Chapter XII (The Resurrected - A love story by Billy Shaw)

Into the early morning hours I had Georgia dreams. I dreamed I was on the high school track team. But not as a teenager. This was a team for alumni. I was in a distance race and everyone I remembered from high school was on the team. And I was the frontrunner. It was an obstacle course. There were bookshelves and furniture from the faculty lounge. I could jump over them with arbitrary height if I chose to. I could run in place and carry on conversations with the people behind me. The second and third place runners were carrying each other in a collective attempt to finish the race. I stopped to socialize but in recollection, it occurred to me that I didn't lend a hand. I was there more as moral support before I beat them.

Then the phone rang and pulled me back across the line, burning the images of the dream into consciousness.

"Hello." It wasn't even my own voice. It was Dawn's.

"Just a minute." She handed the phone to me and propped herself up in a long stare.

"Yeah." I said.

"Billy. It's John up at the Basin. There's some major slides up here. Can you be here in a matter of minutes with some rescue equipment? And extra hands?"

"John. I've got a doctor here. She's a patroller."

"Anything would help, man. I gotta go. Get up here. Bring hands. Bring the doctor."

"Five minutes your place. Bye."

I handed the phone back to Dawn. "Go wake up Stasia. Have her dressed and ready to dig snow." I hopped out of bed and threw on two pairs of snow pants. I handed Dawn two more pairs from a pile in the closet.

As Dawn went to wake up Stasia, I placed more clothing on the bed for Dawn and Stasia to wear. They came back into our bedroom at the same time. "Put these on. There's a pile for each of you."

We were out of the apartment in about three minutes. We were still dressing as we hit the elevator on our way toward the parking garage. Since Jerry had taken my car, we were left with Halli's Pantera. I handed Dawn the keys and asked her to drive. Stasia and I pried our way into the passenger seat and we drove up to the Continental Divide at better than a hundred miles an hour. We pulled up into John's patrol shack within two minutes of clearing the garage.

There were sirens and flashing lights and Summit County's eclectic assortment of rescue vehicles all going nowhere. I found John. "It's Dave's Wave. The whole side of the mountain slid. We need probers and diggers."

"Jerry's got all my equipment. He drove up here this evening. Have you seen him?" I asked.

"I haven't been up there. Let's take two snowmobiles. I'll take the doctor and you follow me with your wife. There's shovels and probes on scene. Let's go."

We got on two snowmobiles and went about a mile or so to the toe of a huge debris field. As promised, there were bags of rescue equipment but only a dozen or so workers.

"These were dropped by chopper about ten minutes ago. Grab a bag and let's see what we've got." John said.

There were two choppers in the air. Both were in holding patterns with bright lights illuminating the staging area. Upslope I could make out a half dozen or so people engaged in a hasty search through the latter portions of the debris.

As I dumped out the contents of one rescue bag, I asked John, "How many people are you missing?"

"We have no way of knowing that. So far, only three of them had transponders. We found all three and they're dead of blunt trauma."

"Were they dead when you got to them?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Do we know any of them?"

"I don't think so." he said. "Here. I've got snowshoes for all of us. Put these on and let's get up there."

Dawn and I and John and Stasia started up the toe of the massive pile of debris. It was probably seven feet tall at the edges. When we got about a hundred yards upslope, three body bags were laid out at the edge of the field.

Whether or not Dawn or Stasia thought what I was thinking, none of us said anything. We kept shoeing up the snowpack following John. Once we got above the previous group, he handed each of us an avalanche probe and we arranged ourselves in a line, ready to traverse the pile in orderly formation.

We started across the field as a unit, probing to our left and then to our right. Then further across the field. Then probing. Then moving. We cleared one traverse in about fifteen minutes. Since all of us had been through avalanche training, the mechanics were a simple matter. None of us was reluctant about what we were doing. We went upslope another few yards and proceeded back across the field. We worked in silence. John held a receiving unit to his ear, listening closely for the telltale signature of a buried unit.

Realizing that at this rate we would make only four passes in an hour, John had us pick up the pace and cover more ground at the expense of accuracy. All the while, each of us was ready to run for the edges as if the main field were ready to let go a second time.

My probe hit something fleshy solid and I yelled for a shovel. The four of us were on it in a few seconds and digging. I found a foot attached to a snowboard. Then a hand. We continued digging and we exposed a young man. Once surfaced, Dawn shined a flashlight onto the face and she checked for breathing. None of us recognized the youth.

Stasia began two-person rescue CPR. She was on chest compressions and Dawn handled respiration. Within a few breaths, John handed her a bag valve mask with oxygen attached. John motioned for me to follow him up the field. Stasia and Dawn remained where we left them and John was on his radio requesting a stretcher and more hands. He wanted our unconscious victim and his assistants removed from the avalanche path as soon as possible. And on up we climbed. I punched through the soft snow up to my hip; John reached down and yanked me back out in a single pull. The snowshoe folded under my foot and slid out with the rest of my leg.

"It's soft but it feels solid, John." I said. "I don't think this part's ready to slide again."

"I'm worried about the choppers, man." he replied. "We need to get wherever we're going before they get here."

"Where are we going again?" I asked as I slogged along behind him.

