B.B.U.S.A. (Buying Back the United States of America) (7 page)

Luckily, he made a fair amount of money in real estate and the extra from fighting fire was not as necessary as it had originally been. He excelled on the crew and rapidly rose through the ranks qualifying for squad leader at the end of his second season. He completed the necessary fire classes, had his task books signed off, and qualified for both crew boss and IC 5 at the end of his fourth season. Leo took over the crew at the beginning of his fifth season when the twenty year veteran Crew Boss was forced to retire at age fifty-seven. Leo was content with his firefighting accomplishments and had a brand new appreciation for working in an air conditioned office in real estate vs. the rigors and heat of fighting fire.

Sarah hated watching the news when he was out with his crew, as it always covered the most devastating fires. She would have loved to call to be sure he was okay, but frequently he simply was unreachable. Leo’s crew was often helicoptered deep into terrain devoid of roads and cell towers. Hours seemed to turn into days and days into weeks when he was out with his crew. To make matters worse, as soon as he was called out for a fire, it always seemed like either one of the boys or Sarah would get ill.

She remembered the despair and utter helplessness she felt when both she and Traykie went in for a tonsillectomy while Leo was fighting fire. They were both so miserable, and when he finally called home, she could hardly talk on the phone. Her voice was hoarse and sounded awful, and her throat felt as if she had swallowed razor blades. When Leo heard what had happened he threatened to walk right off the mountain and hitchhike home. No, she certainly did not miss the five seasons of his firefighting career.

Sarah had a gift of a sort. She had the innate ability to see things before they transpired. She also had the ability to sense when loved ones were in peril. Experiencing daja-vu was nearly a daily occurrence for her. She had sensed that Leo was hurt, and that his life was in danger. She worried relentlessly, but tried her best to hide it from the boys. She really did not care if the phones were bugged or not, she needed to hear his voice and know that he was okay. She closed her eyes, willing him to call her.

Lying down on the edge of their king sized bed, she tried to calm herself before going back in the living room to check on the boys. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind. At times, the gift interfered with her daily life. She was always thinking of a multitude of “what ifs.” She had a hard time turning off her brain in order to sleep at night. With the worst case scenario ‘what ifs’ in her mind, she often had to resort to time outs for meditation and deep breathing. If she did not calm herself, she would undoubtedly let the unnecessary worry take over.

Worrying, was the downside to her gift. At times, it became hard to separate the two. Naturally, all people worry about mowing the lawn, turning off the coffee pot, remembering to set the alarm clock, forgetting to place meat out to thaw for dinner and so forth. That, coupled with her gift, was hard to take, especially when she slept less than five hours a night. Only through prayer, deep breathing, and frequent meditation had she learned to cope with her gift.

Leo was a little apprehensive of her gift. He believed science and religion should agree. He believed in what he deemed reality, and if he could not see it, feel it, smell it, touch it, or explain it, either it did not occur, or he had failed to figure out the science of it. Most things had a reasonable explanation. His opinion had, however, been swayed from time to time witnessing firsthand the harsh reality of Sarah’s gift.

The year following his last summer of fighting fire, a young man had called him late on a Saturday evening. He was extremely distressed. The young man and his wife had both been on Leo’s fire crew the previous summer. Leo had befriended the couple and felt sorry for the young wife as the husband seemed abusive.

Leo had an established exercise regimen for his firefighters. Those who chose not to participate were not called out for fires. There were more than thirty well-qualified available members of the Blue Goose III fire crew, so he picked only the most physically fit and able bodied fire fighters.

The crew had a stellar reputation and was thought of as a hotshot crew. Blue Goose III was a self-contained unit with their own fire cash, tool truck and two crew buggies. They had all of their own supplies from tools, to chain saws, tents, cases of MRE’s, radios and most everything a hotshot crew had, except for the number of seasoned veterans.

Most hotshot crews averaged around eight years of experience per fire fighter. Leo’s crew admittedly had less experienced fire fighters, however they only recruited strong, young capable rookies, and arguably dug as much line if not more than the hotshot crews. When Blue Goose III pulled up to a fire and verified their red cards to the fire management, they were ready to go fight fire within the hour.

Many other crews would arrive in yellow school buses without any supplies. Those crews would waste the better part of a day checking out tents, sleeping bags, tools, radios, batteries, MRE’s, gloves, and hard hats.

Blue Goose III looked like an elite unit arriving at a fire. All members were in excellent physical condition, all with short hair, no piercings, and gear was new and in good shape. Any crew was only as good as its weakest member. All crews worked in a single file line. They walked to a fire through treacherous conditions, one behind the other, following the Crew Boss, and could only move as fast as the slowest or weakest link. When it came to digging line, it again depended on their physical endurance and that of the weakest person on the crew. Blue Goose III’s reputation preceded it as their weakest was usually better than many other crews’ best.

The summer prior to the young man’s desperate phone call, his wife had been injured. That summer, their crew had been dispatched to fight the “East Fork” fire in northeast Utah. They were assigned to “Bravo Division,” an area that covered the steepest portion of the fire and was four miles from the nearest road.

That particular fire had been the most arduous of Leo’s career. After eleven days of constant work, and no showers, the crew was exhausted and beat up, and the young lady had simply lost her footing. She tripped over a root and fell down a thirty-foot embankment, overextending her leg in the process and damaging both ligament and cartilage in her knee.

Hays, the crew boss trainee and their only EMT, made the decision to call for Life Flight. To make room for the helicopter, sawyers had to level a Knoll nearly half the size of a football field, and Leo and Hays carried the young lady the hundred yards from the embankment.

