Storm of the Century

Liv loved the song on the radio, California Dreamin by The Mamas & the Papas She loved oldies! After the song the DJ came on with a weather alert. “The snow is falling at a rate of three inches per hour”, he said. “Stay home, if you’re on the road seek shelter. The National Weather Service reports that this could be the storm of the century. Another 30 to 40 inches is possible with winds picking up to 20 to 30 miles per hour at times causing near zero visibility and treacherous driving conditions. Again, do not travel, stay where you are.” Liv was driving home on Mountain Road after a busy noon to midnight shift as an ER nurse at Mountain View Hospital. The storm had started a couple of hours before her shift, and she had thought about staying at the hospital but she decided to drive home. Liv had exciting news.

The news came on and Liv turned the radio down. It was snowing harder than she could ever remember seeing before. The large flakes hit the windshield, and she thought at times she could actually hear them.

Mountain Road sat on a ridge with sharp drop-offs on both sides, with occasional space for houses on one side. It was 23 miles of flat, winding road with only a couple of tight curves and wooden guard rails on either side. Not a bad road, but one that required the driver's complete attention. In winter losing control on Mountain Road could be disastrous. The locals always said the wooden guard rails were put there because they make people feel better, not because they will necessarily stop you from going over the side and dropping 200 feet to the bottom of the ravine.

Mountain Road was covered with snow. Visibility wasn’t bad, but the wind was picking up. The music started again, and Liv turned it up hoping they didn’t keep breaking in with reports of the obvious. Only about 15 miles to go, she thought, I should be home by 2. It was 12:50 AM. Liv and her husband Jim had a place at the end of Mountain Road, and she knew it well, she drove it nearly every day. An alternate route would take her 10 miles out of her way.

The wind started picking up and visibility was deteriorating. With the defroster on full and the temperature dropping the wipers were barely keeping up, and the snow and ice were building up on the wipers. Every few minutes Liv had to reach out and grab the left wiper, pull it off the windshield, and slap it back down so the ice would break off. A coordinated exercise, with wipers running, learned quickly by all drivers in the snow belt. You could pull over every fifteen minutes or so or you could learn to slap the moving wiper.

Liv had shifted her Jeep Cherokee into four-wheel drive before she even left the hospital parking lot. She had confidence that her old Cherokee and her winter driving skill would get her through the storm and home safely. They had been a team since she bought the red Jeep new in 2004. This was not her first storm, she was born and raised in Northern NY. This was just another storm to her and both Jeep and Liv were doing fine.

Liv fished her cell from her purse, put it in the cupholder, and called her husband. Jim had bought her a Bluetooth radio for the old Cherokee last Christmas so she could stop fumbling in her purse while she was driving. Why not just leave it in my purse, she thought. It was a habit. Jim answered, “Liv are you OK?” “Yes”, Liv said, “I’ll be there in maybe an hour, I’m about 15 miles away on Mountain Road. I just wanted to let you know.” “OK hun”, Jim replied “Be careful! It’s getting worse out there. Let me know when you’re close and I’ll plow the driveway out. No road plows tonight, they’re going to wait for it to stop. This is a big one! “ “OK Jim,” Liv said, “love you, I’ll call back when I’m close, bye”. Jim said, “OK, love you, be careful, bye.” The call ended and the music came back on.

Liv turned the radio down; it was starting to become a distraction. She needed to concentrate; things were not looking good. The wind had picked up with gusts at times causing complete whiteouts. She was on the narrowest stretch of Mountain Road, with only enough shoulder to get a car half out of the lane if one needed to pull over. Liv was starting to question her choice of the route home.

DEER, Liv’s brain screamed! “Jesus!!’, Liv yelled. A deer stood perfectly still, staring into the headlights! She braked hard, the back of the Jeep swerved right, she tried to correct but her foot was still heavy on the brake, she knew better but it was too late. A second later a crunching sound, followed by a sudden downward, almost vertical pitch confirmed Liv’s worst fears. She had broken through the wooden guard rail, her headlights shined into the blackness of the ravine. “NOOOOOOO!” she screamed as the Cherokee headed toward the ravine floor, 200 feet below. She felt her head hit something, and a pain in her left cheek, and then nothing.

Liv woke up in the crumpled Cherokee. She felt a tugging at her hips. There was a pain in her right knee and on the left side of her head, she tasted blood on her lips, and she smelled gasoline. Her arms were dangling above her head. Suddenly she realized the Cherokee was on its roof! She was hanging in the seatbelt! Panic set in, and she screamed, “HELP!! HELP!!,” several times. The only response she heard was a faint screeching. Some kind of bird, perhaps an owl, she thought. She knew in her heart there would be no human response, but she screamed for help anyway again, and again. With each scream, the screech followed. She found a little amusement in it. It was a familiar sound; one she’d heard before but there was no time to play. She had to get help!

