Day 17
We met to form a new plan.
“Kim and I think we should head straight south, across the US border, and into the Central Plains,” said Keara.
“I know what you’re thinking, and I see your point, but unfortunately, there’s little to hunt in the open country, and by the time we hit Utah, winter will be on us,” replied Jacob. “We all know what happened to the Mormons in Utah.”
“No, what?” asked Andy.
“You’re kidding, right? Most of them froze to death. That’s why Salt Lake City came to be. I guess that explains why you got kicked out of your church,” Tom said.
“Very funny!”
“That’s my point,” Jacob said.
At the end of our meeting, it was decided, with some hesitance, that we would start walking south to the Crow’s Nest Pass. It would take us ten to twelve days to complete this trek. The open country would allow us to make good time, and we could build our strength and stride. Once we made the pass, we would head west, toward the ocean. This way would be less of a struggle than heading west through the Rogers Pass.
If we were lucky, we could cover the 660 miles in about 66 days. If Jacob was right and this was July, by mid-September we would make the coast. From there we would take a left turn and head south, following the coastline to California, and work our way to the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.
Once in Baja, the days would be warmer. The sea would be abundant with fish, and the land would have enough food. We could finally stop and rest. We would eventually build a home, settle down, and watch the sun set, until our last days in this world.
The entire trip would take about six months.
And who knew? Just maybe we would meet some interesting people on the way. However, this prospect started to scare us. What if they weren’t friendly to outsiders like us?
Looking back now, I realize how naive we were. However, being naive was what drove us on. Any sane person would have stopped, dug in, and called it a day. Thank God for being young and foolish.
Day 35
That day we made it to the opening of Crow’s Nest Pass. It wasn’t hard to find since all of us had visited it over the years. The only difference was that there was no highway to lead the way. There were no signposts, no gas stations, and no rest stops. Only the six of us.
That afternoon we added one more piece to the puzzle. We came across an old abandoned Native campsite, the first sign of civilization we had seen. This was a huge discovery. It confirmed we weren’t alone in this world. There were definitely others living here. Part of me felt as though we were being rescued. We hugged each other, while a few of us started to cry. Even Jacob cried. This was the first time I saw him react this way. The only question still unanswered was what year this was. We knew now that there were at least 250 years between us and our home.
That night, we sat around the campfire as we had done for the last thirty-four nights. The difference was that, for the first time in over a month, there was hope. Jacob pulled out a small flask of Grand Marnier from his pack. He had brought it that day to the cave.
“I was saving this,” he said as he waved the bottle in front of our faces. “There’s not much, so go easy. To the future, whatever it may bring us.”
He took a sip and passed it on. “To the future,” we repeated in unison, and took a sip. It was delicious, sweet, and a change from all the bland food we had been eating.
Day 55
As we continued to walk, the discussion centred on birthdays. In all that had happened no one had thought about his own or any other person’s birthday. After all, what time line were we supposed to use? Our phones told us it was May, but we knew it had to be July or August. If so, I had missed my birthday on July 3. Tom also pointed out that since we were two hundred or more years in the past, none of us had been born yet. Therefore, the whole discussion of birthdays became null and void.
Regardless, I would be eighteen that year, a young woman, as my parents would have said. I was now expected to be wise and ready to take my place in the world. As an adult, no one could tell me what to do anymore. The decisions I would make now, and the consequences that followed, were all in my control.
Day 72
Jacob used the last of his bullets to kill a grizzly bear that had attacked Keara. It came at her while we were picking wild berries. We had made the mistake of not staying close enough to one another, and now had to watch in horror as Keara went through the agony. She was bleeding profusely from her right arm. Jacob and Tom took control and worked on her as fast as possible, trying to stop the bleeding.
Please, God, don’t let her die. Not now, not here, I prayed.
“Trinity, get me the first aid kit!” Jacob yelled to me.
Keara cried out in pain. I froze. I could barely move. I just stood like a statue and couldn’t bring myself to react.
“Christ…Kim, you grab the first aid kit from my backpack!” yelled Jacob. “We have to stop the bleeding!”
Kim returned a few minutes later with the first aid kit and knelt next to Keara.
Jacob, Kim, and Tom worked desperately to save her life. Andy and I continued to watch in complete disbelief.
“Tie her arm off, before she bleeds out.” yelled Kim.
Kim’s father was a doctor and she had picked up a number of lifesaving skills from him over the years. Saving Keara would now be in the hands of Kim, and Jacob.
Keara was covered in her own blood. It was everywhere. She screamed out in pain.
