The Reaper must always be viewed in the proper perspective. Pay close attention to the level: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, etc., in your interpretation. Also remember that with every death comes a rebirth, in other words, a transformation. If the Reaper appears in intellectual matters, it could mean the death of one idea, transformed into a new and possibly better idea . . .
Penny read that to us the very next day. She had met us after school and insisted we get together, and she had apologized and felt ashamed that she hadn’t known how to read the card better.
“So it can mean,” she said, “that some spiritual thing we believe will die and be replaced by a better one . . .”
“I think we have all learned a lesson,” I said. “We took things way too seriously last night. If we find something like that we don’t understand, we need to be calm and cool — we need to have patience and faith, and not run home like scared children.”
Michael said, “I think Penny did a really good job. And I think Ariel’s right. We were all weird last night. But asking for knowledge like that might be hard sometimes, especially if it’s not what we want to hear.”
I think that experience made us all closer. Penny was doing magic now, her own special kind, and Michael was helping us figure stuff out. Penny promised to study the meanings of the cards more. And Michael promised to
never forget his fire pouch.
Christmas time. I got out candle making things and made several multi-colored molded candles for gifts. Penny and I got some nice tinted paper and made calligraphy Christmas cards. She did some of her borderwork on them while I showed Michael how to make dip candles. I tried some borderwork on practice paper, but I wasn’t very good yet. Michael asked what we were having for lunch just as I was bringing a tray of candles out of the oven. He laughed so hard I thought he was going to die. I explained to him about smoothing molded candles.
My parents didn’t want to go to Midnight Mass this year, so Penny and Michael and I went together. It was beautiful, as always, and I felt really warm and peaceful when I crawled into bed about 2:00 in the morning.
At almost 3:00, the phone rang. I heard Dad get it, so I pulled the covers back over me.
“Search and Rescue!” he said, bursting into my room. I threw the blankets back. “You have two minutes. No pack, just swimsuit and warm clothes.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I was groggy.
Mom was up by now too. “Honey, do you have to go? It’s Christmas morning . . .”
“Mom, someone out there is having a really lousy Christmas.”
She sighed. “What do you want packed?”
“Some fruit juice or something. Cookies.” I got into warm clothes and crammed my suit and towel into my daypack. Cold water on my face in the bathroom helped me wake up.
HONK,
HONK.
I grabbed the food bag from my mom and flew out the door.
“Be careful, Ariel!”
“I will, Dad!”
Penny was already in the truck. “Hi, Mabel. What’s up?”
“Party on a yacht. A fire started. Fires on boats are bad news.” We were flying north toward a little marina where the Fire Department kept a rescue boat.
“Dispatch to Search and Rescue teams,” said the radio.
“Search and Rescue Charlie team here. We’re approaching Northside Marina now,” Jack’s voice said.
“Fireboat is on the scene, has picked up one victim. Boat is in flames.
Victim relates 15 or 16 people on the boat, all swam in different directions.”
“Roger, Dispatch. We’ll sweep.”
We roared up to the marina. The place was buzzing. I could see the Search and Rescue cars and trucks, a Fire Department car, and a Sheriff.
“Ariel, stay at the radio. Penny, grab a bundle of towels from the back.” A car zoomed up and Bob hopped out as Mabel and Penny ran down to the rescue boat. He ran up to the truck.
“What’s
happening?”
“Hop in.” I told him about the fire on the boat.
“What do we do?”
“Wait.”
“Search and Rescue Charlie to Dispatch. We’re leaving dock now. Give me Delta,” Jack’s voice said.
“Dispatch to Search and Rescue Delta team.”
I had watched Mabel enough times, so I picked up the microphone.
“Search and Rescue Delta team here.”
“Ariel,” Jack’s voice said, “as soon as Mabel gets there, have her proceed to Baxter Point Road. You guys are beach pick-up for this side of the bay. We’ll direct you from there.”
“Roger, Charlie team.”
“Search and Rescue out.”
Mabel and Penny ran up and squeezed in. I gave her the message, and she started the truck. “It would be low tide. Those beaches out there are all mud right now. Hi, Bob. It looks like you’ll see some action tonight. I hope you like goo!” She roared up the road through the darkness.
A few minutes later we screeched to a stop at the end of a dead-end road.
In front of us was dark mud and darker water. “Penny, tell Dispatch we’re here.”
Penny picked up the microphone, pushed in the button. “Search and Rescue Delta team to Dispatch.”
