Oh! What An Evening by Pam Swain (read aloud .TXT) 📖

Oh! What an evening.

After a tiring day at work I was looking forward to a relaxing evening. It had been snowing heavily and I would be glad to get inside to the heat. The snow was very heavy and was causing chaos on the roads. As I was walking up my path I heard the phone ringing so I hurriedly put the key in the front door and rushed over to the telephone but before I could get there it stopped.

I knocked the snow off my boots and put them by the door and hung my coat over a chair near the heater to dry. If the phone call was important they would phone back again. I put a ready meal into the microwave and while it was cooking changed into my pyjamas and got everything ready for a night of chilling out in front of the television. I was too tired to make an effort at anything so watching TV seemed an easy option. I poured myself a glass of white wine and sat with my dinner on my knee watching my favourite programme.

Afterwards I decided to check my phone messages before settling down for the evening. There were three messages. First was a credit company looking to reclaim PPI; the second was from a kitchen company wanting to sell me a new kitchen. Rubbish! The third was from my daughter, Pip, from her mobile. I listened to it and froze, then replayed it twice and wrote down the information from the frantic phone call. Panic gripped me. I pulled on a dry coat, hat and threw a scarf loosely round my neck and slipped gloves into my pocket. I pulled on my boots, nearly falling over in my haste. Thank goodness I had only had a sip of the wine so could still drive safely. My tiredness was gone now. Adrenaline took over and made my heart beat fast. The snow was a blizzard now and

I could only drive slowly due to the visibility but I was willing myself to get there quickly. I turned on my Bluetooth and dialled 999.

“Emergency, which service do you require?”

“All of them,” I said feeling panic rising in my throat. “My daughter has had an accident and has gone through a hedge and is bleeding and has broken her leg and no-one will be able to find her.” I was sobbing hysterically now as I was putting it into words.

“Stay calm, Madam,” the voice on the other end of the phone said. “What is your daughter’s location?”

“I don’t know exactly, except that she is in Highland Road somewhere. She left a message on my phone but she said she had just enough battery power to make the call and that she was bleeding. Then the phone went dead while she was in mid sentence.”

“How long ago was the call from her” the calm efficient ladies voice asked.

“Almost an hour ago. Please help her, you have to find her,” I cried.

“We already have officers on the way, Madam, please try to stay calm,” the lady reassured me.

“I’m on my way too, but it is so hard to see in this blizzard.” I said.

“Madam, it would be better if you stayed at home and let the authorities do their job and find her” she said.

“No way.” I said and hung up the phone.

I needed all my concentration to drive. I drove for half an hour; it was excruciatingly slow driving through sheets of thick snow, wind and nil visibility. I carried on by sheer determination to get to Pip. Finally I got there. Highland Road was a long windy unlit country road that stretched for miles. As I drove round the corner there were flashing lights and dark shadows of vehicles and people. I pulled up and a police officer knocked on my window.

“Sorry, Madam, the road is closed, you will have to turn round,” he said.

“Are you looking for an accident? It is my daughter that you are looking for.” I told him.

The officer called over his superior and he got into the car beside me and asked me questions about the phone call. He asked if there was anything I could think of that might give them a clue of where she was. I told them she had said Highland, then the phone signal went weak and I heard the words’ through’ and’ hedge.’ Pip said that she was bleeding and had a broken leg and that no one would be able to find her and then the phone went dead. While I had been driving I had tried several times to phone her back in hope that she had a little bit of battery left.

The officer explained that his men and dogs were searching on foot, checking every bit of hedge to see where a car might have gone through but that it could take hours. In the meantime they called the police helicopter to see if they could see anything with their body heat cameras but the weather had got so bad that they had to turn back. They badly needed manpower if they were to find her before it was too late. Because of the weather emergency services were stretched to their limit.

