THE RELUCTANT HERO

Eric Markson was short, plump, shy, middle-aged. He wore thick pebble glasses. He was not athletic or strong. He worked in a small mart a half-hour drive from home. His wife was in many ways similar to Eric. Not a great beauty, but kind and gentle. Even after all these years of marriage he had never really overcome his surprise that such a wonderful woman loved him.

It was late at night. His co-worker Dave, young, overconfident and pushy, had again dropped him in it. ‘I have to leave early tonight. You’ll close up, won’t you?’ And Eric had complied, even though he was supposed to leave two hours earlier and it was Dave’s job to stay and lock up.

It was cold when he finally closed and locked the front door. He went out the back door and locked it carefully – he was a careful, painstaking man and he disapproved of Dave’s careless attitude to work. He pulled his old jacket around him – the zipper had failed again and the cold seeped in and chilled him to the core. There was snow on the pavement as he walked to his car, standing lonely in the dim light of the car park. There had been no customers for an hour but he had dutifully stayed until the official closing time because that was the kind of man he was.

He fished in his pocket and found his keys, unlocked his car and put his hand on the door-handle – it stung with icy cold and he shivered as he climbed in and slammed the door. The car was old and the heater was fractious – it would often refuse to work, or suddenly come to action with a whoosh of cold air in the middle of a trip. But he couldn’t afford to get it fixed, and the idea of a new car was so far out of sight that it never crossed his mind. It would be wrong to say he was content with the way things were – resigned was a more accurate description. He knew he was in a rut and there was little chance of it ever getting any better.

The engine coughed a few times, reluctant in the cold, then caught with a satisfying sound and he drove out of the car park and onto the road.

He had driven this way many times; he was familiar with the way the road twisted and turned through the trees. Black ice concerned him. More than once in the past the car had slid down the road, waving from side to side, as he had fought for control. So he drove slowly, carefully. Rounding a blind bend he saw a sight that chilled him. A car had run off the road and rested in the snow, upside down on its roof. It must only just have happened. He was alone on the road; he stopped his car on the verge and waded clumsily through the snow to the wreck, his trousers becoming soaked as he progressed.

He reached the car. A woman in the driver’s seat, upside down, hanging from her seat belt. She seemed to be unconscious. He tried to reach her but it was difficult to approach - the car was hard up against a large snow-laden bush which blocked his way.

He pulled out his phone, praying that he was in an area with good reception. The emergency number rang and rang. Finally a female voice answered. ‘Help!’ he croaked. ‘Traffic accident. A woman trapped in a car, upside down. I think she’s unconscious.’

‘’Where are you? What’s the address?’

‘No address. I’m out on a country road.’ He gave the location as best he could, and the voice at the other end said ‘We’ll send someone – an ambulance. But it may take awhile. The weather’s bad and there have been a lot of accidents tonight.’

‘Please hurry. I don’t know what to do! I’m afraid she’ll freeze!’

‘We’ll do the best we can,’ came the reply, a little sharp. ‘We’re not miracle-workers, you know.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. But please hurry!’

‘Just don’t move her, whatever you do. She could be badly hurt and you might make it worse.’

The phone went silent.

He went back to the car; he was going to wait until professional help arrived, but then he heard a dripping sound and caught the sharp smell of fuel. The tank must be leaking. He had to get her out of there! He pushed and shoved his way through and past the scrabbly branches of the bush and finally reached the door. For a blessing, the door was not locked but it refused to move. The bush and the snow hampered him and he had to stop for a while to get his breath.

And suddenly he realised what he was risking, and the fear hit him. If the fuel ignited the car would go up in flames and he would be burnt to death. He could not imagine a worse way to die, agonising and terrifying.

But if he stopped now he would be abandoning the woman to the same fate - he would never be able to live with himself. He was not brave, but he had always thought of himself as a good man, and his duty was clear. He took his courage in both hands and began again, this time scooping away the snow that blocked the door until it was free to swing. His hands stung with the cold, his feet were losing their feeling. Somehow he managed to get a purchase on the door and by shoving against the prickly bush with his back he pulled the door open enough to slide his body through to reach the woman.

He reached in and undid the seat belt. The woman collapsed against the ceiling of the car and her eyes opened a little. She moaned in pain. He grasped her under the arms and by tugging and tugging again, finally managed to manoeuvre her out through the door and away from the car. The smell of fuel was growing stronger and he was glad he had got her away in time. He pulled her into the field and laid her on her back in the snow, taking off his jacket to keep her as warm as possible.

The woman’s eyes flickered open and she tried to focus on his face. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘It’s all right,’ he replied. Your car ran off the road. You’re safe now. I’ve called for an ambulance.’

She subsided for a moment, and then ‘The baby! Where’s the baby? She was in the back of the car!’

‘Oh my God,’ said Eric. ‘I didn’t see her there.’

