Lila Blue (20 page)

Next Lila called Terry. It was
six-thirty. They'd planned to start driving first thing in the morning, but
decided to get on the road right away. They'd take Rich's Cadillac because it
had a car phone. They'd take turns driving all night and be here by sunrise.

Lila stayed inside by the phone,
and Jamie and I sat on the porch stairs so we could see the beach and hear the
helicopter. The seagulls started their nightly commute north toward the cove. I
wondered where they slept. I wondered if they dreamt of giant waves and sea
caves.

Soon we heard the low rumble of the
helicopter blades slicing air, and in a few moments Jamie saw it, a tiny orange
dot over the southernmost part of our beach. It buzzed up the coast like a big
orange fly, and when we stood up and waved at it, it dipped down in a little
curtsy as it went by. I saw two guys besides the pilot, and there was an orange
gondola fitted on the belly of the chopper. I was so relieved when we saw it
disappear around the cliff face. I prayed Mark could see it coming for him.

Jamie sat staring toward the cove,
concentrating so hard I imagined a laser beam coming out of his head and
attaching to his brother on the other side of the cliff. I couldn't sit still,
so I went downstairs and starting collecting seal warning signs to store them
for the night. The beach watch people said they were sure it would be a quiet
evening, because the wind was chilly and most people would stay indoors for
sunset because of the clouds.

It was nearly high tide. I was sure
all our stone people in the cove had been knocked over and tumbled around by
now. The floors of the two lower caves might be flooded. If Mark could hang on
to the meeting tree, he'd be fine.

After I stored signs, I went
inside. Lila was on the phone and I could tell by her face the news was good.
She was sitting at her desk holding her chest with her left hand and the
telephone receiver with her right. She nodded and smiled to me when I came in.

I was so relieved I was dizzy and
had to support myself by grabbing the back of the couch for a second. I went
back out and got Jamie. We waited by Lila's desk until she hung up.

"They see him. He's by the
tree. They can't land, so they have to figure out how to get him out. He's
going to be fine."

Lila called Terry and Rich on their
car phone next. They were already in Washington driving toward the Columbia
River Gorge.

It was nearly dark before the
rescue crew got Mark on board the helicopter and headed out of the cove. Lila
kept checking in with Steve, and she put all the pieces together for us.

Mark had injured his right ankle,
so he couldn't walk or help the rescuers much. Plus he was in shock from the
injury or exposure. The coast guard rescuers had to use their advanced rescue
procedures to get him loaded in the gondola and aboard the helicopter. I
imagine they were wishing he was a sprinter instead of a linebacker before it
was over. They were taking him to a hospital near the coast guard station.

Lila had me pack the chicken and
fruit salad and picnic supplies in a laundry basket. I sat it next to me in the
back seat of her car while she and Jamie got in the front. We could smell the
fried chicken as she drove along the winding coast highway south through the
dark. At the hospital, Lila carried the picnic basket into the lobby and left
Jamie and me there with it while she went to find Mark.

When she got back, she said,
"They've got him in X-ray. They wouldn't let me see him. When he's done
there, he'll get a room, and they'll give him fluids and pain medication. He'll
stay here tonight, but they said he should be fine to go home tomorrow."

Just then Lila's friend Marta came
in with her camera bag. "Not you again," Marta said as she came to
hug Lila.

"I know," Lila said.
"My boys are here less than two weeks and they monopolize your
newspaper." She told Marta the newsworthy version of Mark's rescue and
said, "End up with, 'His grandmother says this is his last exciting hiking
adventure.'"

Marta laughed and went off to take
pictures of Mark in a hospital gown. I was sure glad I was staying out of the
papers.

Lila pulled a little table over in
front of our section of the lobby and got out the picnic. It was almost eleven.
More people were coming and going than I had expected, but I hadn't spent any
time in hospitals, so how could I know what to expect?

Jamie and Lila and I sat munching
chicken strips and eating fruit salad while we watched the people going through
the lobby and checking in and out of the front desk. Finally we could relax
enough to feel how tired, hungry, and relieved we were.

