(This is Part 18 of Fortune Cookie: A Christmas Tale, ending December 24.)
Silently, eerily, white flakes of snow floated down through the night, and settled one after the other on the ground, on the pond. Rosalyn began to cough as water lapped at her lips. She closed her eyes, and images of Bodie the day he effortlessly lifted the Gator one-handed, muscles rippling, his lips hovering, oh so close to hers, floated before her.
The cold closing around her became soothing numbness. Rosalyn grappled behind her, trying to stop her slide under the water. Her hands hit mud, roots and something disc-shaped, smooth.
She grabbed the handful, and dug deep. The world moved slowly now, nothing really mattered in this numbness, except that she felt like she had forgotten to do the most important thing in her life, but couldn’t think what it was. Something her grandmother once said came to mind: "If you have to die, you should be with the one you love."
As darkness closed around her mind, it came to her, something Bodie had said: “Choose now, Rosalyn. Quit hiding.”
“Sorry, Grams, blew that one,” she mumbled.
***
Rosalyn did not hear the crashing sounds of Bodie bolting down the embankment through snow and tree branches, or Buck’s frenzied barking. Bodie lashed a rope to a tree, and threw the loop over his shoulder and torso. He edged farther down the bank. "Hang on, I've got you. Just hang on!" His fingers plunged through the water, and curled around the collar of Rosalyn's coat, just as the top of her head slipped under the ice.
Bodie hauled on Rosalyn’s limp form. He slipped on the wet bank, and slid toward the icy water. His boot heel caught a tree root. Bodie pulled against the rope, and it held. He half-threw Rosalyn past his shoulders to drier ground. She hit the ground, a heap of arms and legs.
Bodie knelt, and flipped Rosalyn over on her back. He lowered his head and listened for her breath. Buck nudged his owner’s face with his wet nose. Nothing. Bodie felt her neck for a pulse. So faint.
“Shit,” he muttered.
(Next: Only five exist, each worth $200,000)
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