"There's a group of people about a hundred yards up. They keep yelling at us to come up there. Are you doing OK?"

"I'm right behind you." I said.

"You let me know when you need to stop and rest. Wherever we're going, plan on doing CPR when we arrive. After we finish shovelling. Let's do our resting before we're needed. Agreed?"

"Totally." I said nearly breathless. "John. Jerry and Kelly and Chris are out here somewhere. Plus a photographer. Have you seen them?"

"Not yet. But don't worry about them. They're each capable of taking care of themselves better than that poor schmuck you just uncovered. Until we know otherwise, stop thinking about them and just concentrate on rescue survival. OK?"

"Got it. But until we account for them, we're still down at least four on the count."

"Over here and to the right. If you need to rest, this is our last chance. Are you doing OK?"

"I'm fine. Let's do the field."

We climbed onto the field about twenty yards or so and met up with three frantic teenagers. They indicated that one of their party was buried in the vicinity. John handed them avalanche probes and arranged us into a line of five hasty searchers.

"How do you know your friend is here and not down the slope?" John asked patiently.

"We saw him sink right here! Right as the snow stopped moving!" one of them said.

"How long ago?" John asked.

"Twenty nine minutes! Help him!" the youth yelled excitedly.

The next thing I heard was John's radio. It was Stasia's voice asking for atropine and a new defibrillator battery. Like she was asking a store clerk for wheat bread and lettuce. On the way... thirty seconds, was the response.

"OK you guys. When I say right, you probe right. When I say left, you probe left. Move means we all take a giant step forward. Ready?"

"Move! Right! And Left! And move! And right! And left!" and this continued until one of the teenagers yelled about hitting something. We were onto it with shovels and in about thirty seconds a foot was exposed. Then a head. I went straight to the face and assessed for beathing. Nothing. We exposed the chest area enough to allow for some expansion and I engaged the respiration bag I'd placed onto the face. I continued operating the bag as the others dug and exposed the rest of the victim's body.

We brought the body up to the surface and laid it out on the snow. John was on the radio asking for another stretcher and hands. Then he attached oxygen to the bag mask and I continued what I was doing. He began chest compressions in conjunction with my respirations. He got on the radio again and asked for Stasia and Dawn to pass off their patient and come up to where we were.

"OK." John said softly so that only I could hear him. "That's five so far. Plus your four. Please tell me they were up here with transponders." he said as he continued counting out compressions.

"Kelly's probably got a cellphone. Dawn will be up here in a minute. You got a phone on you?"

"Yep. Two one thousand three one thousand four one thousand five one thousand. Breathe!"

I worked a two second breath into the mask. "Ready to switch?"

"We're doing fine. You?" he said as he counted the five one thousands out silently but on his lips for my benefit.

"Pause and assess. Call for a defibrillator. No pulse. Breathing. Pump!"

John continued his compressions. In another few minutes Dawn and Stasia arrived. Stasia had a cardiac tech in tow. She did a brief assessment as John and I continued what we were doing. She ripped the remaining portion of the victim's jacket and shirt away from his chest and applied two electrode pads. Her assistant connected the protruding wires to a satchel sized piece of electronics.

"Clear!" she yelled and we all moved our hands away from the body.

"Assessing!" She had placed the automatic defibrillator into manual mode and was working the instrumentation herself. "Plan on a battery change after two stacks." she told her assistant.

"Shock advised! I'm clear! Everybody stand clear!" she said and within a second engaged the machine. The body convulsed and went rigid. She looked around and verified to herself that everybody was still clear.

"Clear! Assessing!" she yelled as she looked down to study the instrument.

"Shock advised! I'm clear! Everybody stand clear!" she said again. Then she engaged the machine and the body convulsed again.

"Clear! Assessing!" she yelled and again looked down at the instrument. She took a stethoscope and began listening to the victim's chest. "Heartbeat! Begin respirations! Billy, One and two and one and two. Rest!" and she listened again. "Leave the pads! Cover him up! Blanket! Get a blanket over here! Keep ventilating! Confirm oxygen high flow. Get another bottle ready! John, let's get him the hell out of here!"

From behind Stasia came the voice of a timid teenaged girl. "Doctor. Is he going to live?"

"Well he's not dead yet. And that's always a good start." she said with a smile. "Your boyfriend?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Call me Stasia. OK? Why don't you go over and hold his hand. Sound good?"

"Yes ma'am! I mean Stasia. Thanks!"

I continued ventilating as I called Dawn over to me. "Are you doing OK? That was a hell of a climb for a double-plus woman."

"I'll survive. How about you?"

"You got your cellphone on you? If you don't, John's got one."

"You want me to try calling Kelly! I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

"Do it now." and I counted out more respirations.

"John! Can I borrow your cellphone a minute?"

"Sure. Here."

Dawn took it and rapidly tried dialing Kelly's number. The phone kept making noises like it was outside of a valid service area. She handed the phone to John. "You try making a call. I'm not getting anything."

John took the phone and tried it. "Nothing. The slide may have severed the power cables to the cell station. Or another slide. You're still missing Kelly and her party?"

"Frankly, I don't know where they are. They could be at the top of the pass."

"Don't worry, Dawn. Jerry's with them, right?"

