. "Robbie!"
Then there, she had seen something out the corner of her eye. She moved the beam back. Only a few feet ahead of her, she could see the dirty tangle of a few strands of hair sticking out of the mud. Robbie was buried.
Janet reached out as far as she could and could not quite reach the dark locks. She sobbed in frustration and fought against her imprisonment. Over and over she reached but she was just that little bit too far away. She wiggled and strained and suddenly something gave. Rock and mud slid forward and she fought in a panic to stay on top. When it settled once more, she again focussed her flashlight where Robbie lay buried. By some miracle or blessing of the gods, she had slipped farther down but on an angle that brought her within a few centimetres of her partner. There was no time to be either careful or gentle. She wrapped her hand in the hair and pulled for all she was worth. Mud and stones shifted and ran farther down the hill and Robbie's head and shoulders, grey with mud, came clear of the muck. "Robbie?"
Janet cleared the mud as best she could from Robbie's nose and mouth. Her partner was not breathing. Fear gripped Janet's insides. Twisting her head and shoulders at a painful angle, she started mouth to mouth.
Indian Summer by Anne Azel
Indian Summer Part 4
Disclaimer: The characters of Xena and Gabrielle are the property of Universal Studios and Renaissance Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. The characters and events in the Seasons Series are the creation of the author.
As always a good deal of credit has to go to Lisa and Inga my beta readers and friends, who work hard on these stories with me. Special thanks to Fran who fought and beat breast cancer.
Warning: This story is alternative fiction. Please do not read on if you are under age or if such material is illegal in your end of the swamp.
You can contact Anne Azel at <a_azel@hotmail.com> Anne's books are also available through Dare 2 Dream Publications at <http://www.limitlessd2d.net/>
He was standing there his back to her, his hands rhythmically washing his near naked body with the smoke from a bundle of sweet grass. Robbie could hear his low chant. The deep rumble of his voice, although soft, seemed to fill the chamber. She forced air through a narrow opening getting only enough to keep her going. Perhaps it was the smoke that made it so hard to breathe.
The sweet grass was pushed into the hole that was part of the carved female figure on the rock floor. Not a rape but a coupling of the man and nature. At first, she had thought him a monster. He wore a carved wood mask over his face, the nose twisted and the eyes large circles of luminescence like the inside of a clam shell. The mask was red and from it hung long black hair that mixed with the man's own.
She tried to let the poisonous gases in her lungs leak out the way she had managed to pull the air in. It was so hard. Every cell in her body was screaming for her to suck more air in. She could hear the gurgle of her own choked breathing - a death rattle. The man had a rattle now too. He had picked it up after he had placed the burning sweet grass in place. The rattle was made from a turtle shell and was tied with leather to a wood handle worn smooth and shiny from use.
The sound it made was a sharp, pulsating beat, like the labourious beat of her heart. Would her own heart stop when the beat of the rattle ceased? Her eyes were blurry. Perhaps this was because of lack of oxygen or maybe it was the blue, sweet smoke that hung in a cloud around the figure. The smoke swirled around the man as he now danced, the slow hopping step in soft moccasins making a shhh, shhh sound. Shhh, don't talk. Shhh, don't breathe. Shhh, sleep.
Robbie's eyes closed but the ache in her throat wouldn't let her sleep. She gasped again, drawing in a painful, thin stream of life. Not yet. She wasn't ready yet. She needed to see what the man would do. He danced on and on, the rattle and his chant a cold wind through dried branches. Shhh, shhh. His tawny skin shone with sweat and Robbie could see now that he had painted patterns on his body in red, black, yellow and white. He disappeared into the smoke, reappeared in parts and broke up again as if drifting out in all directions on the wind. He wasn't really there Robbie knew. He was dead. She could only see him because she was half dead too. Most of her was now cold but a small, warm hand still clung to her arm. Just one spot of colour and warmth holding her back. She forced the carbon dioxide out and then gasped and gurgled down more oxygen, giving herself another minute of life.
The man stopped suddenly and threw his hands into the air with a cry of anger. Then he turned suddenly and for the first time Robbie stared directly into the face of Broken Nose, one of the many False Face spirits of the woods. She choked on fear.
The rattle was now the blunt end of a stone club. The man walked towards her. She had disturbed a sacred place. Ruined the magic. She could no longer get her breath. Far away she could her someone sobbing. "Breathe Robbie! P..Please. Breathe."