Please, Lord, I continued to pray, don’t take her away from us. I kept repeating this over and over in my mind. Please. Please!
That night we built a lean-to out of trees. Keara rested on a stretcher. The world was repeating itself. Now it was Keara’s turn. Kim and I sat on a fallen log, her arm was around me, she was trying to make me feel better. Jacob and Andy finally walked over to us.
“We’ve managed to stop the bleeding for now,” Jacob said.
I asked how she was.
“I’m not sure,” replied Jacob. “She’s sleeping now. If the bleeding stops completely, there’s less of a chance of her developing an infection. I think she’ll be okay. However, even though I’m not a doctor, I don’t think she’ll ever be able to use her arm like before.”
Kim stepped in, “We shouldn’t move her for a few days. At least until we know the bleeding has completely stopped. For now we have to keep her arm elevated.”
“I’m sorry; I screwed up I just didn’t know what to do.” I told Jacob. “I should have paid more attention, and seen the bear coming. I need you; I need Keara to forgive me!”
“Trinity! It’s fine. All is fine. No one is to blame.” Jacob walked over to me and held me. “It’s going to be okay. Do you and Kim want to take over the night watch?”
“Yes!” I said.
Kim came to me and together we made our way to the lean-to. Tom was with her. I could tell he was crying.
I patted him on the shoulder and asked if he was okay.
“I’m fine,” he said.
“Go get some rest,” I told him. “We’ll watch over her tonight.”
Tom hesitantly stood up. He leaned over and kissed Keara on the forehead.
“I should have been with her. I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight!” Tom said.
“We all could’ve done more,” I said to him.
He turned and walked away.
That night, I didn’t sleep. I stayed by Keara’s side and just held her hand. She had some deep cuts on her face from where the bear had scratched her. She had such a beautiful face. People always talked about her smile. I pulled my iPhone from by pants pocket and placed the ear buds in her ears. I played her favourite song. It was called “Beautiful,” an instrumental violin piece, no words, just music. She always told us it touched her soul whenever she heard it.
Day 73
Keara was still unconscious. The concern was that a fever had set in overnight. All we could do was to keep her hydrated and give her some ibuprofen for the pain and to reduce the fever. Even this was running out. We had used up a lot of our supply in the last two months. Now that we really needed it, we were almost out.
Tom came in to see how Keara was doing. Up to that point, she had been going in and out of consciousness. But, when Tom was there, she seemed to stay awake and just stare at him. Then she gave her famous Keara smile. This was what convinced me that the only thing that keeps us going and keeps us alive is love. It keeps us from slipping away. We all need love. That day it was Tom’s love for Keara that saved her. I know that now for sure. At the beginning of our journey, we were so focused on the prize that we forgot to love one another.
Jacob came up behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. He knelt down next to me and wiped the tears from my eyes.
Day 88
Fall was in the air. The leaves were changing colour, and the days were getting shorter. The hot summer days gave way to cool nights. The maps we’d been using were now of little use. They had long since stopped showing us any useful direction. We were relying on the compass, which was now pointing us west. Keara was doing much better. Her face was healing quite nicely. Her arm, unfortunately, would never be the same. She had problems moving three of her fingers on her right hand. For now, it would need to stay in a sling. Jacob hoped that in time she’d be able to regain most of the feeling and movement in her hand.
Tom had become Keara’s shadow, careful not to let her out of his sight. Keara didn’t seem to mind the extra attention. I, for one, would have been sick of the babysitting. However they were happy, and as I looked at the world around us, it was the one thing which was to break the sadness and hard times ahead for us.
Then there was Andy and Kim. They, too, were spending most, if not all, of their time together. They constantly giggled, and I thought they made a really great couple. They were always close, but obviously, the closeness had evolved. They seemed very happy.
Then there was Jacob and I. I knew he had feelings for me, and it was getting harder and harder to hide them. My feelings were definitely getting stronger by the day. Our relationship had finally moved one step past friendship. I looked at the others, and I would’ve liked it to be more. I was sure he felt the same way. I knew we both wanted our relationship to be more, but for now, there was only one prize that mattered to Jacob, and that was getting us to the coast, to the place we would finally call home.
Jacob had always been very driven. He never gave up on anything, and wouldn’t until his last dying breath. I always felt that was his magic. He was always there, helping, looking out for us all. He made me laugh every day and managed to put a smile on my face, even at those moments when all I wanted to do was cry. We all needed someone who could make us laugh. Right now, there wasn’t much to smile about.
We had reached the point where every tree looked like the last ten thousand trees we’d passed. The journey now seemed endless. Just when we thought we were getting closer, there was one more hill that Jacob told us we had to climb. We kept going, praying that just over the next hill, we would finally see the ocean and the means to our survival.