With the officer’s permission I phoned as many of Pip’s and my friends and family as I could and soon we had several helping. It was a tribute to Pip that so many people that knew and loved her came out to search for her on such a terrible night. We were split into three groups searching different parts of Highland Road but it was nearly impossible to see anything. Even through thick gloves, my fingers were burning from the cold. My scarf was covering my nose and my wool hat pulled over my ears and all that was noticeable were my eyes. The flesh that was visible was blue and so cold that it was painful, a bit like brain freeze from eating really cold ice cream too quickly but I didn’t care and trod on and on.

Suddenly there was a shout. Someone had found a gap in the hedge and searchers were drifting into the field. I plodded quickly to join them and started shouting Pip’s name. The dogs were barking, people were running, there was shouting, whistles were being blown and there was a general air of something having been found. I could hear radios coming to life as they communicated with each other.

I was running towards the pandemonium screaming Pip’s name but was stopped by a policeman who was talking on his radio. I heard the end of the conversation, which was not to let me near the site. I panicked now, I heard a loud scream and realised it was me that was screaming. Why would they not let me see my only child? Was she still alive?

From out of nowhere strong arms were round me and more and more of our friends gathered in a group. No-one noticed the cold icy wind as we all huddled together. Someone started a prayer. Ambulance medics came rushing past us with a stretcher and medical bags and a fire brigade siren sounded at the gap in the hedge from where the fire-fighters came running with cutting equipment. I felt a mixture of sheer panic, fear and heartache. I was terrified and shaking and

I struggled free from my friends and started towards the noise and lights but two officers brought me back to my friends.

Visions of Pip floated through my head, how she looked when she was born, her third birthday party, and her first day at school, in her brownie uniform and on and on. It was a relief which took my mind off the present. I made myself remember the last conversation I had with her, when I met with her last and what she was wearing. Then the torture of ‘ if only’ I had been home a few minutes earlier tonight I would have been able to speak to her directly. Why had I waited so long to listen to my messages? Everything was whirling round in my head; I tried to think of anything except what was happening.

The group were completely silent, the only noises coming from the rescue workers. The swirling high pitched screech of the cutters, the large spotlight they had brought in showed the dark shape of the car and shadows of the rescue workers. The two officers who had escorted me back were talking on their radios and I could hear them being asked to take me to a police car where an officer wanted to speak to me.

I could feel warmth seep through my body as I got into the car. I felt nauseous and apprehensive. Nothing mattered except Pip. An officer sat in the driver’s seat and took off his hat and ran his fingers through his receding hair. His eyes and face were red from the cold.

“Well, we have found a young lady in the car, but I am sorry to say she is deceased. The paramedics did all they could but it was too late. I am so sorry.”

Everything went black and next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital having collapsed at the scene.

I insisted that I wanted to see Pip right now. I wanted to hold her hand, kiss her forehead, and pull back that little strand of hair that flopped into her lovely blue eyes. A family liaison officer took me to her bedside. They pulled back the sheet and there lay, her beautiful, serene body... but it was not my Pip.

“That’s not her.” I cried falling to my knees.

All sorts of feeling rushed through me, happiness that it wasn’t her, fear that she was still out there, disbelief, anger, every emotion seemed to hit me wave after wave.

The police were in a fluster now and talking back and forward on their radios. They appeared as stunned as I was. After a few minutes they explained that they were going to take me home while they resumed the search. It was odd but there must have been two accidents on the same stretch of road.

The family liaison officer was going to stay with me until they found Pip and she and a police officer sat with me outside my house for a few minutes trying to reassure me not to give up hope. The blizzard had cleared and although it was still snowing it was not heavy.

We were walking up the path when a car pulled up. It was barely recognisable, covered in snow, but it was Pip’s car. It didn’t look damaged. As I ran towards it Pip got out and walked towards me giving me a quizzical look.

Tears were streaming down my face. I called her name over and over and threw my arms round her.

“I found her,” she smiled at me.

“Who?” I asked.

“Etta. I told you on the phone, I have a new Highland terrier and she ran off tonight through a hole in the hedge and fell down a hole. She was bleeding from a broken leg and I thought I would never