Her mind racing, trying to remember from lectures that she had not missed some of the survival techniques. But the cold was interfering with her ability to think clearly. She had used most of her matches trying to get the meager fire she had going. She held her hands close to the flame trying to warm them. "I should try to find more small branches," she thought. She had killed several fires by trying to add large pieces, which smothered the flames in her rush. She pulled her gloves back on; looking at the tiny fire, which seemed to be safe for the moment turned and went towards the brush along the small creek.

She gathered small branches, snapping them off from the lower parts but above the snow. She headed back after gathered a variety of small and medium branches. Which had been picked up from the ground. They were damp but she hoped that they would dry out and burn. She carefully laid the wood out by size a little away from the fire pit she had made by clearing the snow away until she reached dirt. Then being careful she made a teepee like structure of some of the smaller wood. Then around that she started to make a frame with some of the larger pieces of wood. Placing them close enough that the heat would start them drying and hopefully allow them to catch. She was desperate to complete the weekend. To prove to them all that she could survive, to prove to herself. Somehow it had become more than just a class. It was bigger than just a grade. She did not understand but it was there inside of her.

She had finished building her frame and had sat back lost again in her thoughts. It took a few minutes for her to realize that her little fire had taken hold and was burning well. The warmth finally penetrated deep enough to bring her out of her ruminations to the real world again. She needed to melt snow for water. As she had been looking for a place that provided some shelter in case the winds picked up she had found a small pot. It was not in the best of shape, but it was not rusted and she did not see any holes in it. She scooped up some clean snow and placed the pot close to the fire. She got as close as she dared to the flames and started thinking again.

From out of the depths of her mind came an image of an igloo. Looking around at the accumulated snow she thought that she might be able to make a crude igloo. She was not sure she really believed it, but on the film they had said snow was a good insulator. At the very least she thought the activity might help her get warm. She went to what appears to be an accumulation of snow and started digging into it. Hoping it was not a small hummock of dirt but a mound of snow. As she cleared snow out she put it on top packing it down. Working carefully as to not have the top crash in on her. She started trying to clear snow from the inside to make room for her whole body. There was not much room inside but she was able to sit up, and turn around. It would have to do.

Crawling back out she checked the pot of water and moved it a little closer to the fire. It was time to see exactly what she had with her. The professor had not told them ahead of time so that they would only have what they would normally have with them. If they had known they could have conceivably carried with them things that they normally would not. Before the professor had taken them they had all been allowed to call and tell parents, roommates, spouses what was going on so as not to cause worry. Grabbing her backpack she started looking through it. She had several tea bags and packets of soup as well as a coffee cup. Digging deeper she found several candy bars that were a little worse for having been smashed under her books for who knows how long as well as the sandwich and bag of chips that she had packed for her lunch but had not eaten yet. She rarely had extra cash and preferred to carry her lunch instead of paying the jacked up prices at the school's cafeteria or the several fast food places that surrounded the campus area. All in all she was pleased with her little inventory and thought that she probably ended up ahead of many of her classmates who chose to buy their lunches.

Her fire was going well and she was finally warming up. She placed another of the bigger pieces of wood on top to dry out. The water in the little pot was not quite boiling but she figured it was hot enough for some soup. She stirred the soup with the wrong end of a pen and drank it as she ate half of her sandwich. She would save the other half for the next day. It had gotten dark and though it was still early with no flashlight and nothing else to do she decided she might as well try to get some sleep. Checking the fire and adding several of the biggest chunks of wood she crawled into the little igloo. Hoping that the fire would last through the night.

As she tried to find a comfortable position without bringing down the roof on herself she thought about what she had accomplished to that point and was pleased. She felt strong, in control and able to handle almost anything. She had heard others in the class, and their friends taking bets on who would last and who wouldn't. Nobody gave her much chance of making it even through the afternoon. But here she was, still early in the evening but a good third of the way through the 24 hours. Her last thought as she drifted off was how cozy it was. She was not in the least bit chilled.

She woke thinking she heard something outside and thought she saw a light, but it was still dark and she didn't see the light again so she closed her eyes and drifted back into sleep. When she woke again light filtered through the snow so she knew it was morning. She glanced down at her watch; it read 8:05. Only about 4 hours to go before she would be picked up at the drop point. She had walked a good 15 or 20 minutes before picking her camping spot. She crawled out and went over to the fire pit. Holding her hands over it she could feel heat. Blowing on it caused the coals to glow. She put some of the medium sized branches on and nursed it back to life. Scooping up some clean snow she set the pot in the coals to melt the snow and heat some water. While the snow was melting she ate the rest of her sandwich and chips. She made tea when the water was hot.

