Ghosts of Florence Pass Read Free Page A

him over onto the pad. Working his way up and down his body and minding his head and his shoulder so that they didn’t move too quickly or strike anything. When John Parker had finished rolling him over David was on his back on the pad with his hips down in a gap in the rocks and snow which elevated his feet and John Parker thought that this was probably a good thing.
    How’s that, he said.
    He thought about working the sleeping bag over David’s body to get him inside but then thought that it would be too difficult and it might not be a good idea to move him around too much more in case he had bones broken somewhere unseen because he would probably have to move David around a fair amount to get the sleeping bag around his hips. Instead he unzipped the bag completely and laid it over him like a blanket and tucked it in. Then he took the clothes he had found and balled them under his head for a pillow and sat.
    There, he said. Need anything else?
    He laughed at this and closed his eyes and leaned back against the plane which felt warm against his back because the sun had now and then been shining through the clouds and had heated it. Then he looked at his brother and remembered how thirsty he had been in the plane and how he had forgotten about his thirst but now it was back.
    I could make us some Dr. Pepper, he said.
    He laughed at this as well and then he took and handful of snow and put it in his mouth and chewed it. He swallowed and took another handful of snow and put it in his mouth and thought about how Mr. Frederickson had warned them about eating snow and how it could give you hypothermia and make you freeze to death but he didn’t care. A third handful of snow he saved for David and he packed it into a ball and ran it over his brother’s lips which were dry and cracked. Then he held it against the goose egg on David’s head until it melted and ran down the side of his face and neck and John Parker smiled because David was still warm enough to melt snow.
    He was tired from the effort of collecting the things to keep his brother warm and from rolling him over and covering him and from getting a drink and getting snow for his brother’s head. He looked at David.
    I’m so tired, he said. I’m gonna rest a little bit.
    He closed his eyes and thought about the things he had to do. Find the first aid kit. Look for a phone or a radio something to use to call for help. He opened his eyes.
    Holy shit David, he said. I forgot about the pilot.
    Again he thought about the crash and how the plane had probably hit the mountain and he wondered about what condition the pilot must be in. He didn’t know if he wanted to see that. Then he thought about his parents and what he had seen there and that he hadn’t seen their faces or even tried to. The shame of it. He should have looked at them and given them the proper respect and not be ashamed of them in their final hour and he thought to himself maybe I’ll still do it but deep down he knew he probably wouldn’t.
    Rest now, he said.
    He closed his eyes against a shaft of sunlight that was coming through a gap in the clouds. Coming from its nuclear core millions of miles away but like Mrs. Ballweg his science teacher said taking only eight minutes to make the journey. The scale of it.
    ***
    John Parker dozed against the plane and in a dream his brother came to him but the events in the dream hadn’t really happened and David never really said the things he said in the dream. David was dressed in finery befitting a man of god and he was standing in the doorway of the cabin on Florence Lake looking out. John Parker sat watching and listening from the dock with his insides trembling and hot with anticipation of the good word. David spoke with a flourish and gestured as if addressing an enormous congregation even though John Parker looked around and saw that there was no one else there.
    Honor thy mother and father, David said. Though honor themselves they may not and indeed may