A Child's Faith
Montana is one of the mountain states of the U.S. Bobby lived outside of
Mosby Montana, with his wife Cindy and their seven year old daughter
named Brooke. They lived in a cabin in the woods. Cindy’s father Sam and
mother Betty owned the land and had built the cabin for a summer vacation
house. When Bobby and Cindy got married, they were given the cabin as a
wedding present. Sam and Betty retired later and had moved a mobile home
in by the cabin so they could be around their daughter and granddaughter.
There wasn’t a lot of work around Mosby. Bobby had to drive to Mile City
Montana to work. He would stay there during the week and come home on
the weekends. It was a 136 mile trip and took four hours one way. That is
for summer time driving, and this was Christmas Eve. The roads had been
graded, but they were still covered with packed snow.
Bobby had picked up all the gifts this past week. He had them in the trunk of
his car, along with chains, toolbox, jack and spare tire. Christmas was on a
Saturday this year so he had to work the full week. The boss made sure they
stayed until the last minute too. Bobby and everyone else wanted off early,
but they were paid salary and that meant you didn’t get paid for overtime, and
you couldn’t leave early. The last hour seemed like a day. When Bobby did
get off work he started home. The eighty four miles on MT-22 went well.
When he turned west on Mt-200 it started snowing. This meant he was going
to be late getting home, maybe after midnight. It was 6:00 and dark when he
left from work. It was usually 11:00 PM when he got home in the winter.
If this snow slowed him down on extra hour, Christmas would arrive before
he did. He was able to maintain a swift 25 miles an hour in the falling snow
and darkness.
At 11:30 PM he spotted the sign Mosby 10 miles, he had two miles further
past Mosby to go to get home. He thought, a half hour at 25 miles an hour
and I have 12 miles to go, I might get there five minutes before midnight I
hope so anyway. He drove threw Mosby at 11:50. He said, Ten minutes and
two miles to go, I think I can make it. A mile out of Mosby on the road to his
cabin, there was a dip in the road between two steep inclines. The road had
guard rails on both sides of the road. If you get the right speed coming down,
you can make it up the other side
Bobby was carring extra weight in the back and packed snow and ice under
the wheel wells of the car was rubbing the wheels now each time he hit a
bump in the road.
He started down over the hill at 25 miles an hour and picked up speed slowly.
At 35 miles an hour it was as fast as he dared, with all this snow coming
down he couldn’t see ten feet in front of the car. He only dared that fast
because he knew the road was straight, and there was guard rails on both
sides of the road. The car started up the other side now. The speedometer
started going down as the car went up. 25....20....15....10....5....Bobby tried
to give the car a little more gas, but it just started to spin the tires. Now
almost to the top, the car stopped moving forward and sat there spinning the
tires. He could see the top of the hill where the road leveled out, it was a car
length in front of him. He said, Another 20 feet and I would have made it,
if I would have went one more mile an hour, I would have made it to the
higher ground and safely on home.
Bobby had gotten stuck on this grade before and was prepared for it, he
thought. Behind the drivers seat in the floor board of the car, he kept a brick.
Bobby reached behind the seat, while still holding the brake, and found the
brick. Bobby opened the door and laid the brick on the snow covered road
under the car. Bobby put the car in neutral and let off the break a little. He
let the car roll backwards slowly until the front wheel caught on the brick for
a wheel chock. The car stopped and he put it in park. He let off the brake
real slow to see if the car would stay or slide. The car didn’t move.
Bobby reached over and opened up the glove box and got out his flash light,
that he kept in there. He put on the extra heavy coat and gloves he kept
laying in the back seat. He put the outfit on in the car and got out to face the
weather. He tried to put the key in the trunk lock to open it. The lock was
frozen. Bobby was prepared for that too. He went back to the glove box and
pulled out a spray can of WD-40. He went back to the frozen trunk lock and
stuck the spray tube in the place for the key in the lock. The warm lubricant
from where the can had been in the warm car, unfroze the lock. Bobby put
the key in and opened the trunk. Bobby was quite pleased with himself. He
pulled out the tire chains and a piece of old carpet to neal down on, out of the
side of the trunk. He didn’t have to unload or move any of the gifts. He put
the gifts on one side of the trunk and kept his tools on the other side. He laid
down the piece of carpet beside of the back tire. He got the flashlight that
had a magnet made on the side of it. He placed the flashlight on the side of
the car pointing down where he was going to be working. He tried to slide
the chains over the tire. There was no clearance between the tire and the
packed snow under the wheel well. Bobby got the jack out of the trunk to lift the
car body enough to slide the snow chain over the tire. He placed the jack and raised the car body about
three inches. That was enough to get the chain over the top of the tire. He
knew it was only going to take about 10 minutes to put the chains on, he had
a lot of practice, he could put them on blind folded. As he slid the chain over
the top of the tire, he thought to himself : It’s a good thing I’m ready for
anything.
