And then there was nothing. . .

    It would difficult, if not altogether impossible, imagining life and existence as we know it without any of the gadgetry and conveniences we have become so accustomed to and so totally reliant upon: Cellular phones, cars, microwave ovens, computers...Banks, stores, jobs, highways, medical facilities, learning institutions, transportation, communications.  One minute it's all there at your fingertips, and the next minute it's all gone; you stand in an empty land with nothing but the clothes on your back and a determination not to die.  Hard to vision such a thing, isn't it?  Especially in a world we call a "global community".  Oh, sure, we hear the occasional story about a fisherman or hiker who gets twisted around and spends a night or two in the scary woods --usually not more than a mile or so from a Walmart store or Interstate highway-- but the high-tech world of Search & Rescue kicks into gear and the lost soul is soon found.  That's just how it works.

    Well, not always.    

    What I describe above can happen, and it's exactly what happened to us.  One day we were a small group of young folks ranging in age from twenty (Amy Parkinson) to twenty-four years (that would be me, Rick Wells), with lives and lifestyles and futures scattered all over the board.  And then, in a matter of hours, we were left with not much more than a will to survive.  Twelve young and healthy souls headed away from Montreal on a charter plane, a short vacation where we'd join other friends and have some hair-down fun for a few days.  But fate in the form of aircraft radios that didn't work, storms that didn't behave as they were supposed to, and watered-down fuel, assured that our little vacation would never come to be.    

    On the day of our crash in the far northern Canadian wilderness, and for a few days following, I would have told you that Lady Fate was thumbing her nose by leaving us stranded in this strange, barren world with essentially nothing.  Today, I would send the dear Lady a bouquet of roses for such a  gift of opportunity to do what most people only dream about. 

 

So now you ask:  Did we make it?  Well, at least one of us must have.  But what about the others: Did the harsh elements or wild animals get them one-by-one?  Did some of us fall into the dark oits of insanity, as often happens when an entire existence is yanked away suddenly and unexpectedly? 

 

I could tell you, of course, but I shant; you'll have to read on to find out.  What a scoundrel I am, eh?