Riding The Whirlwind (3 page)

The Pastor laughed, “If rough talk offended
me honey I wouldn’t make it a minute around these loggers or their
families.”

“These men in these parts work hard and live
hard lives, there’s hardly any work accept in the woods. No, I’m
not offended; God will take care of that part.”

“Why did you come to Mist Pastor?”

“Well dear, this is about the only place that
would put up with having a woman Pastor and a Pentecostal at that.
Some didn’t like it, but I have the logger’s wives on my side so
the men that objected decided to keep quite lest they didn’t get
supper.”

Sue laughed, then she got the giggles and
kept laughing. It was catching and the two of them laughed
themselves to tears.

When the Pastor recovered she gathered up her
large purse and her Bible, “Lets pray dear, then I have to move
along, I’m going to pray that God will keep you two here, this
community needs you worse than you know.”

The pastor prayed for at least fifteen
minutes solid, when she prayed she really got down to it as the
sweet presence of the Holy Spirit filled the room.

“Sue, I’m going to be talking to the other
wives around the community, I want to encourage them to be willing
to step in and help you two if needed.”

“Thank you Pastor, we need all the support we
can get.”

When the Pastor had gone, she sat still in
her chair, her coffee gone cold as she prayed for her husband and
her Family.

Part three

Paul had been working for Ryder two months
and he felt tough enough to eat nails and spit horse shoes as the
hoot owlers gathered in front of the shack at 3 am one morning to
hear their new assignment from Bill Ryder. He came out with his
coffee his usual grouchy self.

“Ok men, listen up, we have the contract to
do Elk Mountain, the steepest son of a gun you will ever want to
meet. Its near straight up in places so it’s going to be risky on
this run.

“I’ve had the fallers in there four days
already, and already there is a man in the rocking chair who got in
the way of his own tree.”

“I want you to work careful out there, you
hear me? I don’t want to lose any more crew. It’s going to be hot
out there so have the water close by you at all times. You won’t be
penalized for calling a time out if it’s really the case, but as
usual I want no slacking. We have to yard those logs out of there
or we don’t get paid. That’s just how it is.”

The rigging slinger held up his hand, “Yeah
Carl, this ain’t school fer crisake, speak up man.” Bill Ryder
looked as if he had been eating lemons.

“Has the cables been changed on the yarder?
Those old cables are gettin’ frayed boss.”

“No they ain’t been changed Carl and you know
it, what you men don’t know and I didn’t want to say anything, is
that Ryder Logging is near busted what with the new government
regulations and everything else you can think off, this job on Elk
Mountain is going to make or break us.”

“Boys, we can’t pay for new cable till we get
that job done…that’s just how it is so we’re going to have to rough
it through with the equipment we have and hope nothing breaks
down.”

“I sold off three of the trucks to get us
through, Steve Halleran’s outfit shut down yesterday…I didn’t want
to tell you boys, but the figures don’t look good.”

The men looked around soberly at one another,
then turned toward the pick-ups parked a few feet away.

“Good luck out there boys.” Bill Ryder turned
and slammed the door on the trailer so hard the whole trailer
shook.

The men were quiet all the way out to Elk
Mountain, each of them wondering what they would do for a living if
Ryder shut it’s logging operations down.

When they got to the landing the old yarder
was there and they stood for a minute and looked at the steep
mountain side which looked formidable in the early morning light.
The mountain side looked so steep to Paul that if he stepped off
the landing he would slide all the way to the bottom of the
mountain.

“OK boys.” The crew leader looked at each one
of them, “Its going to be a hot and hard day down there, so I want
you men to look sharp and work careful, if you feel like you are
getting too hot, call a break. Lets go.”

Paul stepped off the side of the hill as he
heard the yarder operator hit the starter on the diesel engine of
the yarder.

By the time he got down to the first tangle
of logs the yarder operators horn tooted three times signaling the
yarder was ready.

The first day on the mountain Paul worked,
sweated and swore at the tangles of logs and bushes.

A couple times he thought he would pass out,
but he knew he was not the one that was going to call a break. With
his clothing soaked through he kept on working.

On the way back to the yard at the end of the
day the exhausted men looked with hollow eyes at nothing as they
rode the back of the pick-ups down the mountain.

It was dark when Paul cranked the engine of
his old ford and drove home.

The next day the men were still tired when
they stepped off the landing to work through some of the most
grueling hours any of them had ever put in for Ryder or any other
logging concern.

“You ain’t going to beat me bitch.” Paul said
to the side of the mountain as he drug the cable over to the first
tree and set the choker.

