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Woman With Down Syndrome Left a Note on Every Biker’s Windshield That Said “Please Don’t Go” — Transcript

by Highway Chronicles · 5,874 words · 949 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00The water hit the road before I heard
0:02it. One second I was leaning into a
0:04curve in Spearfish Canyon, 14 [music]
0:07bikes rumbling behind me. The next, the
0:09creek was across the pavement, brown and
0:12fast, dragging branches and gravel
0:14toward the edge. Ahead, [music] Tyler's
0:17engine screamed once and went silent.
0:20In my vest pocket, a folded square of
0:22notebook paper was soaking through. Two
0:25hours earlier, a woman in a yellow coat
0:27had [music] begged me not to go.
0:29I patted her shoulder and called her
0:30sweetheart.
0:32I never even read the back. [music] Now,
0:34the rain came sideways. My phone showed
0:37one bar, and somewhere behind me, Carl
0:40was shouting my name. The first note was
0:42tucked under the wiper blade of a black
0:44Road King, and Douglas Hollis almost
0:47crumpled it without reading it.
0:49It was the sixth day of the rally in
0:52Sturgis, [music]
0:52South Dakota, and the heat had settled
0:55over the gravel lot behind Linda's Diner
0:57like a wet blanket.
0:59Hundreds of motorcycles ticked and
1:01shimmered in the sun.
1:03Leather creaked.
1:05Somewhere a speaker played classic rock
1:07too loud, and the air smelled of
1:09exhaust, fried onions, and sunscreen.
1:12Douglas was 52, tall and broad, with a
1:16gray beard gone wiry in the dry air, and
1:19an eagle tattooed across his left
1:21forearm.
1:22He had ridden to Sturgis every August
1:24for 22 years. He knew the sounds of the
1:27rally the way other men know the sounds
1:30of their own kitchens, and a scrap of
1:32paper under a wiper was not part of that
1:34music. He pulled it free.
1:37The paper had been torn from a spiral
1:39notebook, the edge still fringed. Across
1:43the front in thick blue marker, someone
1:45had written in careful block letters,
1:48"Please don't go."
1:50"Huh," he said.
1:52He looked down the row. Every
1:54windshield, every handlebar, every
1:57bar in the first three rows had a small
1:59white square fluttering against it. 40
2:02bikes, maybe 50. Whoever had done it had
2:06been busy.
2:07"Somebody's lonely." said Carl Ridgeway
2:10swinging a leg off the Ultra Glide
2:12beside him.
2:13Carl was 58, president of the Black
2:16Hills Iron Brothers with a voice like a
2:19gravel truck backing up.
2:21He held his own note at arm's length,
2:23squinted, and snorted.
2:26"Please don't go."
2:28"What are we? A boyfriend?"
2:30Then Douglas saw her. She stood near the
2:33dumpsters at the far end of the lot, a
2:35small woman in a bright yellow rain
2:37jacket despite the 90° heat.
2:40Light brown hair hung in a long braid
2:42down her back.
2:44She wore round glasses and she hugged a
2:46spiral notebook against her chest with
2:48one arm while the other hand gripped a
2:51marker like a tool she could not afford
2:53to drop.
2:55She moved from bike to bike with quick,
2:57nervous steps and every few seconds her
3:00eyes lifted to the sky. The sky was
3:03blue, not a single cloud in it. "That's
3:06Anna." Carl said following his gaze.
3:08"Hangs around the lot years now. Linda
3:11feeds her. Harmless."
3:14He said the last word the way a man says
3:16it about a stray dog.
3:18Douglas watched her slide another note
3:20under a wiper on a chrome-covered
3:22Softail. She stepped back and checked
3:25her wristwatch. She looked at the sky
3:27again. Her lips moved as if she were
3:29counting something.
3:31"Is she okay?" Douglas asked. "She's
3:34Anna." Carl said as though that
3:36explained everything.
3:38Tyler Boone drifted over from the next
3:40row, 24 years old, shaved head, a brand
3:44new patch on his vest still stiff at the
3:46corners.
3:47He waved his note over his head.
3:50"Check it out, boys.
3:52I got a love letter.
3:53He laughed loud, and a few riders
3:56laughed with him. Then he cupped his
3:58hands around his mouth. "Hey, yellow
4:01coat, you want a ride? I'll take you
4:03around the block."
4:05Anna flinched. Her shoulders went up
4:07around her ears, and she took one step
4:10back. But she did not run. That was the
4:13first thing Douglas noticed, and for
4:15some reason it stuck with him. She
4:17planted her feet and kept her marker
4:19moving. A door banged open behind the
4:22diner.
