Stephanie Jetter. Snap Back to Conciousness

Snap Back to Consciousness

Stepbanie Jeter

After an icy pile-up on Forest road, Cedar's Point Hospi tal is in no condition to prepare its staff for the reparation of this torn town. Amid the sad faces of loved ones and the worried glances of the hospital staff three strangers find each other in their own realm. This is a realm of story telling. And a realm of suprises...

Kevin

"The circumstances could not have been worse, and even in that slight possibility that they could, my imagination would never go the distance to discover it. And I have a great imagination. The Midwest is notorious for the horrid winters and slow recoveries. It has become a p^rt of all of us here, so natural-like the v/ater that drains from our eyes, and yet so unpredictable at times that the world around us falls silent, speechless, helpless, and cold. The moment was so unreal, yet all too real, like a lucid dream that you're dying to wake up from, but at the same time you are aware that it is within your control to snap back to consciousness, and live.

The winter this year is quite precocious, I can't believe it actually began a week before Thanksgiving. Today the mystical frozerpowder floated down to earth and I actually wanted to celebrate, I woke my wife, Elizabeth, up early this morning, and she was delightfully cranky. Delightful, yes, because she knew that I'd wake her up bright and early, and I knew that she didn't care, yet she was cranky because that was to be expected of any 'woman who needed her beauty sleep. I had her clothes

ironed, folded and ready, I'd been up an hour already. Had the engine of the truck warmed. I was eager to get out and go to the lakefront to see the sun rise bright (as the forecaster had predicted) over the horizon, on the first day of snow. Elizabeth wrapped a wool blanket around her body ai we made our way out to the truck. I had a picnic basket of bagels, hot coffee and the morning paper. Elizabeth was quiet in the car, reading the paper, as we made out way to the lakefront.

I never heard her commerfi^ry on the latest news. The last thing I heard was screaming, as we drove over the black ice..." He pauses because he's too hurt to continue, but also because the air has gotten suddenly chilly. He looks around at the door to see if anyone had just came in, bringing the draft with them. But there is no such person. He zips his coat up and puts his hands in his pocket. He looks over at Elaine.

Elaine

"'We were right behind you, James and I. To be honest, James was complaining about your truck. 'Damn those sport utilities!' He swore. 'You can never see around them, Elaine. And everyone's buyin' them. Soon we're gonna have to buy a semi to look down the road, with all these damn SUVs riding around!'He said. I couldn't help but to think how bitter he was getting in his old age. Yet at the same time I think it's amusing." Elaine pauses, and puts her coat on. "It's getting quite chilly in here. \Where was I) Ah, yes. I think I must have been giggling the whole time he was rambling on, because he stopped talking and gave me that curious, yet very hurt look that I've become immune to over the past thirty years." Elaine stops to chuckle to herself, for a second, and then her expression shifts to that of a look of sadness, and being lost. "I'd love so much to see that face right now. To go in that room and tell him that everFthing is just fine and

that I love him. That we'll never part again." She pauses, and she wants to force atear from her eye, but she's too overwhelmed with sorrow to do so. So she says: "I hope he won't be stuck in that room forever..." And she pulls her coat in closer to her body.

Andrew

"I wish I had something that touching to say, but the fact of the matter is, I hated her guts. And not in a temporary, I'm just going through'male PMS' kinda thing. Huh. Male PMS. I think she made that up. Very clever! Yeah, I actually hated the ground that she walked on."

Andrew stops as he hears Elaine gasp. He looks over ar Kevin, who is giving him a look of disgust. Yet neither one of them utters a word of disinteresr, so he continues. "She always had somethin' to say about what I was doin' yrrong, or how I coulda done somethin' better. f mean, day in and day out. And I do not exaggerare. Enough is enough! Even as we were pulling off the raffip, she was throwin' a conniption fit. 'Slow down Andrew! Don'r smash into that car Andrew! God Andrew, where did you learn to drive!) Pull over, give me the wheel!" He pauses to chuckle. He had changed his voice into a high pitched, shrill sound. Apparently he thought it was hilarious, and his chuckle breaks into laughter. Elaine and Kevin watch in absolute disgust. FIe calms himself after he has seen Elaine's expression turn from that of a mild mannered old woman, to a surprisingly indignantly detested expression. "YOU know," he adds matter-off.actly, "she always called me Andrew. Nobody calls me Andrew, but her. Everyone else calls me'Andy'or 'Drew' even, not even my parents call me Andrew. Yeah. Andrew. That's the last thing she screamed as we crashed into that car. I hated her screaming. And she did love to scream." He pauses. "'W'air did I say did? That was careless of me. I shouldn't let my wistful thinking worry the two

of you

"\(hat is your problem, pal)" Kevin bursts out suddenly. "Don't you have any respect? I mean your wife, or girlfriend-whatever she is, could be dying in there, and

