Chapter 8

There was a lot going on here. The railcar was tilting past forty-five degrees; the earth was still shattering; the mountain to the left of the rail shot up 45 feet ... BANG ... forty-five feet ... instantly. The mountain on the right side of the canyon dropped 45 feet. Like a faster moving sine wave or a bell curve that had an outbreak of idiots and the demise of smart kids. Kerfluffle ... but real loud and snappy.

The car dropped over the edge.

On the backroad between St. Johns and Dewitt, the corner of Price Rd and Dewitt Rd a St. Johns Public Schools Bus ... full of kids was returning from a Friday Night Football Game between St. Johns and their hated rival, Dewitt. They were celebrating a 34 to 28 win that seemed like a miracle.

"Three minutes six seconds to go. Panthers on the St. Johns 30 yard line, Forth and 2. The Panthers have to make this play, folks. The snap ... the run ... No! the pass. It's in the air ... interception! Andrusky went up and snatched the ball out of Johnson's hands. He's at the 10... 20 ... a cut to the center, He steamrollered the Panther Quarterback ... the Panthers are chasing ... Touchdown St. Johns ... Wait ... there's a flag on the 30 of Dewitt. Don't go home folks this isn't over. Oh no! Unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of Johnson. Johnson just threw a right cross to the chin of Referee Albertson. Johnson is ejected. Coach Miller is out on the field ... Miller is screaming at Albertson ... Albertson ejects Miller. The team storms the field ... There's the whistle ... Dewitt ejected ... game to St. Johns with two minutes 43 seconds to go. This will make the Channel 6 highlights, folks."

Rather than drive out to the highway the driver of the student bus took Dewitt road. It's closer to the school and there are sure to be Dewitt fans on the prowl ... last time St. Johns won, town hoodlums followed the victors out to Old US 27, throwing beer bottles at the bus.

Dewitt Road is an excellent secondary, but poorly lighted. Price is newly paved and the Stop Signs go up in the morning. The neighborhood knows that Price traffic yields to Dewitt.

The kids are loud, rowdy and singing the fight song at the top of their lungs. The driver is beating out the time on his steering wheel and singing right along...

"Victory..."

Smash, squeal thud thud thud, tinkle, spffffft, steam clouds.

The railcar and the car met their respective ends at the exact same second. Not the same hour or the same day or the same month ... or even the same year. The same second.

The rail car shattered on the canyon floor on May Tenth 1960 ... the twins were 18. The bus accident was September Tenth 1965.

Newly weds ... honeymoon. Disaster.

Several weeks later, David ... he knew that much ... David woke up. He was a mess.

The person in the bed next to him was just as bad. The only part that wasn't swathed in plaster was the eyes ... on both of them. A nurse noticed increased activity on the monitor of Bed One and sent an aide in to see what unplugged this time.

The CNA squeaked and ran out of the room, "He looked at me, he looked at me."

The RN had to see for herself. The patient in bed one was indeed awake. "Let me go call the doctor ... I'll be back."

She was ... He was a skinny little resident with the bedside manner of a pissed off Green Bay Packer Lineman. David wasn't happy ... two reasons. The Doctor spoke American English, the RN did too. Reason two: David had a tube in his throat and couldn't answer the right tackle's questions. So ... David went to sleep.