Chapter 6

 
  "Rabbi Geller, thank you very much for your time and cooperation. At this point, I will go back to the police station and write this information up into a report, and in the morning a detective will be assigned to the case. He may or may not need to contact you for more information. I, however, will be taken off this case when the detective is assigned. I know this is very difficult for you, but please know that we will do everything we can to find your son."
  "Thank you, officer. Please come by or call with any information. You have my home and office number." Officer Thompson loved his job as a police officer, but he hated to see families grieving.

***

   As Mike and his children walked away back toward their car, Elijah was gripped with fear. Darkness would descend soon and he would literally be at the mercy of the night. Most predators hunt at night, and are drawn by the scent of blood, the mark of an easy meal. “What am I doing out here? It's getting cold, and I have no shelter at all, only the shelter-half and poncho that Mike left me. I guess this is the litmus test. If I can make it through the night without being a tasty snack for a bear or cougar, then I guess I'll be just fine.” Then he giggled, he wasn't sure why exactly, and it felt out of place considering the circumstances, but he giggled out loud. Then he laughed, and before he knew it he was laughing uncontrollably, hysterically, from deep within his core. “I am obviously losing my mind. I wonder if I'll lose my mind before I die?” The sudden thought that he would inevitably die out here sobered him up. Fast. That wasn't funny.

   Elijah set up the shelter-half above him by tying off the ends to branches so it formed a sloped covering over his head. He then took his shoe and tied the shoelaces to one of the eyelets in the middle of one side so that it pulled it down to form a funnel. The shoe just barely touched the ground. If it happened to rain, the water would be funneled into his shoe so he could drink it. Elijah was pretty proud of himself for thinking of such a creative set-up. “Maybe I can do this after all. It isn't brain surgery.” He then arranged the supplies over against the rock wall so he had room to stretch out on the cold, hard ground and used the rolled-up poncho as a pillow. “Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu melekh ha-olam...Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe...” Elijah didn't have his prayer shawl, but he decided he should recite the bedtime prayers anyway. He didn't need the prayer book, he had every word memorized. He closed his eyes as he whispered each word, and a great peace fell over him. A reassurance that somehow, someway everything would be alright. It was these little moments where he felt a special connection with God that made life bearable for Elijah. With that, he drifted off to sleep on his first night deep in the unforgiving Oregon wilderness.

***

   It was yesterday that Mike had that experience with Elijah in the Sisters wilderness area, and he hasn't been able to get him off his mind. His sleep was fitful, filled with recurring nightmares of a horribly disfigured man jumping out of the bushes at him. Is Elijah dead? Is he hungry? Why is he out there in the first place? What would compel a man to leave everything he knows, every comfort that a civilized life offers, for a life of raw survival? What if it was Eric, his own son? He would want someone to contact him if they saw him...especially if he was injured. He knew that he needed to locate Elijah's father. What would he say? "Hello Rabbi Geller. Do you know where your son is? No? Well, his face has been shredded to ribbons by a mountain lion in the Deschutes National Forest. Oh, by the way, my name is Mike Blanchard." There was not going to be any part to this that would be easy. Time was of the essence because, in Mike's opinion, Elijah didn't have much time left.
  "Information. What city, please?"
  "Portland. Jewish Community Center, please."
  "One moment. Here's your number: 503-555-4608"
  Mike called the number and got a young man on the end. "Shalom and thank you for calling the Mittleman Jewish Community Center: My name is Daniel. How may I assist you?"
  "Uh, yes. I need to know which synagogue would be the biggest one in Portland. Actually, I'm looking for a Rabbi Geller. Could you point me in the right direction, please?"
  "Sure! Rabbi Geller leads B'nai Torah over on NW 23rd. The telephone number is…” Daniel was obviously looking up the number for Mike, for which Mike was very appreciative. It's always better to call first as opposed to just dropping in on someone. “….here it is. Are you ready?"
  "Yes, go ahead please.”
  “503-555-3655. Hope that helps!”
  "It does and thank you very much."
  "My pleasure. Have a great day, and shalom."
  "Uh, shalom to you." Mike had to smile. It felt funny saying a word from another language to a native speaker of that language when you don't really understand the full scope of that word. Mike knew that the word shalom has a very special and rich meaning in the Hebrew language, but he'd forgotten what it was. It felt good to say it though.

***

  “Shalom! B'nai Torah, this is Rebekah. How may I help you?"
  “Rabbi Geller, Please.”
  "May I ask who this is and the nature of your business, please?" There was a brief pause while Mike thought about what to say.
  "Uh, my name is Mike Blanchard, and I need to talk to him about his son. I believe his son is in trouble."
  "One moment, Mr. Blanchard, and I'll see if the Rabbi is available." Rebekah knew exactly what was going on with Rabbi Geller and his son because she was in the adjoining office when they had their argument. She raced to his office to tell him face to face that someone was on the phone for him concerning Elijah, instead of just beeping into his office over the intercom. She burst through the door excitedly, only to find him reading the story of David and Absalom, his troubled son, for the thousandth time, trying to glean some special insight into how to deal with his own situation from David's example.
  "Rabbi, there's a man on the phone for you. He said that it's about Elijah, he believes Elijah is in trouble."
  "Thank-you, Rebekah." His heart was racing and his hands started sweating and trembling.
  "This is Rabbi Geller. Who might this be?"
  "Hello Rabbi, my name is Mike Blanchard. I'm not sure about my right to call you with this, and I don't want to sound nosy, but I'm calling about your son, Elijah. I saw him yesterday while I was hiking with my children. Perhaps we could get together, Rabbi. I'm not real comfortable talking about this over the telephone."
  "Yes, yes. Certainly. Where are you located?"
  "I'm in Beaverton, just off Canyon Road."
  "I'll meet you at 'Noah's Bagels' in the shopping center parking lot. Do you know where that is?" “Yes. I'll be waiting for you. I'm wearing khakis with a navy blue polo."
  "See you in twenty minutes." Zvi reached over and dialed his secretary's desk. "Yes, Rabbi Geller?"
  "Rebekah, cancel the rest of my appointments today. Something has come up."