"Yeah."

"He's been through this exercise more than a couple of times. He knows the area and he can take care of himself. Let's get our patient down the hill and we can figure this out later. OK?"

Stasia was on John's radio talking to the medical commander in charge of the evacuation helicopters. She was telling him she's got two CPR defibrillated resusitees in profound hypothermia on assisted respiration. She identified each as Patient A and Patient B. She asked some of the medical crew downslope to recite Patient A's vitals. Then she reeled off Patient B's vitals herself.

"Stasia." I called out between assisted respirations. "Patient B was under the snow for a reported twenty nine minutes. Probably nineteen minutes for Patient A." Stasia received what I was telling her and nodded her head.

John was coordinating the patient's move to a sled. He chose to backboard the body lightly but securely enough to facilitate moving him around.

"OK, doctor. Head upslope or down?" he asked.

"Down. John. Billy's still respirating and the patient could start vomiting."

"Down it is. First we're going to get this rig off the debris field. There's a treestand to our right. Let's get over there first." He got on the radio and asked his team to meet us there with about two hundred yards of nylon rope. "We'll belay off one of the trees."

"Unassisted respiration!" I yelled. "Shallow and regular. Twelve per minute! Positive gag reflex!"

John handed the radio to Stasia and she relayed the information to medcom.

"OK you guys! Let's clear the field!" John yelled.

"OK dear. I need for you to let go of his hand now." Stasia told the teenaged girl gently.

"Can I go with him?"

"I want you to go with Billy here. OK? He's going to ask you some questions about your boyfriend."

John's radio crackled to life. "John, be advised Patient A appears to be regaining consciousness. Tell your doctor buddy she's two for two in the miracles department." All of us strained to pull the sled on a traverse to the edge of the avalanche path. At least four of us were holding ropes or webbing attached to the sled. We stopped at thirty second timed intervals for Stasia to recheck the patient's vitals. When we got to the edge of the field, there was a good six foot drop into the surrounding snowpack.

"Good God!" one of John's crew exclaimed. "I didn't think there was enough snow for this kind of slab. Look at this! Any ideas, John?"

"I don't trust the snowpack enough to dig a ramp. We've got to book out of here anyway. Let's get four hands down there by the head and we'll walk it off."

We had the sled off the debris path in another minute. Then Stasia remonitored vitals.

"Get me a half dozen hot water bottles! Two more blankets!" she yelled out. "We need to move, people!"

"Static belay on!" I yelled as I hooked myself onto the rope that met us there.

"Reposition the sled!" John yelled. "We're going straight down the hill. Follow along the toe of the debris field right to the snowmobiles! Let's move!"

"Ready!" his crew responded.

"Static belay off!" I yelled and started feeding rope. "Just start pushing the sled downhill! I've got it!"

The sled started moving. Dawn was looking at her wristwatch.

"Mark and monitor!" she yelled. "Thirty seconds!"

"Static belay on!" I yelled and locked the rope against me.

Stasia rushed to the patient and verified a stable pulse and respiration. Then she simply climbed aboard, straddling the patient with her hand on his throat. "I'm it it. You can stand down, Dawn! Good job girl! Let's move you guys!"

"Ready!" the crew yelled.

"Static belay off!" I yelled. "Hold on, Stasia!" John's crew simply walked with Stasia and the sled as I fed out more rope. I found myself about ten yards of line from the end when I decided to tie it off. And then I hightailed it down the hill on my butt. It took about a minute to get down to the sled and everyone was looking at me.

"What?! I ran out of rope!"

"Billy!" Dawn said with a bright radiance in her eyes. "Look at our patient!"

He was sitting up in the sled holding his own oxygen mask. Every ten seconds or so he would cough to the side and gag a bit of sputum into the snow. His girlfriend was sitting next to him holding his head. He was shivering and wearing his blankets like a Navaho. His snowboard was resting in the sled beside him. His girlfriend was the first to speak.

"Jimmy Youngblood. This is Billy! He's the one who found you!"

"Thanks man!" he managed to say through a few weak coughs. "I guess I owe you, brother."

"Jimmy. Can you account for all your friends?" I asked. "Are they all here? Look around you and be sure. We need to be sure."

John smiled at me. "We're sure, bro. He's been up for a few minutes. We waved off the choppers. I wanted them as far away from this snowpack as they can get. Walk with me, will you?"

So John and I walked toward the street and away from the debris field.

"This is a pretty bad scene. We've got three corpses that we know about." he said.

"Man, Dawn's double-plus pregnant. I gotta get her home to bed. But I can come back and help with search and rescue, if that's what you're getting at."

"No. It's not that." he said. "It's the two in a row we resusitated. I've never seen that happen before. Where the hell did you find that doctor?! She's practically a resurrectionist. She broke all our protocols on Patient A and probably saved his life. She fought with my cardiac tech until she was over it and just grabbed his bag and did what she wanted to do. Who the hell is she?"

"She's a cardiologist from UVA Medical Center. Me and Jerry patrol with her. Should we teach her the secret handshake and shit?"

"Dude. She's the most beautiful woman I've ever met. And you hang around some world class glamour. Is Jerry dating her?"

