Falling Snow (3 page)

***

Adler packed her SUV with both of her snowboards and boots, plus two sets of ski clothes and a little suitcase. She trusted her neighbor to watch her cat for a couple of days as was the usual plan when she traveled. She looked around for anything she was missing and grabbed an extra ski cap just for the hell of it. She was headed over to Breckenridge to practice in their Super Pipe for the X Games. She was going to go to Park City, Utah but a few of her friends were going to Breck so she decided to meet up with them instead. She programmed her I-Pod for the three hour drive. She planned to get in before dark and get a goodnight’s sleep before hitting the pipe early in the morning.

As soon as she got on the road she hit the speed dial button and waited. She expected to leave an unanswered voicemail which was normal. She didn’t mind. Unlike Kevin who flipped if he his voicemails weren’t returned. Sure enough the voicemail picked up.

“Hey Kevin, it’s me. I’m headed over to Breckenridge to get some practice runs in. I’ll be back in a few days. I hope you’re article is coming together. Talk to you soon. Love you.” She ended the call, tossed the phone in the cup holder, and turned the radio up. Elton John was playing and she was Crocodile Rocking.

***

Cason had just changed into her scrubs when she heard the commotion down the hall from the doctor’s lounge and closet that doubled as a locker room. She flung her stethoscope around her neck and ran down the hall. Two stretchers were in the middle of the hallway surrounded by doctors and nurses. The first appeared to be a teenage female and the second looked like an adult male.

“What do we have?” Cason asked as she met them inside the triage area that doubled as a trauma unit when needed.

The EMT with the teen answered first. “She was trapped in her car for close to twenty minutes from accident to extraction. She’s been unconscious since we arrived on scene, but is responding to pain stimuli. His BP is eighty ninety-two over sixty.”

Cason checked her pupils with her pen light. They were huge, but equal size. “Put her in one.” Cason said before turning Serena. “Get her in CT scan now.”

“Dr. Macauley, I need some assistance here.” Dr. Smith, the ER doctor called to her. “This is the driver of the other car. He was trapped upside down. His BP is eighty over fifty and slowly dropping.”

Cason looked at the man’s pupils with her pen light. They were severely uneven indicating a traumatic brain injury. She felt around the parts of head that weren’t covered by the protective padding from the backboard he was still strapped to. The left frontal area of his temporal bone had movement. She raised her eyes to Dr. Smith and softly shook her head. “He has a TBI and his skull is in pieces.” She slowly released the Velcro pad on the side of his head and revealed a tiny stream of blood dripping from his left ear. “Do we have any family contact information?”

“I’ll call the officer from the scene. He should have that.” The EMT jogged towards the phone at the nurse’s station.

“Smith,” She called the ER doctor’ name as she stepped away from the stretcher. “The girl has a chance. I’m thinking concussion. She should be out of CT by now. Let’s go ahead and get a scan. I’m almost sure there’s no activity here. He was probably brain dead on impact. It looks like he smashed the left side of his head into the side of the door or window with enough force to smash his skull.” She took a deep breath. She hated seeing a patient that she couldn’t save, one that was just too far gone. “Get his family here now. We will need to pronounce him after the scan and before his BP drops any further and he arrests.”

“He looks so peaceful.” Dr. Smith said. “Do you ever get use to this?”

“Use to what?” She asked.

“Death,”

“No.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “It makes me feel like the most helpless son of a bitch in the world when there is nothing I can do. You can’t get use to feeling that helpless. It passes and you move on. And in my line of work, you see it again, time and time again.” She walked away to get the results from the CT scan for the teenage girl.

A half hour later Dr. Smith walked into the lounge. Cason was sitting in a chair nursing a nasty cup of coffee. “Mr. Cranston’s family just left. I called him at four-thirty-two.” He collapsed into the chair next to her with a heavy sigh. “The EMT’s said a witness on the scene said he tried to stop at a red light and slid on the ice right into the intersection and Trisha Miller’s car t-boned his in the driver side. His car slid into the curb and rolled over.”

