LOST!

LOST!

Where the hell are we?

I’m praying like I’ve never prayed before. I’m lost and scared practically out of my mind. I’ve been afraid before. There were the middle of the night firefights in ‘Nam. Especially the times we were overrun and the fighting was hand-to-hand. Nothing between me and Death but my K-BAR knife and my fists. Or the time our chopper went down, dumping us in the shark infested waters of the Atlantic.

Ocean.

But then I was only afraid for myself and the men under my command. Now I’m frightened for my wife and our soon-to-be-born child. This is many times worse. 

Especially since I wasn’t fighting men or ten feet long fish. I was fighting God and the weather. 

None of this was according to my plans. I’m big on planning. Everything mapped out with time-tables, full lists of supplies and every angle and contingency considered. 

There’s a saying: “Man plans and God laughs”. The Old Man must be rolling around on a cloud and laughing fit to split a gut over our predicament. 

I prayed harder.

My Grandmother’s death was totally unexpected. We had spoken the day before. She was in good spirits, returning from her doctor’s office after a physical. He said she would likely last another twenty years! Bloodwork, stress test, mammogram, the whole works, she reported. Everything said she was as healthy as a mule! Nobody could believe she was 82 years old. Her weight of 109 pounds was the same as in High School. Never drank, smoked or did drugs. Walked three miles daily. Lots of vegetables, vitamins and eight hours of sleep a night. 

She was singing a solo with the choir at church that night and toppled over after hitting a high note. She was dead before she hit the floor. 

It reminded me of the story of J. I. Rodale, the founder of PREVENTION MAGAZINE, the magazine about health and nutrition. On June 8, 1971, Rodale appeared on the Dick Cavett Show. Aged 71, he bragged to Cavett that he would easily live to be 100. “In fact,” he said, “I may never die!”

Another guest was introduced and Rodale moved down the couch. Minutes later Cavatt noticed Rodale had fallen asleep and he and the guest joked about it. But when they tried to wake him, they found he had died from a heart attack. The episode was never aired. 

 I had to travel to South Florida to bury my beloved Grandmother. She raised me after my parents died in a car crash when I was ten years old. She was my anchor when everything fell apart. She put me back together. She was my best friend and greatest supporter. She couldn’t wait to hold her great grandchild.

But she never would.  

We drove to South Florida. I didn’t want Ellie coming with me but she insisted. But first I spoke with her obstetrician. My wife was pregnant and her due date was four weeks away. She had experienced cramping and bleeding early in the pregnancy but the doctors got it under control. The doctor was unhappy about her taking the trip but said as long as we drove instead of flying, things should be okay. But she firmly warned me that if Ellie experienced any issues, I needed to rush her to the nearest hospital!

During the sixteen hour drive, the radio stations repeatedly covered the powerful hurricane that was blowing up the Atlantic waters. The forecasts all said the storm would scrape the eastern side of Cuba and would continue away from the American coast. It would not pose a threat. 

Two days later we attended the funeral. Two thousand people proved how beloved my Grandmother was and I was overwhelmed by the flood of sympathy. As the casket was being lowered into the ground, I wept unabashedly. 

We stayed the following day to speak with her attorney since she left everything to me. The hurricane was still two days from Cuba. 

Around 3am the storm changed course and started going out to sea away from Cuba. And it grew from a Category 2 storm to a Category 3.

Ellie was exhausted and I decided it would be beneficial to her and the baby to stay another day and let her rest. Her due date was three weeks away and the storm is heading away. I was comfortable with my decision. 

I was wrong. 

About 2 am that night, the storm changed direction again. It was heading west-northwest and angling towards the American east coast. It grew to a Category 4 storm. Now everybody from Key West north to Jacksonville, Florida was trying to evacuate. 

I didn’t take time to pack but shoved everything in the backseat of our Jeep. I half carried Ellie and put her into the front beside me. 

The sky was a bright blue with no clouds. A slight breeze is blowing . What is everybody so worried about?

I drove to a nearby gas station. It took the owner twenty minutes before he came over to fill my gas tank. Instead, he was busy trying to mount sheets of plywood over the windows of his building. I asked if he had any gas cans. He hesitated but noticed Ellie’s swollen belly and he reluctantly admitted he had a half dozen five gallon cans. He said he wanted to keep them for himself but sold me two. For twenty dollars each!   That’s four times their value. And the cost of gas was extra. I started to tell him to go to Hell, but I glanced at Ellie and agreed. Soon I had ten gallons of gas sloshing around in the back of the Jeep. 

