One day Uncle Bob invited me to ride up to the new dock his son Rob had recently built on Hyco Lake. Sound like a good way to spend a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. I don’t remember why but we took Bob’s girlfriend’s four door Chevy Blazer. On the way, we stopped and grabbed a fast food burger. Hyco Lake is rural. There is no big town near by. The idea was just to go check out the dock hang around a few minutes and then drive home. Id did not work out that way. When we got there, I realized why we had the Blazer. We had to go down a steep hill on a path just wide enough for a vehicle and make a sharp left turn on the same path through woods and underbrush. The dock was cool looking with a roof like a house and benches providing plenty of seating for a good-sized lake party. I had barely opened my door before Bob had walked over and took a seat on the bench looking worn out rather suddenly.
“Bob! You okay?” I almost shouted.
“Yeah.” He responded rather weakly.
Getting out of the truck, I realized two things right away. First, he was not okay. Second, I could not get to him. There was a large gap between the bank and the dock. There was no way I could get on to the dock with out falling. Bob leaned back and became unresponsive to me calling his name. Our fun afternoon had gone south in a matter of minutes. The undergrowth prevented me from walking anywhere at all. I was limited to just walking around the Blazer by leaning on it. The hard way and the easy way were the only two options I had; crawl up to the road and hope someone stopped to see why I was lying on the ground or hope Bob left the keys in the Blazer. I looked in and was in luck, he had not taken the keys with him. They were hanging in the ignition. Bob was out cold by this time and I knew he needed sugar. Past experience told me he would not die right away but I knew he could if I failed to get help pretty quick. Carefully, I made my way around to the driver’s side and climbed in. Bob being close to my height had the seat right where I needed it to be. Wasting no time, I started it up and put in reverse and used the mirrors to back out the way we came in.
“Don’t get stuck.” I kept thinking over and over. Lucky for us the ground was not muddy at all. I backed up past the turn and shifted into drive to scoot back up the hill to the road. It was like being in a Chevy commercial. The Blazer flew up the hill only in two-wheel drive. Man, was I relieved! There were almost no houses on the road and no traffic. I hauled down to the stop sign and took a quick left. There were more houses and I saw a woman in her back yard and hung a quick right into her driveway. I was going a little fast and she startled as I stopped just a few feet from where she stood.
“Ma’m, I have a medical emergency. Can you call 911 for me?” I remained steady and she knew right away I was serious. This was long before cell phones were everywhere and even if I had one, I doubt I would have got a signal. We were a good ten to fifteen miles from even a small town.
“I’ve got a cordless phone, I’ll bring it to you.” She answered.
The 911 Operator picked up right away and I told her what was going on and with the homeowner’s help managed to give a good idea of Bob’s location. I gave the phone back to the kind woman and thanked her then headed back towards Bob’s location. I could already hear the sirens. Those country guys had their act together but they were having trouble finding the path down to Bob. One stopped and asked if I could show the location. I drove back down the little road and stopped in front of the path. Several rescue squad guys waked down to Bob and brought him out on a stretcher.
“He should be okay but we want to take him to the hospital for more treatment. Just follow us.” One of the rescuers told me.
I followed the ambulance to a small hospital a good twenty minutes away. After waiting around an hour or so Bob finally emerged looking as if nothing had happened. He thanked me and offered to drive hone.
“No, I think I’ll drive.”
“I guess you’ve had enough bullshit for one afternoon.” He smiled and we walked back to the Blazer. On the way home, we recounted our stories. Of course it was scary but I knew I could not panic or freak out. I thought through each step and did them one at a time. The notion of Bob dying never crossed my mind. One way or another, I was not going to let that happen. Later that summer we returned to the same dock with a few friends and had a ball. I like Uncle Bob and he was pretty close to an ideal roommate.
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