High Water Mark

It had been a long day. Sixteen hours long, a double shift. Three heart attacks, four car accidents, a woman who’d fallen down the stairs, and an elderly man who’d fallen and couldn’t get up. Dominic was tired. He was on his way back to turn in the ambulance and head home for a good night’s sleep. “I hate these never-ending Michigan winters,” he said to his shift partner, Joyce. “Look at how hard it’s snowing. I can’t see more than ten feet in front of me.” “Yeah, Easter was two weeks ago,” she said. “This snowbelt storm off Lake Michigan almost seems like one of the most intense of the winter. Those snowflakes are huge!” “Yeah, that’s what you get for living just south of Grand Rapids,” said Dominic, as he slowed the vehicle, the rapidly accumulating snow erasing all landmarks along the roadside. “Four-wheel drive doesn’t help you a bit when you can’t see where you’re going.” “I think you just took the wrong fork in the road and we’re not on Michigan 37 anymore,” said Joyce. “From what little I can see along the road, things just don’t look right.” Dominic slowed the vehicle to a near stop, hoping to make out something that would tell him where he was. A sign popped into view: Apple Blossom Road. “Damn it, you’re right,” he groused. “It’s snowing so hard I took the wrong fork. And all these guys behind me went right along with me.” The five cars that had been closely following stopped directly behind him, probably wondering what the problem was. A gust of wind buffeted the vehicle, almost as if Mother Nature was laughing at the joke she had just played on them. The radio crackled to life. “All Units: we have an overturned car in a pond on Apple Blossom Road, two miles north of M-37. The car is in twelve feet of water.” Dominic responded immediately. “Unit Five responding. We’re just two miles south of that location. ETA five minutes due to this weather.” “So much for going home to a warm bed in half an hour,” said Joyce. “You’re finishing a double shift, aren’t you?” “Yeah, but we’ve got to respond. Any other unit would take way too long to get there in this weather. If there’s anyone trapped in that car, every second counts.” He tried to speed up as the cars that had been following realized their mistake and turned around. Using the flashing lights was a mistake as the bright light reflecting back from the large flakes that densely filled the growing darkness just made it harder to see. Time seemed to stand still as they inched along, wishing they could somehow will the snow to taper enough to see and make better time. Finally, reaching a bend in the road, they saw the car in the middle of the pond, down a steep embankment. Only the rear wheels and back end of the car were above the water. “It mustn’t have completely filled with water yet,” observed Dominic. “That’s a good thing. Maybe the passenger compartment hasn’t flooded too much. We may still have a few minutes.” “He must have been going awfully fast,” remarked Joyce, looking at the tire tracks to the edge of the pond. They were already filling up with snow. “Okay, that steep embankment is going to be a problem. It’s going to be slippery with all this snow on it, so we’d better tie a rope to the back of the vehicle for me to hang on to as I head down there. And give me any lights we have, especially the waterproof ones.” The wind gave them a reality check as they opened the doors to exit the vehicle. Joyce’s door blew back on her, temporarily pinning her, and she pushed back to force it open. Dominic was already at the back of the vehicle, grabbing a coil of rope and tying it to the back bumper. He picked up the first flashlight he saw, but Joyce, reaching the back door alongside him, said, “Take this one. This will work underwater. It should last thirty minutes or so.” “That should be long enough, one way or the other,” said a grim Dominic as he put his hands around the rope and began his descent down the embankment. “Wait!” yelled Joyce. “Don’t you want a pair of gloves?” “They won’t be of any help once I’m in the water,” he answered. “But toss that sledgehammer and maybe a crowbar down to the bottom of the embankment. I’ll probably have to break a window.” “Yeah, and maybe cut a seat belt. Put this knife in your pocket,” she said, leaning down to pass it to him. The bitter cold was unbelievable for the last week in April. But these storms that swept in off Lake Michigan could turn back the season in the blink of an eye. Dominic held tightly to the rope as he felt his fingers begin to freeze. He had to get down the embankment quickly, not only to possibly save the life of whoever was in the car, but before his fingers became useless from the cold. The wet snow was slippery and more than once he almost lost his grip on the rope as he began to lose the feeling in his fingers. But he reached the bottom of the embankment quickly, grabbed the crowbar, and waded into the water. The water was shallow, just barely up to his knees, but it