The brick slid, allowing the car to roll back a little and the jack to turn over.
The body of the car dropped. Bobby still had both hands over the top of the
tire when it fell. His hands were pinned between the tire and the packed
snow and ice under the wheel well, by the weight of the car body. There he
was, on his knees on a piece of carpet. One mile from Mosby and one mile
from home. Stuck out in a snow storm, freezing temperature, dark, and can’t
move. It was 12:01 AM. the flashlight was still shinning down, and the
watch was sticking out from under his coat sleeve, where he could see the
time. Bobby said Christmas, and nobody is going to come along, everyone is
home in bed waiting for Santa.
Bobby was wondering if he would freeze. It would probably be Noon before
anyone would travel. After everyone opens their gifts and on their way to the
family and friends houses for Christmas dinner. 12 hours outside and like
this. The flash light was still shinning at 2AM. Bobby looking all around and
saw nothing outside the area lighted by flashlight. All he could see was the
snow flakes falling in front of his face. He said I must look like one of those
Nativity Scenes in peoples yards, where they have lights shinning on the
figures, set up for the manger scene. He watched the snow flakes fall and
thought : No, I look like one of those little people in the little toy bubble you
shake up to make it snow.
Bobby knew at home Brooke had been sent to bed early, because she has to
be asleep for Santa to come. His wife and her parents were all in bed too
because they knew he had made it home in worse snow storms than this. The
flashlight was dim now, it wouldn’t shin long, his watch said 2:32. Bobby
looked towards Mosby, he thought he seen something moving. It looked like
someone was walking down the road towards him. Who would be out
walking in a snow storm, late at night on Christmas. It was a man.
The man walked up beside of the car. Bobby said I’ve been stuck like this
for hours, can you lift up on the body of the car a little bit? It won’t take
much to set me free, I can’t do it by myself. The man lifted up on the body of
the car about half an inch and Bobby was free again. It was all he could do to
get his stiff fingers to let go of the tire chains. Bobby said I can’t drive , my
hands are to stiff. The man helped Bobby in on the passenger side. Bobby
said Give me a few minutes to get warm, and I’ll finish putting the snow
chains on. The man started the car and said They are not needed. The car
took off up the hill. Bobby said Now it climbs the hill without chains, from a
dead stop too.
Bobby looked over and the speedometer was laying all the way over past 85
mph, the last number on the speedometer. Bobby said No it must be broken,
I know we are not going that fast. The snow coming down at the windshield
was so thick Bobby couldn’t see past the end of the car hood. Bobby said
How can you see where to drive, I can’t see three feet? The man said I can
see clearly, and stopped the car. He said Your home. Bobby looked and the
car was sitting in his driveway at the cabin.
Bobby got out of the car and turned to thank the man and to ask him for his
name, because he didn’t know him. There was no one in the car. Bobby
walked around the car and found that his keys were still in the trunk. He
walked on around the car and looked on the drivers side. There were no foot
prints in the snow there. Only his foot prints from where he had walked
around the car. Brooke opened the door of the cabin and said Daddy!,
Daddy!.
Bobby went towards Brooke saying You should be in bed little girl or Santa
won’t come. Brooke said I woke up at 2:31 to go to the bathroom and I
looked out of the window and your car wasn’t here. I was afraid something
had happened to you, so I prayed. Bobby turned and looked back at the car
and said, What did you pray? Brooke said I asked Jesus to find my daddy
and bring him home! When I came out of the bathroom I looked out the
window again and your car was in the driveway and you were getting out. I
said, "Thank you Jesus". And he said "Your welcome Brooke."
Written by : Johnny lee Hall