the only emotion you can express is hate!?" "H"y pal, don't go talkin' about stuff you don't know about! Okay) Because, first off she's my stepsister, and second; you don't know the hell she put me through! You don't know what it's like being married ro a..." "Married)!" I thought you said that she was your

stepsister!" "Yeah, and)" He says indignantly. Kevin stops in his tracks. "Yeah and you're right,I don't know anything about you. I obviously over-estimated your character..." Sensing that that would send Kevin into a fit again, Elaine interruPts. "Come on, gentlemen. You're being quite loud. You're gonna cause a scene, I'm sure people are already wonderirg . . ." She looks around to see if there's anyone watching them. There isn't. Amazingly, everyone is self-involved in the curiously calm and quiet room. She pulls her coat tighter in. "Boy, is it freezing..." she says. "Yes, it is Elaine. It's like someone left the door open or something . . ." Kevin says, looking over at the Emergency Room entrance. "I can't seem to get away from the cold either." "It's hot in here." Andrew says. Both Elaine and Kevin look over at him, and they notice for the first time that his coat is off, and his sleeves are rolled up. "k's burning up if fact." Kevin goes to Elaine's side and puts his arm over her shoulder, sharing his coat with her. "Thanks dear." She looks over at Andrew. "I don't understand how you can be so warm, when it's so cold..."

At that moment the double doors leading to the ORs open, and with it there is a strong breeze, and as Elaine,

Kevin and Andrew face in the direction of the double doors, the breeze blankets their faces. All at once they fill their lungs with the air, which is neither distinctly cold nor warm, but it is just tranquilizing. And out of the doors come the familiar faces of love and hate, of comfort

and uneasiness.

And before anything else, Andrew notices her face. The face of his wife, his stepsister. He stands and he walks, unwillingly toward her. The breeze is strong, still, but it

amazingly eases his stride. As he inches closer, he notices her face is incredibly sad. Tears leak from her eyes and he suddenly feels his own eyes burn. She opens her arms, and he falls into them. She leads him through the doors. And then he sees it. And he screams.

And at that moment Kevin sees her, his love, Elizabeth, and her expression is soft. And there's a man standing next to her. An older man, and he smiles. Not at him. But at Elaine, standing behind him, and he understood. The man is James. Elaine walks up next to Kevin. "They're waiting for us, Kevin, let's go." She says. And they walk together hand in hand. But the breeze is strong, and they are struggling to get to their love. And with every inch it is harder. And it never gets easier. And James and Elizabeth slowly turn away, sad in the face and in their body language, and walk away. Elaine and Kevin can never get closer to them, and they now know why. Elaine stumbles, but Kevin has a tight grasp on her. "ft's okay Elaine, I'm here with you, )$7e have to go now." "Do we)"

"Yes'qre do." He says gently. "Let's go..."

Channel 5 News at Ten O'Clock

"Let's go to Barbara who is at Cedar's Point Hospital," the anchor looks straight into the carnera, "Barbara,

what's the latest on the horrible event that took place today on Forest Road...)" Outside the hospital the reporter stands in the cold, fashionably dressed for the weather. "\Well Suzanne, the word is that most people are in critical condition, some having been upgraded to fair condition about an hour ago. There has been word of three deaths. 'We have just received their names. One victim, 40 year old Kevin Hamilton a resident of Cedar's Point was reportedly in the driver's seat of his truck, his wife in the passenger seat, as he drove over some black ice right into the, already forming, pile-up. He died about an hour ago. His wife has just been upgraded to fair condition. A couple was killed in the accident, 25 year old Andrew Haskins and his wife 23 year old Lucy Haskins were reportedly one of the first cars that started the pileup. But that has not been confirmed. Lucy died two hours ago. Her husband, like Hamilton, died an hour ago. Another death took place just an hour ago, that being 75 year old Elaine Johnson, a resident of Cedar's Point, her husband was driving and reportedly hit the Hamilton's car, right after they hit the black ice. Her husband has been upgraded to fair condition.

Flowever unfortunate these deaths are, marty are considering this a rather lucky turnout of a thirty-six car pile up. Back to you, Suzanne."

"Such tragedies like this remind us to be careful of how we drive during the winters. Thank you, Barbara." "l]h huh. . ."

"\We'11 keep you updated on this tragic event. And in other news, the Cedar's Point Hawkeyes are expected to come out victorious this season..."

Vinny Sharma Jobn Lennon Pencil

Zoe Heidorn

Dragonfly Pmci.l

Wild Roger Leon Nqfakb

\7e were camp counselors living together, the lot of us, thirty strong. No one had known each other before, and we had to work and sleep close. Our job was ro pretend to be French people, teaching the language to young kids and putting them in a make pretend world that we had uphold eyery day. '$7e had a big room where we spent to our nights the woods and the rest of the time we worked outside, of 'Wisconsin. I spent five weeks there, and I in was the happiest ever with the gang I got to know.