‘Please – you must save her! She’s all I’ve got!’

‘Of course,’ said Eric. ‘Don’t worry – I’ll go right now.’ And he turned and made his way clumsily through the snow back to the car. The fear returned much more strongly. The smell of fuel was overpowering now; the likelihood of a fiery death much greater. He was terrified, but he had to save the child, otherwise he was no kind of man - he would live with his cowardice for the rest of his life. And now time was short – instead of trying remove the snow to open the passenger door he’d have to push through the driver’s door and climb over the seat to get at the baby. He wriggled his way in, crawled along the upended roof and saw her – to his astonishment she was fast asleep. It was difficult working out how to undo the belts that held the child in place when everything was upside down; the acrid stench of fuel made it hard to think and he was afraid he’d lose consciousness breathing the fumes. For what seemed like hours he struggled with the belt catches, and he felt panic begin to grow - but suddenly the catches opened and the child was free! He wriggled backwards with her, through the narrow space between the seatbacks and the ceiling, and out through the door and into the open air.

Still no time. He could hear the ticking of the engine as it slowly cooled – the car could burst into flames at any moment. He got to his feet, clasped the baby in his arms and began to flounder through the snow as fast as he could – anything to get away from that car!

He was half-way to safety when with a deafening sound it exploded in a huge ball of red-orange flame. The shock wave knocked him down from behind as he tried to escape, and he instinctively tried to shield the baby from the blast with his body, and rolled as he fell to keep her from being crushed.

He got up and staggered back to the woman, who was trying to sit up. ‘Here she is,’ he said. ‘Safe and sound, I think. But your car’s gone.’

‘Who cares about that?’ she sobbed, and clasped the baby tight to her breast. The child awoke and started to cry, just as he heard the sound of a siren approaching from the distance. A flashing light through the trees and an ambulance coming up the road. Eric waved frantically and it stopped opposite them. Two paramedics got out and made their way through the snow. The woman sat up and smiled through her sobs. ‘Thank God you’re here,’ she said. They wrapped her in a space blanket and while one went back for a stretcher the other began to check her and the baby for injuries. Then they gently put her in the stretcher and carried her back to the ambulance. A police car arrived and an officer got out and spoke to the paramedics.

Eric decided everything was being done for the woman that could be done. They were taking no notice of him anyway. He walked through the snow in the dark, back to his car, put it in gear and drove off. The police did not even notice that he’d gone for some minutes, and by then it was too late. He drove more carefully than usual until he reached home.

Susie was in bed, fast asleep, and he didn’t want to disturb her. He undressed and got into the shower. The wonderful hot water revived him and made him feel more human and he stayed there for a long time. When he finally got out he realised he was deadly tired. All he wanted was to go to sleep. As he got into bed she murmured sleepily and wrapped her arms around him. He felt warm, safe, loved.

He slept heavily and had difficulty waking up the next morning. He could smell the wonderful aroma of coffee and forced himself out of his warm cocoon and into the kitchen.

‘Good morning, honey,’ said his wife. ‘You slept well. I couldn’t wake you up.’

‘I was very tired,’ he said. ‘Dave skipped out early again and I had to close up.’ He didn’t want to discuss the events of the previous night. She’d only worry – she was always afraid he’d be hurt driving on those bad roads late at night – he didn’t want to make it worse for her.

It wasn’t until that evening – he had the day off – that they saw the news of the accident on TV and she said ‘That’s the road you drive to work on.’

‘Yes, I suppose it is.’

‘It was lucky it didn’t happen to you. Those roads are dangerous. They ought to do something about them.’

‘Yes, they should.’

The reporter was talking about the accident. The woman and baby had been rescued by a mystery man who had disappeared after the ambulance arrived. ‘The mother wants to meet him and thank him for saving her life and her baby’s. He got the child out just before the car exploded. But we have no idea who our unknown hero is. All we have is this pair of glasses that he must have dropped in the snow.’

Susie slowly turned to look at him, a look of wonder dawning on her face.

‘You’re not wearing your glasses, dear.’

‘No.’

‘What happened to them?’

‘I don’t know. I must have lost them.’

She looked at him, her eyes glowing. ‘It was you! It was you! You saved them!’

He blushed.

She held him tight. ‘My hero! You were always a hero to me. You’ve never needed to prove it. But are you going to tell them it was you?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘What about your glasses? You’ll have to go and get them back.’

‘No. I have a spare pair, and those ones needed updating – I was beginning to have trouble seeing through them. I’ll get some new ones.’

‘You’re incorrigible,’ she laughed, and gave him a hug. ‘You never give yourself the credit you deserve. But I love you just as you are.’

‘Well,’ he said, ‘If I’m a genuine hero, from now on if Dave wants me to stay back in his place, I think I’ll tell him no. And maybe I should talk to the boss about a raise – and if he refuses, start looking for a better job.’