Virtue on the Ice

Shivering, she pulled the small body out of the snow.

"Come, come now," she whispered as she gathered the child in her arms and struggled back to the car. However, each gust of wind, each touch of sleet seemed to brush away the remaining strength from her delicate frame. Forcing herself forward, she watched as the frail sun succumbed to a swathe of dark clouds. Focus on the car, just focus. But the even red brake lights seemed so anemic even at this pathetically short distance. Oh, just reverse the car Dave, she cried mentally.

Her body quaked increasingly furiously with each waning step. "Oh Immortals," her cry was drowned by the increasing gale as her knees gave way. The child gave a surprised gulp.

"Dave, move that useless car here!!" she croaked. Within the car, she could see just make out the image of Dave fiddling with the radio. Buddhas, how long has she been out here?

"Must not give up," she tightened her arms around the child, but her legs refused to respond in kind. Must help the child than, she thought as she shook the child. "Wake up, wake up," she said as she dusted off the ice and sleet that has gathered around the little form. "Come on boy."

Was the child a boy? How did he or she look like? It suddenly occurred to her that she only knew the color of the child’s hair. Lifting the child up, she tilted the head, exposing the face.

Locks of long black hair fell across the tiny face. "A girl," she whispered. Delicate eyes, shuttered and dusted with ice, lips, pale and quivering. A fragile bud trapped in a harsh environment.

"Girl, girl, wake up. Get to the car," she pleaded to the innate form. "Please."

The only answer was the increasing cry of the high winds.

She thrust her bare arms into the snow, plowing her way forward, shielding the child from the wind under her chest. "Immortals, help," she moaned as she sowed more and more of her warmth each time her hands arch into the snow.

What was she doing this for? She asked. How can she be sure the child was still alive? Was Dave right? Did she stand to endanger more life than hers? And what if the girl was alive, would not the freezing cold leave her with lifelong disability?

"No," she gritted her teeth as the car became clearer and larger in definition. "Must save girl."

A roar followed by a washout of white obscured the car as the pair of red lights winked into the surrounding white. Beneath her, the earth seemed to rock as she found herself riding on cascading snow. Instinctively, she enfolded her feeble arms around the girl, as a scene of green and blue opened before her.

"Kuan Yin," she cried. Dave was right!! All this was her fault. "An avalanche!!"

Not far off, she watched a metallic black glinting from the pale pall before continuing it’s downhill descent.

"Immortals!!" she cried as she felt a wiggling hand between her bosoms. In the tumbling ice and earth, gentle warmth surged within as she shut her eyes.

"All will be well," she said to the child.

"Oh my, a lie!!" a cheerful voice chirped. The wiggling body within her arms thrust forward with a giggle. Her feet suddenly found perch on solid ground, and the rumbling around her ceased. Momentarily, she persisted in a curl, anticipating, waiting.

"Oh come on!!" the high pitched squeak continued. Daring herself, Janet opened her eyes.

Only to discover herself back on the road. She turned around. The car remained park where she last left it, with Dave looking stunned within.