Sarah

Ben woke up with the sun shining in his eyes. He must have slept in. Very drowsy, he tried to focus on his surroundings. Hearing the thunder of the falls close by, he remembered where he was and still wondered why Sarah had wanted to camp so close to the edge of the cliff. Rolling over onto his side, he rubbed his eyes with one hand and felt for Sarah with the other. She wasn’t there! He tried to jump up, but he was dizzy and sore all over and battered, and had to struggle just to get to his feet. He looked around. He was alone!

"Sarah!" he tried to yell above the sound of the falls.

Once he was able to see clearly, he found himself standing where the tent should have been. All his camping gear was gone! He looked down at himself and his clothes were all ragged and almost burnt like he had been in some kind of explosion. He was beginning to panic. Where could she be?

"S a r a h!"

Ben roared her name from the very depths of his soul, and felt such an intense loneliness for her he thought he was going to die again. That dream. It was so real, and yet it seemed like it had happened a long time ago. Then he remembered what Sarah had said to him, almost as if she were there and saying it again.

He went to scratch his face and felt a full beard! What was going on? How long had he been gone? Quickly he turned and sped off back toward Tuolomne Meadows. He had no food or water, but that fact didn’t seem to phase him. It was as if that had happened to him before, and he was used to hiking long distances without anything. He was sore all over, yet he felt stronger than he had ever felt in his life. He had lost some weight and his muscles were hard as iron. He had to find her if it was the last thing he ever did. He knew he could never live without her. Sarah was everything to him.

Ben grabbed her into a hug and spun her around.

"I’m so glad you’re still alive! I thought I’d never find you again."

Sarah gave him a startled look as she squirmed to get free.

"Put me down! You’re scaring me. My brother-in-law is in there, and he’ll come out and beat the crap out of you if you don’t put me down and leave me alone!"

Ben put her down, but he wasn’t about to let her go. He held on to her arms and said,

"Sarah, it’s me. Ben. Don’t you recognize me?"

"Why would I recognize you? I’ve never seen you before in my life!"

"You don’t have a twin sister do you?"

"No."

Ben tried to be calm. The words wanted to rush out that he loved her and needed her and still couldn’t live without her, but he had to get a hold of himself and calm down. She was frightened enough.

"You met me on the fifth of June at a restaurant at one of the casinos, and went with me on a camping trip for three days in Yosemite. We fell in love and I asked you to marry me. You said yes. You have to remember!"

"I haven’t been out of Tahoe the whole summer," Sarah said raggedly.

Ben started to look puzzled, and then a pain swept through him that felt worse than death.

"I was afraid something like this was going to happen."

"You were incredible," Ben said passionately. "One of the little girls had fallen, and a huge bear was about to make lunch out of her, and you stepped in and distracted it long enough to grab the girl, jump in a fast moving stream, and float away. We had to fish you out down stream after the fire."

"Wait a minute. You’re talking complete nonsense."

"No . . . I’m not. You were the bravest person I have ever known, Sarah. You were incredible. You did so many incredible things. I can’t believe it. It really happened! I’m starting to remember everything. Like when we had to jump off that cliff. The glaciers. The volcano! Where we found this crystal."