They knew me as Robert, and having just come back I hardly even answer to my real name anymore. Get up at eight and sound the big bell, move on through the day seeing everybody around, working their duties . . . ear the three meals of the day and then go on up to the house after ten o'clock. \fle sat there on the couch gerting our kicks and resting, gerring up only when we really had to, to get popsicles out of thefreezer.

This was summer, the real joyful essence of it . . . my friend Yao walks in and there's six of us around. Sandrine and Aureliano on the floor, Sandrine knitting and Aureliano playing his guitar like a mystic who could see feelings... looking around and matching the gang, playing right to our hearrs because somehow he knows how to do it. My other good friend Philippe'was on the floor giving his girl Vero a backrub, and the people around who knew their sad story could see it was meaning the world to him to be doing thar.

I was on the couch head to toe with Roger, the son of the

guy who owned the place, not our boss but the proprietor of the backwoods. He got Roger a job washing dishes in the kitchen when the last guy roo off, and whenever he wasn't doing that, helping Ted the head cook and David the baker, he was up in our house, being with us and asking questions. "So what'd you guys do around here antsway?" he'd say, and people would roll their eyes and answer him real short. Some thought they were too busy to answer him, so when he forced them to talk they didn't like him, and the couple of kids who knew Spanish made fun of him a little even when he was right in the room with us. They weren't bad people for it, they just thought there were lines between us and the kitchen help. Roger was always there with us, though, and we got on real well. And anyway, with a guy like Roger, a g:y who could keep up his head, it didn't really make much of a difference what people said. I usually sat there and kept him company and pretended even to myself sometimes that I was wondering the very same things he was.

The first time I met him, I was sitting in a cabin talking to one of the kids I lived with when I heard a knocking outside. I came out and there was Roger with his little sister doing something to the doorknob. I said "H"y there" and Roger looked up and gave me a big old smile and said that they were just changing the screws. "The old ones are all rusty. It's to make it an efficient operation, you know man) Don't want the doors here to crack up." \flhat a guy! He was kind of heavy on the waist and his eyes were big and wide open. He had an air of duty around him like he know he had to do his job and he had to do it well. Concerned and busy, only fifteen years old. Yes! I dug him right then but I vrent back inside... a few minutes later I came out again and asked him if they were going to be able to fix the door that day. "Oh yeah," he said, and huffed. "Right away."

He got the kitchen job a few days later, and that's when he started spending time in the house... i talked to him a lot and he always told me interesting things without even meaning to. "This couch is too comforcable," he said one time, and I answered "Yeah, no kidding" and suddenly he got started on a story about the best rest he ever gor in his life which was inside a bus going south from Superior, \Wisconsin to a little rown near Tijuana. "I was trying to get to sleep and I couldn't because it was so hot, and finally I just said to hell with it and crawled under one of the compartments next to the air vent, and crumbled up, you know man?" He was on the bus with thiny other people and they were going down to do mission work, building a big orphanage in Mexico. I kept asking him about his ride down, about all the things he mush have seen outside... all the characters he must have met.

"\fle sang worship songs all the way down... we had a guy played the guitar and another guy played the bongo drums . . ." He had this habit of looking a:way and ar rhe floor and shaking his head as if he couldn't believe rhe stuff he remembered... he did that now and told me that there was a full church choir on board roo. "They sang just the prettiest songs," he said and smacked his teeth with his tongue. "Never heard anything like it before or since, you know man)"

This was just one afrernoon. 'We'd be setting up rhe meeting hall later on rhar night, and I needed ro move ts/enty boxes of soft crackers, some heads of purple grapes and five gallons of juice half a mile down the hill. 'We were supposed to make finger sandwiches and toy wine for the kids, parr of an art gallery thing we were doing. I went into the kitchen ro get what I needed, and Roger r /as there, in the middle of a mess. Still, he helped me find all the food and drink and, when he saw me trying to clutch all the stuff he offered to take me down

the hill on his dad's three-wheeler motorcycle. I had seen the thing around the site before, all caked over with mud and rust, hooked with a trailer on the back. "'We can take it down as long as my pops doesn't see us using it. Put your feet on the connector there, otherwise the back might fall off." I did what he said but I did it wrong. "You gotta sit right on the bar, there, you know man) Can't let the trailer come off, you watch it while we're going and yell out if it starts shaking out, right?" I put my hat on) a round brim brown hat made of straw, and I held on as Roger gunned it down the dirt road around the backwoods. "I take this thing out sometimes by myself, just don't tell my pops, right? Hahaha!" He gunned the pedal again and I let out a yell and threw my hat big had up in the air. \We were rolling down the hill now, so it came back down behind me in the grass.'We cut down across the hill, engine going and the trailer sticking. "Oh man," we kept saying.