George Drouillard and the volunteers of the Bartlett Fire Department arrived in a convoy of bouncing trucks and cars down the rutted trail. They pulled up in a fan shaped pattern in the long grass. Car doors slammed as the fire fighters got out and unloaded equipment. George walked over to where Reb and Ian stood. "Haven't been here since I was courting my wife forty odd years ago."
David opened the back door of the truck and Dufus bounded out, a large, orange mass of excitement. Some of the men started getting backpacks of equipment on while others unlashed a ladder to place in the pit. David brought a rope and harness over and left Reb to get the massive Dufus into the contraption. A few of the men had already headed down into the sink hole with rescue equipment by the time Reb and Ian walked the dog over to the pit.
Reb took hold of her pet's massive head. "Dufus, you are not going to like this part but we have to find Obbie so don't be a big suck about it. Come." That said, she stepped on the ladder and she and Ian lifted the whimpering but docile dog over the side. Careful hands lowered the beast down beside Reb as the girl talked reassuringly to the animal as it was lowered.
Ian followed Reb down the ladder. Everyone seemed so calm and matter of fact about rescuing the two missing women that Ian was starting to suspect that, as startling as it might seem, days like this must occur quite regularly in Reb's life.
Reb was just getting the shaking Dufus out of his harness as Ian stepped off the ladder. "Dufus, track Obbie,"she commanded and the dog gave a bark and wagged his crooked tail with delight as he sniffed the ground with mighty snorts and slobbering jowls. Dufus picked up the trail quickly and happily bounded down the tunnel with Reb and Ian in hot pursuit.
They emerged at the other end a few minutes larger to see Dufus running around the grassy meadow following Robbie's trail, ears flapping with each bound. They ran over to where Aliki, Dawn, Ryan and Mac stood looking worried and talking to the firefighters who had arrived ahead of them.
"Where are they?" Reb asked.
Dawn looked uncomfortable. "We have checked all the caves and can't find them. We were just discussing widening the search in case they got lost in the woods."
Reb's face hardened into determined lines. For a second, she looked very much like a Williams. "Dufus, track Obbie."
The dog looked up from sniffing the knapsacks that contained the remainder of lunch and took off towards the cliffs. The others followed behind. Narrow, crumbling footpaths ran in zigzags across the cliff face. In some spots, Ryan and Mac, following right behind Dufus, had to help the whimpering dog from one level to the other while Reb spoke soft encouragement to her pet.
Twice the dog back tracked and then, picking up the scent in a new direction, the animal headed cautiously down an embankment and onto a thin trail that led away from the caves to the other side of the cliff. In a minute, Dufus had disappeared behind some bushes. The others followed as best they could. Ryan and Mac moved ahead, both having had practice in traversing rough terrain, while the others moved more cautiously in crab-like movements through the loose, sliding gravel.
Pushing the bushes aside, Ryan and Mac could now see the low entrance to the cave. Side by side, the two of them slid in. Dufus was barking excitedly at the far end of the cave but for a second the two, blinded by the sudden dark, stood still, fumbling for their flashlights.
"Help! Hurry. Please hurry!" Janet's voice came to them from somewhere far off, muffled by the rock but still edged with the strength of fear. They hurried over and slid up the rock slope to look inside.
Janet blinked like an owl in the beams of their searching lights. Blinded, she scrunched her eyes closed and yelled out her concern. "Robbie can't breathe right. I can't get whatever is blocking her throat out. We're trapped under debris. Hurry!"
"I'm coming," Ryan stated and started to move forward and then she forced herself to stop. "Hang on. Mac has climbing and EMT training, she'll be down in a second." Ryan turned and moved aside. "Save my mom,"she stated.
Mac nodded and headed in. An arm grabbed her. "Be careful."
"I will. I have a lot to live for."
Mac slipped over the side and Ryan lowered her down the rock face until her boots sunk into the loose debris. Slowly and carefully, so as not to trigger another slide, Mac edged her way down the slope to where Janet and Robbie were buried.
"She wasn't breathing when I pulled her free of the mud. I did mouth to mouth as best I could and she is breathing now but not well. Her lips are blue," Janet explained, trying not to show her panic in her voice. Her heart was pounding with worry and she wanted to yell at Mac to go faster but instead she stuck to the basic information. "She can't speak and she is only semi-conscious."