“So sad, he never had a chance, especially not after hanging upside down with a TBI. The blood flowed back into his head causing massive pressure which is why it began bleeding. He didn’t suffer.” She said.

“That’s what I told his family. It seemed to help knowing he never felt the pain.” He rubbed forehead. “This was probably the worst head injury I’ve seen in my ten years at this hospital.”

“None of them are any easier than others. I’ve been ridden the chopper out to a few accidents that were so severe I needed to triage on scene. I’ve seen much, much worse. Still, it doesn’t stop me from doing what I do every day because for every patient I lose, I save hundreds more.” She stood up and tossed her cup in the trash. “I sent Trisha Miller up to ICU. Her CT Scan showed a small contusion with no bleeding and minimal swelling which is what’s causing the mild coma. She’ll probably wake up sometime during the night or in the morning. She should recover and go home in a day or two guarding any unforeseen circumstances. Her BP and sinus rhythm are normal. She’s a very lucky young girl. Serena talked to her family. I believe they are up in the ICU waiting room if you want to go let them know about Mr. Cranston’s passing.”

“Yeah, I should probably go talk to them.” He stood.

“You gonna be okay tonight?” She asked cautiously.

He smiled. “Yeah, just a little shell shocked. You’re a hell of a doctor Cason Macauley.”

“You could have caught that if I wasn’t here. It was basic analysis of an unconscious patient.”

Six

Adler stood in the snow at the top of the pipe talking to two of her friends and fellow pipe riders. She had already made eight passes and was still trying lay down a new trick which caused to land on her ass more times than she liked.

“Man you got this. I think maybe you need more speed, try moving it up in your routine.” Amy said.

“If you get that landed it’s gonna be sick.” Gordy pounded fists with her. He was one of the best male snowboarders in the world and at five foot four he looked like a dwarf on his board.

“I don’t know. If I can’t get it laid down here I’m only going to have a few days in the Aspen pipe to try to get it. I think I’m going to take your advice Amy. What the hell? I’ll either land the mother fucker or crash again.” She stood up and snapped her snow board boots into the bindings on her board and set her I-Pod to play one of her the songs from her playlist of loud fast paced songs she used for riding the pipe. Adler Troy had had more ambition and drive than most athletes put together. She was aggressive with no fear, that’s what made her one of the best snowboarders in the world.

Amy and Gordy both jumped up and walked up the hill to get a better full view of her run. Adler started down the hill and dropped in on the right side. She carved directly across the pipe and launched into the new trick when she came off the wall towards the sky. She bent her knees and grabbed her board with her right hand and spun her body in midair causing her to completely rotate three full times. She landed a little shakily but rode it out and went right back up the other side of the pipe and threw down one of her routine tricks, then back to the other side again. She put up three more tricks before coming to a stop in a cloud of snow at the bottom of the pipe with her fists in the air above her head. She was jumping up and down before she could even release her bindings. She had just laid down a hell of a run and could be favored to win her third X Games gold medal in a row if she could land that first trick again in competition. She tossed her helmet and goggles in the snow next to her board and watched her friends both lay down sick runs.

Gordy was the first one down. He released his bindings and ran over to her. He threw his arms around her and picked her up into the air even though she was taller than he was. “You just fucking landed a ten-eighty and with a grab! You have balls of steel! That was so fucking sick!”

“That was awesome! Holy shit!” Amy said running over to her. “I guess I’m settling for another silver at X.” She teased. “You’re just too damn good girl!” She hugged Adler.

“I’m so damn stoked right now.” Adler was smiling widely from ear to ear showing off perfect white teeth. “I’m going to leave here on a good night.”

“Not going to try it again?” Amy asked.

“Hell no,” Adler laughed. “My ass hurts. I need to tweak it so I stick the landing a little better and I plan to work on all that in Aspen. The pipe is almost done. I was up there this morning checking it out. I’ll have three or four days to put a run together and nail that landing.”

