Ghosts of Florence Pass Read Free

the plane had probably struck the side of the mountain straight on and then buckled up in the middle where his parents were and then slid and spun across the snow until it struck the rocks which could have been when the hole was torn in it and his brother thrown out.
    He sat thinking about the crash and the mechanics of it and how the snow on the mountain softened the crash and saved his life and the life of his brother but then he thought that it was only by some kind of miracle or gift from god that they were both still alive. Then he thought that it really didn’t make any difference why they were alive they just were and he should get his brother out of his seat.
    John Parker talked to his brother because he’d read something once or saw something on television about unconscious people or people in comas sometimes being aware of what’s going on around them. He didn’t know if this was true or not but if it was he wasn’t taking any chances. He talked to his brother about his progress with unbuckling the seatbelt and pushing the seat off his back and he talked about how they were going to be rescued and how the rescuers were probably already on their way and that he would be all right and he said these things and all other manner of encouraging sentiments as he worked.
    When John Parker had cleared the seat off his brother’s back he thought about how he looked uncomfortable lying there on the snow on his stomach with the side of his face pressed against a rock. It looked like his collar bone was broken on one side or his shoulder dislocated or both and there were holes torn in his clothes and injuries underneath that had been bleeding but not anymore.
    He thought that he wanted to make David more comfortable but then he remembered how Mr. Frederickson had said you should never move someone who’s unconscious or someone who’s been in an accident and David was both. Then he thought about how that rule probably only applies for regular circumstances where help is on the way and they can take over and do the right things. This wasn’t a normal circumstance he thought and he didn’t know when help might be coming and it was cold and he didn’t think it would be good to leave his brother lying in the snow with his face on a cold rock on a mountain. He wondered if he could get him back into the plane and make him comfortable there but decided this was a bad idea first of all because he would never be able to get him up and inside and second of all because he probably shouldn’t move him that much and third because their parents were still in there and he didn’t want to go back there himself or have his brother wake up to see them dead like that.
    So John Parker made another plan and he rose but his right leg was dead because of the tourniquet so he limped over the boulders and scree and snow on the mountainside with his hand guiding him along the plane and his leg and arm and insides and head and neck hurting and he searched among the camping gear littered there for something to make his brother comfortable. Their duffels and packs were torn and their contents scattered but after looking for a while he found his father’s sleeping pad and David’s sleeping bag which was mostly still in its waterproof stuff sack and dry except for a spot near the foot. He gathered up some clothes that were still reasonably dry and went to where his brother was and sat.
    I’m back, he said. Got some stuff to make you comfy while we wait.
    John Parker released the valve on the sleeping pad and set it aside to let it inflate while he unpacked the sleeping bag from the stuff sack. This he tucked under the canoe where it was still dry because of the shelter it provided from the weather. He took up the sleeping pad and finished inflating it by mouth and closed the valve and laid it in among the rocks and snow beside his brother.
    I’m gonna roll you over okay David?
    David didn’t answer and then John Parker worked carefully to roll