Forty five minutes later, Ellie regained consciousness to find herself propped up against a tree with a puffy down sleeping bag wrapped around her and a bandage taped to the scrape on her head. Brenda had pulled all the gear from the plane and was sitting on the ground beside Ellie, sifting through everything. Beside Ellie, Mark was still out cold; Brenda had him on his side, cocooned in a warm sleeping bag as well - with a jacket folded under his bandaged head.
“Hey,” she said to Brenda. It was more of a croak than a greeting.
“Hey yourself,” Brenda said, smiling with relief. “Good to see your eyes open.” She gestured to the pile in front of her. “You thirsty… hungry? Sweet F-A in the plane’s survival gear, other than two sleeping bags, a cook stove, fuel and matches. But we’ve got six half liter bottles of water, eight large bags of chicken soup, a huge box of granola bars, a small jar of peanut butter, four Snickers bars and a bag of toffees in our kit. How did you come up with that combination?”
Ellie smiled and shrugged.
Brenda continued. “Fire starters, water proof matches, flares, air horn, and a flashlight. Oh, and one more sleeping bag. Thank God we brought our own stuff. Mark didn’t have much at all!”
“You know what we don’t have though?” Ellie asked.
“What?”
“Satellite phone. I rented the bloody things for the drive up from Edmonton - then never even thought to bring it along on this flight. Stupid, stupid, stupid…”
“Oh no.” Brenda slumped back. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Do you have my bag there, Bren,” Ellie asked, changing the subject.
Brenda reached across to the right of the pile of bags and equipment. “Yup, here, just a sec - I’ll bring it to you.”
“No, that’s okay - just look in the right outside pocket. There should be a few pill bottles with my prescriptions and a pink fabric case with some patent meds in it.”
Brenda unzipped the pocket and fished inside, pulling the fabric case out first. She unzipped it. “Good God, Ellie!” you’ve got everything in here but the kitchen sink! Gravol, Imodium, Divol, Allegran…” She fished around some more. “If we get the trots, a rash or start barfing, we’re all set. Nothing for pain though.”
“The prescriptions,” Ellie said.
Brenda dug back into the bag and fished out two prescription bottles. She looked at each as she pulled it out. “Wow! Tylenol 3 with codeine? And… nope, I can’t pronounce this one… Novo- something or other?”
“Never travel without it,” Ellie smiled, and reached out her hand.
“Which one do you want?” Brenda asked.
“All of the above,” Ellie said, “and possibly a swig of water to wash them down?”
Brenda grabbed one of the water bottles with her free hand and jumped up to pass Ellie her meds. “So what’s with the heavy duty pharmaceuticals?”
“I always carry them with me when I’m in the field. I’ve had them ever since I dislocated my shoulder. It doesn’t take me much to get stoned, so the ones I was given went a long way - I’ve had these leftovers for years.”
“Oh,” Brenda said. “I didn’t know you’d dislocated your shoulder.”
“Three years ago now,” Ellie said, “before you joined the group. Slipped going down a steep bank and tumbled all the way to the bottom. It was way out in the middle of nowhere - took forever to get back to a hospital. Very painful.” She shook several pills into her hand. “Anyway, thank God for these now - I am going to take a full dose of both the pain killer and the muscle relaxant. Hopefully it will take the dull roar off this ankle.”
YOU ARE READING
Defining Moments
Adventure'Defining Moments’ is the story of Ellie Ward, a professor with a knack for making bad decisions at life’s crossroads, often with tragic consequences. At the age of nine, Ellie accidentally discovers a time portal near her childhood home, one that o...
