Courage
Authors: Joseph G. Udvari
COURAGE
A FAMILY LOST IN THE CANADIAN WILDERNESS
Joseph G. Udvari
Copyright 2012, No. 1094747, Joseph G. Udvari
All rights reserved including rights of reproduction in whole or in part.
This is a work of fiction and fantasy. Names, characters, pictures, establishments, incidents are either the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is entirely coincidental. Actual places and historical references have been used only in order to place the locations and time period.
First Printing
Published by:
TheEbookSale Publishing
Limerick, Ireland
First Edition
2012
ISBN: 978-1-84961-167-1
Dedication:
This book is dedicated all who love adventure, but fear they lack the courage to deal with the unforeseen.
Contents
Preamble
“Grandpa when will you write my book? You've already written one for all your other grandchildren,” Alicia asked.
“I guess it's time, yours is the last one. Do you have any ideas for the story?”
“No, not really, I like all stories.”
“So I can write about anything I want?”
“Yes, you can Grandpa,” she replied.
“I'll have to think about it. Alicia, what if I tell you a story and you contribute to it as we go along?”
“But I thought it was to be a book?”
“A book is really just a story after all. How about each time I tell part of the story to you, I'll put it on the computer and once we have a hundred or so pages, we edit and make it into a book?”
“I like that idea, so I can actually help you with the story?”
“Sure you can, we'll work on the story together. Would that be okay?”
“I think that would be lots of fun Grandpa,” she agreed.
After a couple days of tossing ideas around in my mind, I said, “Alicia, I believe I have an idea for your book.”
“What's it about Grandpa?”
“Alicia, do you know what the word courage means?” I asked.
“I think so Grandpa. It's when you do something special and brave.”
“I believe that's close enough. Now I will tell you a story about courage.”
CHAPTER ONE
There was a family living in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Canada's west coast. The father's name was Jim Robinson, his wife was Mary and together they had a 10-year-old son Lucas and a 7-year-old daughter Jill, who would be turning 8 on Aug 20th. All their neighbors said they were an ideal family. The kids were polite and well behaved; Mary stayed home with the kids while Jim worked to provide for their needs. They lived in a pleasant subdivision, close to schools and shopping. Jim was an accountant and Mary taught school before she became a stay at home mom.
In early August of 2010, the Robinson family decided to go on a camping vacation. After many suggestions and discussions as to where they should go, they finally decided to fly north of Williams Lake in British Columbia and maybe see the salmon run, do some hiking, fishing and just enjoy the great outdoors for a couple of weeks. Jim was a pilot and qualified to fly a small Cessna 210 Centurion prop plane. It had seating capacity for six people so there would be room for the four of them plus it had a small cargo area to hold their camping gear and other essentials. Jim had taken trips like this before with some friends, so felt confident that it was safe. He knew a couple of grassy fields where he could land the plane and the weather in mid-August was still good. They would need to be back before the start of school in September.
The magic day finally arrived, the kids were excited and all ready to go. They had packed only the essentials, as there was only so much room in the small plane. Jim knew they could âlive off the land,' well, sort of. They had a four person tent, sleeping bags, some warm clothing and Jim had a Swiss army knife with â25' different uses. Mary insisted on taking some canned and dried foods, just in case Jim had miscalculated about their ability to âlive off the land' which of course had been the case on other camping trips.
“
Grandpa I think they should pack some stuff for around the camp fire for a special treat in the evening.”
“You mean like s'mores?”
“That's exactly what I meant.”
“Great idea Alicia.”
Mary also packed marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham wafer crackers for treats around the campfire. It would soon be Jill's birthday and that would be a nice surprise for her. She hid the s'more ingredients in her backpack, and then stuffed a few extra chocolate bars in one of the duffle bags. They had netting to keep out the bugs, some bug repellent and since they planned on living in their bathing suits, Mary packed two bathing suits for each of them. “I nearly forgot the fishing gear,” Jim said, so he packed that as well.
