The little Honda was my parent's gift to me on my 16th birthday and for a whole year I had been the Queen of my high school in my little chariot. My friends and I would zip hither, thither, and yon in my little car and we'd just be this screaming lot of happy girls with feet dangling out windows and all.
With the end of my senior year arriving it was time to select a college and my folks made a few trips with me to check out some schools. Just after Valentine's Day I was offered admission at a college across the mountains from us and it worked out that my folks couldn't go with me to see it.
"You're a big girl," my mom said, "and we trust you to take care of yourself, besides, it's just a few hours away."
That did it.
The following Friday after school I had my bag packed and left the house even before my folks got home from work. My dad wanted me to take the Interstate down to Sacramento and then across to Reno to avoid the snow across the passes. After I left the house I decided I knew better and opted to take the two lane highway along Lake Almanor and save myself two hours on the drive.
I swung onto the cutoff to Genessee and headed along the country road to US 395. Passing through the little excuse of a town called Genessee I popped a Britney Spears CD in the radio because the mountains were blocking the reception on the FM. I made the right at Antelope Lake and Britney was getting a little tired at that point. Or, I should say that I was getting a little tired of her. I was messing with the CDs in my visor when Fruit Grower's Road loomed up on me.
The next thing I knew I was upside down in my demolished car and I was having a seriously hard time breathing. My ankles hurt and I couldn't get them loose from under the dashboard...or was that on top of it? There was dusty snow settling all about and I decided to just take a second, get a breath, and assess my options before I freaked out.
Yeah, that lasted about 30 seconds before I freaked. I struggled for my purse and the cell phone and screamed with frustration as the purse spilled open and the precious phone fell just far enough away from me that I knew I'd never get it. I cried for about an hour as the road nearby was silent. I had a spike of hope as a car drove by but then it was gone and my screaming for help did no good. It was getting cold.
The sun was settling behind the hills when I heard an old sounding engine come along and I screamed again. The sound of the old vehicle started to slip by when I heard the blessed squeak of the brakes. The engine sound shuddered with a dieseling sound and then I could hear a door open and slam.
I was screaming for help again when I heard someone outside the car.
"Well, you're in quite a mess there, missy."
The face of a man about my dad's age suddenly showed up in my topsy-turvy world.
I passed out with relief at seeing him.
The next I knew I was in a cozy bed and I briefly had the thought that this had all been a bad dream. And then the pain in my ankles brought me back to a sudden reality. I opened my eyes to a very masculine room with a gun rack, boots in the corner, and my cozy bed had a very masculine black & red flannel blanket on it. I went to move and screamed with pain as my ankles complained.
"Hey, you're awake. Ya' had me worried there for a couple days."
The grizzled face looked in at me as I registered his words.
"How long have I been here?"
He kind of giggled. "Three days now. I had to pry you out of that car of yours and then the snow came in 'fore I could get you out of here so I did my best on your legs there and figured to just let you sleep it off. Ya' must be hungry I imagine."
Hunger was the last thing on my mind.
"I need to call my parents."
Again, the giggle. "Sure. The nearest phone is about fifteen miles from here in about two feet deep of snow and you have two busted legs there. You'll see that phone in due time, I imagine. Meanwhile, how's about some eggs?"
Mike, his name was, brought me breakfast in bed and then apologized for cutting off my jeans to get my ankles splinted up. They had been far too swollen to get through the tight jeans and I had to reluctantly agree that he'd done the right thing. He explained how the original plan was just to get me warmed up and then get me to help but then the snow came along and his old pickup truck wasn't up to plowing through so much snow. He went on to explain how he was a modern day gold miner and had quit a job in Phoenix as a call center manager, divorced his wife, and then moved up here to be alone and to escape the stress of modern living. The gold miner thing had been sort of a joke to him at first and then he found a decent vein of gold and started working it as a mine about five years back. He now had a decent income from selling the gold in Reno and had only moved from a trailer to this house after building it last summer. I asked about the electricity and he explained the lines for Antelope Lake came right across his property so it was pretty cheap to hook up to the grid in this spot.
