Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: REMEMBER (10/19/17)
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TITLE: A voice in the dark | Previous Challenge Entry
By Betty Overstreet
10/26/17 -
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When we moved to the little town in northern California I thought I had really found a great place to live. This town was actually just a logging camp, complete with housing for the workers families, an office, and a grocery store. Oh, yes, there was also a pay telephone in town if we needed to make an emergency call.
As I said a few minutes ago, it was a stormy, rainy night — the middle of winter.
We lived about thirty miles from the next larger town, Fort Bragg, California —thirty miles of crooked, forested Highway 1.
My dad happened to know the man in Fort Bragg who owned the Automotive Parts store and they were needing people to help with their annual inventory. Daddy arranged for some of my friends and I to be hired for the few days it would take to get the job done.
We worked hard the last day for about twelve to Fourteen hours and headed out for the drive home. It was storming, rain beating down on our car, roads slick, as we traveled over the curvy roads high above the ocean.
“Hey, Joe, please be careful, I am so scared of this road in the rain”, I said, fear sounding in my voice.
“Aww, Betty, you’ve ridden with me in just about every kind of weather to the ballgames and to movies, don’t freak out on me now. It’s hard enough to keep the car on the road in this wind and rain without having to worry about you guys being afraid—Trust me!”
“Joe, asked Kenny, do you think it has rained enough to cause some mud slides on the way home?”
“Oh my gosh, will you guys stop being such scary cats! Now shut-up and let me concentrate on the road.”
We drove along in silence as Joe handled the car with expertise. I knew he was a good driver but couldn’t help worrying. None of us had house phones. This was back in the early fifties and phone service wasn’t available to individual homes at that time in our town, so we couldn’t call home to let the folks know when to expect us. If something happened they would only know we might still be working or traveling somewhere along the way home.
As we drove along we began noticing some mud and rocks along the side of the road, and feared there may be a bad one up ahead. Then suddenly, as we rounded a curve, our worst fear was realized! A mud slide completely covered the road, one side to the other. The kind of mud that is sticky and messy—and dangerous to cross in the event it began to slide more.
We were in a mess. At least five miles from home, in the dark with no flashlights and afraid to try and walk through the mud to walk on down the mountain to home. Of course, the guys said they weren’t afraid to cross over it but they wouldn’t leave us behind. We girls were aware they were using us as an excuse to cover their fear!
Suddenly, through the rain, we saw lights shining from the other side of the slide. We heard the most beautiful noise you can imagine. The voices of our Dads, calling and asking if it was us and we shouted out in unison, “Yes, it’s us, thank God you came looking for us!”
“You kids stay right where you are until we can get some of us over there to lead you across and the rest of us will be ready to grab you when you get close.”
My dad was the first one to reach us and he gave my sister and I the biggest hug we had ever had and then he helped first one and then the other of us across and through that horrible slimy mud. When he was sure we were safe with one of the other dads, he returned to help some of the other kids across.
I will never forget the night my dad risked his life to walk across a mud slide to save my sister and I. He was certainly my hero that night and I have never forgotten the joy of hearing his voice in the dark, coming to save us.
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As a side, I would wonder how your Dad would tell the same story to your kids.
Nicely written. Interesting story.