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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-06-06, Page 7It was Tuesday afternoon when that fearful winter storm arrived at Redtrees. I was trying to get the latest edition of the Grunt and Thunder to bed as soon as possible, so that it could arrive at the printers in Pantown before the roads became blocked. January was not only bleak as far as the weather was concerned - it was bleak. financially. The advertising revenue had decreased substantially. I already owed the printer for several back issues and the bank manager had Tittle -faith in my ability to survive. There are days in everybody's life when nothing seems to go right this was one of those, days. The headliner machine was on the blink and I had to set all the heads in hand type. The copy from my "who visited who" correspondents was even more unread- able than usual, and there was little if any .news to cause excitement. During the day my thoughts were with one of my children who had suddenly been taken sick. I had phoned the doctor earlier and asked him to visit her. Believe it or not, they used to make house calls in those days! Doc Peters came into the newspaper office during the afternoon and gave me a bottle of medicine for the little girl. "I think she will be alright, Don. Just make: sure she gets a dose of this when you get home. 1 suppose l could have got her a bed in the hospital for a few days but I doubt if the ambulance could have got through. I only just managed to get back myself before the wind came up." He rubbed his hands together over my ancient oil stove. "You'd better get off'home, or that heap of yours :won'•t make the hill on the liked DocHewas a tough, Peters sixth!!" 1 . h,. but kind `g considerate .man, who could have made a lot of money by practicing; in the big city.,. "You just deliver babies once in a while Doc, but t givebirth to the Grunt and Thunder every week. Just like a baby, it has to be delivered when it is time to make its appearance. I don't get labour pains doing, it but it causes me a lot of grief;' 1` can tell you! As soon as l can, I'll head home, but this newspaper has to hit the street,: come hell or high water." Just before I finished my.task, my wife 'phoned me; Would I pickup a few groceries from. the general store? The snow was drifting badly on the sixth, and .oh yes, get some ca'ndles'- the hydro ,was out! Outside, my 1939 Dbdge which I called Molly,, !was covered in a blanket of snow. I pressed the starter button ,but all she gave me was a mechanical groan. I' . needed a new battery,.. but then I needed other things .mere urgently. With theaidof Charlie Grant's tractor and a chain, we skidded and slithered Molly to a start down the main street. I left her running outside the general store and picked up the groceries which had been:. placed in a red onion bag. My .old Limey clothes were nqt designed for a ' Canadian winter. It wouldn'thave been so bad if the. car heater worked, but old'Molly:and me were both in poor shape•. I scraped a little patch of.visibilityon the - windscreen and headed for home.- my breath froze on the glass and l had to scrape it constantly from the inside. If the storm was bad in Redtrees, I could bet the open country Would beeven worse! In bottor'n geqr and my foot pressed to the boards, I somehow 'managed to make it to, the beginning of the sixth concession. Molly hit a drift and snow flew in all directions. She shuddred and the engine died. In my stupid optimism I took her out of gear and pressed the starter. The engine made one reluctant turn gnd there.was a series , John Deete Safety Savvy When you or neighbors are using mowers, children and pets are safer indoors! Acres of Memory BY D.A. CAMPBELL of clicks from somewhere under the bonnet'. that was all! One mile behind me was Hedtrees - one mle aneao the Hungry Hundred, where a child waited for the medicine I carried in my pocket. There was only one way.to go. That way, through the .mounting drifts., where the freezing 'wind seeped through my thin clothes and the snow was an ,intermittent curtain of white blindness. "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun", but not even a crazy Englishman would have ventured up that concession road in a raging winter storm, unless he was a stupid newspaper man like me! Under normal circumstances, I would have gone to the nearest farm house and at least borrowed some warmer clothes, but I couldn't even see the fence lines, never mind a gateway! With the red onion sack on my back and held by a half frozen hand, I staggered onward, sometimes half struggling and half walking through drifts chest high. It seemed hours before, I reached the avenue of maple trees at the crest of the hill. These gave me a little shelter from the hurricane force winds, but beyond, was another stretch of merciless • open country. ' don't know how l twisted my ankle, but I fell headlong into the snow and for a moment felt a blissful haze of dreaminess envelope my body..People had warned me'about this. It is the first stage of a frozen death! To this dayl cannot remember how I summoned the will power to continue. Perhaps it was the thought of 'a little child lyingin sickness, or the frightened eyes of a woman, anxiously awaiting the return of her man: My body was too cold to feel the pain and I was scared. I had faced the elements before - the cruel sea and the vicious sand storms of the desert, but this was :something else! • It seemed as if ! would never reach the driveway'of the Hungry Hundred. Perhaps I had already passed it; and was now just staggering onwards, towards, the brink of eternity! As if bya miracle, I collided with a mailbox.. Through bleary eyes and with the, batteredcontrap- tion almost touching'my nose; I made out the name - MacCrimmon. 1 almost .,cried out in relief, but I told myself that sometimes even a hundred yards in such a storm, might well be a hundred miles In my mind's eye, I made a careful calculation of the direction of the house and summoned my last remaining strength to make the effort. Itwas only when I bumped into the siding that Irealized I had made it, 1 felt, rather than saw my way to the door. With heart pounding, and emotion which is indescribable, I opened the door and stumbled into the candle light of the kitchen. must have looked a sight, covered in snow, almost blind and with little icicles hanging from . my moustache. I heard the voice of Angus.: `'That was a .stupid thing to do - ain't you never gonna learn?" "Better men thanme might have done the same thing," I said in a.`hdarse whisper: His reply will always echo on the icy winds of a Canadian winter. • • "An' better men than you have died - so they 'avec One thing fer sure though. It taught you a lesson - you ain't never gonna do that again! ©' ax Bushel "tLucknow Was The Winner Of A Provincial Lottery Ticket, The "Loser's \ Draw" AT THE Lottery Shoppe "WHY DON'T YOU GIVE IT A TRY?" Just write you name and address on your losing Wlntario, Cash for Life, Provincial or Leto Canada Ticket and dro it in our. box „ Laeknow Sentinel, Wednesday, Jane 6, 1979..—Page 7 Handicraft it -Flower Shop MOVING SWatch for New Location 25%ff All craft supplies, candles, macrame haingers, pots, macrame r?suPpIs and needlepoint kits eonom•mineG due WE'VE 607 A IOPNILOFCARS. 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