Mac did one quick sweep of her flashlight around to make sure the bank was holding and then turned her light on her Aunt Robbie. The woman was grey and her lips blue. When she took a weak breath it was more of a gurgle. Mac forced Robbie's mouth open wide and shone a light in. She could see the grey sides of a rock down her throat. There was no time to be polite or even careful. She pulled off her leather climbing gloves and stuck her fingers down Robbie's throat. Robbie gagged and struggled. Mac got her one finger to the side of the stone and flipped up. The stone dislodged but did not come out. Mac pulled her hand back to use the flashlight to have another look. Robbie was hacking with the dry heaves and Mac did her best to keep her head to the side. Suddenly, Robbie gagged loudly and stone, mud, and vomit sprewed out of her aunt's mouth in all directions.
Janet lay back into a more comfortable position and closed her eyes against the harsh light. She prayed for her partner. While her ears followed every step that Mac was taking to help her Obbie. Janet's fingers tightened on Robbie's arm, refusing to let go of the woman she loved.
"What's happening?" Ryan asked, her voice tight but controlled. Mac could hear that there were others there now too.
"Obbie was sick," she minimized, as she cleared the vomit from her aunt's mouth with her fingers. Was she breathing? Yes, a gasp, more vomit, another breath, deeper this time. "She had a stone caught in the back of her throat. She is breathing now but with some discomfort and difficulty. Oxygen would be good."
"I'm on it." Ryan turned to look at the others. "We need oxygen. Mac can handle this. It's pretty unstable in there and we don't want to take any chances of burying them." The oxygen was passed up to Ryan as she talked by a worried crew of fire fighters who were very fond and proud of their actor- chief and her partner. Ryan tied the tank to the line and lowered it down to Mac, who had carefully climbed up the bank a bit to get it. The soldier gritted her teeth and fought her natural instinct and training to take action and let her lover handle the situation. There was no doubt Mac knew what she was doing. She watched from above keeping a light on the three of them so that Mac would have her hands free to provide assistance.
Reb knelt, her face buried in Dufus's furry neck at her sister's side. "You are the man, Dufus," she kept repeating softly, tears of relief in her voice.
Ryan reached over and gave her little sister's shoulder a squeeze. "Thanks to your training. I'm really proud to be your sister, Reb. Don't you worry. Mac will handle things."
False Face moved towards her. Not like in a movie but in freeze- frame, disappearing in the smoke and reappearing closer. The axe was raised. Robbie would have cried out but a cold hand had covered her mouth. She couldn't breathe. She was choking and fought with all the strength she had left. The ice fingers dug down deep in her soul and death spread roots through her being. The axe dropped. Through the blackness there was a soft female chant. A different language, Robbie thought, but couldn't be sure. Cold rills of terror retreated from her being and warmth bubbled up like a spring. She threw up, vomiting out the evil- the death. She gasped and air heavy with the taste of damp earth entered her burning lungs. She was alive. "Janet?" she croaked.
"I'm here. Hang on, Obbie. We are going to be okay." Tears of relief stained Janet's face. That had been as scary as hell.
In the end, it was Ryan and Mac who slowly and carefully dug Robbie and then Janet out. Each was strapped to a back board and lifted carefully up to the chamber above. Then Ryan and Mac had climbed out, more relieved than they would like to admit to escape the unstable lower chamber.
Janet insisted that she was alright other than some bruising but George and the boys said they needed the practice anyhow and insisted on taking her out on the backboard to the medical clinic. Robbie had not yet regained consciousness but she was moving and reacting and seemed to be breathing with the help of the oxygen.
Back at the sinkhole, David and the other firefighters careful raised each of the two women up in metal cradles while Aliki and Dawn on the ladder kept the cradles steady and stopped them from hitting against the side of the sinkhole. Reb and Ian saw to Dufus who was not as willing the second time to be hauled through the air on a rope.
Once everyone was up and Janet and Robbie had been carefully packed in the back of the truck, Ryan and Reb, by mutual consent, had piled into the emergency vehicle with the other fire fighters and with lights flashing had set off to the clinic. The others stayed behind to pack up the equipment and head back to the lodge to wait for news.