Marta came and told us she said hi
to Mark and took one photo before they shooed her away. She said he looked
okay, tired and sheepish, but fine. "His ankle is swollen up like a
cantaloupe," she said.

"That's going to mess up his
driving class and football practice," Lila said. "When we're fifteen,
sometimes we choose the hard way to learn."

Marta smiled and shook her head.
"At least he's not pregnant," she said.

"I'm sure that will cheer him
up," Lila said.

They laughed like old friends over
a standard joke.

Marta stayed and ate some chicken
and fruit salad with us. She said, "Oh, this chicken is delicious! Lila,
how could you focus enough to cook?"

"I didn't," she said.
"Cassandra made dinner. I told you she's a wonder in the kitchen."

"I'm impressed," she
said, selecting another chicken strip and biting into it. She looked closely at
me while she chewed and swallowed. "Don't tell me you did your own braids,
too."

I laughed. "No. Molly did. It
was her idea."

"Well, you look wonderful,
Cassandra," she said, making me turn around so she could admire the back.
"How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"Twelve and such a good cook
and so beautiful, tall, and mature? Impossible." She licked the chicken
crumbs off her fingers and dug her little calendar out of her camera bag.
"When can I interview you?"

"No!" I said, louder than
I wanted to, rousing Jamie, who was curled up on the bench beside Lila, and
attracting the attention of the night clerk at the office across the way.
"No pictures. No story."

"Okay," she said, and she
put her book away. "Maybe later."

Marta took a napkin full of chicken
for the road and said she'd check in again early in the morning. She wanted a
good picture of Mark's cast, maybe with Jamie drawing a picture of a seal on
it.

As she was leaving she said,
"Cassandra, I need to do a feature on you. How about, 'Twelve is the New
Twenty.'"

I shook my head no and laughed at
her. Whenever I shook my head, the beads on my braids made music. It felt fun.

It was past midnight when the lady
at the desk finally told Lila she could go up and see Mark. Lila had us wait
downstairs, because she wanted to see if Mark was ready for visitors.

Jamie was sleeping hard on the
plastic padded bench seat. He'd used up all his energy willing the seal pup to
live and wishing Mark home. Those were huge chores for an eight year old. I
watched him sleep, trying to find something of my father and myself in him. But
he was Jamie, unique. His hair was curly like mine and Mark's, but that was the
only link I could find among us.

That and the powerful magnet of
Lila's love holding us all together.

Lila came for us about thirty
minutes later. By then Jamie was up, and we had freshened up as much as
possible in the lobby bathrooms. Lila looked old when she walked toward us, but
her voice was light and happy.

"He's going to be fine,"
she said. "The break was clean and he's young and strong, so he will heal.
He's groggy from the pain medication, but he wants to see you."

We left the laundry basket with our
picnic stuff in the lobby, and we followed Lila to the elevator and got on
board.

In Sacramento elevators are usually
pretty or even elegant, but this one was a metal box that made me feel creepy.
Mark was on the third floor, so we weren't on the elevator long. "Let's
use the stairs on the way down," I said, shuddering.

"We will," Lila said.
"You'd think they could play healing music or something. Good thing we
don't have to spend much time here. They'll release him as soon as they get a
cast on his ankle."

The hallways were very dim when we
got off the elevator, and the two nurses at their station waved to us as we
went by.

"I told them we wouldn't stay
long," she whispered as she led us to Mark's room. "Children aren't
allowed, but I convinced them Mark needed to see us all before he could rest
well."

"That's true," Jamie said.

"And we need to see him,"
I said, wondering what I could say to him.

Lila sent Jamie in first by
himself.

"Mark’s had time to
think," Lila said to me. "Sometimes that's what we need to sort out
our priorities. He used the time well."

"He's not mad at me for
telling?" I asked.

"No, Cassandra, I think he's
grateful. He really didn't want to spend the night out there. You know how cold
the wind can get, and he could see the rain coming."

"Maybe I should have told
sooner," I said, wishing there was some way his leg could be instantly
healed.