I got to the sta{f house at around one that night, and Roger was there asleep on the couch. I sat down next to him and shuffled my hands around his feet just enough so he would wake up. I nodded to him and he nodded back. "'We gotta do that thing every day, man," I said, and he laughed a little and told me he was leaving the next morning. I asked him why and he said it was because he hated the job and that he'd been planning on hightailing it for a week now. His dad was disappointed, he said, and I liked that ethic, his father's, his idea that you gotta finish what you start. Roger's just a kid though, and he's a damn good worker already. He couldn't be bothered pretending to be French or high minded like us, worrying about our nonsense and missing the point by a mile.

I went up right away the ner day after work was finished and the kids were asleep. Roger had just left, but later I thought that was fine. I would have just told him to take

care of himself, and he knew it already.

Roger was replaced in the kitchen with a kid they found on a corner in Madison, blonde and skinny with a pony tail tied in the back and a visor covering half of his face. He never came to the house, but his stories probably wouldn't have been a match for Roger's anyqray. Roger's on the right track. Only fifteen and he's more of a man than most... strong and interested in everphing wofthy ... a real live wild specimen, Roger.

Huskie Pride

Dan Kane

"Attention...will all freshmen boys reporr to wrestling with Mr. Nudera," one of the gym teachers announced over the loud speaker. A huge sigh fell over the field house. \We all slowly gor up and grudgingly inched over to the wrestling line. Infuriated, my friend George looked around and ran over ro the step aerobics line. John and I were so mad that we got this class. 'We sat down in the boys wrestling line as the teacher passed out sign-up cards. \Xze filled out the cards and then handed them in. Then the teacher introduced himself.

"Mr. Jim Nudera," he said, and then he began describing the course. He talked for about fifteen minutes, and then the bell rang. "Everybody, we meer in the wresrling room, tomorrow!" he yelled. "'What's a wrestling room)" some kid whispered. I looked at him in awe. I didn't respond and I pointed up to the ceiling. There was a staircase leading up ro a room on the fourth floor. It was dimly lit and painted with a tropical forest and filled with a pack of huskies, our school mascot. It looked a little creepy all the way up there. I looked away and started walking to rhe lunchroom; I was really disappointed over this semester's gym

class.

The first week of gym class wasn't too bad. \We just learned a ton of questionable maneuvers and odd positions. At the end of the first week, Mr. Nudera had us sit down in a line against the wall. FIe wenr down the row and talked to each of us individually, telling how each of us are great athletes and blah, blah, that crap. He then

got to me, "Kane) You have a lot of talent and I think you should join the wrestling team." I looked up to him and said, "IJhm...weIl I can always try it out, I guess." 'Wow, was I full of itt I had no interest at all in joining. So I just said that to be nice. He smiled and then gave me all the information I needed regarding practice. I told him that I would see him after school.

I went and the practice wasn't that bad. 'When I got there I had to wrestle in socks, because I didn't have any wrestling shoes. A kid there, Cameron, picked me for his partner, mainly because I was a newcomer and he had a couple months experience on me. So we drilled, I beat him senseless. Mainly because I weighed 160 pounds and he weighed 140, I think that may have a little to do with

it. After the practice, the coach approached me and asked how I liked it. "\(/ell," I said, panting for breath, "it was very different, and I guess I can give it atry." Coach Nudera's face lit up, as he extended his huge hand, I shook it. "'Welcome aboard Kane, this'll be the greatest investment of your life." I tried to keep smiling and not show him how very pwzzled I really was. 'Wait a minute, I thought. That sucked! \Vhy did I just tell him that?

One week later, I wrestled my first match against St. Patrick's High School. Since I only had a week of training, I started at the JV 2 level (second string freshmen wrestlers). The only problem was that I didn't have any shoes yet! I wear a size fourteen, and there aren't that many wrestlers who have that size. Luckily, Nudera wore L4's when he used to wrestle, so I got to borrow his "Coach....These shoes are red!" as I stated the obvious. "'SflellKane, when you're on the mat and are in trouble, click your heels together and repeat, there's no place like home!" he replied, chuckling. I looked down at the shoes and laughed.

Out on the mat, as we were doing stretches and drills,

Coach Nudera came up behind me and pulled me aside and said, "Ya know, Kane, you can always tell a great wrestler by how much the toe of their shoe is worn down." I glanced down at the shoes and to my surprise, I saw a large hole in the toe of the right shoe. "'Well coach, I guess you weren't as bad as I thought!" He said, "Oh, that? I snagged that shoe on some branch!" \7e both had a good laugh as he patted me on the back. I was, well, I guess, proud of myself getting along so well with this diehard high school coach. That night I won my match against St. Pat's. I was now officially 1-0!

Christina Jiminez

Tootb \V'izard Digital Pboto