"That woman will always be available. Retain your optimism, my friend."

"Thanks, man! That's just what I wanted to hear."

"John. What are we going to do about Kelly?"

"Here's where we stand. The Corps of Engineers just closed Highway Six. There's a second slide about a mile up the road. It went across the pavement and there's no way up or down. They need to start blasting before they'll consider reopening anything."

"Is there a chopper up at the top of the pass?" I asked.

"Hmm. Could be." John got on the radio and started making inquiries.

"The parking lot's full up there. There's a ton of people out here tonight."

"Can you find out if one of the cars is a red Subaru wagon with Virginia plates?"

"Hold on." John got back on the radio.

"The pilot up there says no. They're trying to figure out how many more people we've got unaccounted for. You know how this works, man. It ain't a ski area and these people need to be able to take care of themselves. We can't go searching for people who don't complain about being missing."

"So what's the plan right now?" I asked.

"We go back to the Basin and release patients and bodies to their respective ambulances. We had two choppers up here and we don't need them for critical care transport, thanks to Stasia. My guess is they'll hang here until somebody calls one or both of them away for something else. Remember. They came up here from Denver."

"Then for all you know, there are more victims under the snow right now?"

"It's a possibility. Let's head down the hill and see what else is going on. But we'll have to walk back. I'm sure our snowmobiles have been taken already to get our patients back to the parking lot."

"Well, we're not too far from the street. Wanna just head over to the pavement?"

"Sure. I guess we can take off the snowshoes."

We got back to the Basin parking lot in about ten minutes. One ambulance was starting to pull away. It had its lights on but didn't seem to be in any particular hurry.

"That's probably the medical examiner's." John said.

There were two more ambulances idling with lights on parked next to the patrol shack. We walked in and saw a roomful of people. Some were surrounding our two resusitated patients and Dawn and Stasia were standing next to the bed containing Patient A. He was alert and sitting up. Patient B was sitting on the bed talking to his girlfriend. A paramedic was wrapping his right elbow with a roll of cling over an aluminum splint.

I walked over to Dawn. "How are you feeling? Need something to drink?" I asked.

"I'm fine." Then she thought about it a second. "I could use some coffee. Can you get me some?"

"I'll get it." John said. He asked Stasia if she wanted some as well.

"Sure, John! That would be great. Thanks."

I walked around the corner and into the dispatch office. "Who were the corpses? Did you find any identification?" I asked.

"Yeah. Three brothers from Texas. That'll be one unhappy family." It was the manager of the ski area. "They probably didn't know what hit them."

"I'm still missing a party of four." I said. "Kelly Stone, her husband Chris, my friend Jerry, and a photographer."

"Jerry? Like our Jerry?" he asked.

"That's the one." I replied.

"I wouldn't worry about it. You've seen the victims, man. They're your basic morons. Everyone we lose up here comes from out of state. We're not dealing with an Act of God this time. That was a sucker slide. You know, like... I came I saw I acted stupid and got killed."

"Hey man." It was another patroller. "Where'd you find that doctor? She comes on pretty strong but damned if she doesn't save people! Two resusitations in one night. Some of us don't see two successful resusitations in a whole career."

"What did she do with the atropine?" I asked. "Did she start an IV out there in the snow?"

"Shit no!" he said. "She stuck it right into the guy's chest. I said you're gonna kill the poor dude and she says he's already dead so let's just go for it. Then she threw the paddles on him and he came right back to life. Just like television!"

"You haven't seen television until you've seen this." came a woman's silky voice from behind me.

I wheeled around toward the door and she was standing there in my leathers with a videocassette in her hand. "Where's Jerry and Chris?! Are you guys OK?!"

"They're out in the parking lot. We had to walk about five miles. Sorry about your car, Billy. There's not much left of it, love. I'll buy you a new one. One with a leather interior."

"Is there anybody else out there? Did you see anybody go down?" I asked.

"We had just finished one run down the Pass. Chris picked us up and we were driving back to the top when we got rolled by the first slide. Jerry found your shovel in the back of the car so we broke out some windows and started digging ourselves out."

"Is the car on or off the road?" the area manager asked.

"It's sitting up against a tree. I couldn't tell you where the road is. But some of the pieces might still be up there." Kelly said.

"So then what happened?!" I asked.

"We all started walking. Our snowboards and Jerry's skis were on your roof rack and the car was upside down so we didn't have much of a choice. Jerry said he thought the rest of the slope was about to go. So we went in the other direction. We got halfway down here when we heard some cracking sounds."

"In the direction you came from?" the area manager asked.

"Precisely. So we all hunkered down by the side of the road and Dave the videographer started shooting his footage. I don't need to tell you the rest. I can show you. I've got it right here!" There was more than just a twinkle in her eyes. She was radiating the same way Dawn did.

The patrol had a VCR right there in the office. The area manager took the cassette and threw it into the machine. We all stood breathless and waited for a picture to appear.

"This is about ten seconds before the second slide. Now watch this!" she said.

The television set started rumbling audibly and the picture shook as it went in and out of focus a couple of times.

"There! Watch the side of the mountain! It's starting to deteriorate." It wasn't Kelly's live voice. It was a whispering voice from the soundtrack to the video.