"I'm just lucky, I guess." is what he said.
After breakfast he went out to do some chores and that left me alone to take inventory. My purse was nowhere to be found but my bag with my clothes and stuff for the weekend...I had to remind myself that the weekend had gone by...what day was it anyways? Oh, but back to the inventory, I pulled off the blankets and found my legs bare down to my ankles which were all bundled up with what looked like very proper splints.
"I was a medic in the Army and that's where I learned that if you're wondering."
I quickly covered myself up again.
"Yeah, thanks. It looks pretty good."
He sucked in a lip.
"Say, you're probably overdue to get to the bathroom, you want some help?"
Come to think of it, I was about to burst in more places than just one.
"How am I...?"
"Yeah, I'm figuring I'll just have to carry you around for a while."
As polite as he could be, he picked me up and took me to the bathroom. When he sat me down on the toilet I winced as the blood flowing into my legs put pressure on what I knew were fractures in my ankles. He excused himself and then closed the door to leave me to my privacy.
My panties were down around my ankles and I couldn't get them back up without standing on my feet and I ended up swallowing my pride and asking for help. Mike came in and just pointed out that I was probably also due for a bath and that the warmth might help with my ankles. I sat there on the toilet as he drew the bath and then covered myself with the towel he gave me as he undid my splints and revealed my sorry, swollen, bruised ankles. They were like little melons they were so round. Naked from the waist down he picked me up and sat me in the tub.
"You might want to get the rest of your equipment off there and I'll get it all washed for you. Meantime, I have a t-shirt that's probably big enough for a dress for you. You wear that when you get done there."
When he left the bathroom and closed the door again I stripped off my top and my bra and then eased into the almost-too-hot water. It was very much a balm to my sore body and my ankles did, indeed, feel much better as the warmth soothed the pain.
It was maybe an hour and the water was cooling off when Mike came back into the bathroom. I covered myself with my hands to save my modesty.
"Look, Lori, you're going to have to deal with the fact that you and I are going to be seeing a lot of each other due to your situation. When you get better we'll be done with this, but for right now save the show for someone else."
Chastised, I just made small talk and accepted my lot as he lifted me out of the water and sat me on the edge of the tub. He dried off my ankles and then put fresh bindings on them and then let me dry myself off and then cover up in his t-shirt before he came back in to get me.
He carried me out to the small living room and put me in his recliner where my feet were up and the pressure in my ankles let off so I was comfortable. We decided that the recliner was to be my new bed since it kept me comfortable and he really needed a good night's sleep in his bed so it all worked out just fine.
The next morning I woke up to see the snow piled up to the window and when Mike came out from his bed he helped me with my morning bathroom duties and then went out to shovel the snow off the roof.
I realized that with even more snow on the ground I wasn't leaving here for a good while.
The next few days saw more snow and saw Mike and I settle into a routine. Twice a day he'd carry me to the bathroom, twice a day we'd struggle to get my panties off, and every other day we'd struggle with my bra when it was bath time. A week after I had awakened here Mike decided that my wearing panties was just too much hassle when it came to going to the bathroom and my complaints to the contrary were pointless as he just took all of my clothes, tossed them in my bag, and then put them out in his shed.
"When you can get them yourself you can wear them again. End of argument."
Two days later he had to face some facts and I had my panties back when my period started.
Five days after that I was back to wearing just a t-shirt.
The third week after I arrived my ankles were good enough that I didn't need the splints anymore but I still needed Mike's help to get around.
It was March 10th and my eighteenth birthday when I woke up at night and Mike was picking me up from the recliner.
"What's going on?"
"Shhh, it's a birthday surprise."
He carried me into the bedroom and put me down on the bed. There was a hurricane lamp going and in the dim light I could see he'd shaved his beard and moustache off. He looked okay, you know?
"Uhm, Mike, what's going on?"
