Free Renewing Lost Love by Karen Ward

to the boy.”
    Scoot speaks from the helicopter, “It looks
like there might be a body at the bottom amid some trees. I’ll
lower Goose down to check it out after we get Pinky and the
boy.”
    Pinky says, “Goose, get the basket ready to
lower down to me. If the boy somehow survived, we will want to move
him as little as possible.” Then he lowers himself over the side of
the cliff.
    Pinky’s heart is pounding with dread. The boy
is such a tiny little thing to have fallen so far. It makes his
heart ache to think of someone so young dying in such a tragic way.
When Pinky reaches the boy he is shocked and thrilled to find him
still alive with a strong heartbeat. It looks like he landed on top
of a prickly thorn bush that cushioned his fall. He excitedly calls
up to Scoot, “The boy’s still alive! He landed on top of a thorny
bush. Send down the basket.”
    With no room to maneuver on the narrow ledge,
Pinky secures himself to the rope allowing him to use both hands to
move the boy. Carefully picking him up and placing him in the
basket he signals Goose to raise him back to the helicopter. The
little boy is as cute as he can be with red hair and freckles and
Pinky whispers a quick prayer for his recovery. He looks just like
a son he and Jasmine might have someday.
    Then he radios Scoot and the other guys, “I’m
going on down to the bottom. Be ready to send my stuff down.”
    Scoot says, “We’ll drop off the boy and be
back as soon as we can.”
    After the helicopter flies away taking the
boy back to the command post and medical help Pinky repels down the
rest of the way to the bottom of the cliff. Leaning over the body
of the adult that was following the boy he is shocked to once again
find them alive. He shakes his head in amazement, this is one lucky
lady. Radioing back up to Stump and Bear he says, “This is a female
park ranger and she’s still alive, but barely.”
    Bear says, “Scoot just radioed to tell us the
weather is moving in fast and he’s not going to be able to make it
back until it clears. It looks like we’re on our own. Do you want
us to come down there or what?”
    Looking at the steep terrain surrounding him
and the limited area for moving around Pinky says, “No, there’s not
enough room. I think I can handle this. I’m going to build a
shelter and try to get a fire going for some warmth. You guys head
on back to the command post. We’ll be all right until tomorrow. I
have spare batteries for the radio so I’ll be able to communicate
with you if I need to. Lower down my backpack, the first aid
supplies, and a second sleeping bag please.”
    The attach Pinky’s backpack and the other
requested items to the rope and let them slide down to him then
head back to the command post. Pinky examines the park ranger and
determines she has a broken leg and a broken arm. He can’t tell
about spinal cord or internal injuries so he tries not to move her
more than necessary. He applies a cervical collar and inflatable
splints to her broken arm and leg. She is unconscious so she
probably has head injuries too.
    He then sets about preparing a shelter. The
weather is predicted to be really nasty for the next several hours
so he needs to get them in a safe place. Once he has a shelter
prepared under an overhang of rock from the cliff that has a stand
of evergreens in front of it to serve as a wind break, he digs a
deep fire pit, gathers wood and starts a fire. Then he carefully
moves the park ranger underneath the shelter and places her inside
the spare sleeping bag with several instant heat packs to provide
her additional warmth. Please God, don’t let her have spinal
injuries!
    When the storm hits it is brutal. The wind
whistles through the trees and sleet and freezing rain pelt the
area coating the trees and making moving around the steep terrain
treacherous. When it finally changes over to snow, Pinky says a
prayer of thanks.
    Sometime after midnight the park ranger
begins to moan. Pinky moves to