***

  SNAP!

  Elijah's eyes popped wide open and his heart froze in his chest. The sharp, crisp sound of a twig snapping in the dead of night is unmistakable, and violently ripped him from his chilled, fitful sleep. Elijah was frozen in sheer terror as he strained to hear every little sound and determine if he was moments from his end. He could hear something moving out there, quietly and with purpose. Was it the cougar coming back for him? Could it be a bear?

  “Oh God, I am so scared right now. Only You know what is out there. Please protect me from any harm.” Prayer seemed superficial at the moment, but it was knee-jerk for Elijah. He loved praying-he would talk to God all day long at school, at work, or just laying around the house. Elijah felt that if there were one person out there that understood him, it was the One Who created him. God became Elijah's friend, and he needed his Friend right now.

  “Ok, what are my options?” Elijah was speaking to himself, trying to wrap his brain around the reality of the situation that was confronting him. “I could lay here and hope it's a deer walking by, or I could yell and scream at the top of my lungs to scare it away...oh I wish I had a flashlight. If I simply lay here, I might as well smear myself with A-1 sauce,” so with that, Elijah jumped up as fast as he could and screamed at the top of lungs while running madly around in circles.

  “AAAAHHHHH!!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!!! THIS IS MY HOUSE!!!!!!”

Elijah did his best to slow his breathing down so he could listen, and he could hear the sound of feet running off into the black of night. “It worked. I may not be so fortunate tomorrow night, but at least I made it the first night!” Surprisingly, Elijah felt good. He momentarily believed that he was in control of his surroundings, that he could make it out here.

  He looked at his watch; 3:30 am. “There's no way I'll fall back asleep now, but I can't see in the dark. I'll just position myself with my back to the massive rocks here and spend some time praying.” Before he knew it, the horizon hinted at a hue of orange, then fingers of light peeled back the darkness and presented a new day as a gift to Elijah. He was grateful, and humbly accepted this gift from God. Elijah was beginning to realize that living under these conditions would be a monumental challenge for even the most experienced survival experts, so he needed to use his head and think every decision through very carefully. Elijah was tremendously grateful for the supplies Mike left for him. He'll ration them while also looking for other food sources. He knew he was in trouble because though he'd seen plenty of evidence of wildlife, he just didn't have the skills to make a trap or snare. He thought about spearing fish, but so far he'd been unable to locate a river or stream, which was extremely disheartening because the water in the canteens would run out soon. Elijah knew he needed to find water fast. Besides, if he could find a river or stream, he could perhaps figure out a way to kill some larger game for food. He would scout out a watering hole and then lay in ambush for them. He could do it; he just needed to find it. As soon as the sun offered enough light to see, he'd go looking for that stream Mike mentioned.
  The pain in his face had set in with a vengeance late last night. He attempted to clean it out with the water in the canteen, but as soon as the water made contact with the inside of the gash, every nerve in his head started screaming. He gingerly dabbed around it with the gauze in the first-aid packet Mike gave him and then he tied the compress on. He realized that he probably looked pretty hideous, but then again, there's no one out here to impress. When he got up this morning, he quickly untied the compress, but it was stuck to his face...thick, dried, caked blood forming a seal over the wound and bandage that had to be removed.

Elijah let out a sharp, piercing cry as he ripped the compress from his face, reopening the huge gash, which by now was severely swollen, as it began to bleed profusely. As he sat there bleeding all over himself, his head pounding with pain and hunger cramps setting in, Elijah started taking a quick inventory of his dismal situation. He knew that food would soon turn into a serious problem, and the lack of water was more serious yet. Compounding the direness of his situation was the fact that he had lost an unhealthy amount of blood from a massive head injury sustained while facing-off with a cougar. His face was disfigured from the swelling, infection was setting in, and it was still bleeding.

  "Other than that, things are terrific! Mike was right," he thought to himself, "I'm not going to make it. I'll be dead before anyone comes back this way. They say that hindsight is 20/20. I should never have left my family like I did. Who am I kidding? I am dying. I will never see my family again. I'll never feel my dad's arm around me as we discuss the Torah together, or my mom's affection when she would just give me a hug for no particular reason. Jeremiah will never have a big brother to look up to, to protect him, to confide in. I will never meet Sarah under the wedding chuppah. Look at where my pride and selfishness has gotten me, and subsequently what it has done to my family. Oh God, I am so sorry." Elijah broke down and wept bitterly as the reality of his situation set in.