“First time?” asks Ravi to the police officer, who kept looking back at the wreckage where Elijah’s house once stood.
“Yes, I haven’t seen an avalanche before”, the officer responds reluctantly tugging at his shirt.
“This one was relatively smaller, only two houses in its path, few causalities”, Ravi supplies as he watched the team slowly pack away the snow shovelling equipments.
They fell into an uncomfortable silence and watched as the ambulance sped away. The snow fell steadily. It was going to be a frosty night.
“It’s a miracle how we found him. We were looking at the wrong place,” Ravi finally confessed.
“We wouldn’t have found him if he wasn’t calling out for help,” Benny told confirming Ravi’s suspicions.
“It’s amazing how he heard us from all the way over there”, Ravi said, pointing to the initial place they were searching for.
“I don’t think he did”, Benny responded somewhat reluctantly.
“Then?” Ravi’s eyebrows climbed up.
“He wasn’t calling out for help. He was calling Nate?” Benny asked back, not sure of what to think.
Ravi nodded. Yet offered no further explanations.
“I don’t understand- the man, he kept saying Nate is in there repeatedly. Are we sure there was the only person inside the house?”, asks Benny when he realised Ravi wouldn’t say anything on the matter.
A strange look crossed Ravi’s face.
“There’s no one else in the house, Benny,” Ravi doesn’t elaborate further.
Benny doesn’t want to let it go. “But he said”-
“You don’t know because you are new in town. Nate was his son. He died in an avalanche over three years ago. Elijah must have been in shock. He lives alone with his wife,”… Ravi trails off, eyeing Benny carefully.
Benny’s eyes widen in shock, but he says nothing to that.
“Is he gonna be okay?” he asks instead.
“The paramedic said he’ll live- no permanent damages. Obviously, he had to be hospitalized.” Ravi replies.
“The man had a broken leg, fractured arm, broken ribs, and hypothermia. I don’t know how he survived,” Benny says.
“He had a broken nose too,” Ravi adds.
Benny shakes his head, disbelief written on his face.
“We did good today, a minute longer and it wouldn’t have been the same.”, Ravi smiles at Benny.
The snow continued to fall steadily as they walked away. Anyone passing by would have thought the village looked dreamy, like a winter wonderland.