There was not much for her to do. She decided that she would take a walk. Getting up she walked along the frozen creek. To her surprise she saw footprints mixed in with the ones she had made coming in the previous afternoon. She knew hers had been alone when she came in. It made her wonder who had been there in the dark. Had it been a fellow student? Whoever it was had not disturbed her but going back she noticed that the prints were around her fire too. She noticed other prints too, prints that looked like little hands in the snow. Paw prints like those of a dog too. Her curiosity was aroused. She followed the tracks that looked like little handprints towards the forest. They ended at a tree. Whatever it was must have climbed up the tree. Looking up along the trunk she thought she saw an opening about 8 feet up. Maybe whatever it was lived in the tree. Away from her fire she was getting chilled. She turned and went back.

At last it was 11:30. She piled snow over her file and taking a long unburned branch stirred it around. Piling more snow on top of it until she could see no live coals. She made sure that she didn't leave any trash behind and headed back to the meeting place. When she got there several of the other students were there as well as the professor with his van. Less than half of the class was there. She wondered where the others were. When he saw her he asked how she was doing. How her hands and feet felt. There was coffee and hot water in thermoses and she made herself a cup of tea. It was then she noticed a couple of classmates wrapped in blankets in the back of the van. Several of the ones standing around were holding cups awkwardly in their hands. She had removed her gloves to make her tea and noticed them pointing to her with their heads and talking in whispers.

He turned from doing something and after looking around said, "well this is everybody. Get in the van." One of the others spoke in a shaky voice asking about the others. He replied that the others were picked up last night or early this morning. He whistled sharply and a German shepherd ran over and leapt into the van. Looking at the prints she thought that they looked familiar. Dropping them off back at the campus parking lot he reminded them that they needed to write up a paper detailing their experience and what if anything they learned from it. The paper was due in his office by Friday morning. If there were any problems or questions he would be in his office every day for his regular hours.

Normally she would have delayed until the last possible moment before doing any assignment. She found though that once she was back at her apartment and had had a shower she was sitting down and working on it. She even put together an outline detailing the different parts. She had a rough draft of it ready before she went to bed. The next day found her at the school library typing her report using one of the computers. She was not a super typist and had ignored the computers for the most part after her one required class where they went through the basics. But something inside of her wanted this paper to stand out. For it to be the best that she could make it, and that meant typing it since the chicken scratch she called writing was unreadable. Besides, her English professor had required all papers be typed and doing it with the word processor was easier than having to type it by hand. Finishing it and sending it to the printer she put it in the binder she had brought at the bookstore for it and put it in his mailbox where he would get it first thing the next morning.

Going home she pulled out her math book and was still there studying when her roommates got back from shopping or the movies or where ever it was they had gone that afternoon. They both started in on her, teasing her. She picked up her books and took them to her room shutting the door and ignored them. She could still hear them in the living room, but at least she didn't have to listen. She hoped that it was not a matter of too little too late and that she could manage to pull at least passing grades in all of her classes. Something had changed. Suddenly it was important to her to graduate. Not just get by but to do a good job.

Later that week as she was leaving having completed her last final for the term she nearly ran over her professor from the outdoor survival class. He looked at her and from a stack of papers in his hand he pulled one out giving it to her. It was her paper from the final. She looked inside the front cover and couldn't believe her eyes. She had gotten an 'A' on the final with her grade for the class a 'B'. She knew where she had stood before the final, she did not believe that she had managed to pull herself up from a low 'D' to a comfortable 'B'. She asked him for a breakdown from the term. Going back to his office he took her through each of the tests and homework assignments showing her the percent each had in the final grade. He congratulated her on the fine job she had done as she stood to leave.

None of her professors could believe the change that occurred in her seemingly overnight. From that point on she attended classes taking notes and participating. Handed in her homework on time and complete. She was a different person. Looking back on her experience many years later and asked what had made the difference she said, "I learned that I could do anything that I set my mind to. That by concentrating on one thing at a time, doing one thing at a time and not immediately assuming that I would fail. I didn't fail." She carried this lesson with her for the rest of her life and tried to teach it to her children.

Friday, December 11, 1998

Carol E Rice

This story is copyrighted (c) by Carol Rice and any commercial use is prohibited without my expressed written consent