Day 102
Fall had arrived. The trees were covered in different shades of bright orange and yellow leaves. I’d always loved the fall. It was always the best time of the year growing up. We would spend hours in our grandparents’ yard, gathering leaves and putting them into neat piles, only to fly at them like superheroes. I can still remember the crunchy sound and texture against my skin. Jacob also loved the fall. He was always mesmerized by the colours and liked the warm days and cool nights.
We had guessed the date to be around September twentieth or so. Since we began this journey, I’d taken over a thousand photos using my iPhone. I now had to start contemplating the use of my trash button and making some room for more, but I was finding it very difficult to erase any of them. Each and every picture held a special meaning. Would anyone ever see these photos? I didn’t know. What I did know was that it was the only thing that was keeping us connected to who we were and what we knew. Each day that passed could be our last, and I didn’t want to lose any of those moments.
Day 108
On this day, we stood on the last hill and looked out at the ocean. We had finally made it. It was vast, breathtaking, and very cold, but here we were. I thought I would have a thousand words to write, to explain what it was like seeing the ocean for the first time. For the last two months, I imagined what I would write at the moment I first set eyes on it.
It wasn’t what I thought it would be. You get this vision in your head, thinking what something might be like.
When I was sixteen, my father took me on one of his business trips to Egypt. He had a small defence firm and sold army stuff. I think that’s why Jacob always thought my dad was so great.
On this trip, you would think the lasting impression would be Cairo, with its world-famous sights. But, it wasn’t. En route to Egypt, we had to make a stopover in Cincinnati. From there we flew to London and then to Cairo. I don’t remember the actual month, but I’m pretty sure it was around the first week of December. What I remember the most was the plane circling to land at the Cincinnati Airport for a layover. It was around six in the evening, and we were just above the clouds. The sun was setting, and lighting up the sky with the most magical colours I had ever seen. There were deep hues of gold, yellow, orange, and red that had taken over the skyline. That moment left an everlasting image in my mind. Standing there that day left me with nothing. This day was no different than the last 107 days before it. It sucked.
Day 110
We didn’t know how long they had been watching us sitting around our campfire. All I remember was the look on Jacob’s face when he spotted them—West Coast natives with painted faces and carrying spears. Jacob told us to stand slowly. We did as he told us, but we were terrified. We had not seen anyone for over a hundred days, and now this. Jacob later mentioned that they were probably just as scared of us. I have a hard time believing that, though, because there were over forty of them and six of us.
Jacob stretched out his hands to show he wasn’t hiding anything from them. He then slowly took a few steps toward them. He stopped, looked them in the eyes, and said, “Hello, my name is Jacob,” while he pointed to his chest.
He reminded me of the story my dad would tell us about the night he first met my mom. She was visiting from Chile for six months and was set up to go on a blind date that included an entourage of friends. They met at a movie theatre in South Calgary. The kicker was that my dad didn’t know that my mom spoke perfect English. She had gone to English schools and studied to be an English-Spanish translator. My dad, completely unaware of this, thought she spoke only Spanish.
He walked up to her and very slowly said, “Hel-lo…my…name…is…Carl. What…is…yours?”
My mom thought he was an idiot, but nicely replied, “Maria, and you are Carl. Nice meeting you.”
This time, no one spoke a common language. The only other languages spoken in our group were Spanish, some German, Mandarin, and a little French. Tom and Andy probably spoke enough French to find a toilet.
The leader of the group turned and said something to the person to his right. I imagined he was talking about the idiot who had just attempted to communicate with them.
Jacob looked back at us and then turned to them again. They looked at us as if we were aliens from another planet. We were still wearing the same clothes from the first day we went to the cave. Tom was wearing a yellow plastic raincoat, and I was wearing my red Columbia jacket that was torn at the sleeve, both of these made from synthetic fabrics and in strange colours that no one in this era would have seen before. They just watched with a look of disbelief on their faces.
Jacob stood there and once again opened his hands, trying to get them to trust him. Slowly, a very short Native man walked toward him. The others just watched, keeping a defensive stance, as if waiting for the first sign of trouble. He stopped and looked at Jacob and then looked over at each of us, five European-looking persons and one Asian person. Most likely they had never made contact with anyone like us; we were the first. We could only imagine what was going through his mind.