"Jesus Christ!" It was Chris' voice coming out of the television. "There's people down there! Oh man!" The image on the screen clearly showed three snowboarders on a moving slab trying to outrun a wave of snow. The camera panned down and zoomed in as the three disappeared from sight.

"Holy shit!" one of the patrollers in the room said in a hushed tone.

The camera panned back upslope and zoomed in on five more boarders. "There's more people up there!" came Chris' voice again. A second wave of snow swept across them and then there were two less of the little figures. The camera zoomed in closer. Three frantic figures were starting to dig. The camera zoomed out and the whole slope was visible on the screen. Long streaks of raw earth were visible where white fields of snow had been shown just seconds before.

"We've got to get over there and try to help them!" came Kelly's voice from the TV.

"Nobody move!" came Jerry's voice. "Everybody stay where you are!"

"We can't do anything?!" Kelly's voice again.

"The slope's unstable! We can't go over there!" Jerry's voice said. "Everybody keep your eyes open! I count five down. Plus two more on the snowpack! Did anybody see anything else?"

"Five's what I got." Chris' voice.

"Zoom in and check out the two still standing!" Kelly's voice.

The camera zoomed in and two little figures were still digging and running around digging some more. "Now go back and check out the other three!" she commanded. The camera jiggled down the slope and returned to the site of the three others buried in a massive debris field. It held there for about two minutes and nothing moved.

Neither did anyone in the room watching the video. We were all watching as if it were happening live and if anything moved we would be ready to try saving their lives.

"Nothing!" came the cameraman's voice. "I don't see anything moving, Kelly."

"Keep on it!" came her voice in return. "Zoom in as far as you can!" The picture went into lower resolution and got grainy as the image appeared as if we were about five or six feet away.

"Hell of a camera." the area manager said.

"You haven't seen the cool part!" Kelly replied. "Watch this!" She got up and fast forwarded the footage about three minutes' worth. "Here!"

The screen clearly showed a half dozen rescue workers conducting a hasty search in the toe of the debris field. One by one, they recovered the buried bodies quickly using avalanche receiving equipment. We watched as body after body was assessed. The image was only slightly jiggly and it was easy to see what was happening.

"We couldn't even contemplate resusitation." the paramedic beside me said. "We were into a triage scenario and their bodies were too mangled to do field CPR. We called for body bags and decided to try searching for viable survivors."

"A reasonable decision." the area manager reassured him.

"Now it gets interesting!" Kelly said. "Watch what happens next!" She fast forwarded the video another couple of minutes' worth of footage.

The picture showed John and Stasia and Dawn and me dismounting a pair of snowmobiles. Then it zoomed in even farther and we could see another search line forming.

"You guys do this for about fifteen minutes." She fast forwarded the video again. "Here we go."

The picture showed me digging out Patient A. Then the first efforts at resusitation. Stasia was clearly visible doing chest compressions. Then what appeared to be a heated discussion between Stasia and a man holding a large bag. Then Stasia grabbing the bag and rifling through the contents. Then Stasia plunging something into the victim's chest. Then Stasia attaching something to the chest. Then the two of them standing clear. Then more CPR.

"Good God! She caught it all on video!" came a voice in the room.

The picture showed more medical activity with a singular prominence from the woman running the scenario. Everybody watching the footage sat there with breathless attention. It went on for about five minutes.

"Now watch this!" Kelly said.

The picture showed the victim starting to gag and grabbing at his throat. Stasia was seen clearly picking something out of his mouth.

"Here's where the oral airway comes out." the paramedic beside me said. "I never even saw her put it in. She was that fast!"

Then the picture showed more activity as the patient started moving around. Then two figures were shown embracing each other and jumping up and down. Then one of the figures over the patient doing what appeared to be a set of vital signs. Then the other figure talking into the radio.

Then Jerry's voice from the TV. "I think Stasia just saved his life! Look at that! It's unbelievable!"

Then the camera followed two of the figures starting to hike up the slope. It was Dawn and Stasia. The camera zoomed to Stasia's face as she wiped her forehead with a coatsleeve and said something to Dawn with a smile. The camera panned out and showed the two in a vast field of snow and debris as they slowly made their way up the screen. "Should we go over now and try to help?" came Chris' voice from the TV.

"Just stay put, people." came Jerry's voice in reply. "They're still in danger. We don't need four more people starting another slide."

"Hey! Look up there! They've found another one!" came Kelly's voice. The camera jiggled out and upward out of focus as the picture strained to make out what we had been doing with Patient B. Then it came into view and John and I were attending to the second recovered victim. The scene was closer to where Kelly's party had been filming, so everything was easier to see.

Just then, Dawn and Stasia came into the room.

"I thought I heard Kelly's voice!" Dawn said. "Is everybody alright?"

"Hey Kelly!" Stasia cried as she moved to hug her. "Is Jerry alright?"

"He's out in the parking lot, love. He's fine." Kelly said. "Want to see your new video? Sit down and enjoy your last minutes on earth as Dr. Nobody."

The television screen was full of Stasia's face as she took over the resurrection of Patient B. For the next five minutes, we watched the second resusitation play out as it had with Patient A. Then the extrication of the sled off the avalanche field. Then the images of Stasia hopping onto the sled as it wound its way down the slope.

