Dear Readers

Fear not the Darkness, But What Lies Within, The recesses of our mind, The creepy cobwebbed corners,That lingers on and tickles us,With tingle feelings of alarm, The deep in the stomach, Pain we feel when we do warn, The fear is deadly it seeks, The deepest corner of our mind, It's just a story to alarm,Educate and provide entertainment for our minds. So read on dear reader, I hope you find the stories amusing and full of charm.






Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Three Word Wednesday- Hell's Pass

Prompts:
Brutal; adjective: Savagely violent; punishingly hard or uncomfortable; direct and lacking any attempt to disguise unpleasantness.
Sullen; adjective: Bad-tempered and sulky; gloomy; (of the sky) full of dark clouds; noun: A sulky or depressed mood.
Trust; noun: Firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something; acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation; the state of being responsible for someone or something; verb: Believe in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of.

     It was nineteen sixty eight and a young family was making its way across the country to a new home on Vancouver Island. There were four sullen and hot young children in the backseat of the red rambler. The car had been hastily repaired by the father and a sympathetic garage in Alberta.(Remember these were the days when people didn’t even wear seatbelts).The car was now held together by some soldering, Duct tape and rope but the father trusted  it would get them to where they were going even pulling the U-Haul that had pulled the car apart. The windows would all open but the back doors would not open. In true fact the only door that would now open was the passenger side. The father was tired, the mother even more so, as she slept little staying awake to keep the driver awake. She then would stay awake to watch the children as he slept. The children were cranky as the long car ride of four days continued. It wasn’t an adventure anymore but torture to remain quiet and stare endlessly out the window.
     It was the middle of the night that the Old U-Haul trailer they were pulling suddenly pulled to the right as they went up the mountain. The father pulled the car over to stop, but no one got out as the middle of the car was tied shut with rope and the backdoors wouldn’t open after their last stop.
“Hon get out and check the U-Haul will you?” the father asked
The mother rushed to comply. Putting one foot down she gasped and pulled it back inside the car ashen.
“Would you hurry up, and go check the trailer. Damn it.” The father demanded.  “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“There’s nothing there. No ledge no ground. We’re going to topple over the mountainside.”
“What?”
“The ground is gone. We are practically over the edge we have to get the children out.”
“If we move the wrong way the weight of the car and the U-Haul will pull us all the way over.” said the father.
“Children wake up.” the mother said softly.
“But it is still dark.” they protested.
“Help your sister out the driver’s side window, and then help the others out. Once they are all out, you get out.” the mother commanded.
“Why?” asked the oldest boy.
“Just do as your mother says.” the father commanded.
The boy helped his sisters out of the car and when he himself got out realized the situation and moved the children further across the road. He then told his sister who was the next oldest to watch them. He went to help get his mother out across his father. The only one left in the car was his father who refused to get out.
“Find some rocks and put the woodblock behind the wheels of the U-Haul.” the father commanded the older boy and his wife.
The boy and the man’s wife complied and the man yelled that it wasn’t working. The wife was then told to get in and the man yelled at them to steer in the correct direction as he moved the U-Haul pushing it in the right direction. A few minutes later with great relief the man said to his wife.
“It’s straight now.”
The danger was over the man and the woman had steered the car into a stretch were the car could be pulled over. The man and the woman waited in the car at the side of the road until morning. In the morning when they walked back to the spot where the car had almost gone over they saw the brutal truth. They looked out down and saw that they were on not had only been negotiating the Roger’s Pass but had stumbled on the road that overlooked Hell’s Gate, When they looked down all they saw was a river very far down so far they could barely see it.They then realized how lucky they had really been.

© Sheilagh Lee January 11, 2012

Author’s note: This is a true story about my youth. I was one of the younger siblings in the car. We would have surely died if not for the tug that my father felt of the U-Haul .My father always said he had a bad feeling and felt a mysterious tug on his shoulder that caused him to pull over. He felt that this was not from anything earthly (since we were all asleep except my mother and him); so I’d like to think our guardian angels saved us that day so long ago. This road at the time was known as Hell’s Pass. There were no guard rails either at the time making this one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the country.(they have since refined  the road and installed guard rails)The river they saw was the Frasier River flowing through.
If you'd like to more on this area click below:

Roger’s Pass info
Hell’s Gate  below Hell's Pass

29 comments:

  1. Powerful story, divine works in mysterious ways I think.

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  2. Scary situation. I'm glad it worked out well.

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  3. thanks Chris I truly believe in that.
    Thanks Angel obviously so am I:)

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  4. What an incredible story, and you told it beautifully, with great suspense. I am sure there were angels guiding all of you that night.

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  5. thank you Marianne I believe so too.

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  6. This truly was so gripping as the reader was able to visualize the predicament the family were in. I am sure many of us have tales of the risks we took driving unsafe vehicles a few years back. Great read.

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  7. Thanks oldegg.This still is deeply ingrained in my memory.

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  8. Wow! Seriously, wow. I've had a few adventures in my life, but this takes the cake.

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  9. it became the often told story in the family that's for sure.We were just all glad we survived.

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  10. I remember a dark mountain road with no lights, no guardrails, narrow lanes and my family trying to navigate it in our enormous 1970 station wagon. Even with a car in good repair, those old roads were treacherous. Your family was lucky - tragedy often seemed inevitable on those types of roads after dark.

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  11. so true Ann we were .There were a lot of accidents at that point that's why they eventually put up guard rails.

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  12. Wow! How terribly frightening - but what a fantastic story your adventure made. Whoever or whatever was looking out for you and your family that night sure did a good job of it.

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  13. Taut and tense throughout. And your eye for detail pleases me greatly.

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  14. Taut and tense throughout. And your attention to detail is greatly appreciated.

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  15. thank you lightverse I truly believe that we were very lucky and our angels were working overtime.

    Thanks Thom.

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  16. I've made that run many times. It's one beautiful ride-when you stay on the road.

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  17. it is beautiful there.I love British Columbia and it's majestic mountains.Staying on the road is key.LOL

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  18. it was very scary Vivek but we were very lucky

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  19. Remarkable tale; remarkable luck; sensitively observant father - he deserved a medal!

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  20. i was blessed with wonderful intelligent resourceful parents.My Dad was able to analyze anything and find a solution.he could fix anything so it was no surprise that the car still went after he soldered it together with Duct tape and rope.

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  21. Very moving story. I can remember traveling as a child in the 50's. Some of the roads we traveled were pretty scary. Thank goodness your Dad had good instincts and good common sense.

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  22. thank you Mary and yes my dad was really good in an emergency he didn't panic,he just thought and solved quickly..

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  23. I love the idea of this story being carried within the family car..makes me think that each car..each set of people in it..has their own unique journey..and story..Jae

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  24. it really was a true story Jae my Mom and Dad moved to B.C. for two years when I was young then when jobs dried up they came back to Ontario.

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  25. Your story had me on the edge of my chair. You are truly lucky to still be with us.

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  26. that is so true Grandma Goulash I am very fortunate.

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  27. I'm moving Suzie's House to Mondays. Although it looks like Gunner's story has wrapped up, I hope you will still post stories, and join me on Mondays.

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  28. There was a blip, so I'm not sure if my comment about how lucky you are to be alive went through right. It's quite the hair raising story. I'm glad you all made it.

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