I REMEMBER THE FIRST time I met David. My mom and I moved in the middle of the school year. I was nervous the first day, worried that everyone already had his or her friends and I wouldn’t be accepted. My mom took me to the office to get me signed up. I was put into Mrs. Nolan’s first-grade class. It was as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Mrs. Nolan made me get up in front of the class and introduce myself. Public speaking and first graders don’t go together. I mumbled a few words and sat back down. Mrs. Nolan took pity on me and left me alone for the rest of the morning. At recess, I noticed one of the boys was organizing a softball game. He and another boy were going to pick sides. He saw me hanging back.
“Tami, get over here,” he said, and gave me no choice but to join the game.
He told the other captain to pick first. He picked one of his friends. The boy who called me over made his choice.
“I pick Tami.”
I sheepishly went and stood behind him. I’d never been picked first in anything before. He picked all the girls who wanted to play. We were about evenly split with boys and girls on our team. The other team was all boys. I asked him why. He just laughed at me and said he wanted to win. Sure enough, the girls were all pretty good and we did win. I was confused by this boy. In first grade, boys normally would have nothing to do with girls.
At lunch, I’d brought my sack lunch, and entered the lunchroom looking for an empty table. I was startled when I heard a male voice behind me.
“Come sit with me and my friends.”
I turned and it was the same boy from recess. We went to the table he indicated, and there were two other boys looking at me curiously.
“Did you find another stray?” the one with curly hair asked.
The three of them laughed.
“Yep, this is Tami. Today’s her first day and she needs friends.” He turned to me and said, “This is Jeff and Alan.”
They both said hi.
“Sorry, but what’s your name?” I asked him.
“He’s David,” Alan answered for him. “He’s a dork, so you may want to run while you still have the chance. Once he decides he’s your friend, you can’t get rid of him. Believe me, Jeff and I’ve tried.”
I sat down and Jeff gave a dramatic sigh.
“Alan warned you.”
“David, am I really your friend?” I asked.
“Yes, sorry, but you can’t get rid of me now.”
I look back on that day, and I realize it was the luckiest day of my life. My mom was shocked when I dragged him home. From that day forward, we were inseparable. He was a ‘stupid boy’ who didn’t realize he needed me to keep him out of trouble.
THE SUMMER BETWEEN grade school and middle school David came over to my house with an announcement.
“We’re going to play Little League baseball.”
I was skeptical, being the rational one.
“They don’t let girls play.”
He just ignored me.
“You have a better arm than most of the guys. If you’re worried, we can get Eve to be on our team.”
Eve was a year older, and a good athlete. She was faster than most of the boys our age. I could see he was serious, so I decided to give the boy a chance.
“You get Eve, and I’ll play.”
David’s dad was the head of the park district. He had to get involved so Eve and I could be on David’s team. That was the beginning of one of the great joys in my life. I loved playing baseball. David loved it when I would gun down a runner. It didn’t take long until Eve and I gained the respect of the other boys.
David did get in a fight. I was shocked because this sweet boy never did anything to hurt another kid. We were in the playoffs to see which team would move on to regional play. They had a runner on first base try to steal second. I was covering second when the big kid ran me over instead of sliding. I was knocked down and didn’t see the first punch. They had to pull David off the poor boy. His face was a bloody mess.
I learned some new cuss words that day. David was kicked out of the game, along with the big kid. I was amazed when the game ended that I found David and the kid eating ice cream together like they were old friends. That was David. He was the most easygoing guy I knew, and he never stayed mad.
WE WERE ALL SHOCKED and ecstatic when they finally found David alive. It was short-lived, though, when his dad called home and said they had airlifted him to Denver because he was in critical condition. The doctors told him in most cases like this he would be losing some body parts. When the circulation stopped, they died. If he were lucky, it would only be some toes and fingers. They put him into a drug-induced coma when they started to warm his body. The doctor said it was extremely painful, and it was for the best.
On New Year’s Day, we all went to church to pray for his recovery. They were holding a special prayer vigil for David. A little after one in the morning, we got the call that David had come out of the coma and was alert. David’s dad didn’t tell us they were worried about brain damage. The next morning they confirmed that he was doing great, and moved out of intensive care. He was in great physical shape, and apparently that was the key to his not losing any fingers or toes to frostbite.
Four days later, he was released from the hospital. At the press conference, he credited Range Sports for providing him the gear that saved his life. If he’d been in jeans, like Pastor Dan, he would’ve frozen to death. The other thing that saved him was being in the root cellar. The packed snow kept the temperature from plummeting during the nights. The snow acted as an insulator.
I missed his homecoming, as I had to go back to school. We talked several times, and he assured me I needed to take care of school and he was fine. I could tell he’d changed. He seemed happy, but something was different. I guess the best way to describe it was he was at peace with himself. I had no doubt after our talks he still loved me. I couldn’t wait to see him again.
I TALKED TO SANDY RANGE to give her an update on David. During our conversation, she filled me in on David’s church group. The avalanche clearly messed up their plans. They no longer had a place to stay, since the cabins were gone. Sandy stepped up and arranged for them to stay in the hotel suite and let them charge their meals to the room. The kids wanted to go home, so the Range Sports travel department took care of everything to get them there early. Range Sports is a classy organization, in my book.
I WAS EAGER TO GET back home to see David. He’d gone through a lot in the past few weeks. My biggest concern was Tracy breaking up with him. The logical part of me understood that he would at some point experience a broken heart. It was part of growing up, and one of the main reasons I refused to date him. With David, it seemed to be all or nothing. He fell in love much too easily. I hoped that the latest breakup with Tracy might cure him of that. He needed life experience to understand what true love really was.
I knew David wanted to have fun with girls. It was the Dawson charm. His dad was someone that everyone seemed to like. His brother was almost a living legend with his success with the girls at our school. David was charming and surprisingly funny. Heck, he had three senior girls at his beck and call. As his friend, I was going to try to convince him to focus on those three friends for now. I felt it was best that he get his head on right and focus on having more fun. He didn’t need the drama he seemed to create when he fell in love.
David had talked to me about what he called his ‘crucible.’ One decision had changed the direction of his life: the pain of seeing Lily almost die started a chain of events that deeply affected David. He was becoming a much better person as a result. Would being trapped in that basement and almost dying be his second crucible? That ‘stupid boy’ sure kept it interesting.