As the image of Patient B came to life and sat up, everyone in attendance having viewed Kelly's video stood up and cheered. Stasia stood there turning her own unique brand of crimson. She was starting to wear it like her own special fragrance.

"That's the most millennial thing I've ever seen!" Dawn said as she gave Stasia a kiss on her cheek.

"So Kelly." I said. "Dawn tried calling you on your cellphone. I think we were out of service. Did you have yours with you?"

"It's dead as a doorknob." she said with a smile. "And no, Billy. We didn't hit the payphones on the way down. God! You're getting as predictable as Dawn is."

"Well? You've got some millennial videotape. Any ideas?" I asked.

Kelly walked over to the tape machine and recovered her property. Then she walked to the door and beckoned Dawn and Stasia and me to follow her outside.

We gathered as a foursome in the cool becoming sunlight of dawn as she held out the tape for Stasia to have. "It's yours, girl. Just remember that I can always show you a good time."

"Are you serious?!" Stasia asked as she put her hand on the tape.

"Everybody deserves their own brand of fortune, girl. I don't deign tell you what yours is." Kelly said with a smile. "Dawn and I play with images. But you play with life. Well I can't possibly play with yours. I'm out of my league, love. People's lives go to shit in a handcart and one of God's angels says Enough!... I defy your will! You bring people back to life, Stasia. I can't hold a candle to that. None of us can." And she looked around her.

"This tape's worth a fortune!" Stasia said. "You're just pissing it away because of me?!"

Kelly looked at Dawn. "Everything we do is worth a fortune, Stasia. Even your fucking Billy around is worth a fortune. We're all walking around with fortunes, sweetheart. Hell, baby. Billy might be the richest one of us all!"

"Then we're just a portfolio of unplayed options." I said into the air. "Kelly might be right."

"Fuck the unplayed options, Coach." she said within a heartbeat. "We're converting to hard currency even as we speak! We're standing around here and some of us aren't. Was it their fault, Billy? Every one of them had two hundred dollar transceivers on their cold dead bodies! We're standing here in the parking lot because Jerry had the good sense to get us the hell off an unstable snowpack."

"So it's just a matter... of knowledge and... competence." I said lifelessly as I started to weave back and forth.

"What else is there?...What the hell's happening to you?" she asked. She looked at me with a renewed concern. "Billy?... Billy!".

She took my hand and peered deeply into my eyes. "Dawn. Take him home and put him to bed. Now. OK?"

I woke up after the longest sleep of my life. Stasia and Dawn were sitting beside me. "What the hell was that all about?" I asked.

"Well, you can forget about being the strong and silent type for awhile." Stasia said.

"But I hate that shit! What the fuck's wrong with me?" I asked.

"Billy! How do you feel, sweetie?" Dawn asked as she took my hand.

"Where's Halli?" I asked back.

"I'm right here, Daddy! Would you like some water? Or coffee?"

"That sounds great! Gimme some!" I said.

"Billy." It was Stasia. "You're diabetic. Does this run in your family? Do you have a history? Maybe on your father's side?"

"You'd have to ask him. We don't talk much."

"Here. Take this." she said as she handed me a pill and a glass of water.

"What are you still doing here? Don't you have to get back to Virginia?" I asked.

"That was days ago. I've made consessions." she said.

"How many days ago? Is Kelly still in Vail?"

"Kelly's the champ, Coach. She nailed it without a second thought." Dawn said.

"Billy?" came Kelly's voice. "Why didn't you say something when you weren't feeling right?"

"Did I pass out?" I asked.

"Right in the parking lot. Into Kelly's arms actually." Dawn said. "Stasia thought it was dehydration. Then she did a blood sugar and we realized you were in diabetic shock."

"So how bad did Kelly beat the women of the world?" I asked.

"This bad, Daddy!" and Halli held up a newspaper with Kelly's winning form plastered across the top half of the front page. "She rides just like a woman!"

"A woman? Cool!"

"A woman of the new millennium, Daddy!"

"There seem to be some others." Kelly said. "You've got one of the most famous doctors in the world."

"Oh? How'd that happen?"

"We appear to have been converted into hard currency." Stasia said as she shot Kelly a piercing glance.

"So the world got to see your video?" I asked Stasia.

"It just happened." she said. "One thing leads to another with that woman."

"Well. Do you enjoy the celebrity thing?"

"Well, it's only been a coupla days or so." Stasia said. "If anything, I enjoy being your doctor. You're famous, you know."

"Why?" I asked. "Because of my wife, my friends, and my doctor?"

"Lord no!" she said. "Because Kelly's video shows you digging out the two remaining survivors of the Spring Avalanche!"

"The what?"

"The Spring Avalanche, Daddy! You're a hero! Kelly bought you another car! You oughta see it! Especially the insides. It smells like a big black cow in there!"

"Really? Does it fit everybody?" I asked.

"Nobody's driven it yet. But we all take turns sitting inside and smelling it." Dawn said.

"A coupla days or so? You got me a custom leather interior in a coupla days?"

"Well. That's the thing, honey." Dawn said. "It hasn't been a coupla days."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You've been in a diabetic coma, Billy." Stasia said.

