A Quilt for Jenna (39 page)

Reuben held Jerusha tightly in his arms and kissed her softly on the forehead. Jerusha groaned and mumbled some indistinct words.

“Reuben? Where are you? I'm so cold...”

“I'm here, my darling, I'm here,” he whispered. Tears ran down his face as he pulled his wife and the little girl close to him and tried to warm them with his own body.

Just then the door burst open, and Bobby stood there, shaking with cold.

“The tractor died,” he cried. “I tried to start it, but there wasn't enough charge on the battery to warm up the glow plugs. I brought a couple of self-starting flares from the toolbox. Maybe we can at least get a fire going.”

“Go look out in the shed and see if there's any wood there,” Reuben said. “I'll pull a couple of these wall boards off.”

Bobby hurried out to the shed while Reuben laid Jerusha and the little girl down. He went to a place on the wall where some of the boards had already been pulled off and pulled on a board. It didn't budge. Reuben looked around the room and saw the rickety table next to the stove. Reuben grabbed it and broke it apart. He used one of the legs as a lever behind the wallboard and pulled on it with all his strength. The board creaked as the old nails gave way and then pulled loose. Reuben leaned it against the wall and stepped on it with his boot. It broke into two pieces. He did it again and in a few seconds had a pile of pieces that would fit into the stove. Just then Bobby came back from the shed with an arm full of scraps and small pieces of pine.

“This was all that was left,” he said. “Jerusha must have gotten a fire going and used whatever was here to stay warm.”

“Put it in the stove and use one of your flares to get it going,” said Reuben. “I'll break up this table and some more boards.”

Bobby put the wood into the stove and pulled out one of the flares while Reuben pulled more boards off the wall and broke them up. Bobby opened the flare and struck the igniter on the cap. It burst into flame and lit the room with an eerie red glow that reminded Bobby of the night on the ridge. He glanced at Reuben but didn't see any anxiety on his face, only a grim determination.

“Yes, Bobby, it's like the battle on the ridge, and we will win this one too! Now get that fire going!”

Bobby stuck the flare into the stove under the pile of wood. Soon they heard the crackle of the pine pieces catching on fire. Reuben shoved some more pieces of broken board into the stove. Soon the fire was roaring, and the sides of the stove began to glow red. Reuben gently laid Jerusha and the little girl close to the stove.

“This is good for now,” Bobby said, “but we've got to get them out of here. Maybe I could walk back to the road and flag down some help.”

“The road's too far,” Reuben said, “And you might wait for hours for someone to come by. No, we've got to find another way to get out of here.”

“If I had another battery I could pair it up with the one on the tractor and maybe get enough juice to warm up the glow plugs.”

“Where would we get that?” asked Reuben.

“What about that car we saw back at the pond?” Bobby asked. “I bet there's a battery in there, and I've got jumper cables in the tractor. If I could get the other battery back here and warm it by the fire, I could couple it to the battery in the tractor. There might be enough charge between them to do the trick.”

Bobby saw the doubt on Reuben's face.

“Come on, old friend. Time for a little faith.”

Reuben rose to his feet. “Okay, but I'll go for it. I know the way. I've spent a lot of time at the pond. I'll get the battery and be back in half an hour. You stay here and keep the fire going. Did you bring any tools?”

“There's a toolbox behind the seat in the tractor. It has pliers and screwdrivers in it.”

The two men looked at each other and then grasped each other's hand.

“Be careful, buddy,” said Bobby. “God go with you.”

“No atheists in foxholes,” Reuben said as he smiled at his friend. And then he turned and was out the door and gone into the storm.

Reuben pulled his coat tight around him and stepped off the porch into the snow. He followed their tracks south back toward the tractor. Several times he lost his footing and plunged ahead into the snow but quickly got to his feet and pushed on.

When he got to the tractor, he climbed into the cab and looked for the toolbox. He opened it and pulled out a sturdy set of pliers and a couple of screwdrivers. Jumping down off the tractor, he headed back toward the pond, leaning forward into the wind and trudging ahead until he reached the place where Bobby had crashed through the thicket of gorse. He picked his way carefully through the sharp branches.

About ten minutes later, he came to the place where the road ran around the hill. The pond was just ahead. He moved to the right and carefully skirted the flat surface of the pond. He had to push through some thick growth at the edge of the pond, and once he had to backtrack and go up into the woods to get around a fallen tree.

Finally he came to the wrecked car on the far side of the pond. He glanced inside, but it was empty. Most of the front of the car had slid onto the ice. Reuben carefully stepped onto the ice and slowly inched around to the front of the car. The front end was smashed but not totally wrecked. The ice was badly fractured in a zigzag pattern coming out from under the hood.

He went back around behind the car to the driver's side and tried to open the door. It was jammed, so he kicked out the window. He stooped down, reached in, and pulled the hood latch. He heard it click but the hood didn't drop. He pulled it again but still nothing happened. He pulled the larger of the screwdrivers out of his pocket and went around to the front of the car. The hood had dropped down a little but he could see that the wreck had bent the release, and the hood was jammed. Carefully he inserted the screwdriver and began to pry the hood open. He worked his way along the edge until he hit an obstruction.