began to deepen quickly once he was five feet from the shore. The car was about fifty feet out, and he wondered how much farther he could go with his head still above the water. That question was answered quickly as he stepped into a hole and accidentally swallowed a mouthful of the cold water. But it was just a hole, and he pushed on, the water up to his beard. The car was still twenty feet away, its taillights and rear wheels still above the water, but not much more. * * * * Back on the roadside, Joyce was surprised to suddenly find herself bathed in light as a four-wheel drive pickup truck approached, the four lights mounted on its roof chasing the darkness away. A man jumped out. “You guys sure got here quickly. I live in the house on the other side of the pond. I was just getting into bed when I saw this car go in the pond from my upstairs window. It took me a few minutes to throw on some clothes and grab a few things that might be useful. The winch on my truck might come in handy.” “Yeah, we made a wrong turn in the poor visibility and were just a mile or two away when the call came in,” said Joyce. “Thanks for coming out to help. We may need it.” * * * * Back in the pond, it was time for Dominic to begin to swim. The water was unbelievably cold, but he was within five feet of the car. Shoving the crowbar in his waist, he tread water on his way over to the back of the car, hoisting himself up out of the water enough to be able to breathe normally as he evaluated the situation. There was only shallow water lapping at the car’s back window, meaning there was still a fair amount of air in the trunk and, hopefully, the interior of the car. Being careful not to put too much weight on the vehicle, which might make it sink faster, he turned on his flashlight and peered in the window. At first, he could see nothing as the light reflected off the water and the glass. But as he looked more carefully, he saw a body. It was in the back seat of the car. He tried the back door. It wouldn’t budge. Immediately he took the crowbar from his waist and smashed the back window. It took several hits before the glass broke all the way through, and he kept clobbering it until most of the pieces were gone. The water began to pour into the car faster. He knew he didn’t have much time. He crawled inside. The young man was face down in the water. It appeared either he hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt or perhaps had crawled into the back seat, seeing it as his most likely way out. And then maybe passed out from hyperthermia. Quickly thanking God that it was a young man, and therefore light in weight, he reached into the car and took hold of the man’s arm. But that wasn’t going to work. He was wedged between the front and back seat. Dominic would have to maneuver into the car to pull him out. Taking a deep breath, he crawled under the surface of the water and stuck his head in through the broken glass. He would have to get inside the car along with the victim in order to be able to haul him out. Hanging upside down in the car, his feet hooked on the back fender, he grabbed the young man by the waist, and was able to pull him free. His body had a bit of buoyancy, and that helped a little as Dominic began pulling him out of the car. But the effort involved with all this ran him out of breath, and he had to briefly surface to breathe, cursing himself for having to let go of the youth. Going underwater again, he grabbed the young man and began to pull him out through the window. But then the body became caught on something and would move no further. Dominic stuck his head in the window of the car to try to determine the problem. The man’s belt was stuck on one of the small hooks behind the front seat, the kind of hook people use to hang clothes on. Dominic tugged harder, but to no avail. He sensed he was running out of air again, and with the last of the oxygen still in his lungs, unbuckled the man’s belt and slipped it off. Now there was no problem pulling him out, and the two surfaced quickly. “Have you got him?” Joyce called from on top of the embankment. “Yeah,” shouted Dominic, after a swallow of sweet, though freezing cold, winter air. “I’m going to hook your rope to my winch,” shouted an unfamiliar voice, “and we’ll pull you both up. Just hang on tight to him so he doesn’t slide back down this slippery slope.” Dominic was too tired to wonder who this new person was. He was just grateful for the help. The sensation in his feet was beginning to go, as well as his hands, and all he could think about was getting out of the pond. He walked through the water up to his neck again, carrying the young man, being careful not to step back into the hole. He climbed out of the pond and collapsed onto the rope. “Throw down something for me to strap this guy to me,” he yelled, “so I can hold on to the rope with both hands.” Joyce tossed down a belt, and Dominic quickly strapped the young man to his body. “Okay, get