“Awesome. Man, I can’t wait. I hear one of the Swiss guys has been trying to lay down the double mctwist. I can kiss my second gold goodbye if he lands that shit.” Gordy said. He tried the same move two years ago and broke a vertebra in his back when he crashed. He wasn’t interested in trying it again anytime soon.

“We should all go out tonight and celebrate.” Amy said. “And pre-party for X Games.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“I’m down.” Gordy said and high-fived her.

Adler shrugged and then raised her hand up to meet theirs. She hadn’t planned on going back until the next day anyway. Why not party a little bit. “I’m in.” What the hell, she’d just landed one of the hardest tricks and only one other female had ever attempted it that she knew of.

***

Cason sat on the couch in her condo, her grilled chicken Caesar wrap long forgotten. She poured a glass of bourbon over ice and drank it in two long swallows. The blinds were open on the balcony overlooking the mountain. She could see the snow silently falling in the moonlight. It was one of the prettiest sights she’d ever seen. She walked over to the glass and watched nature produce something so beautiful, all the while wondering why human life worked the way it did. Do people know when their number is up? Can they control it or is it really something managed and decided by a higher power? She watched the peaceful scene a little longer wondering what it would be like to fly down that mountain with her hair on fire. That made her think of Adler Troy, if that was even the girl that ran into her two weeks ago. She would probably never know.

Seven

Cason drove past Buttermilk Mountain on her way home from her shift at the hospital. From the street she could see the giant Super Pipe and the Ski Moguls glistening in the bright sunlight. The blue definition lines were being painted. It wouldn’t be long before the Winter X Games competitors took to the snow to begin practicing. The games were set to start in less than a week. That meant more tourists and traffic for the small town which could easily result in more traumatic injuries. She hoped it would go smoothly. She really enjoyed watching the games on the sidelines as a spectator.

She stopped at the small Mom and Pop type store halfway up the next mountain that was the size of a postage stamp. It was the local grocery store and pharmacy. She smiled. This small town living was so much nicer than the hustle and bustle of the big city. She grabbed one of the tiny carts that reminded her of one you would find in a Walgreens or CVS. She perused what appeared to be the fresh fruit and vegetables section and passed on the limited selection. Instead, she filled her cart of with frozen dinners, orange juice, and macaroni and cheese, not exactly the healthiest choices but in her defense the frozen meals were Lean Choice which she figured was their version of a Lean Cuisine. She shrugged and pushed on. A few kindling logs to try and get the damn stubborn fireplace in the condo going, a dilemma she found herself in every year, and a miniature bottle of dish soap since the last guy obviously forgot to replace it, but she’d forgive him since he was probably a new father by now.

“Dr. Macauley.” A sickly sweet voice called to her across the two-for-one bin by the registers.

“Shit.” She said under her breath and turned around. “Serena, how are you?”

The brunette flipped her hair and flashed a huge smile. “I’m good. I missed you today. I hate that our schedules are so far off.” She pouted and the wrinkled her nose when she saw Cason’s assortment of frozen boxes. “Maybe you should let me cook dinner for you, that shit is unhealthy.”

Cason forced a grin. The reason their schedules were opposite was because she finally put her foot down and asked for the touchy feely nurse to be put on a different shift. “I can cook, I just don’t care to.” She lied. She was a hell of a cook, but cooking for one sucked. Why go through all of that when you could throw something in the microwave or order a pizza? She wasn’t going to tell Serena that, hell no, the woman would probably follow her home and demand she cook for her. Cason wondered if her husband Larry or Lance or something like that was home. Hopefully, he was and she wouldn’t take a chance on following Cason. She was pretty sure it had already happened once before last year, but she wasn’t certain and she damn sure didn’t need some big burly bearded truck driver spit tobacco at her as he kicked her ass for screwing his wife. “I need to get going. I’m sure I’ll see you at work sometime.” Cason said and cut a woman off with her cart to get into the fastest checkout line. That woman made her nervous and it wasn’t the good kind. She really was a very good nurse and had worked next to Cason on numerous occasions, if she could only keep her paws and sexual comments to herself.