A Life Saved [MF]

A man (30) returns home to his wife, Kathy (30)

Over my music I can hear the gravel crunching as I turn off the pavement onto my gravel driveway. Distracted, I follow the quarter mile drive around a couple bends and up a slight hill. It is a clear night, but the trees that engulf my 1998 chevy shortbox block the stars from my view. Even at 3 A.M. my mind is still going over the events of the night.

Search and rescue isn’t typically in my job description, but when a somewhat wealthy old man gets drunk at a ski resort and starts wandering around the woods, terrified because he hears the coyotes howling, they call in anyone that knows the woods of Lake Superior’s north shore. Since I spend most of every day in the woods, apparently I qualified for the job. I can’t complain too much however, it was a beautiful cold night to be out in the snow, and we did find the man. He was huddled up and shivering under a big pine tree. His body temperature was down and he was looking dangerously blue, but we got him back to his family, and I finally got to go home to my love.

Unexpected Savior [FF]

Melanie (30) meets Tiffany (30)

The tires of her Audi R8 spit up gravel as she flew down the old country road. Normally, she would have winced at every single pebble she heard hit the undercarriage of her newest car. Tonight however, Melanie was too distracted by what she saw in her rearview mirror. She was sure that she kept seeing the same headlights behind her every time she turned. She wouldn’t have even been on this god forsaken gravel road if it wasn’t for that damn pickup. It was a beige 80’s model Ford pickup. She remembered seeing it when she left Sally’s, the only restaurant in this backwater town, as well as the most popular bar it seemed. As the gravel road took a sharp curve to the right, Melanie saw a long, dark driveway after the curve. Exactly what she had been looking for. Without thinking twice, Mel turned her car into the driveway and shut off all the lights. She drove another fifty yards up the driveway before shutting off the car. She did not know how far behind the truck was tailing her, but her eyes were glued to her rearview mirror.