"For what? Weeks? Months? What?!"

"Three weeks." Stasia said.

"Am I at home or in the hospital?" I asked.

"You're in Denver, Billy." Dawn said.

"And the prognosis?" I asked again.

"You're ready to go home, sweetheart. Just as soon as Stasia says you can leave."

"Is that all there is to it? Stasia says so and I can split?"

"Pretty much. You were lucky." Stasia said.

"Do you still see Jerry?"

"I guess. I decided to marry him."

"Are you serious?!"

"I couldn't resist. He was seriously compelling."

"No way!"

"Way, bro. He took me up to the Pass with some crank religious type and dared me to make compelling promises."

"And you went for that shit?"

"I didn't have much of a choice. He had the keys to the car and it was a long walk back to civilization."

"That never stopped you before..."

"This was different. My shoes were in the trunk."

"Jerry and Stasia." I ruminated with a sigh. "You guys going back east?"

"Not if we can help it. I scored a job here. I'm your resident Dr. Nobody. Right here in Denver."

"Stasia. You'll never be anybody's Nobody."

"Not now. Not with you as a patient. Now get a good night's rest and if you're still alive tomorrow morning I'll let Dawn take you home. But don't you die dammit. It would make me look bad. And we're both on a roll here."

"Three freaking weeks?! Did I like, snore and stuff?"

"You weren't the best date I've ever had." Dawn said. "But you certainly made the fewest demands."

"So I arise from the dead. Resurrected as it were."

"Totally." Stasia said. "You could have died. But there were so many advanced life support units at the Basin that morning... We had our pick of all the pretty lights."

"Did I end up here in a helicopter?"

"Yes. It'll only cost you twenty four hundred dollars. But it was a pretty chopper. I think it was red with gold trim." Stasia said with a smile.

"Oh. That's just grand."

"No Daddy! Two grand!"

"Thank you sweetheart." I said with a weak laugh.

"Am I still gonna be able to coach beautiful young women?"

"You're going to start eating breakfast. Your life will never be the same." Stasia said.

"Can I still drink lunch?"

"If you wanna come back here and visit. Otherwise, you need to start thinking about your wife and daughter. I can always come up there to visit you guys. We don't need to be doing this habitually. Are you comprehending me?"

"Yeah. Go do some paperwork. Take Halli with you. I need to talk to Dawn."

The two women left the room.

"I can't believe this is happening!" I said.

"These things happen, Billy."

"Are you doing OK?"

"I'm doing better knowing my husband isn't in a coma ready to die."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. What was that like? It must have been fairly weird."

"You were everybody's strength. Right up until you collapsed. I knew we were expecting alot. And you were always more than alot."

"I'm still here, Dawn. Was Stasia telling it like it is? Am I still capable of being alot?"

"If you take care of yourself. Please, Billy. I love you. You're the other half of my soul. Please don't trash it now. Please?"

"Things would be different right now if I'd only known I would be married to you and raising Halli. All I would have needed was maybe six months advanced warning."

"But you were always the optimist!" she said. "Everybody thought you were on top of the next six months. Or even the next six years. Was your life so very hard to manage optimisticly?"

"Dawn. I could always say it but maybe I didn't believe it. Have you ever been in a hospital bed like I am now?"

Dawn's tears started to flow down her face. Now was the time I felt truly ashamed about things. She leaned down to hug me and I felt the hollow coldness she was competing with.

"Live, goddammit! Live and I'll never leave you!" she declared through the sobs and the tears. "Oh please, baby! Please don't leave me!"

I slipped out of consciousness for a couple of minutes. When I came to, Dawn was hugging me tightly and convulsing in racking sobs of tears. There were nurses and doctors surrounding me and some of them were trying to pull Dawn away.

"He'll be OK, sweetheart. Just try to relax." one of them was saying. Another one was preparing to give her an injection. She appeared to need it more than I did. Not that I couldn't have used one.

Stasia came back into the room. I heard her telling one of the nurses to put Dawn into the bed with me. Dawn went lax and they undressed her and placed her into a hospital gown. Then they hoisted her up into my bed and the two of us remained together for the rest of the night.

We both awoke the next day to the bright streaming light coming in from the window. She looked at me and I looked at her. I kissed her and she kissed me back. My hand went immediately to the call button and I started pumping it with impatience. Stasia came into the room.

"Where's Halli, Stasia?"

"She's at home with Jerry. She loves him, you know."

"Is she OK?"

"She's just like you guys... another three hours sleep and you'll all be better off. I promise. Now let go of the button and get some more sleep."

"Is Dawn OK?"

"She's out like a light. We put her under when she started to freak out."

"I think I remember. How am I doing?"

"Oh, you'll live. It was plenty hard convincing Dawn, though. She thought you were dead and it wasn't doing either of you any good. So I decided to make her your copatient. Hope you don't mind."

"Oh what the hell. I guess she needs the rest."

"Now go back to sleep. Call me in the morning."

"Stasia. Have you been here all night?"

"I'm the chief resident. I'll always be here all night."

"Is this better than back east?"

"You're just bucking for an injection, pal. Take your pick. You make the call."

"Oh alright. I'll behave."