4:23Walt Haynes, the lot security guard,
4:26crossed the gravel at a fast, heavy walk
4:28with one hand on his radio. He was 67
4:31with a mustache like a push broom and a
4:34belly straining against his reflective
4:36vest.
4:37"Anna, what did I tell you? Away from
4:40the bikes. Every day, the same thing."
4:43"I'm not touching them," Anna said. Her
4:46voice was high and clear, a little
4:48slurred on the hard consonants, and it
4:50carried across the whole lot. "I'm only
4:53putting the paper."
4:54"You're bothering folks."
4:56Walt took her by the elbow gently, the
4:59way you steer a child away from a
5:00street. "Come on, back to your moms."
5:04"Mom is at work, and they can't go,
5:06Walt." "Nobody's going anywhere, hon."
5:09"They are going, at 2:00. The canyon."
5:13"Okay, okay."
5:15Walt turned her toward the diner's back
5:16door. "Let's get you some pie."
5:19Douglas should have let it go. A man
5:21with 22 August behind him does not step
5:24into other people's business. But he
5:26looked at the paper in his hand, and
5:28without quite knowing why, turned it
5:30over. The back was covered in smaller
5:33writing, crowded, the letters leaning on
5:35each other as if they were afraid of
5:37running out of room. He caught the first
5:40few words. Then a Harley two rows over
5:42roared to life. Someone shouted his
5:45name, and the moment broke apart like a
5:47plate on concrete.
5:49He folded the note once and slid it into
5:51his vest pocket.
5:53He would read it later.
5:55That was what he told himself.
5:57Carl clapped him on the back. "2:00,
6:00brothers. Spearfish Canyon. Best curves
6:02in the Black Hills, and I'm buying the
6:04first round when we're back."
6:06A cheer went up from the Iron Brothers,
6:08and engines coughed and caught one after
6:11another across the lot.
6:12Douglas glanced at his watch. 1:20.
6:16At the diner window, Linda Pruitt stood
6:19with a dish towel twisted in her hands,
6:21watching Anna disappear through the back
6:23door.
6:24It was not the look of a woman watching
6:26something harmless.
6:28It was the look of someone who had been
6:30told, over and over, to mind her own
6:33business, and who had begun to wonder
6:36what that business had cost.
6:38Inside Linda's diner, the air
6:40conditioner fought a losing battle with
6:42the heat.
6:44Anna Whittaker sat on the last stool at
6:46the counter with a slice of cherry pie
6:48in front of her that she had not
6:50touched.
6:51Besides the plate, lay a small black
6:54radio with a bent antenna and a crank on
6:56the side, and she kept one finger
6:59resting on the volume knob.
7:01Every few minutes it crackled, and a
7:03flat mechanical voice read out numbers.
7:07Anna listened to each one with her whole
7:09face.
7:10"Eat your pie, honey," Linda Pruitt
7:13said, refilling a mug two stools down.
7:17Linda was 61 with silver hair cropped
7:19short for the kitchen and forearms
7:22scarred by 30 years of fryers.
7:25"Walt means well. He just doesn't know
7:27how to say it."
7:29"Walt says it the same way every day,"
7:32Anna said.
7:33"Go away, Anna. Stay back, Anna. I'm not
7:36in the way. I stand by the dumpsters."
7:39"I know you do. The radio says the storm
7:42is building over the Wyoming line and
7:44Anna turned the knob so Linda could hear
7:46the monotone voice. See, dew point 72.
7:51That is very wet air. Hot on the ground,
7:54cold up high, it makes a big cloud. Then
7:56the cloud comes east. It will be in the
7:59canyon by 3:00, maybe 3:15.
8:02Linda set the coffee pot down.
8:04She looked through the front window at
8:05the clear blue sky. Then she looked at
8:08Anna, really looked. The way she had
8:10been looking at her for 6 years, ever
8:13since a quiet young woman in a yellow
8:15coat first wandered into the lot after
8:18her father's funeral and asked if she
8:20could watch the motorcycles.
8:22"The forecast this morning said sunny."
8:25Linda said gently. "The forecast is for
8:27Sturgis. The canyon is different. Daddy
8:31said the canyon makes its own weather."
8:33Anna's voice wobbled, then steadied.
8:37"Daddy was a spotter.
8:39He watched clouds for the weather
8:40service. He taught me how to read the
8:42numbers. I wrote it all down. I'm not
8:45making it up, Linda.