“That’s one hell of a tree squirt!” Carl
called over, then cranked his chain saw to limb another tree.

Paul didn’t hear the warning when the yarder
cable snapped and slammed across his hard hat and shoulder.
Everything went dim and gray, then black.

Part four

Paul opened eyes that were just slit’s a day
later in the Portland O.S.H.U trauma unit. His face was swollen
almost beyond recognition, the monitors beeping quietly.

Huh, I thought we were working logs on the
side of Elk Mountain, did I just dream it? He tried to hold on to
the thought, but it slid away from him as his eyes slowly closed
under the influence of the strong medications.

Sue had stepped out for just a moment and
when she came back in and sat down beside her husband’s bed she saw
no signs of him awakening.

A doctor came in and lifted the lids of his
eyes and shined a light at them, but Paul did not move.

She wearily laid her head on the rail of the
hospital bed and slept for an hour and a half, the nurses didn’t
bother her when they came in.

She awoke with a start as his hand moved
under hers; she had gone to sleep with her hand on his.

Paul mumbled something, but she couldn’t
understand what he said.

“Wagger, wagger.” She went running down the
hall to the nurse’s station.

“Paul is awake! He’s awake, come quick!” and
she hurried back to the room, the nurse following her.

“I called the doctor. He wanted to be alerted
when he wakes up.” The nurse told her as they rushed into the
room.

“I wa wagger.” Paul said through his swollen
lips.

The nurse took an eye dropper and squeezed a
tiny bit of thickened water into his mouth. “That’s all you can
have for now Paul, you have to be still, the doctor will be here in
a minute.” The monitor had dropped off his finger so she replaced
it, and the buzzer stopped.

“Wha happened?” his tongue was thick as his
eyes darted around wildly at the room.

“You’ve been seriously injured Paul, now you
need to lay still.”

The doctor walked into the room and took out
his pen light and began to check his eyes.

“Mowa wagger.” Paul mumbled.

“What did you say? Say that again.” The
doctor kept flashing his light into one eye and then the other.

“Mowa wagger, I wa mowa wagger.”

The doctor smiled at that, he looked at the
nurse and said, “Give him a full teaspoon of thickened water.”

“You’re going to be ok Paul, now you need to
lie still a while longer before you start moving around.” He
gestured to Sue to step outside with him.

“I see no sign of brain damage, I think he’s
going to make it through this ok, but we have to keep him quiet for
awhile, can you help us do that?”

“Yes.”

“Good, I’ll be back to check on him in two
hours.”

The next day Paul was able to sit up in bed a
little and he could talk. Sue had gotten the first nights full
sleep in a week as she walked back into the hospital room; they had
moved him off the trauma ward to the second floor.

“Hi baby, how are you feeling?”

“I hurt a little. They fed me a little last
night. Where are the kids?”

“They’re with the neighbors; the Doctor won’t
let anybody in but me right now.”

“I remember what happened now, we were on the
mountain when I heard the cable break, and then everything went
black.”

“Yes, Mr. Ryder said the yarder cable broke
and hit your head and shoulder.”

“I guess that’s the end of that job, I guess
we’ll have to move again honey.”

“Please don’t start worrying Paul, we just
have to get you better and get you home, I can’t do it by myself
Paul, I need you home.”

The next day Bill Ryder walked into the room
and sat down by Pauls bed. “How you feeling big guy?” He smiled at
Paul.

“I feel bad about letting you down Bill, I
know you needed the logs off elk Mountain.”

“Well…for one thing, you didn’t let me down,
you’ve been a champ in those woods from day one, and for another
thing I don’t want you to worry about Ryder Logging or your job,
we’re still in business and your job is waiting.”

“I got a no interest government loan and was
able to buy the three trucks back, plus a new yarder. The crew
sends their best, here’s a card from them.”

The card was signed by the whole crew
including Ed Brubaker. A week later Paul walked into the two story
rented house. He was still weak and he sat down at the kitchen
table to rest from the walk from the car to the house.

“Could I have a cup of coffee?”

“Sure honey, I’ll make some. I could use a
cup too.”

As she busied herself with making the coffee
she asked, “Do you see anything different?”

“Yeah, where did the new furniture come
from?”

“Ryder bought it for us. Look at these walls
Paul.”

“So? What about them?”

“They are ours. The community of Mist paid
the house off, it’s ours free and clear!”

“You mean we have a home of our own?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean, and your
job is waiting for you when you get healed. Bill called yesterday
and said they have a contract on the coast that will last through
next year. Those men love you Paul and we are staying in Mist.

She bent down to kiss him and laughed at his
shocked look.

The end