A Friend

Have you ever met a true friend and then realized that the day you first met would be the last. That’s the way it was with me and Nightingale. I never found out his first name, but it didn’t matter. All of his friends only called him Nightingale. Let me tell you how we met.

My son was taking his family on a beautiful vacation at the Aspen Mountain Ski Resort. One week on a beautiful snow-capped mountain. Spending time with family, taking in the wonderful smells of nature, sitting in a log cabin staring at a roaring flame in the fireplace, and of course, enjoying a controlled fall down a steep mountain slope.

I wanted to go skiing. Apparently, I was the only one. My son only wanted to spend time with his wife. My wife only wanted to spend time with our grandson. My grandson was only 8 and wouldn’t make a good ski partner. Thus, I was by myself. We had a whole week to do this. I don’t know why I was so eager to hit the slopes so early. But they were calling me.

My wife tried to warn me that it wasn’t safe to go by myself, but I wasn’t listening. I haven’t been skiing in years. Who comes to a ski resort and doesn’t ski. So, I ignored all logic and apparently, I ignored the avalanche warning also. The roar of the falling snow was deafening. There was no way for me to get away from it. I knew that I was a goner.

I saw a cave not too far in the distance. I thought that if I could make it there, I’d be fine. That’s when a tall, older man grabbed me and helped me to the cave. But it was too late. Just as we made it to the entrance of the cave, everything went black.

I woke up in a lot of pain. My chest felt like I was having a heart attack. As it turned out, I had 3 broken ribs. The pain was so great that I didn’t even realize that my leg was broken.

“Don’t try to stand up”, said the tall man. He stood 7 feet tall, dark red skin, black shirt and pants, and a white trench coat that was clean despite that ordeal we went through. He also had a black walking stick with a bird on top.

He told me that his name was Nightingale and that he was there to help me. He pulled several fruits out of his bag. He squeezed the juice out of them and told me to drink. Within 10 minutes the pain wasn’t gone, but it was down enough for him to treat me.

He started by wrapping my chest in bandages. This was painful but I was able to breath much better when he did. I needed this. Fixing my leg would require that I was able to breathe. Not only was it broken but it was dislocated also. I was not ready for what was coming next. He grabbed my leg, pulled it and once again, everything went black.

I woke up with my leg wrapped up with a splint. I wouldn’t say that it didn’t hurt but it felt so much better than it did at first. There was a fire burning. It was warm and felt excellent. As the day went on, I started to get hungry. Of course, Nightingale was able to pull some food and water out of his bag.

I talked to Nightingale the entire time we were trapped in the cave. I got to know a lot about him. Like when he once rescued a little boy from a house fire when the boy tried to get his dog. He spent a lot of time saving children.

If I did not have Nightingale to talk to, I might have gone crazy. But after being trapped for 2 whole days, the snow blocking the exit to the cave broke away. A rescue party was there to save me. The interesting thing is that Nightengale was nowhere to be found. With the exception that I was all bandaged up, there was no sign that he was ever there.

I told everybody about him. They claimed that I was delirious. But how else would you explain my bandages. They couldn’t do it, and they thought nothing of it. My son seemed to believe me but wouldn’t tell me why.

Anyway, somewhere out there, there is a true friend. If you happen to read this, Thanks.