Laura's Star - Part IV

Part IV

     Joe searched the horizon frantically.  Dawn was just breaking and the landscape was filled with shadow and hallucination, but at least there was enough light to see a little bit.  He ignored the pounding pain radiating from every part of his broken body, but medical attention would have to wait.  He had refused treatment when he had regained consciousness in the emergency room until after he located his wife and children.  The medical staff argued in vain, and in the end, the head ER doctor had placed his arm in a splint, covered the gash in his head with butterfly bandages, and said he would be waiting for him when he was ready to be treated.

     The State Police had searched both directions for some sign of where Laura and the boys had disappeared to, but the heavy snow had covered all tracks, making it a difficult search, at best.

     They had now begun to take the exits off the highway one by one and someone had spotted Sam’s car off in the field, resting on its side.  The cruiser Joe now sat in was silent, save for the occasional crackle of the police radio.  Joe tried to look in every direction at once, but one eye was still swollen shut and the other eye burned with the strain, so he decided to just watch the side of the road the car had been discovered on.  Joe could make out a farmstead in the dim morning light, and suggested they stop there and ask questions.  “Won’t do any good.  That’s Sam’s place and he’s a widower.  Nobody there.  But we’ll drive into the yard and see if we see any sign that your wife was there.”  About a quarter mile from the farm, Joe was still scanning the horizon when he spotted a blue and white patch of fabric on the ground, nearly covered with snow.  It took a moment for the impact to register in Joe’s pain-soaked brain.  Laura’s parka!  “Hey, pull over!” Joe ordered.  Before the car had even slowed to a stop, Joe had the door open and was running wildly towards the familiar blue fabric, the two state troopers close behind.  Joe could hear one of them on his radio calling for emergency help.  Joe fell to ground beside the lump on the ground, his breath coming in ragged grunts, and brushed snow away, willing his family to be alive.  He yanked the coat away and saw bright blue eyes staring at him.  “Pitty star, Daddy,” Mattie whispered.  “Mommy’s star."