He peered into the engine compartment through the crack in the hood and saw that the battery had come out of its holder and was lying on the inside of the hood. He worked his way back, straightening the front of the hood with the screwdriver as he went until he came to where the latch held the hood closed. He stuck the screwdriver in and jammed it into the latch. He wiggled it back and forth until he felt the latch start to release. Suddenly the hood latch gave way and the hood fell open as far as it could before hitting the ice. The heavy battery, still attached to one of the cables, fell out of the car and hit the ice, right on a fracture.

There was an ominous cracking sound, and then a hole opened right beneath Reuben's feet. He turned to run, but before he could move, the ice gave way and he slipped into the icy water. As he went down he twisted his upper body and grabbed at the bumper of the car with all his strength. The car rocked down and then back up, pulling him partway out of the water.

Reuben tried to get his leg onto the ice, but the edge broke, and his leg fell back in. The car dipped down again, and he went into the water up to his waist. He could feel the cold begin to penetrate his body as he hung halfway in and halfway out of the pond.

Is this it then, Lord? After all this, am I going to die in this pond?

Reuben closed his eyes. He hung from the bumper of the car and felt his strength fading as the cold began to numb his legs.

He closed his eyes and waited for the end. Just before he let go, something made him open his eyes. He was no longer hanging on the car—he was standing on a hill, and there was something right in front of him. It was a wooden cross. He looked up and saw a man hanging motionless, his hands and feet nailed to the wood. The man's eyes were closed, but he opened them, looked straight at Reuben, and spoke to him.

“
I hung between heaven and earth so you could live. I will never leave you or forsake you.
”

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY
-O
NE

Going Home

R
EUBEN CLUNG DESPERATELY
to the bumper of the car. The freezing water was up to his waist, draining his strength away.

Jenna, I'll be with you soon, sweetheart.

Just then Reuben heard a sound behind him, something sliding slowly across the ice. He tried to turn his head to see what it was, and then he felt strong hands grip his coat and his arm.

“Let go, pal, I've got you.”

Bobby! Reuben felt his friend pulling on him, and he let go. As Bobby pulled, Reuben's legs came up out of the water and onto the ice. Bobby slowly and carefully dragged Reuben backward across the ice and up onto the bank. Reuben lay there gasping for air.

“Where did you come from?” he asked, shaking with cold.

“Well, you always seem to get yourself into trouble, so I figured I had better make sure you got back in one piece. Your wife needs you.”

“Is she all right?”

“The fire has warmed her up and she's doing better, but we still need to get her and the little one out of here. We're a little too busy to be taking a swim right now.”

Reuben looked at Bobby and then began to laugh. Bobby stared at him and then started laughing too. The two friends laughed hysterically, and then finally they stopped and caught their breath.

“Now, let's get that battery and get out of here before the whole thing gives way,” Bobby said.

“I think it fell into the pond,” Reuben said.

Bobby looked under the hood.

“Nope, we got lucky. It's still attached to one of the cables. I'll get around on the other side and unhook it. Did you bring tools?”

Reuben reached in his pocket and pulled out the pliers and the small screwdriver.

“I dropped the other one in the pond,” he said.

“That was a two-dollar screwdriver, pal. You owe me.”

Bobby walked around the back of the car and then carefully stepped out onto the ice. It groaned dangerously under his feet, but he kept going. He slowly worked his way up the side of the car until he got to the front. He knelt and used the pliers to undo the cable holding the battery to the car, lowered the battery all the way down, and then pushed it behind him. He reached into the engine compartment and freed the other cable. The hole where Reuben had fallen through was only a couple of feet from where he was working, and the ice continued to crack and pop.

“You better get off that ice pretty quick, but don't forget to get all the nuts and washers,” Reuben shouted.

“Way ahead of you, pal,” Bobby replied, holding up the hardware. He held on to the car with one hand and slowly eased his way back to the bank, dragging the battery along by the attached cable. Just as he got to the bank, the ice gave another sharp crack and broke. The front of the car dropped into the crack, and the car began to slide into the pond. Bobby leaped up onto the bank, dragging the battery behind him. Huge bubbles of air escaped out of the broken window as the rest of the car slid slowly down the bank and into the water.

“Timing is everything,” said Bobby as he watched the car disappear. “Now let's get you back to the fire and get those wet clothes dried out,” he said as he helped Reuben get up.

Bobby handed Reuben the cables and grabbed the battery. “Let's go,” he said, and the two men headed back toward the cabin.

The fire had taken the chill out of the room when they got back, but Bobby added more wood anyway while Reuben checked Jerusha. Her breathing was shallow, but a little color had come back to her skin. She was still unconscious. The little girl lay next to her, quiet and still but alive. He stripped off his wet clothes and set them to dry while Bobby placed the battery next to the fire to warm it up.

“Hopefully it didn't freeze so hard it lost all the charge.”

“How long will it take?” asked Reuben.

“About twenty minutes or so. If we can just get enough charge to boost my battery, it will get the glow plugs warm enough to start the tractor. What I'm worried about the most is the shape my glow plugs are in. Dutch said a couple of them are pretty worn out. I was hoping to get some new ones tomorrow, but the storm came in on Thursday and I had to go with what I had.”