She calmed herself. She needed to get out of the Jeep and back up to the road if possible. Amazingly, the interior light came on when she flipped the switch. She was cold, very cold. The wind was howling down the ravine and snow was blowing through the Jeep. Only the windshield was intact, the rest of the windows were gone. There were leaves, small branches, and dirt in the Jeep. She looked in the vanity mirror and saw that there was frozen blood in her hair and on her left cheek. There was a bump on the head that was very tender to the touch. How long have I been unconscious, she thought? Shivering she took inventory. There was pain but nothing severe, she felt that nothing was broken. She palpated her neck. No pain, nothing seemed out of place. “I’ll be OK. I’ve got to get out of here!”, she said to herself aloud, and with that, she pressed the seat belt release.

Liv lay crumpled on the roof of the Jeep, almost immediately her right knee hurt so terribly the world started to spin and she passed out. She woke up again, her watch shining from under her sleeve, it was 1:35 AM. She’d been on the ravine floor for at least 30 minutes. She hoped her knee was not severely injured. The pain now was not any worse than when she was hanging upside down in the seat belt. She looked for her purse, her phone, neither was visible. She frantically swung her arms around in the snow that was starting to accumulate on the roof of the Jeep, looking for her phone. She had to call for help! “Where is it!” she yelled. She dragged herself out of the Jeeps broken side window, her knee beginning to throb. She pulled herself up using the side of the Jeep and walked painfully to the front, each step sending a stabbing pain through her right knee. One headlight had survived, it shined on the opposite rocky wall and trees swaying in the howling wind. She remembered she had put the phone in the cupholder. It likely had exited the Jeep well before it reached the floor of the ravine. “This isn’t good at all!", she whispered. She walked to the passenger side holding on to the overturned Jeep for support. She tried to kneel, but her knee gave out and she hit the ground with pain darting through her right leg so bad that she nearly passed out again. She reached in for the glove box latch, but it was already open. The flashlight she hoped to retrieve was gone, the glovebox was empty.

Liv crawled back into the Jeep. It was blocking at least some of the wind blowing down the ravine. Maybe this was the place to stay, she thought. If someone came down Mountain Road, they might notice the broken guard rail and call someone. Maybe the snowplow driver would notice. Maybe they’d yell down the ravine and would hear her reply!

Liv thought to herself, everything that was still in the Jeep when it made it to the bottom of the ravine should be on the roof with the snow and debris. She took her time and tried to block out the pain coming from her injured right knee. She scanned around by the now fading interior light. There! It was her flashlight! Her excitement increased when she spied a bottle of Advil that had also been in the glovebox. She’d take 2 Advil now for her knee and 2 more if the first 2 didn’t help. Her purse, the one her husband Jim always said was filled with her gold bars, lay near the shattered back window. She crawled back to get it. In her purse was a bottle of Percocet tablets her doctor had prescribed when she broke her ribs the past summer in an ATV accident. Jim had broken his arm in that same accident, and they spent the summer sitting on their back deck recovering. Liv opened the bottle, there were six pills left. She hated pain killers, they made her dizzy and upset her stomach. But now they may save her life, she needed to walk!

Liv was getting colder; it was 15 degrees when she left the hospital. She had to leave the Jeep and try to get somewhere soon! She took two Advil and 2 Percocet and checked her watch; it was 1:50, she’d leave in 20 minutes. Liv curled up outside, beside the front fender of the Jeep where the wind was almost completely blocked. The Percocet acted quickly, she was lightheaded, but the knee had let up quite a bit, it at least was tolerable. She pulled herself up at 2:10 and looked at the ravine wall. The wall was covered with ice and snow and even in the best conditions, she would never make it with her injured knee. She decided to have one last look for her phone and even yelled, “Hey Siri” several times hoping she’d hear the beep indicating the Siri was listening. Instead, she heard the screech again, this time very close. She shined her flashlight toward the sound. It was a Barn Owl, and it was perched on the front axle of the overturned Jeep, only a few feet away! It didn’t seem scared of her, and it kept screeching. Unable to find her phone she pulled up the hood on her jacket, tied it tightly, pulled the gloves from the pockets, and headed slowly along the bottom of the ravine with no idea where she was going. She only knew she needed to find somewhere out of the weather, anywhere completely out of the wind or she’d surely die. The Owl flew off, but the screeching continued, and it seemed to be getting farther away. It was coming from the other side of the ravine now. Maybe it will keep me awake, she thought, as her head spun from the Percocet. At least the knee was calm enough to walk slowly with the help of a branch she found next to the Jeep to use as a walking stick.