A few hours later, having phoned the lodge to let them know that Janet and Robbie were going to be all right, Ryan sat with her arm around her kid sister on a black couch in the waiting room of the clinic. "You okay, kid?"
Rebecca shrugged. "I'm used to it. I was raised on adrenalin rushes evoked from family moments of terror and near panic. I hear other families associate their moms with common place things like cookies and milk. Hard to believe if you ask me."
Ryan chuckled. "We did get cookies and milk."
Reb rolled her eyes. "Yeah, after the crisis was over. Do you remember the time you nearly drowned me in the firestorm?"
Ryan tugged a piece of her sister's hair. "You are not still holding a grudge, are you?"
"Oh course, I am," she joked. " I wonder if Ian will still be taking me to the dance at the hall?"
Ryan lifted her arm from the back on the seat and stood up and stretched. "Not much to him if a little thing like a couple of Williams nearly being buried alive bothers him."
Reb smiled. "Good point."
Reb picked up a magazine to read and Ryan paced around the small room. For a few minutes there was silence except for the soldier's soft tread.
The door opened and Mac stuck her head in. "Hi, any other news?"
"The doctor said they both look in good shape but he won't release them until he is sure mom's breathing is okay. He said you did a great job. The stone lodged in her throat probably saved her because it stopped her from getting dirt on her lungs."
"Good. Ryan, I need to talk to you. Can you step out here for a minute?"
Ryan suddenly became aware of the serious frown and Mac's worried eyes. Her heart contracted. "Sure. Back in a minute, Reb."
Out in the hall, Mac gave Ryan a tender hug. "We put the news on when we got back to the house, Lover. The Columbia broke up on re-entry. There are no survivors."
Mac felt Ryan's body jerk with the shock then still. "No, there wouldn't be." She pulled Mac to her and held on to the small woman, needing her quiet strength and warmth.
"You go on home so you can follow the reports as they come in. I'll stay here and bring Reb and your moms home when they are released."
Ryan nodded into soft, fragrant hair. "Thanks. I love you."
Mac held her close for a second before stepping back. " I love you too. Now go. I'll handle things here."
Reb looked up in surprise as Mac came in the door and her thoughtful, intelligent eyes followed her cousin as she crossed the room and sat down beside her. "What's up?"
"The shuttle broke up on re-entry. Everyone's dead. I sent Ryan home so she could watch the bulletins on TV."
"Oh no. Did Ryan know them?"
"I don't know, Reb. I imagine though she identifies pretty strongly with those who have gone before."
Reb nodded then sighed and rolled her eyes. "Another family member I have to worry about."
Mac smiled. "I'll be around to help. Would you feel more comfortable if Ryan wasn't in the space program?"
"Yes, but I'm proud of her. This is something she has always wanted to do. I want it for her."
"Think you could train Dufus to wear a space suit and track along orbits?"
Reb laughed at the ridiculous thought of a big, shaggy dog face looking out through a space helmet. "Well, they have had dogs in space before but not quite as big as Dufus. He'd need a booster rocket for sure."
Janet, tired and sore, sat beside Robbie's bed holding her hand. Robbie, looking worn out and a bit dirty still around the edges, looked up at her. "I've been thinking."
"That is always dangerous. Please tell me it does not involve having to get out of this chair. Every muscle and bone in my body is on strike."
Robbie's beautiful and expressive eyes clouded with distress. "I'm sorry for dragging you in there."
A reassuring hand squeezed hers. "Hey, we were having fun together. Good adventures, even Saturday afternoon ones, always have an element of risk."
"That's what I need to talk to you about."
Janet looked at her partner and saw the determined, serious set of her jaw. "Okay. I'm listening."
"It's this breast thing."
Janet rolled her eyes.
"No, wait, give me a chance. The other day you made me realize that this was important to you. Important enough that you were willing to go it alone if I wasn't going to support you."
Janet opened her mouth to object but Robbie raised a hand and placed two fingers gently against her lips. "Shhh, I'm only warming up. I went along because you wanted it. But I wasn't overjoyed about the whole idea. I know it is a small risk but I didn't want you back in hospital. I really hate you being in hospital."
"I know, lover," Janet said sympathetically.
Robbie squirmed a little bit. "Anyway, today it was brought home to me that you can't protect the one you love from life. That life happens and there are no guarantees. I wasn't protecting you, I was letting my insecurities limit you. I'm sorry. We both could have died today."