“Jim did you pack your shaving gear?” Mary asked.
“Are you kidding? We're going to be roughing it, I'm not shaving for the entire two weeks!”
“Should we take the cell phone Jim?”
“There won't be a signal where we're going, but I'll throw it in anyway.”
“Lucas, did you pack your I-pod and extra batteries?”
“
You know Grandpa, there are no extra batteries for an I-pod.”
“What do you mean?”
“It has a rechargeable battery, not the kind that you replace.”
“I guess my age is showing because I didn't know that. You see, you are helping with this story already.”
“I've got my I-pod Mom, but there are no extra batteries for an I-Pod; you have to plug it in to recharge it! And besides, we'll only be gone two weeks and dad probably won't let me play with it that much anyway,” Lucas added quietly. Fresh in his mind was last week's lecture about restricting his I-Pod playing time to one hour per day and more time playing outdoors in the fresh air.
“Jill, you better make sure you have enough elastic bands for your hair.”
“Sure mom, I packed ten, that should be enough,” Jill answered.
“I'm packing, one pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, two warm sweaters, six tee shirts and two bathing suits for everyone plus shampoo, a bar of soap and a couple of towels.” Mary was very particular about cleanliness and just because they would be camping in the woods was no reason they couldn't stay clean. With some creative packing everything should fit in two large duffle bags. Of course it didn't! There were two duffle bags and one backpack, which would come in handy for day hikes.
“Jim I'm packing the tea kettle, you know how much I look forward to my tea every morning.”
“Why not just take a small pot then that way we can use it for other things as well?” Jim said.
“I have just the thing. I was going to throw this old saucepan in the garbage but we can use it camping and throw it out after we get home. As I recall the plane has a full first aid box, so we don't have to take one but I'll just pack some Tylenol, Neosporin and anti-itch lotion for pesky bug bites in the backpack in case someone gets a headache or a scrape or if the mosquitoes are hungry. There, that should be everything. Do you think I might have forgotten anything Jim?”
“Even if you did, I'm sure we'll survive without it. We're only going for a couple of weeks.”
They drove out to the airfield where the Cessna was ready and waiting. Jim and the service crew made sure they had enough fuel to fly the 1000+- kilometers to their destination and back, with some to spare. The company that owned the plane certified it to be safe.
“Now Jim, this plane is equipped with a new transponder in case you need it, we just installed it and it works.”
“What does it do?”
“Simple, if you are in trouble, just flip this here switch,” the mechanic said, pointing to a small box. “And it will send out a signal that we can pick up. When activated this red light will flash and the signal will give us your exact location.”
They knew Jim well as he had rented planes from them before. The mechanic asked some questions regarding what they were carrying and where they were going. Jim filed a flight plan of their destination and they made ready for takeoff. The plane's calling sign was V-HER8. Mary assured that they were all harnessed in their seats and as they took off from the airstrip, the weather was near perfect, the sun was shining, there were only high clouds. It was a beautiful, clear day for flying. They were averaging 200 kilometers per hour and should be at their destination in two hours or so. Jim pointed out landmarks to the kids as they were flying. “Look over there, that's Williams Lake, and over on the left is 100 Mile House.”
Both kids groaned, “Enough dad, when are we going to be there?”
“In about half an hour,” Jim said with conviction.
“You say that all the time too Grandpa,” Alicia chucked.
“I guess I do, don't I?”
“Dad you always say that. Really, how much longer?”
“Okay, we'll be there in thirty minutes then.”
“You always say that too,” the kids groaned in unison.
“After landing I'll take you to a lake where the fish are so plentiful that you can walk across the water without getting your feet wet.”
“Don't you have any new material Jim? Mary asked. “The kids know all your lame jokes by now. Seriously kids, we should be there in about an hour.”