Liv was 26 years old. She and Jim were high school sweethearts. They got married right out of high school. She went to nursing school and Jim apprenticed as an electrician. They had been trying to get pregnant of late with no success, but Jim always kept a positive attitude and always said, “Well Liv, it’s sure is fun trying.” Liv thought of Jim and if she would ever see him again. She wanted to curl up next to him and soak up as much heat as she could. She continued walking for what seemed hours. Her smartwatch read 2:40. She thought, 30 minutes! That’s all!? The deep snow and rough terrain made it difficult to walk, and she had fallen several times. It became more difficult to get up each time. She was starting to shiver badly, her feet were getting numb, and her knee was throbbing again. At least her flashlight was holding out.

Liv was in trouble, and she knew it. She stopped and looked at her watch again, 2:43. It dawned on her that she should have tried to send a text to Jim! If the phone was close by, within 50 feet or so the Bluetooth connection may have still been good enough to send a text for help with her watch! Should I go back? Near panic, her head spinning, she tried to calm herself. She kept repeating in her head, the wrong decision now could be my last. Then another loud screech! The bird was directly across from her in a tree on the other side of the ravine. Her knee was starting to throb wildly again. She sat on a downed tree trunk to rest and took another Percocet, and a few minutes later felt herself falling asleep. “No, you can’t fall asleep, you’ll die for sure!” she said to herself aloud.

Liv’s mind drifted to Stanley. Liv grew up on a farm and Stanley was a Barn Own she had found in its nest; its nestmates were all dead. Mom must have met her end getting food for them. She fed Stanley and raised him until he was able to fly and return to the barn. But like most birds raised by people that wasn’t the end. Stanley came flying when he heard Liv in the barn, and he came when called by name. He would land on her outstretched arm and sometimes even on her shoulder. Barn Owls love rodents and her family had farm animals, hay storage, and grain storage in the barn, hence, a lot of mice and rats. Barn Owls will stay for life as long as there are food and nesting areas.

Liv was 17 when she found Stanley. Just before graduation from high school the barn caught fire and burned to the ground. They were able to save all the hogs and only one of the two horses. Most of the free-range chickens who roosted in the loft at night perished. Liv never saw Stanley again after that. She called him for several days, but Stanley never appeared again. “He could have gotten out from any hole big enough for him to fit through. How could he not have made it?”, she kept saying to her parents. They would try to be reassuring but deep down she had doubts about Stanley’s survival.

The Percocet had caused Liv to doze! Awake again, she was shivering almost uncontrollably now. It was 3:05! Liv knew the end was near. She thought of Jim, their baby, she was pregnant and planned to tell him when she got home. She was so excited! She had to keep moving though! Then a rush of wind hit her, but more like a fan. The owl landed on her shoulder. She jumped up, her knee letting her rudely know it wasn’t happy. She waved her arms and the owl jumped to her left arm. She looked, startled at first, raising her right arm to bat it away, and at the same time noticing the black spot on its beak, “STANLEY!!, STANLEY!!, it’s you!!!, she exclaimed loudly! Liv thought it was over now. Was she hallucinating? Her training had taught her that hallucinations along with uncontrollable shivering were both signs that hypothermia was nearing its fatal end.

She reached out and touched the bird. It seemed to be there, but was it real? As she started walking again, she dropped her arm, and the bird flew away. This was a detailed hallucination she thought to herself. The bird flew back and landed on her shoulder. “STANLEY!!, YOU ARE REAL!” she said, and Liv dropped to the snow-covered floor and began crying.

After a couple of minutes, Stanley flew to the other side of the ravine and out of sight. Liv shined her light across to the other side. The land there had flattened out, the rock wall and outcropping of small trees were gone, there was a hill, a hill she could navigate she thought, even with her injured knee. Liv got a spark of energy; the energy sudden hope brings to the hopeless. She hurried to the bottom and started to cross but her hope was dashed when the ice under the snow broke. “OH NO!!”, Liv yelled. She was up to mid-thigh in frigid water, and it was running! If she slipped, she would be swept under the ice and drown! Liv inched along the bottom, nearly slipping twice. She reached the other side of the hole and beat the ice with the branch. It was thin and broke easily. She made it out, but her legs would hardly move. They felt as if they weighed 100 pounds each! The near-drowning caused her knee to stop hurting. That was good for her pain, but she knew it wasn’t good for her survival. The knee didn’t hurt anymore because there was hardly any circulation in her legs. Soon her legs would not carry her at all. Then it was just a matter of waiting to fall asleep, and dying peacefully, or so she had heard. How did anyone know that hypothermia victims died peacefully she thought? She snickered and said aloud, “I’ll know but I won’t be able to tell anyone.”