Later in the morning I woke up again. This time it was OK to be up. Dawn was up and dressed. She was walking around like she had a hangover. Stasia came in for an interminable round of interrogation followed by a bank of medical tests. Then she gave me about a half hour's worth of doctorly advice on taking care of myself... in front of Dawn so she could be sufficiently convinced she wasn't just talking to herself. Well, bachelor life was officially over.

I pulled myself up in the bed and felt the IV lines still running into my arm. And flowers. There were more flowers than I'd ever seen crammed into a single room. There were magazines and newspapers laid out on a table in the far corner of the room. Any spare portions of the wall were covered with Halli's style of crayon drawings.

"So this is what it feels like to be back from the dead." I said to Dawn.

She came over to the bed and dragged up a chair behind her. "You've awakened to a bright and optimistic world, Billy. Carl's a married man now. He was here to visit you a couple of times. Jerry was coming by all the time too."

"How did they end up married? That's even more than improbable. It's barely credible."

"I don't know. Maybe not. Part of me suspects that she figured a life with Jerry would be easier than the alternatives she was facing. Anyway, one Sunday morning rolls by on videotape and all of a sudden the world's giving her a blank check and telling her to write her own ticket. So she turns right around and gives Jerry the same deal."

"Dawn. Was this hard on Halli?"

"It was hard on everybody. It's going to be hard on you when you start reading three weeks of sappy media coverage. Kelly outdid herself when she thought you were as good as dead. Wait'll you see some of the coverage from Vail. Everything she did was dedicated to her coach. The one dieing in a hospital bed in Denver after a series of dramatic rescues in the Spring Avalanche. The world's only seen the video about a thousand times."

"So Kelly managed to make Stasia famous after all."

"Stasia handles the whole affair with enough tact to assure the world she's worthy of the attention."

"In short, she has a millennial coaching staff." I said. "Is Amanda part of the team?"

"That's more insightful than you'll ever appreciate, Billy. Yes she is."

"And Cassandra Hallidey. Things just keep dragging you back into the sunlight. I'm sorry, Dawn. This must have been the last thing in the world you would have planned on."

"You mean Dawn Shannon. And nearly losing my husband was the last thing I would have planned on."

"Is there anything I need to know about before I walk the streets of cluelessness once again? Is there something the whole world knows that I don't?"

"Yeah. They know about you. So the rest of the world's a little less clueless." she said with a smile.

"Dawn?" I asked tentatively. "Am I gonna have to leave here in a wheelchair?"

"You've been in bed for three weeks. Walking around might take a couple of days. The best thing we can do right now is go home and hit the hot tub. Then we're headed for the pool. Then it's back to bed, lover. That's your immediate future. Tub... pool... bed. And then we'll repeat the process. For as long as you love me."

"Show me your stomach. Just pull up your dress."

Dawn complied and I got a chance to see her showing for the first time. The first time I ever saw her actually bulging with one of my children.

* * * * * *

I finally dropped an old and leathery hand onto the arm of my favorite chair as I looked up at the two of them. My son and his fiance sat there slackjawed in rapt attention as they stared at me.

She blinked her big beautiful blue eyes and she turned to look again at the huge tapestry hanging on the far wall of the vaulted living room. She took my son's hand and held it close.

"What a story!" she said breathlessly as she studied the patterns with a new understanding.

"It's a story about how we got where we are, girl." I said.

"Dad! She bites my head off when I call her that!" my son informed me.

"Yeah. Her mom's the same way." I said with a smile. "Not that it bothers me any."

She turned to her young husband-to-be. "Can we get a tapestry of our own, Axel? Can we?"

"You bet, Cassidy! We'll nail it up on our wall and weave the finest story ever told. I promise you." he said with enthusiasm as he kissed her. "We can go visit Amanda and maybe she'll start one for us like she did for Mom and Dad."

"Does Halli have one, Billy?" she asked me. God it was lovely to stare into those big beautiful pools of blue! I wondered if Axel had ever pleaded with them the way I had.

"Halli's always at the center of somebody's tapestry." Axel said with wry smile. "She wouldn't have it any other way. She sees the whole world as her own big happy tapestry."

"She doesn't yet live the pattern of the resurrected." I said quietly. "Hers is the first path of the Kissing Star. Very much like yours." It was hard to disengage myself from her gaze. From time immemorial, it had always been hard.

"The Kissing Star?" she asked.

Dawn walked quietly into the room behind Cassidy and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. We all looked up at her, engulfed in the glow of an earthy elegance as she spoke.

"The Kissing Star falls to earth and assumes the form of a beautiful young woman. A child of motion and love. On her account comes the rain of life and we hold her in high regard." She leaned down and kissed her future daughter. "Hi Cass." she said with a loving smile. "Ax, has Daddy been weaving again?"

"The whole fabric, Mom! It gets better every time he tells it!"

"There's resurrection in the telling, son. It's an ode to my optimism."

Dawn came over and sat on my lap. "Billy. Halli called! She says she's doing another movie with Kelly." She turned to her son. "Axel, she needs another screenplay. It's all you if you want it, junior."

"Women of the Resurrection..." he let it hang in the air as he stared into space with that dreamy look in his eyes.