It Looked Like a Warzone at the Ranger Station

 

Well, nearby!

 
            It was cold, snow was falling. In an hour it would be fully dark.
            The Sheriff’s dept. was there, Search and Rescue were there. Many volunteers were also parked at the ranger station. But the searchers were nowhere to be seen, as they were out combing the forest around the campground.
            If the search continued overnight, support vehicles would be there with food and drinks for the searchers.
            Rick and Dexter were running a sort of open house in the office. Neither had gone home. Right at that moment Hannah was up in the mobile making very sustaining type cookies for the searchers to snack on with their paper cups of coffee, compliments of the ranger station.
            One very freaked out set of parents, the girl’s mom and dad, already sat in the office staying warm, drinking coffee, and waiting. Rick had heard that the boy’s parents were on their way from Oregon. It might be morning before they arrived.
            “Maybe by morning this whole thing will be over,” Rick thought to himself, but didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to promise anything he couldn’t deliver to the suffering man and woman sitting silently in his office.
            Dexter was doing his best to present a hopeful presence for their sake, but Rick knew Dexter was very worried.
            The missing kids, Myra and Jeff, had chatted with Dexter before they took off hiking that morning. He had warned them that more snow was coming and that it was cold, and getting colder. Jeff had said they wouldn’t even be gone until dark. They were just going to hike the granny trail behind the campground.
            Now, it was getting dark and Jeff’s Explorer sat cold and empty. They hadn’t returned.
            Rick knew that everyone was doing their best, hunting for the two young people, but Rick had a sick feeling in his heart, and he was worried about time. To be lost in a snowstorm at night in the park was something like a death sentence, in his opinion. They couldn’t last long.
            “Dexter, will you hold down the fort here? I’ve got an idea,” Rick said quietly to Dexter out by the coffee pot.
            “Sure,” said Dexter. He watched Rick speak in a low voice to Myra’s parents and step outside. Dexter had a pretty good idea what Rick was thinking. He’d been thinking it too.
            Rick wanted to talk to Ralph, most urgently. He needed Ralph’s expertise with the park and the mountains. He stood there in the parking lot with the snow falling all around him, and piling up on all of those vehicles, and he wished with all of his heart that he could just call Ralph somehow.
            While he was standing there, he heard something land on the station dumpster. It was that big raven that hung around with Ralph. She was as black as the night but contrasted against the snow. She cocked her head and gave him an enquiring look with one sharp black eye.
            She made a low chuckling kind of raven sound in her throat, and spoke, “Are you looking for Ralph, Mr. Ranger?”
            He felt as if he were entering the realms of magic, he knew she spoke, but not that she read minds. “Yes, Maeve. I want to speak to Ralph most urgently.”
            “He knows, come with me, Mr. Ranger,” she said. “He’s waiting for you.”
            So, Rick followed Maeve into the Great Forest, which is just adjacent to the station parking lot. She flew in little bursts and he followed on foot.
            It was snowy in the Forest, but not like back at the station and campground. In a few moments, Rick saw the fire burning in the clearing. Ralph was standing by the fire, and Ramona was sitting.
            “Thanks for coming so quickly,” said Ralph.
            “I need your help, Ralph. We’ve got two lost kids, well young adults. We’re running out of time and nobody is finding anything,” said Rick, feeling that magic tug again. “Why thank me, did you know I would need you?”
            “Oh, you know. I kinda thought so. See, I know where they are, and you’re right. They’re running out of time,” said Ralph.
            “What can we do?” said Rick.
            “We can go get them. But you gotta prepare yourself. I’m not sure any human has ever gone where we’re going to go exactly. Hang on, I have to go get something,” Ralph said.
            Ralph left the fire circle and went into the cave for a moment. While he was gone, Ramona said, “It’s going to be OK. But yes, you do need to hurry.”
            When Ralph came back, he carried something that looked like a dull golden cable looped over his hands. “Watch this,” he said. Then he stretched the golden cable out into a circle and shook it. It brightened up, and hung in the air. It expanded to about 8 feet across.
            Rick’s head kind of swam, and he felt a bit dizzy.
            “What is it?” he said weakly.
            “A doorway. A portal, if you like,” said Ralph. “I know where the young people are. They walked way up on the mountain, and now they are lost. We must step through and bring them back. I hope they can handle seeing me! I didn’t think it would work for me to go alone.”
            “Alright, Ralph. I believe you. I think I know you pretty well,” said Rick.  
            So, Ralph stepped through the gleaming circle, to show Rick how it was done. Rick took a big breath and stuck his right foot through. There was solid snow out there, so he stepped on through, joining Ralph where he stood on a steeply inclined path in the dark, with snow falling heavily all around them.
            Ralph gathered the portable portal up into a few loops and put it around his neck.
            “They’re over there under that little ledge,” said Ralph. He was right.
            Rick stuck his head down where he could see under the overhanging rocks. “Hi,” he said. “We’re here to get you out of here. Can you walk?”
“I can,” said the boy. “I’m not sure about Myra. She’s pretty sleepy. Who are you, anyhow,” he said, beginning to sound excited, and beginning to crawl out into the open.
            “I’m Rick from the ranger station where you talked to my trainee this morning. My good friend who is your real rescuer is Ralph. Prepare yourself.”
            “I’ll try,” said Jeff as he crawled the rest of the way out.
            “Hi,” said Ralph. “If she can’t walk, I better carry her. We need to get her out of the cold right now.”
            Jeff kind of wavered, visibly, but he finally rallied and said, “Hi. Maybe I’m delirious. Maybe not. Hello, gentlemen. Please do carry Myra, Ralph, sir.”
            “Hang on for a second,” said Ralph. He prepared the portable portal again. Jeff looked like he might bolt, but for the sake of Myra, he didn’t.
            Ralph reached down into the rough shelter and scooped the girl up. She appeared to be asleep. “Follow me,” he said.
            So, first Ralph, carrying Myra, stepped through, Then Jeff followed, as in a dream, then Rick, feeling pretty dreamy himself.
            The whole party emerged in that little patch of land right behind the station dumpster.
            “Her parents are in my office,” said Rick. “Maybe we better take her in there.”
            Myra had rallied a little bit and was trying to wriggle out of Ralph’s arms, so he set her gently on the snowy ground.
            “We’ll walk her into the office. Thanks, Ralph.”
            “Thank you, Ralph,” said Jeff, hanging on to Myra. “Now I know something nobody I know knows. If that makes sense.”
            “Makes tons of sense,” laughed Ralph. “Now take her to her mama. It’s cold out here!”
            Ralph gathered up his golden portal and hung it in loops around his neck as he and Rick watched Jeff take Myra in to see her parents.
            “You know, the excitement is just beginning now. How are they going to explain their rescue? How can they explain anything, but there they are, fully alive,” said Rick.
            “Oh, nobody will believe them. They will chalk it up to cold and exposure and loss of faculties, won’t they? It’ll be OK,” said Ralph. “Maybe you can smooth the waters a little bit.”
            “Everything OK, Boss?” said the Raven who had suddenly appeared as if called.
            “Yup, Birdie, everything’s well that ends well. Isn’t that what they say?”
            Ralph disappeared down the path into the Forest with his portal around his neck and his bird on his shoulder, and he was laughing softly.
            Rick headed over to his office to call off the search and to smooth the waters, if he could.
            He was beginning to imagine what the news would say about this one.

❄️💙❄️