Mountain Rescue

Bill was a writer. He was 32 years old and about 6’ tall. He was well built and was considered good looking. His first two books had done well and he had moved to a cabin high on a mountain. He had a friend who was an engineer to help him set the cabin up to be fairly self sufficient. He had solar panels that kept his battery banks charged and he used LED lighting. There was a nearby stream where he had a water wheel that also supplied some of his power needs. It was enough to power his refrigeration unit and his freezer. They were both so well insulated that they drew little power. There was also a generator to help with times that he might need the extra power.

The cabin had two bedrooms and a kitchen/dining room plus a large bathroom. The main part of the cabin had a fire pit in the center of the main living area. There was always plenty of deadfall in the woods around the area to keep him supplied with firewood.

Bill had lived there for a little over three years and he had a German shepherd dog for a companion. There was only one way in and one way out via a four wheel drive “road”. Bill had internet access from a satellite dish but there was no cell phone service.

Bill was working on his latest book project one early spring day when he heard a car horn. Max (his dog) barked and ran to the door. This was generally too early in the year for people with four wheel drive vehicles to be coming up the road on this mountain. They would sometimes drive to the top for the great view. The road went passed Bills cabin for about another mile before it ended at the top of the mountain. The only other place to go from there was back down the same road. Bill grabbed a coat and his 45cal. Pistol and went out to see what the noise was about. He fired up his 4-wheeler and Max followed him down to the road. They followed it down about a quarter mile when they spotted an SUV stopped in the road. There was one woman looking under the front of the SUV and another in the driver’s seat honking the horn. As Bill approached, the one in the SUV got out and the other stood up to face him. They appeared to be young and attractive. Bill noticed one was wearing jeans and a button up shirt with sneakers. The other who looked younger wore cargo shorts and a tank top with sandals.

“What is the problem, ladies?”

The one in jeans said, “I think I broke something under the car and it won’t move.” She had brown hair down just passed her shoulders that was pulled back in a pony tail. As he got closer, he could see her green eyes.

Bill got down and looked under the vehicle and could see she had dropped down on a large rock and something was defiantly broken since the left wheel was at an unusual angle and was pointing in a different direction than the right.

“Yea, you do have a problem. That thing isn’t going anywhere. You had better gather your things and come up to the cabin. I will get in touch with Jeff, down in the village, to see if he can get up here to haul it to his shop. My cabin is just up the road. My name is Bill Thomas, and the dog’s name is Max.”

“Thanks, I’m Sally Abrams and this is my friend Sarah Cummings. I guess it’s too far to walk back down to the village so if you don’t mind, we will take you up on your invitation.” Sarah opened the back of the SUV and pulled their cooler out and Sally gathered a few things from the front.

Bill loaded everything on the back of the 4-wheeler. They hopped on and Bill drove them back up to the turnoff to his cabin. He opened the door and ushered them in and said, “Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable. I’ll bring your things in.”

The girls sat down on the sofa and when Bill returned, he pulled up a chair and asked a few questions. “Why were you two up here this time of year?”

Sally said, “Well, Sarah just graduated from high school and came to visit me. She had never been up in the mountains and since I had a new SUV, we thought it would be fun to go exploring. I have never driven on a road that was as rough as that one and I guess I must have been going too fast and not paying enough attention. The next thing I knew, we slid sideways and dropped down onto that rock. It’s a good thing you were her or we would really be in trouble.”

“You certainly would. It may be warm springtime down in the city but spring comes later up here. It will get pretty cold when the sun goes down and neither of you are dressed for it. You could die from hypothermia. I will send a message to Jeff to see what he can do for you.”

Bill went to his desk and brought up his internet connection and IM’d Jeff. Jeff did not respond so Bill sent him an e-mail telling him the situation. “Jeff isn’t answering right now so I think you will have to at least stay the night. If there is anyone you need to notify, you can send them an e-mail. Cell phones don’t work up here.

Sally said, “I guess I should send a message to my boss to let him know I won’t be in tomorrow.”

Sarah said, “My folks know I am staying with Sally so I’m okay.”

Sally sent off her message while Bill went into the kitchen and started to get some dinner ready. While that was working he said, “You can use the spare bedroom over there. It has a double bed but if you don’t want to sleep in the same bed, the sofa pulls out into a bed also. There are blankets and pillows in the closet.

The bathroom is there and you may use the shower if you like but there are some rules you need to be aware of. The shower water is heated by the sun. It is plenty hot but the supply is limited. Because of this, you cannot take long showers like you do at home. Since there are three of us, you need to take what I call Navy showers. That means you wet down and turn the water off, and then you soap and scrub, and then turn the water back on to rinse. Please put the plug in the tub before you start and do not drain the tub when you are finished. I use that water to do laundry since it already has soap in it. I refill the reservoir afterwards and it takes almost a day to reheat that water. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but I am limited in my options this far from normal facilities.”

Bill went back to the kitchen and in a few minutes he called them in to eat. They had a pleasant dinner and the girls complimented Bill on his cooking. While they ate, they got to know each other better. Bill found that Sally was 19 and Sarah was 18. They were planning to start college together in the fall. As they talked, Bill looked them over carefully. They both were very attractive. Sarah had short blonde hair and blue eyes. Both had athletic builds with C cup breasts flat stomachs and butts that he could barely keep his hands off. He was so distracted that he sometimes lost track of the conversation.

Sally had a hard time trying to keep from staring at Bill. He was handsome, polite, and smart and had a good sense of humor. She felt herself blush when he looked into her eyes. Sarah didn’t try to hide the fact that she found him attractive. She even openly flirted with him. As the evening passed, it started to rain and the temperature dropped suddenly. Bill first noticed it when he let Max back in from the outside. Bill put some wood in the fire pit and soon the cabin was toasty warm. Bill said he was going to bed and if the girls needed anything, they could help themselves. He then retired to his room and went to sleep.

The next morning he got up and pulled on his robe. He went into the bathroom and then to the kitchen to fix some coffee. He noted that Sarah had decided to sleep on the sofa near the fire. He saw her shorts next to the bed and her shapely leg was sticking out from the blanket. He admired the view as he drank his coffee.
A short time later, Sally came out of the spare bedroom wearing a robe and headed straight to the bathroom. When she came out, she joined Bill for a cup of coffee. Max went to the door asking to go out, so Bill went to let him out. He had to push his shoulder into the door to get it open. The rain had frozen and left a layer of ice over everything. As he looked out he saw that they also had about two inches of snow on top of the ice.