Lyndy & Jackson

Chapter - 4

Lyndy & Jackson:

Chapter 4

By: Mike Hurley

Chapter title: Deja Vu

Jack turned and looked at Lyndy.  Their eyes met and connected for several seconds. She peered deeply into him; Lyndy sighed, he was back with her. She could now help him reason with his thoughts and more importantly help him understand and sort through his emotions. Like many men, Jack's overloaded emotions began to shut down the logical way he usually processed thoughts. He preferred to simply bury the painful memories in his mind, ignore them and move on.  The other option is constantly reliving the experience, some describe this as similar to riding the many white water rapids of the Colorado River. Whirlpools try sucking some down into a bottomless world of despair; rocks beckon you to smash into them, then drop & pin their helpless victims into underwater chambers of rotating confusion. The dizzying effect of a merry-go-round would be welcome. Lyndy knew she had to reach in and pull Jack out of the turbulent rapids, in his mind.

Lyndy had thrown Jack a lifeline; she kept calling his name in an ever increasing volume, until he stopped and looked at her. He momentarily stopped blaming himself for Elsa's death.  Lyndy gazed into Jacks eyes, and peered ever deeper. She saw a feeling of bewilderment in his eyes, and it caused her a moment of deja-vu. That feeling startled Lyndy, and threw her off course momentarily. She realized she had to be quick in helping Jack. He was still in a confused state of despair over Elsa's death, but he had stopped, and she needed to pull him out. But the deja vu reached out and grabbed Lyndy, it pulled her just for a few moments, but to her, it seemed much, much longer.  Instantly, her mind took her into the past about 4 1/2 years.

She found herself once again in a vicious snow storm, that had arisen out of no where on a cool, sunny, and pleasant Alberta winter day.  Her dad had dropped her off at his brothers home in Hudson. Uncle Dale showed Lyndy how the automatic transmission on his 1953 Mercury would slip and bind, causing the blue 4 door to suddenly stop. She tried different gears to determine if perhaps it could be driven in 1st or 2nd for a short time. The Mercury would slowly grind along in 1st gear with no sudden stops. Lyndy asked her uncle if she could have a week to work on it, & replace some parts in the transmission. He agreed & she began slowly driving home to her parents farm about 12 miles south of Hudson. 

Creeping along in first gear, Lyndy had traveled just 3 miles outside of Hudson.  Meanwhile the old transmission was over heating and suddenly seized up & slammed the car to a stop. Lyndy tried everything to get the car moving again & gave up. She had been driving partly on the shoulder, & just left it there and decided to walk home.  She was a fast, strong walker & estimated she could make it home in about 3 hours. Lyndy grabbed a light jacket & hat she brought along, stuffed her wallet & keys in her jeans pockets, and started walking.  In a short time she reached a stretch of road with dense forest of northern red oak, Norway Spruce, elm, and birch trees on each side.

After about 2 miles, a cold rain started, quickly followed by a wet heavy snow. A light wind picked up and was blowing right into her. As Lyndy reached the crest of a hill, the wind turned into a monster; it reared up out of no  where and hurled itself at the countryside.  Now walking southwest, a cold front was roaring off the Rockies & the ferocious wind raced down the road, pinned in on each side by trees, it was like a river of wind, flooding down the road and slamming into her.  In another 30 minutes Lyndy was covered in wet snow, shivering from the dropping temps, and tiring from forcing herself into the wind. She saw a giant Norway Spruce up ahead, its bows swinging side to side like an orchestra conductor flailing his arms & snapping the baton.  She dashed into the old coniferous tree, squeezed between the bows & worked her way to the far side. Here she found shelter from the fierce storm and wind. Still freezing shivering, and wet, she at least could take a break, and to her surprise, the earth still retained a little heat. Lyndy was exhausted from battling the wind, she decided to stay inside the sheltering spruce for a little while, rest, and warm up.

In just a few minutes, she fell sound asleep sitting on the dry & warm ground with her head resting on the massive trunk.  After about an hour, she jumped awake to feel a warm breath on the side of her neck. It was a powerful breath, it gave her blasts of warm air, followed by....taking her scent. Within a few seconds Lyndy was fully awake, she stood up and was looking right into the eyes of a massive horse. She reached out and touched his face. The horse had thrust it head into the branches and plowed ahead deep into the tree to reach her.  He was chestnut in color, strong and tall in stature, a massive chest, and seemed as gentle as a butterfly. Suddenly, Lyndy heard a mans voice. 

The man seemed quite upset with the horse. Charlie!!! What are you doing in there you crazy guy. We need to get home, now!! The snow is piling up, I'm cold and now you are hunting squirrels. Lyndy could see the mans boots, & hands as he gently but firmly commanded Charlie to back up.  Lyndy reached up and put a hand on each side of the horses head, gently touching his face and quickly kissed the horse on his nose. Just as spontaneous as her kiss, Charlie drew in a deep breath, dug his hooves into the earth and knickered loudly in protest to the mans commands. Lyndy jumped and cried out in surprise at the horses sudden protest. Next, she heard a thrashing of branches, snapping of twigs, and finely a crash, as a tall, young man dismounted and landed inches in front of her.

She looked up and met his eyes.  She saw bewilderment in his eyes, then shock, followed by a trashing of words as the man struggled to form a coherent sentence. Who are you and what are you doing in a spruce tree in the middle of a blizzard, in the middle of no where? Lyndy was still wet, freezing, and began shivering again. She began to cry as she met his eyes and exclaimed, well, why are you in a spruce tree, in the middle of a blizzard, in the middle of no where, and on a horse?? She was in no mood for interrogations, so she glared at him, tears dripping down her face, wet, freezing, and shivering. Meanwhile, Charlie wedged himself  between them & wrapped his warm neck around her. She hugged Charlie, and instantly loved him; taking in his warmth and in exchange depositing tears into his mane.

To be continued: