A Day of Triumph, A Day of Grief
by Nell Berry
That day Lou left the house to go duck hunting with a new friend. It soon became more than an average December day; it was a day to remember.
It was quite cold, windy, with temperature thirty or below. Fighting the wind for a few hours in a boat, Lou and his friend decided to call it quits and turned back across the lake.
Reaching the boat ramp, they began to pull the boat out of the water and up the ramp to tie it down and secure it. The wind was fierce. Being hearing impaired, Lou was trying to distinguish the sound he kept hearing; and trying to determine from where it was coming.
It was amazing hearing anything above the roar of the wind; Lou began losing his hearing working in a plane factory, it being quite noisy. He was warned to use ear plugs. But being young, he didn’t listen to the warnings.
Lou had heard something, although he could not distinguish what it was; he had a feeling there was someone in trouble.
“Did you hear that?” he asked his companion.
“Yeah,” his friend replied, “what was it?”
“I don’t know,” said Lou. “I can’t tell what it is.”
With binoculars he looked around on the lake, searching for someone out there who needed help. Nothing; there was only a makeshift duck blind. Lou quickly decided they should look closer. Now he believes it was God’s hand directing them to help someone.
“I think we should go check out that makeshift duck blind,” he told his friend. “I just have a feeling there is someone needing help.”
They launched the boat and took off across the lake towards the duck blind.
Soon they saw a thermos bottle, a gun, etc. they were sure would not have left behind intentionally. But there was no one to be seen. There were some decoys still in the water also, that would not have been left behind.
Lou heard it again; to the left of the duck blind in the water; still nothing. Cocking his head slightly Lou listened.
Suddenly approximately one hundred fifty yards away from the duck blind, they saw a boat capsized in the water. They didn’t want to believe what they saw; it appeared that someone had either abandoned his boat and his hunting gear; or had fallen overboard. Not far from the capsized boat, clinging desperately to a tree limb they saw him. His fearful countenance told them, “You are my last hope.”
Steering carefully to avoid injuring the man, they reached the tree. Lou reached down to grab his hand to bring him into their boat. He couldn’t raise him out of the water alone.
“Let’s see if we can pull him into the boat,” Lou said to his friend.
The two men struggled, trying to hold the boat steady and trying to pull the stranger into the boat. His waders, full of water made pulling him to safety difficult. They got him into the boat, without his help because of his weakened condition. At the boat ramp, they helped the man to his truck, he being too weak to walk unaided. He came close to hypothermia, being in the water so long.
Through chattering teeth, with a look of undying gratitude the man said, “You saved my life.”
“No,” Lou said to the survivor, “we didn’t save your life son; Someone Greater than we led us to you. By God’s grace you are safe. You should be thanking Him.” The look in that man’s eyes was all the thanks Lou needed.
The wind was still howling and the whitecaps were about two or three feet tall.
Lou would love to give the name of his friend, but he finds it difficult at his age to remember the names of people he has not known long.
In his truck they helped him strip off his wet clothing to his long underwear, Lou said, “turn on the heat so he can warm up.”
Making sure he was alright, they headed back across the lake to the duck blind where they retrieved his thermos, gun and decoys etc. They tied his boat to their boat and returned to the boat ramp. Checking to make sure he was alright, they took his truck down, attached his boat to it and pulled it out.
After determining he would survive, they asked if they could take him home.
“No,” he replied, “thanks, but I can make it now,” and left without giving his name.
It had been a trying experience. Lou, at 73 years old, had had triple bypass surgery a year earlier; with arthritis in his hands and not young or as strong as he used to be, it took a lot out of him.
Exhausted he was just about to sit down to dinner and the phone rang. Their neighbor Jeannie screamed. “Lou, can you come help me? Larry has just come back from deer hunting and he is slumped over in his truck,” she was still screaming into the phone and crying. “I am too scared to go check him. He isn’t moving. Please help me.” She apparently suspected he was too ill to get out of the truck or dead.
Lou ran out of the house, saying, “Jeannie needs help.”
Larry and Jeannie were new neighbors who moved across the road three years earlier. Larry and Lou became good friends and shared the love of woodworking. Larry made wooden crafts and Jeannie helped with the painting and finishing of the crafts. Lou built furniture as a hobby and both he and Larry were excellent woodworkers. In Chicago Jeannie and Larry had run a business selling their crafts at flea markets and craft shows.
Lou’s wife Nell and Jeannie were friends also. Jeannie was always busy with the garden, picking produce to can, etc.; so was Nell that year. It was a good harvest.
Lou Berry can talk to and make friends with nearly anyone. They feel they can count on him in an emergency. He has more friends than he realizes.
Jeannie needed his help; she knew she could depend on Lou to help her when she needed him.
Lou is slightly built, less than one hundred fifty pounds. Larry was short, but stout.
Lou yelled at Jeannie, “Call 911.” He tried to get Larry out of the truck, but couldn’t.
Jeannie came to ask him to talk to the 911 dispatcher. The dispatcher said, “Get him out of the truck”.
Lou said, “No way, lady. I can’t pull him out of the truck, he’s too heavy.” She kept insisting; he kept telling her it was impossible. He attempted mouth to mouth resuscitation. But it was impossible because of the position of Larry’s body. So, Lou waited till the ambulance arrived.
One of the emergency teem told Lou, “He was gone when he drove up into the driveway.” The motor was still running; headed up the incline, fortunately it had come to a complete stop.
Rushed to the hospital by ambulance, Larry was pronounced dead of a heart attack soon after they arrived. Jeannie devastated, felt her life was over. She didn’t think she could go on. She was so dependent on Larry, how could she make it now?
Buried the day before Christmas of 2003, Larry is missed. Lou hadn’t known how close he and Larry had become till Larry’s death. He could no longer watch him sauntering across their yard, shirt tail flapping in the breeze and a knit stocking cap on, to talk with Lou.
After Larry’s funeral, Jeannie sold her house, and moved near her Mom and family.
Jeannie now works at the hospital in a nearby town, doing great; independent and very happy to be where she is.
A day in Lou’s life he will remember; the day, by God’s hand he helped save a man’s life. Being hearing impaired, God allowed him to hear the cry for help. It was a day of triumph, saving a man’s life and a day of grief; losing a friend.
Bio: Author Nell Berry is a published author. Her book, Growing Up in Missouri and Other Short Stories is about her growing up years. She is mother of four, grandmother of nine and great Grandmother of six. She has been married to the same man for sixty years June 24th.