I asked him what was the quickest way out of town and he told me that the major roads will be bumper to bumper. For another five dollars he brought me a Rand McNally map of Florida. The map was priced at ninety-nine cents. 

But apparently feeling guilty, he handed Ellie a couple of Snickers :bars and a small box of raisins. 

He told me how to find the farm roads and avoid the major roads. “Hopefully,” he said, “those roads will still be fairly clear!” He warned me that the storm had shifted again and is now predicted to hit the Florida east coast later today. Landfall could be from Key West to Savannah. And as the storm grows, it is widening and may become five hundred miles wide!

“Don’t waste any time! Get out of here as quickly as you can!” Then he added, “In about an hour, my old lady, three dogs and me will be right on your tail! Good luck!”  

We zig-zag our way through neighborhoods while heading in a general northerly direction. Everywhere people were boarding up houses or frantically packing cars. And the normally quiet streets were filling up with streams of cars and trucks. 

There was no music on the radio. Instead the airwaves were filled with updates on the storm. And there were pre-recorded Civil Service announcements on boiling water and avoiding fallen electrical wires. Apparently the local disc jockeys decided to not come to work thatj day.  

Almost immediately Ellie had to go to the bathroom! Inwardly I groaned because, due to her advanced pregnancy the pressure on her bladder makes very frequent bathroom breaks a part of life! This is a real dilemma because I’m noticing that all of the businesses are closed. And as the number of cars on the road increases, I suspected that if you pulled out of traffic it may be hard to get back in. Good manners and courtesy are trumped by fear and panic. 

She was squirming and moaning and obviously in discomfort. I’m looking for a solution. I see a truck stop ahead and I sped into the parking lot. It’s closed and I tell Ellie to run around the corner of the building and take care of business. Always a lady, normally she wouldn’t dream of urinating outside, but modesty has been temporarily tossed out the window. She scrambled in that direction and I ran to a dumpster on the opposite side of the building. 

I threw the dumpster lid open and pulled myself into it. It is half full of beer cans, partially eaten food, truck parts and assorted other trash. I started throwing stuff around to find what I’m looking for. 

I ran back to the Jeep as Ellie returned and I helped her in. Then I handed her my treasures.

It’s a two gallon bucket full of newspapers and rags. She asked me what’s its for and I grinned.

I ran around and jumped in and I told her she’s going to need a bathroom often and that bucket will have to do. The rags and newspaper will serve as toilet paper. She started to protest but I interrupt her and tell her that we might soon be in real trouble and we can’t afford to waste time. There’s not likely to be a better solution.

That’s when it started to rain. 

I drove to the road but as I feared, nobody wanted to let me back in. The traffic was crawling and occasionally stopped. When it did, I’d tap on my horn but the people in front of us pointedly ignored us and simply stared ahead. Finally I opened my door and told Ellie to slide over behind the wheel. Then I walked into the road and planted myself in front of the car in front of us. The driver stared at me like I was crazy. The rain is getting heavier and the wind is picking up. I’m getting soaked and I’m shivering. 

When the traffic moved up a bit,I motioned for Ellie to pull into the gap, then I climbed back into the Jeep as she slid to the right. I waved to the driver behind us and a single middle finger was the reply. I laughed as we rejoined the turtle pace of the traffic. 

In an hour we traveled only two miles. Our situation is starting to dawn on me.

The rain and wind are pummeling us and our Wagoneer is shaking like a leaf. Ellie is frightened and frankly, so am I. 

Slowly at first but then more frequently, cars were coasting off of the road. Either they ran out of gas or are having mechanical issues. Twice I saw men struggling to change flat tires. I wished I could help but I needed to get my wife to safety. 

And then it happens. Ellie lets out a hard gasp of pain. Her eyes are wide open with disbelief. And then her water broke. 

She’s in labor. Three weeks early…

I have only one option. I put the Jeep into four wheel drive and pull onto the shoulder of the road and drive. I’m honking the horn madly to warn people of my approach and a quarter of a mile ahead, I see a paved road on the left and I don’t see any traffic feeding from it onto this road. As I approach, there’s a car obviously having issues as it’s jerking back and forth and a small gap opens up between it and the car ahead of it. I slide the Jeep between the two cars and then hit the gas and make the left turn onto the new road. 

And there’s no street sign identifying the name of this road. But that’s okay. Surely there will be signs further down. But for now, the expensive map I bought is useless. 

I needed to find a town. A town with a hospital that is still open. 