After landing and unpacking the plane they planned to have a swim in the small crystal clear lake before sundown. Jim was able to navigate by sight since he had flown this area before and knew the landmarks well. The plane was in the air for one and a-half-hours when a fast moving thunderstorm with low flying clouds off the Pacific Coast blanketed the entire area. Heavy rain and winds buffeted the small Cessna. It was getting very difficult to see, rain and the dark skies made it impossible to navigate by site
.
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled all around them. One minute they were heading in one direction and the next moment the wind changed and they were pushed in another direction. Jim tried to fly above the storm, but the plane just couldn't get up high enough to do so.
The small plane hit several air pockets, dropping suddenly, until Jim could get it under control, then it would hit another air pocket and drop again.
“Mom, I'm going to be sick!” Jill cried.
“Oh honey, just hold on, I'll get a plastic bag for you,” Mary replied.
“Too late Mom!” Lucas said. “And I don't feel so great right now either.”
“Jim, are we going to be okay?” Mary whispered.
“I think so,” Jim responded without conviction.
“Mom I'm scared!” Jill said quietly.
“Dad's a good pilot Jill, he'll get us out of this, don't worry,” consoled Lucas, always the optimist.
“Everyone make sure you have your full harness on!” Jim ordered.
The sky darkened even more and visibility was down to maybe 50 feet, Jim guessed.
“I'll call in for a check,” Jim said to no one in particular.
“This is VH-ER8, we are experiencing atmospheric disturbance. Repeat, this is VH-ER8, we are experiencing atmospheric disturbance, acknowledge please.”
Jim was waiting for a reply when lightening struck the plane and all the instruments went dead including the radio communication system.
Jim tried again, “Mayday, mayday this is VH-ER8, we are in an electrical storm, acknowledge please!” He repeated the distress call a second and third time.
There was no reply, only static.
Then Jim remembered the transponder, he reached over and flipped the switch. Nothing happened, the flashing light didn't come on.
It must have been damaged when the lightening hit the plane, he thought.
The plane was bumped about and Jim quickly became disorientated, having no idea in which direction he was heading
.
He was pleased just being able to fly the plane without losing control. Jill was frightened and began to cry while Lucas attempted to be brave and comfort her. Mary quietly prayed that everything would be all right and held on for dear life. This continued for over an hour with Jim flying blind, not knowing which way they were heading. He attempted another distress call on the radio but again met with no success.
“Mary, why don't you try to call in with your cell phone?”
Mary turned her on the phone, but there was no signal.
“Keep trying Mary, we have to let them know that we're in trouble,” Jim said.
He was concerned that if they went too far east of his designated course, they could be heading toward the Rockies. He pulled the nose of the plane up a little higher to avoid colliding with unseen mountain peaks. There was no let-up of the storm and the plane was tossed about like a small toy. He pulled back on the yoke again, not sure how high they were flying, but he didn't want to hit anything. He checked the altimeter; it was fluctuating up and down. “It must have been hit by the lightning strike,” he muttered to himself.
Jim felt a bump from the underbelly of the plane and yelled, “Brace yourselves!!”
Suddenly, evergreen trees loomed directly in front of the plane. Jim pulled back on the yoke with all his might attempting to raise the nose of the plane, but to no avail. The engine screamed as Jim pulled harder on the yoke. When the wheels of the plane began to make contact with the tips of the trees, it was like a bad dream in slow motion. The plane was pulled down into the forest, breaking off branches and making full contact with the trees. The plane cart-wheeled down onto the forest floor and after what seemed like an eternity but was only moments, the plane finally settled amongst the base of the trees in a jumble of torn, jagged pieces.
“Oh, Grandpa, I would be so scared,” Alicia said.
“Just imagine Alicia, what it would be like to have this happen to you.”
“Grandpa, are they going to survive?”
“I can't tell you that now, can I? That would kind of spoil the story.”
“If I'm helping with the story, then they will survive,” Alicia said with authority.