8:47I didn't say you were."
8:49"Everybody thinks I am."
8:51Linda had no answer for that because it
8:54was true.
8:55Over the years she had heard plenty of
8:57people say that Anna was a sweet girl
8:59who got ideas.
9:01She had said it herself once or twice
9:04and the memory sat in her stomach like a
9:06stone.
9:07Anna slid the spiral notebook across the
9:10counter.
9:11Linda turned the pages slowly.
9:14Dates in blue marker, columns of
9:16numbers, small careful drawings of
9:18clouds with arrows beside them. A page
9:21from June read, "Hail by 5:00. Wrong.
9:25Hail at 4:40." A page from last August
9:28read, "Wind at 4:30. Tents fall." Linda
9:33remembered that afternoon. The vendor
9:35tents on Main Street had come down at
9:37exactly half past four and nobody had
9:40thanked the girl by the dumpsters
9:42because nobody had known she had said
9:43it. The bell above the door jingled. A
9:47wave of heat and leather swept in with
9:49Douglas Hollis who ducked under the
9:51frame. Carl Ridgeway and Tyler Boone
9:53followed along with half a dozen others
9:56in vests with the Iron Brothers patch.
9:59They filled the booths by the window
10:01loud and sunburned and the waitress went
10:03scrambling for menus.
10:05Douglas did not sit.
10:07He stood for a moment looking at the end
10:09of the counter at the yellow coat and
10:11the long braid and something tightened
10:14in his chest.
10:15He had a daughter Kelsey 31 who lived in
10:18Denver and called every Sunday. He could
10:21not have said why the sight of a
10:22stranger's braid made him think of her.
10:26He walked over with his cap in his hand
10:28and used the voice a person uses for a
10:31small child bright and slow.
10:34Hey there, you're Anna, right? I'm
10:37Douglas. Thanks for the note. That was
10:39real kind of you.
10:40Anna turned on the stool. Up close her
10:43eyes were hazel and very direct. Did you
10:46read the back?
10:47Well, I
10:49Douglas touched his vest pocket. I got
10:51the front, please don't go. That's
10:53sweet, sweetheart, but we've got a ride
10:55planned. We do it every year. We'll be
10:57back by supper and I'll come tell you
10:59all about it.
11:01I am not a sweetheart, Anna said. I am
11:04Anna.
11:05In the booth Tyler snickered. Heat
11:08climbed up Douglas's neck. Anna. Sorry.
11:11Yes. He patted her shoulder twice quick
11:14and awkward the way you would pat a
11:15nervous horse. You're a good girl. Don't
11:19you worry about us.
11:21I am 29.
11:23Yes, ma'am.
11:24The back of the note has the numbers,
11:26Anna said.
11:28She spoke slowly now each word set down
11:30carefully as if she were stacking
11:32plates.
11:34The storm, the creek, the second bridge.
11:37Please read it, Douglas. Please, before
11:40you go.
11:41"I will." he said, and he meant it the
11:44way a man means a thing when he already
11:46has 12 other things on [snorts] his
11:47mind.
11:48"I promise."
11:50She studied him for a long moment.
11:52Then she nodded, and the nod was the
11:54saddest thing he had seen all week
11:56because it was not the nod of a person
11:58who believed him. It was the nod of a
12:00person who had been promised things
12:02before.
12:04Behind him, Tyler's voice carried across
12:06the diner.
12:08"Yellow coats got a weather report,
12:10boys. Better cancel the rally."
12:12A few of them laughed. Carl did not
12:15laugh, exactly, but he did not stop it,
12:18either.
12:19He stirred his coffee and looked at the
12:21menu.
12:22Anna's hand tightened around the radio.
12:26Douglas turned toward the booth and
12:27said, sharper than he intended, "Tyler,
12:30enough. I'm just kidding around."
12:33"Enough."
12:34It was not much.
12:35It was less than he should have done,
12:37but Anna's eyes flicked up to him,
12:39surprised, and for 1 second he almost
12:42pulled out the stool beside her and
12:44asked her to explain everything from the
12:46beginning.
12:47Then Carl's phone buzzed on the table,
12:49and Carl glanced at it and said,
12:52"Weather app says clear skies all day.
12:550% chance of anything.
12:58Heat up, boys. We roll at 2." And the
13:01moment slid away like a coin down a
13:03drain. Walt Haynes came through the back
13:05door just then, red in the face, and
13:08took Anna by the elbow again. "That's
13:10it, Anna. I told you. You're done for
13:13today. No more in this lot. Go on home."