Finally I could make some progress and I hit the gas and the Jeep sped up. But almost immediately I have to slow down before the Jeep slides off the pavement. The Jeep’s tires are made for off-road travel in dry sand, not water or mud. 

 Ellie has another contraction, a more powerful one. She lets out an unexpected scream, practically in my ear. 

I was struggling to stay calm as I faced our predicament. Ellie going into labor was not part of my planning! I had no idea where we were or where we were going and a killer storm was bearing down on us!

The wind was growing. The rain was coming down in sheets and my windshield wipers couldn’t keep up. I was straining to see what’s ahead of us, especially since stuff was being blown into the road. A tree fell over right in front of us and I barely missed it as I jerked the wheel to the left and swung around it. Thank goodness for four wheel drive!

Ellie was panting and crying, her eyes wide with pain and fear. 

We came to an intersection and there was a street sign. I couldn’t read it so I jumped out to get a closer look. The street name was Phillips Road but it didn’t appear on the map. It might be a new road. Maybe it led to a town. 

I turned right, going north. I realized I’m heading into the storm but I needed to find help for Ellie. Her contractions were getting stronger and more frequent. 

There is another massive tree laying across the road, blocking our path. But there is a narrow dirt road veering to the left. I had no choice but to drive down it. It’s little more than a path or trail. The thick mud of the road was affecting the performance of my tires and the Jeep was becoming hard to control. Every muscle in my body ached from the strain of fighting the Jeep. 

We came to another paved road. There is no road sign. I turned right, again heading north. I was driving with no idea where I am or what’s ahead of us. I was terrified. 

There are wide, deep drainage ditches on both sides of the road. They are rapidly filling up and the water is spilling onto the road. I can’t tell where the road is. And isn’t. 

If I drove us into a ditch, we were screwed. The sides of the ditches were steep and we would topple over into it. It’s possible we would roll over and we wouldn’t be able to get out. The Jeep would quickly fill with water. 

I stopped and got out and the water was mid-calf deep. I struggled against the flowing water to walk forward to determine where the road was. I discovered we were entering into a curve. If I had continued forward, we would have gone into the ditch. I traced out the path I had to drive and then got back behind the wheel. I slowly moved forward but I quickly lost my confidence and several times I got out and confirmed the path. It’s getting dark and the headlights of the Jeep are unable to pierce the coming night. I had to continually slog through the water to determine the path of the road. Once I stepped off the road and fell into the ditch. I struggled to escape the steep sides and crawled out, too tired to stand. Somehow I made my way back to the Jeep. Ellie is nearly hysterical after seeing me fall into the rising water. She hugged me tightly and I held her. The rain streaming from my hair hid my tears of fear and relief.  

She had another contraction. A very strong one and she screamed.

A short distance away the water cleared and I was able to see the road. Soon the road ended at another road and I blindly turned left. I didn’t know where I was going but the idea of not moving forward is inconceivable. 

A mile down the road, a massive pine tree blocked the road. I could go no further. And Ellie was in unbearable pain. She was rolling back and forth within her seatbelt, unable to sit still. 

In a daze, I got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. I opened the door and unbuckled her seat belt and gently removed the shorts she was wearing. I was bending over, half inside the vehicle, trying to block the howling wind and driving rain from my wife’s body. I positioned her and prepared to deliver our child. 

I had no idea what to do or how to do it. 

A buddy of mine from Nam and I have stayed in touch. He became a cop and once he had to deliver a baby. Rod, one of the bravest and toughest men I’ve ever known, told me he’d never been more afraid than when he delivered that baby. Nor has he ever been as happy as when it was done. 

 I stood there in the cold rain holding Ellie’s hand and feeling more helpless by the minute. I cursed God and prayed for His help at the same time. But after three hours, Ellie clenched down and our daughter’s head appeared. I carefully supported her head and then her body popped into my trembling hands. I handed her to Ellie and got back in the Jeep. 

All three of us were crying at the same time. She was hungry and we were happy. 

Eventually we fell asleep. I was awakened by a tap on my window. There was a policeman wearing rain gear, who motioned me to roll down the window. As I did, two men in a State owned truck attacked the tree with chainsaws. Two other men rolled the logs out of the road. 

I quickly explained what we had just gone through. I said I needed to take my wife and baby to the closest hospital and asked him how to get there. 

He pointed in the direction we had been traveling and said, “Drive a half mile and you’re there.”

We named our daughter Wendy Gail. We call her Stormy.