Liv pushed on through a hedgerow where she fell yet again. This time she was nearly unable to get up. On the other side was a flat field. Stanley, or her hallucination, showed up again and landed on her shoulder. “Look Stanley, a flat field! Maybe a road nearby!”, she said. She still wasn’t sure if Stanley was real, but she so wanted him to be. She knew Barn Owls only lived 4 or 5 years and Stanley would be 9 now, but some had been known to live 15 years, so this could be Stanley. The bird flew away again but now she heard the screech constantly, one after the other. Walking with great effort now her left leg fell out from under her, and she went down yet again. She had slipped into a rut. About six feet away there was a depression in the snow, another rut. She recognized them for exactly what they were. These were tractor ruts!! There’s a farm nearby, she thought. She scanned in all directions. For sure nothing behind her but there was no sign of anything in any direction. The snow was heavy, and the wind was howling now. It won‘t be long now, she thought, with a tear running down her cheek. She got herself up for what she was sure was the last time and was careful to walk between the ruts. Stanley, or her hallucination, kept screeching and it was getting louder. Was he calling her to Heaven? Showing her the way? That’s it she thought, I’m dying and Stanely came to take me to Heaven. Geez, she thought, the trip could have been easier. The screeching was for sure to her right as she stood between the ruts. To the left, they would lead back to the ravine but to the right, “A HOUSE, THERE MUST BE A HOUSE”, she said aloud! At least a barn she thought! Out of the wind, I might recover! She walked for what seemed forever. She stopped looking at her watch. It was disappointing to feel as though she had walked for hours when only minutes had passed.

She had been following the ruts for a while, and her desperation became overwhelming. Strangely, she was starting to feel warm. She knew this was a very bad sign, there was only a very short time left for her. There were at least 15 seconds between her labored steps now. Unable to put her left leg forward Liv said in a weak, cracking voice, with tears streaming down her cheeks, “It’s over.” The incessant screeching was finally too much for Liv! “SHUT UP!” Liv screamed, “SHUT THE FUCK UP!! LET ME DIE IN PEACE!”, and she let herself fall to the ground.

As she slipped away, she thought of Jim, their unborn baby, and Stanley who she now was sure had come from Heaven to help her to the next world. She heard the screech almost next to her now and a deep humming of some sort, then Liv slipped into darkness.

The humming she heard was that of Rick Wilkins's snow machine. He woke up for his nightly trip to the bathroom at around 3:30 AM, and as he walked by a window in the hallway, he saw what he thought was a light in the west field. It was moving as if someone was walking, up and down, pointing left and right, then up and down again. As he watched it, the light disappeared. Rick did his bathroom business, rushed back to the bedroom, and started getting dressed. His wife Terry woke up and asked what he was doing. “There’s a light in the west field! I’m going to see what it is”, Rick answered. “It’s probably a snow machine”, Terry said, “come back to bed.” Rick told Terry to grab the “walkie” as they called them, just in case. They used the radios to stay in contact when Rick was out in the fields since there was no cell service in their area. 10 minutes after Rick left, he was yelling into the radio, “Terry, there’s a girl out here! My God, she’s blue but she’s still breathing, and she’s shaking terribly!” I’m on the way back, get blankets ready and turn the heat up in the house, as high as it goes!” Terry replied, “Oh my God, yes, right away!”

Liv woke up on her back, still shivering wildly, looking straight up at a grey-haired man with a long beard and a greying woman beside him. “My God she’s nearly frozen to death Rick!,” the woman said, “We need to call for help!”, “What’s your name dear,” the woman said. Liv couldn’t talk but she felt warmth, her pants and jacket were crumpled up on the floor next to her, she had piles of blankets on her, and there was the red glow of a space heater only a foot or so from her. “We can’t”, the man said, “there’s no internet, the dish on the roof is packed with snow!”. I guess we should have kept the landline, he thought to himself.

The woman introduced herself, “I’m Terry and this is Rick. Rick saw your light in the field and went out on the snowmobile to see what it was. Liv managed a smile through the shivering and said in a whisper, “I’m Olivia, they call me Liv, thank you, Rick, thank you.”