The sound of the helicopter was devastatingly loud. Life Flight’s helicopter wasn’t the same as those that dropped buckets of water on the fire. The rotor wash was unbelievably strong. Leo hung back at the edge of the tree line in order to communicate by radio to the pilot, while Hays remained with the injured firefighter.

Some of the remaining trees around the edge of the manmade clearing cracked and blew over. The visibility was no better than a dust storm. At one point Leo could no longer see the victim sitting on the ground, only the outline of Hays kneeling next to her trying to protect her from the rotor wash and flying debris. At last, the rescuer repelled to the ground and detached his line. The helicopter pilot flew a short distance away giving them time to secure the young lady’s leg in a Velcro leg brace, and harness her to the rescue worker.

Leo radioed for the Life Flight pilot to return. Hays stayed with the victim and rescuer till they had both been safely lifted off the ground. The injured firefighter was harnessed to the Life Flight rescuer, and dangled from the bottom of the helicopter just above the tree tops, till Leo finally lost sight of them over a wooded hill. They dangled that way for nine miles till the pilot could land in a clearing and get the young lady and rescuer inside the helicopter. He felt awful about the incident but was proud of the crew’s combined efforts to get the young firefighter to safety and on to needed medical help.

Leo received several updates over the next few days and was able to pick her up from the Salt Lake City Intermountain Medical Center on their way back to Boise at the end of the fire. The crew felt demoralized and was noticeably fatigued. The “East Fork” fire completed their season, and it was also the last year Leo fought fire. He happily signed and completed Hays’ final task book, and knew the crew would be in good hands the following year, with Hays at the helm.

Because of her injury, the young lady would never be able to fight fire again. Since the “East Fork” fire was his first actual summer as Crew Boss for Blue Goose III, Leo personally felt responsible. However, during that summer Leo saw the young lady find her self-confidence and stand up for herself in her marriage. He kept in contact with her from time to time via e-mail.

She enrolled in college and divorced her husband. She explained to Leo that she would always love her ex-husband, but together as husband and wife they simply were not good for each other. She recovered from her surgeries and thanked Leo many times for getting her into running as that had become her solace. She loved to get up early and start her morning with a sunrise run, then shower, have breakfast, and attend her classes. She told him that running was her “me time.”

He was proud that he had impacted her with a positive outlook on life and introduced her to the love and solitude of running. He had spoken highly of her to Sarah. Sarah had met her briefly at one of the training runs prior to the accident. They had merely exchanged a few pleasantries.

When Leo heard from the trembling young man on the phone that his ex-wife had died that evening, due to a hit and run accident while she had been out jogging that morning, he was equally devastated. When Leo offered his condolences and told him what his ex-wife had relayed to Leo in her last e-mail, the part that she would always love her ex-husband; the young man broke down and wailed on the phone. He listened as the young man openly sobbed and then assured him he would be kept in his prayers.

Leo ended the call and felt overwhelmed with grief and guilt. Would she still be alive if she had never met him? Would she be unhappily married, but still alive had she not found her self-confidence out on the “East Fork” fire? Leo hung his head in grief. He felt at least partially responsible for her love of running, the very thing she thanked him for many times, and the last thing she had done before dying.

As he was alone in the bedroom dealing with the impact of the news, Sarah walked in and wrapped her arms around her husband. He looked up at her through clouded eyes and mentioned the accident. She nodded, and said she knew. Leo was flabbergasted and found himself in further disbelief. How could she know?

She kneeled in front of him. “Honey, I saw the accident three years ago when we were camping at Red Fish Lake. All this time I thought it was going to be you who was hit. I felt your pain a minute ago. I saw the accident flash through my mind. I know what happened. I am so sorry.”

He looked at his wife in disbelief, but realized at that moment that things existed beyond his explanation. Sarah’s gift was proof of that. The next day when he awakened she presented him with a painting: her vision of the accident. Sarah wrapped her arms around him and looked him in the eyes. “Leo, she wanted you to know that it was not your fault. You are not responsible. She loved to run, she felt free, and for once in her life she was not reliant on anyone, she was happy.”

Although Leo could not explain it, those words were exactly what he needed to hear, wanted to hear, and still believed today. As he read the newspaper articles over the coming months, the accident was just as his wife described.

Sarah’s gift and foresight had floored him on two other occasions as well. He did not fully understand it, but accepted it, and realized it was real, despite not being able to explain it with either religion or science.

After half an hour she felt herself ease out of the meditative state. Feeling somewhat relaxed and refreshed, Sarah felt as if she could continue with her plans. The house seemed unusually quiet. What were the boys up to? She pulled herself to a sitting position and extended her arms above her head in a stretch. She twisted her body to the left side, popping her lower back, then again to the right side. She was now ready to tackle the rest of the day.

The boys were well behaved. Chris was quietly playing games on his X-box 360 while Traykie was playing World of WarCraft on his computer. Both seemed in their own world and content. Sarah asked if they were hungry and Traykie, of course, quickly remarked that he always had room for macaroni and cheese. She went into the kitchen, made some macaroni, and fried three hamburgers. She called the boys in and they all drank chocolate milk and ate lunch together.

After lunch, Sarah helped the boys pack their suitcases as well as her own, and then made arrangements with a family friend, to drive them to the airport the following day. He also agreed to house sit for them while they were out of town. David had house sat for them several times in the past. He was good with pets and was always eager to have a bit of a vacation at Leo and Sarah’s house.

David did not put much value in material things. He lived within his meager means and usually rented a basement room in someone’s house for two hundred dollars a month. Although he had a small Nissan truck, he relied heavily on his bicycle and remained in good physical condition. He valued his friends and was always eager to lend a hand.