“Dispatch. Go ahead Delta.”
“We’re at Baxter Point Road.”
“Roger. You copy, Charlie team?”
“Roger. We have three victims on board. Keep count for us, will you Dispatch?”
“Affirmative. One got to the beach on the west side, so that’s five out of 15
or 16. Dispatch out.”
“Charlie team out.”
“Sign off, Penny,” Mabel said.
“Delta team out,” Penny transmitted.
I passed out cookies and we waited. We heard that C team picked up five more people, and Dispatch reported two more made it to the west side. The rescue boat was sweeping our side of the inlet now. One more picked up. We could see them out there part of the time, floodlights searching the water.
“Dispatch, we’re going as close to the beach now as we dare,” Jack’s voice said.
More minutes passed. We saw the rescue boat pass our location and head north. We ate another round of cookies.
“Dispatch, I think we have a man on the beach. He’s right at the water’s edge. Get me Delta team.”
“We copy, Charlie,” Mabel answered.
“Delta, drive one mile north and give me a flare.”
Mabel swung the truck around and got on the road that continued north.
“Ariel, there’s a signal kit in the glove box. Sky flare, but don’t unscrew the cap until you’re outside. As soon as I stop, hop out and send it up, nice and straight. Two-tenths more.”
A moment later she stopped, Bob and I hopped out and I let the flare light up the sky.
“Delta, come back a thousand feet and get down to the beach. We think he’s moving.”
Back a little, then down a bumpy dirt road. It ended, we all got out, and Mabel handed us ropes and large flashlights. “Find a way to the beach!”
We scrambled around in the trees, and Bob found the way. We followed him down a little trail, and as soon as we came out of the bushes, we searched the mud with our lights.
“There!” Penny yelled, pointing a little farther south. We all ran. But we were still a hundred feet from him when the mud got so deep we couldn’t move. It almost tore my boots off as I tried to pull them out.
“Damn!” Mabel said.
“Mabel, Ariel and I can get out there on our bellies,” Penny said.
Mabel looked at the guy in the mud. He wasn’t moving. “Okay. I can’t see any other way. Get roped.”
We lay down in the mud so we could get our feet out of it, then wiggled into climbing harnesses. A figure eight knot and a carabiner, and we were ready.
“Bob, take Ariel’s rope. We’re going to back out to solid ground while you two go in.”
Penny and I started to slither along the mud, pushing with our arms. “My mom’s going to love my clothes!” I said. Penny laughed. I looked toward the water. The tide was starting to come in, and water was splashing around the guy.
“We’d better get there soon!” Penny said.
Another 25 feet. “God, I’m cold.”
We kept pushing ourselves along. We arrived at the still figure. “It’s a lady!” Penny yelled.
“We’ve got to get her head out of the water!” I said. The tide was coming in fast. We struggled to lift her head. As soon as we did, she started coughing and sputtering. “She’s breathing!”
“Get a good hold!” Mabel yelled.
Penny and I each got one shoulder, and together kept her head up. Muddy saltwater splashed all over us. “Pull!” I yelled. We were sliding on our sides.
“Keep us together!”
As soon as the ground got firm under us, Bob picked up the lady and Mabel helped us up. We all staggered up the beach. Just then medics came through the trees. Bob set her down, and they took over.
“You guys okay?” Mabel asked.
We looked at each other and started laughing. We were covered with mud, even our hair. We couldn’t stop laughing. Mabel and Bob joined us. I finally collected myself enough to say, “Merry Christmas!” and that started us all
laughing again.
At last we picked up our gear and laughed our way back to the truck.
Mabel put blankets over the seats and around us, and we packed ourselves in.
“Dispatch, Search and Rescue Delta has one more for your count. Alive and with the medics.”
“Delta, the count is now 15, and the ship’s mate confirms 15 people were on board. Rescue complete. Thanks again. Dispatch out.”
“Delta team returning to Northside Marina. Out.”
The marina operators had coffee and donuts for everybody. The medics were getting all the victims off the rescue boat and into ambulances, and Mabel told Jack what had happened on the beach. Penny and I found a garden hose and washed the mud off, starting with our hair, laughing as we went. We helped Mabel clean the ropes and other gear, and she took us home.
Dawn light was already in the sky when I opened my front door, saw Mom and Dad sitting up waiting for me, and said in a jolly voice, “Ho, ho, ho!”