"You did exactly the right
thing. I'm proud of you."

"You always say that, Grandma."

"It's true." She hugged
me, then held me back and looked into my eyes. "This has been hard on all
of us, but maybe hardest on you. You did the right thing, and now we're all
okay, we're all together again."

"In my dream, I couldn't find
my mom either. Does it mean she's in trouble too?"

"Dreams tell us the truth, but
it's more an emotional truth than a literal truth sometimes. Maybe you feel
disconnected from her?"

"I love her. I want her to be
happy, but I want to stay here with you, Grandma."

She nodded for me to go on.

 "I think my mom needs me more
than I need her. I feel
I’m
the mother. I've always felt responsible for
her. I need to find out who I am. I can't do it if I'm worrying about
her." I couldn't say what I meant, and it seemed the more I talked, the
more jumbled up I was, so I stopped and tried to start again.

"What I mean is, I want to
stay with you. I want her to take care of herself. I think it would be good for
both of us."

"And what about your
dream?" Lila asked.

"I think it means I can't help
her, I can't stop her from getting lost."

Lila nodded.

Jamie came out of the room then,
looked so young and tired, but relaxed, too. Not worried.

"He wants to see you," he
told me. When he saw my concerned look, he said, "It's okay. He's not mad
anymore."

I went in quietly. The hospital bed
tilted up at both ends, so Mark was a V. A needle dripped clear liquid into his
arm, but he seemed alert. "Hi, Cassandra," he said.

"I'm sorry you got hurt,"
I said.

"I'm sorry I worried
everyone."

"Were you really scared?"

"Yea, I was. I stayed in the
big cave too long, and when I came out the water was already coming in the
cove. I ran across the rocks, and just as I got to the cliff passage, I slipped
on the first slimy stone and fell on my foot. I heard it break, and I couldn't
believe how stupid I was."

"How did you get back to the
tree?" I tried to remember how far it was, probably fifty yards, half a
football field.

"I crawled and drug myself on
my belly the first few yards," he said, "praying I wouldn't pass out
below the tide line."

"Maybe Saint Ann helped
you," I said, meaning it as a joke.

"Someone did," he said.
He wasn't kidding.

"Who?" I asked. My heart
pounded like a bird trying to escape from my ribcage.

"I wasn't going to tell
anyone, except maybe Jamie later, but when you walked in here, I knew I should
tell you."

"Who helped you?"

"David, our father. He helped
me."

My mind was arguing with him,
giving me all the reasons it was impossible. It was a crazy thing to say, maybe
a mean thing to say. My heart fluttered between hope and rage.

"I know," he said.
"It sounds crazy. I had myself convinced it didn't happen."

"What happened," I said,
pulling a chair over closer to his bed and sitting down because my legs were
wobbly.

"I'd only gone a few feet crawling
on my hands and knees over the rocks, and I knew I couldn't make it that way,
because it hurt too much. So I tried dragging myself up the beach like they
show on the marine commercials, but I was digging myself a grave in the stones
instead of covering ground."

"Then I heard him say, 'Stand
up, Mark. Stand up.' I looked to see if someone was there, but there was no
one. I was conscious. I could see, hear, and feel everything. I wasn't
dreaming."

"What did you do? You couldn't
stand up."

"I did," he said, his
face mirroring my amazement. "It was like being lifted up into a standing
position, and he supported my right side and I hopped the best I could on my
left foot, and it only took a minute to get to the tree. I swear."

"Why do you think it was David?
Maybe it was God or an angel."

"I knew him," Mark said,
and he suddenly started crying and talking through his tears. "He told me
who he was, and I knew him. I could hear him and feel him, but I couldn't see
him."

I found I was crying too.
"Like Lila feels Ray in her bed at night."

"She does?"

I nodded, afraid I shouldn't have
told him.

"She never told me," he
said.

"I'm sorry," I said.
"I should have kept it private."

"No, it's okay. We're family.
We need to know important things."

"Yes," I said. "No
more secrets."