JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi by Daniel Linden (classic books for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

“God, Chris!” I struggled to catch my breath. “Do you think you got him?”

Chris laughed. “At two hundred feet, in the dark, from a swinging suspension bridge? I think I can answer with absolute certainty. No. I didn’t hit him. But I’ll bet I scared the crap out of him.”

We hurried to the others and immediately started up the trail. When we reached the first switchback I stopped the group. “Christian, keep an eye out, back there. Bim, open that pack and let’s see what we have.

We pulled out flashlights and passed them around. There was a goose down sleeping bag for each of us and perhaps as much as 100 feet of rope. Curtis had included half a dozen candles and some matches, a small khukuri knife that was about half the size of the one they had taken from me. Two wool hats, some mismatched gloves, and a small sweater rounded out our complete supplies. Not much.

”Christian, what did you get?”

He opened his pack and I was pleased to see half a dozen military surplus MREs. “God, that’s wonderful,” I said. “They should even have sterno or heating elements in each package.” I slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Good job.”

Next we opened the sleeping bags and unzipped them. I looked for a second then swung mine over my head and folded the two sides down into a kind of monks cowl. I could pull the excess up and over my head.

“Cut me a piece of rope, please” I asked. Curtis did and handed it to me. Once the thing was tied in place I felt instantly warm. My forearms and hands would get cold, but I could alternate putting first one inside and then the other. It would work. I helped my friends figure out how to fold and wear the bags and finally looked at Bim. He shrugged and picked up the small sweater and one of the wool hats. He seemed content with that so we picked up all the rest of the gear and stowed it in the bigger pack and Bim shrugged into it. Taking my mandolinden from me he turned and led us up the mountain.

We made slow but, steady progress for an hour until the adrenalin was finally extinguished from my body. I dropped further and further behind and Christian would not leave my side. The snow was deepening and I tried to do the math, but soon realized we were running a course we would lose. Somehow, we had left Gokyo only that morning, had climbed up to 17,000 feet and then taken a steep and steady course down. It had taken all day. We had been frightened, robbed and beaten. We had fought back and won at least a chance to survive and now had to climb, somehow, all the way back up to 17,000 feet to the porter’s shelter. It was the nearest place to get out of the blizzard and find some safety. The others could make it. They were young, strong and had the stamina needed and more important, did not suffer my problems. I could make, it, I was sure, just not very quickly. They all had to be exhausted, regardless of their youth and the truth was I was holding them back. If they tried to stay with me we would all fail. I needed to remedy that and I thought of a way to do it. It would be wrong, but they would understand.

“Christian, did you hear that?” I slipped into a small fissure in the rock face where the snow could not penetrate. He looked back the way we had come and was clearly frightened. “Go get Chris.”

He left and in a few moments they all came back.

”What’s up?” he said.

“I need you to show me how to shoot the gun and then get the hell out of here. We’re being followed.”

Curtis shook his head and said no, not a chance. They were not leaving me behind.

I looked at them and said, “You don’t know how many there are, or how many guns. Curtis, you have to take the group to the top. That’s the job you agreed to. You agreed to do it if necessary and I’m saying it’s necessary. I’m holding you back. Now give me the damn gun and show me how it works!”

Chris handed it over and pointed to the safety. I’d forgotten to take off the safety.

“I got it. Okay. Now listen, I don’t want to stumble past the shelter, when I get there, so I need you to put a flashlight on the top of it pointing at the trail. Okay? Don’t forget. I’ll be along soon. Remember I’m the only one here who was in Viet Nam and this is my job. Now get out of here.”

Curtis gave me a long, knowing look that almost changed my mind, but finally did as I asked. They turned back into the growing snowstorm and soon I could not hear them any longer. I settled down and finally sat. My knees hurt so badly I just couldn’t stand to be upright a moment longer. I just needed a half hour of rest and then I’d continue.

I pulled the magazine from the gun, and then ejected the shell from the chamber. I threw the magazine as far over the edge of the mountain as I could, then pulled the down bag around me and over my head, slipping my arms inside. I was very cold and shivering, but soon felt drowsy. Time drifted.

It seemed that there was something standing in front of me. It stood there for a very long while and then a big yellow dog emerged from the snow. For some reason I was not afraid and the dog walked right up to me. I recognized him. It was my old yellow Labrador retriever, Cohei. I was not surprised to see him and my