Rick was looking at his teenage son Jeremy’s ham radio set up on his desk. Rick sat with Jeremy sometimes when he was on the radio. He was fascinated that Jeremy could talk to people around the world. But now Rick was only interested in getting help and he knew which radio Jeremy used for local communications. Rick turned it on and with a beep, it was ready to go. “HELP, I NEED HELP, IS ANYONE LISTENING!” Rick spoke into the mic. A second later there were at least 3 people talking at the same time. Rick came back with, “Thank God! But you all talked at once. Try again.” One man came back and asked what was happening and what his call sign was. Rick told him that he didn’t have a call sign, that it was Jeremy’s radio set, and that it was an emergency. Jeremy, his son, was stranded at his girlfriend's house which didn’t seem to be a problem for Jeremy.

The man on the other end was Mark and he knew who Jeremy was, he had talked to him several times. Mark got on his phone to call for help. Nobody could get out in the storm so they transferred Mark to the hospital so he could relay their instructions on how to treat Liv.

Terry drew a bath as instructed by the doctor on the radio relay. Not too hot, not even as warm as you would for your own bathing, just warm. Her legs were to be kept out of the water or the stagnant blood would quickly leave her legs, make it to her core, and kill her. Her core needed to be warmed first. Her arms and legs would be warmed later. Rick carried Liv up the stairs where Terry had stepped into the half-filled tub. Terry grabbed Liv’s legs, Rick took her arms and they both settled her into the tub making sure only Liv’s torso was in the water.

Rick kept removing water and replacing it with hotter water a little at a time, as the doctor had instructed. Mark stayed by the radio and called the hospital for Rick with reports every 30 minutes or so. By 9 AM Liv was wide awake and looking much better. There was still some numbness in her hands and feet, but she was able to tell Rick and Terry what had happened. They were amazed she had lived through the crash. She thought of Jim! “My husband!! He doesn’t know where I am!”, she said to Terry. “That’s all taken care of dear, you gave us the number last night. Mark talked to Stanley on his cell several times. “His name is Jim”, Liv said, with a puzzled look. “You were pretty out of it, you kept saying, Stanley. You gave us the number and we thought Stanley was his name. The storm has let up and Jim is trying to get here now.”, Terry said.

Liv lifted herself slowly from the tub, wrapped herself in a blanket, and looked out the bathroom window. No snow was falling, and the sun was bright. There was a barn off to the right. Liv had seen this barn many times when she took the alternate route home. The route I should have taken last night, Liv thought to herself. Rick was plowing the barnyard while in the kitchen Terry was making some hot tea for them. It had been a long night. A wave of excitement came over Liv. Jim wasn’t far away; it was only a few miles from here to their house!

Liv made it down the stairs just as Jim arrived. He embraced her so tightly she squeaked. He was crying and so was Liv, which made Terry cry. Rick walked in to greet Jim but he just shook his head with a smile and headed for the coffee pot. Jim told Liv she needed to be seen at the hospital, but they’d not be able to make the 30-mile drive there until the next day. They were still clearing the roads. Terry put them up in the guest room that night and Liv curled up next to Jim and fell asleep.

The next day Liv and Jim walked out onto the porch where she was telling Jim the story about how she thought she saw Stanley. Then a screech came from the barn! They walked to the barn where Rick was cleaning a horse stall. “You have owls., Liv said. “Yes, we do.”, Rick replied. “Watch this”. Rick put an arm out and yelled. “Rosie!” One of the owls flew down to his arm. “We saved this little girl when she was abandoned by her mother. Her mate up there is sort of friendly, we call him Oscar. Terry can feed Oscar from her hand but he’s skittish, she can’t touch him, hell he won’t even come near me.”, Rick said. Liv looked up at the lone bird on the rafter, it had a distinct black spot in the center of its beak. Liv, with a wide smile, beginning to cry now, put her arm out, and said, her voice cracking, “Stanley.” The bird immediately flew to her arm. “It was you!”, she said, her voice shaking. Liv turned to Rick with a bright smile, tears pouring down her cheeks, and said, “Rick, this is Stanley, my Stanley.” Rick grabbed his walkie, “Terry, get out here, you have to see this”, he said

Liv sat on a bail of straw, put Stanley on her shoulder, and began to tell Rick and Terry the story of Stanley, the fledgling barn owl she raised back on their farm. About how she had saved his life, and how he had saved hers the previous night when he heard a familiar voice screaming for help.