us up!” he yelled. The man started the winch slowly, and Dominic once again thanked God that this man had shown up, as the ascent was much easier than it would have been otherwise. In no time at all, they were at the top of the embankment, where Joyce and the man helped them the rest of the way up. Immediately Dominic descended on the young man, giving him mouth to mouth, as he wasn’t breathing. Then he performed chest compressions. It went on for a long time, Joyce taking over. Dominic looked at his watch. They were about at the time limit for this, without success. Suddenly, the youth coughed up some water and took a huge breath. Joyce held him steady, making sure he got all the water out of him. The scene was bathed in flashing light as another ambulance showed up, the crew hopping out, bringing a gurney. “We just revived him,” Joyce told them. “He should make it, but there is probably a good deal of hypothermia.” “We’ll take care of him,” said a member of the other crew. “It looks like Dominic here might have the same issue. He needs to get out of those wet clothes and you need to get him into the hospital for observation.” “I’ll be fine,” Dominic protested. “I just need to get out of these clothes, take a hot shower, have some soup, and get a good night’s sleep.” “And show up for another sixteen-hour shift tomorrow?” said Joyce. “No way. Let’s get you out of here.” She turned to the man with the pickup. “Thanks for your help. It made things go a lot faster.” The lights of the other ambulance flashed as it pulled away. Dominic hopped in the back of his vehicle as Joyce started it up and pulled away. The snow had let up a bit, as the snow band had moved to the north. But they would probably drive into it again before they reached Grand Rapids. It was not a night for anyone to be out. * * * * Dominic woke up the next morning with a start, the sun streaming in the window. The northwesterly winds that had brought in the snow off Lake Michigan had shifted and the skies had cleared. As often happened with these lake effect snowstorms at this time of year, the strong April sun had already begun to melt the three inches of snow covering the ground. By tomorrow it might begin to look like spring again. He had refused to go to the hospital, but he had not won the argument with his supervisor who insisted that he take the next day off. So, after getting home at two in the morning, he had taken the opportunity to sleep in, something he rarely did. It had been a solid eight hours of sleep, without the nightmares he feared he might have, until just before he woke up. He had dreamed he was pinned underwater, the car having rolled over on top of him, the victim in the car reaching out to him for help as he felt the water filling his lungs and the life leaving him. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he went to his computer, deciding to contact a friend of his in Chicago. Actually, he was a bit more than a friend. The two men had met online and had been talking for a couple of months. Steve was a successful real estate agent, and in their last chat had invited Dominic to visit him in Chicago. “I’ve got a great twentieth floor condo with a view of Lake Michigan,” he had said. “Indoor pool in the basement, private gym, a lot of great restaurants nearby. C’mon down. We’ll have a great time.” Dominic had been mulling over the idea for several weeks now and had finally decided to take him up on the offer, although he was suspicious about what “we’ll have a great time” meant. It was clear the two men had feelings for each other, as well as a s****l attraction. Steve had sent pictures of himself in a bathing suit, and Dominic couldn’t deny that he looked quite good. He just wasn’t sure Steve would be into his beard and abundant chest hair. He had not sent any pictures that showed anything below the neck. The computer booted up and Dominic noticed that there was a message from Steve. “Good, I can tell him I’ve decided to come,” he said to himself. Dominic, I know I invited you to come to Chicago to visit me for a weekend, but I’m afraid things have gotten really busy at work, especially on the weekends, as the spring housing market is really ramping up. But as I have thought more about it, I have decided I really don’t want to pursue a long-distance relationship right now. I just don’t have the time for it. More than that, I don’t think I can deal with the line of work you’re in. I don’t want to be sitting up late at night wondering if you’re going to come home. From what I know of you, you’re a great guy and I’m sure you will find someone else in a short time. “Well, well, so another man books on me just when things are starting to get interesting,” Dominic mumbled to himself. He had been down this road many times. It was the reason he was still single. He had come to believe that he would be lucky to find another gay man who could truly commit. He fell back into bed and closed his eyes, falling asleep quickly.