Janet smiled. "Yeah, but we didn't."
Robbie smiled. Janet was about as special a partner as anyone could have. Robbie took Janet's hand in her own. "So how about you tell me what else they have to do to you."
Janet looked up in surprise. "Sure you are up to it?"
"Yup, I am. I want to know so I can help out anyway I can."
Janet got comfortable, laying her head down on Robbie's bed, pleased to see Robbie was back to a normal colour and breathing without a rasp. "Once the extender has stretched the muscle to the right size it will be removed and a permanent implant will be put in."
"Is that process painful?"
"Not really. When the solution is first put in it is a bit uncomfortable and the muscle feels tight but it loosens in a few days. " Janet giggled. "The worst part is it sometimes itches in there. I have to move it around a bit to get some comfort."
"Ahhh, too much information!" joked Robbie.
"Once they put the permanent implant in place, then they build a new nipple. They usually use part of the ear lobe to do that although there are other methods. I think I can afford to lose a bit of my ear lobes."
Robbie looked at Janet's ears with clinical interest. "How much will they take?"
"Just a little. You won't even notice much. The last bit of surgery will be to lift and tuck my real breast so that they match and look perky and young again."
Robbie wiggled her eyebrows. "Perky is good."
"I'll have a scar around the base of the breast and also vertically up to the nibble but it will soon fade," Janet finished.
Robbie nodded and grinned wolfishly. " I guess I can handle this."
Janet laughed. " Robbie! You are so bad!"
Ryan sat alone on the couch. She'd been there for several hours watching the video of Columbia over and over - focussed on any update. From time to time the others joined her and then wandered off again to see to other responsibilities.
"You need to talk to her, Elizabeth," David stated quietly as he rinsed a plate and put it in the drainer.
Dr. Elizabeth Williams picked it up and dried it while she considered. "I really have no experience with children. I am not sure what I could say, David."
David wiped his hands on his apron and turned to look at his wife. When he spoke his voice was gentle but firm. "Lizzy, she is not a child. She is a young astrophysicist and by all accounts a good one. She is also your niece and has looked up to you all her life. Her mothers are not here. No one is more qualified to talk to her now than you are."
Elizabeth looked worried but she nodded. "I suppose you are right. I can always count on you, David, to see things clearly. I'll leave you with the rest of the dishes then and go and have a talk with Ryan."
David smiled and his wife gave him an affectionate kiss as she went by. Elizabeth squared her shoulders and walked down the hall slowly trying to work out what to say. She quietly entered the media room and took a seat on the couch beside Ryan. "Has there been anymore news?"
"No not really. Nothing concrete."
"I'm sorry Ryan."
The younger woman nodded and swallowed hard. "It's hard. They were good people. Some of the best. Their loss and that of the craft will set back the program so much. You know it can happen but when you are training surrounded by such brilliant and talented people you start to feel invincible. Then something like this happens and you realize that for all our technological knowledge, we are still flying by the seat of our pants."
"Ryan, I can't say that I have ever had the desire to be an explorer or adventurer but I understand why they risk their lives to push our frontiers a little farther. I like to think in my own way I have expanded the world's understanding and experience if only with pencil and paper. Most people are content being surrounded by the familiar and the known. There are a few of us who are blessed with the ability to see a small part of the beauty that is, for want of a better word, God's hand in the universe. There is no greater honour or responsibility than to be one of those rare few who will take us closer to understanding.
"Don't give up your dream, Ryan. Don't grieve for those who have been lost doing what they loved best. Instead, honour them in a special place in your soul and step up to take their place. Of all the billions of living things on this planet we are the only ones that look up and wish on the stars. Use your talents and your intelligence, Ryan, to make all our dreams come true."
Ryan blinked back tears and looked at the aunt she loved and admired so very much. "What if Mac doesn't understand?"
Elizabeth frowned. "Of course she will. She loves what you are. Loving someone is wanting and supporting your partner to reach for the stars. There are no boundaries with true love, that is why it always has been and always will be the most beautiful and most daring of adventures."
Ryan smiled and leaned over to drop a kiss on her aunt's cheek. She might have said something but just then the noise of the arrival home of the others from the clinic interrupted the moment. They both got up and hurried out to the family room, glad of a reason to end the sensitive talk.
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