Jacob held his hand out toward him. The leader finally spoke, but to this day, I don’t know what he said to us. We just stood there, not knowing what to do. He spoke again, expecting a response, but not a word came out of us. Jacob finally began to gesture with his hands and some facial expressions that we couldn’t speak their language. The leader called up to the others and said a few words to them. Some of the men began to laugh. He said a few more words, and they laughed even harder. Then Jacob decided to join in on the fun. They stopped, looked at us, and continued to laugh even harder.
When the laughter ended, there was no handshaking or any familiar gesture of friendship. It wasn’t like the Hollywood movies we had all seen as children. Finally the leader pointed at us to follow him, so we grabbed our belongings as he led the way.
We walked for at least an hour, until we finally arrived at their camp, situated next to the ocean. We figured they had probably been following us for a few days.
The settlement was made up of a series of wood lodges with smoke rising up from the centre of each roof. As we walked into their village, we were greeted by women and children of all ages. What I remember most vividly was how small they were. The average adult was about four-six. This truly felt like something out of a movie. We were still quite scared, but Jacob insisted we should calm down, because if they were going to kill us, they would have done so by now.
One summer, when I was a young teen, our family went to Vancouver to visit the Museum of Anthropology. The building was filled with Native artifacts from all over the Northwest coast. I still remember how bored I was and how much I whined and complained to my parents, trying to convince them we should leave. I just wanted to go back to the hotel and get back on Facebook. Funny, here I was standing in the middle of history, and I knew nothing about it, just because I had been too stubborn to listen to my parents.
We followed as they led us into a dark lodge situated in the centre of their village. There was a fire burning in the middle of the lodge. The grey smoke hung thick in the air. The only visible light came from the opening in the ceiling. From time to time, it would become darker as more smoke rose and blocked out the sunlight. The leader introduced us to the chief (the sm’ooygit) of the village, whom we later came to know as Ts’ibasaa, Sm’ooygit Ts’ibasaa. His tribe was part of the Salish clan.
They pointed for us to sit. Once we were seated, they brought us what seemed like endless amounts of food and drink. There was very little communication. We were so hungry and hadn’t eaten a feast like this since we had left our families. We could tell they were looking us over, trying to size us up. The chief contentedly talked to the people around him, from time to time pointing at us and then to the others in the lodge. How we acted in their eyes would be the key to our survival.
Once we finished eating, they took us outside to a plank house by the main lodge. Inside we noticed what appeared to be beds made of thick bear furs. Just as the first lodge, the smoke hung thick. Three Native women guided the six of us into the room and, using hand signals, told us to undress. We stood there, not completely sure how to go about this. We were all feeling a little embarrassed, unsure what to do next.
One of the women, who had started to lose patience, pointed to her clothing and then to ours. Kim finally took the initiative and began to pull her jacket off. We all followed her lead.
Within a few minutes, more women came into the room, carrying water in wood bowls. As we undressed, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Jacob, Tom, and Andy had never seen us naked before. As we laid our clothes on the floor, the women came over and ran their hands along the unusual fabrics. Never before had they seen such things.
As I removed my own clothing, I took a closer look at the open sores that now covered my body. We all looked the same, similar to the pictures we used to see in social studies class showing prisoners of war. We were so skinny and weak and almost ashamed at how we looked to one another. All those days of walking in the elements, eating minimally, and not to mention the lack of vitamins, had taken their toll on us.
Jacob looked at me and said, “I think it’s going to be okay.”
My undergarments were stained and soiled, and I was standing there shivering before my friends. The women came to us and gently pushed us down to sit. They then started to wash each of us down with warm water. It felt amazing. Then, three women brought in what looked like sharpened seashells and started to shave Jacob, Tom, and Andy. I could feel the pain I saw on their faces. It had to have been painful with no shaving cream. I had practically forgotten how handsome they looked, even with all the small nicks. It had been months since they were clean-shaven.
Once we were all cleaned up, a female shaman came to us and began to clean our wounds with some sort of herbal concoction. We were then given some animal skins to drape over our bodies and led outside to a nearby sweat lodge.
I don’t remember anything during or after our time in the lodge. I do remember waking up with Jacob by my side. It was dark, and I was naked. We were in a soft bed, wrapped in furs, with our bodies pressed comfortably against each other. The only light came from a small fire burning in the centre of the room. Next to us, in a similar bed, were Kim and Andy, and on the other side of the room were Keara and Tom and two other Native families. They were all fast asleep. Jacob asked how I was.
I told him, “I’m good.”
I pulled myself closer to him as he put his arms around me and held me tightly. Lying there, with my head against his chest, listening to his heart beating gave me a great sense of peace.
“I love you,” he said softly.
I recall biting my lip like a small schoolgirl. “I love you too,” I whispered as we both drifted off to sleep.