[lit-ideas] Re: gigawatt chivalrous inflammatory handyman drainage
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 12:38:48 -0700
Welcome back. Here, in the vein of "What does it feel like," is an atypical
excerpt from Tony Horwitz, "Blue Latitudes," which is "about" Captain Cook
only in the manner that his previous book, "Confederates in the Attic" was
"about" the Civil War. It's good.
The section below takes place in Alaska. In my humble opinion, it uses the
tale teller's "that's when..." just beautifully:
Seven years ago, Rick had flown with two women colleagues to survey a
remote archaeological site. As they swooped low over the island, the
helicopter's rotor slowed and then snapped. The women began hugging and
praying as the pilot prepared to crash-land. "I wasn't that worried," Rick
said. "I'd bounced off runways in bush planes and figured it would be like
that."
Instead the helicopter hit and "pitch-poled," catapulting end over end.
When Rick came to, he felt spray on his face: blood spurting from an artery
in the pilot's gashed head. The two women seemed to have been crushed by
the wreckage. Rick had a bone sticking out of his finger, a broken foot,
cracked vertebrae, and ruptured instestines. The pilot somehow staunched
his own wound and put out a fire before the fuel tank exploded. He and Rick
extracted one of the women and the three lay on the ground shocked and
bleeding.
"That's when the grizzly burst out of the woods," Rick said. "It was
spring, he was hungry, and we were covered in blood--his favorite sauce."
The pilot chased the bear off by firing a flare. Eventually, the
helicopter's emergency beacon drew rescue helicopters. Miraculously, all
four passengers survived.
David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon
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