13:16"Walt, they can't go."
13:18"I'll call your mother." "Please don't
13:20call my mother." But he already had the
13:22phone out. Linda stepped around the
13:24counter.
13:25"Walt, let her sit. She's not hurting
13:27anyone."
13:29"She's upsetting customers, Linda."
13:32"Is she?"
13:33Linda looked at the booths, and for the
13:35first time in 6 years, her voice had an
13:37edge. "Seems to me she's the only one in
13:41this room paying attention."
13:43Nobody answered.
13:44In the silence, the radio on the counter
13:47crackled again, and a flat voice read
13:49out a new set of numbers. Nobody was
13:52listening to it. Anna, who was
13:54listening, went completely still.
13:56By a quarter to 2:00, Anna was standing
13:58outside the chain-link fence at the edge
14:00of the lot with her notebook in both
14:03hands, watching the Iron Brothers
14:05kick-start their engines one by one.
14:08A dented gray Subaru pulled up beside
14:11her and stopped hard.
14:13Janet Odom climbed out, still wearing
14:15her county library name tag. She was 55
14:19with tired eyes and a gray streak she
14:21had stopped covering years ago, and she
14:24looked as though she had run the last
14:26block, even though she had driven it.
14:28"Walt called," Janet said. "Anna, what
14:31have you done?" "I put notes on the
14:33motorcycles."
14:34"Baby."
14:35Janet closed her eyes briefly.
14:38"We talked about this. After the 4th of
14:40July parade, after what those boys said
14:44to you at the fairgrounds, people are
14:46not always kind. I can't be everywhere.
14:49I can't keep picking you up off the
14:51ground." "I know, Mom." "Then why?" Anna
14:54lifted her chin. "Because nobody else is
14:57going to say it."
14:58Janet looked at her daughter, and
15:00something old and painful moved across
15:03her face. She had spent 29 years
15:05building a fence around Anna, one
15:08careful board at a time,
15:10and she had always told herself it was
15:12love.
15:13It was love.
15:15But standing there,
15:17with the engines revving behind the
15:19chain-link, she wondered for the first
15:21time how many things she had stopped her
15:23daughter from saying because she was
15:24afraid of how the world would answer.
15:27The radio in Anna's hand beeped three
15:29times, a high ugly tone. Both women went
15:32quiet. A recorded voice announced a
15:35flash flood warning for Lawrence County
15:37issued at 2:41, effective immediately
15:40for the Spearfish Canyon area.
15:42"That's what I told them." Anna
15:44whispered. Her hands shook. "That is
15:46what I said. It's real, Mom. It's on the
15:49radio now. It's real."
15:52Janet stared at the little black
15:54speaker. Then she opened the car door.
15:57"Get in."
15:58"Where are we going?" "To fix this."
16:01She turned the key. "You tell me what to
16:03do and I'll do it." As Janet drove, Anna
16:07dialed the number she had written inside
16:09the cover of her notebook two summers
16:11ago, the Lawrence County dispatch line.
16:14A woman answered, polite and brisk.
16:17"Ma'am, we're aware of the warning. We
16:19have crews staged. Thank you for
16:21calling."
16:23"There are motorcycles in the canyon."
16:25Anna said.
16:26"A lot of them."
16:27"They're going to stop at the second
16:29bridge pullout. They always stop there.
16:32The man with the gray beard in the vest
16:34says it every year. He says it is the
16:37best place for a picture. It is low. The
16:39water comes up fast there."
16:42"Mom, how do you know they'll stop
16:44there?" "Because I listen."
16:47Anna's voice cracked, but she kept
16:49going.
16:50"Please write it down. Second bridge, 15
16:53motorcycles, 3:00. My name is Anna
16:55Whitaker."
16:57There was a pause and the sound of
16:58typing.
16:59"I have it, Ms. Whitaker. I'm sending it
17:02to the deputy on the byway now."
17:04"Thank you." Anna said and hung up and
17:07let out a breath that shook her whole
17:09body. 23 miles away, the Iron Brothers
17:12had stretched into a long rumbling line
17:16through the pines of the Black Hills.
17:18The sky to the west was changing.
17:21At first, it was only a smudge, a
17:23thickening at the horizon, but by the
17:25time the group reached the mouth of the
17:27canyon at 10:00 to 3:00, it had turned
17:29the color of an old bruise. The air
17:32smelled like pennies and wet stone.
17:35The temperature dropped 10° in a mile.
17:38"Perfect riding weather," Carl shouted
17:40over the engines grinning. "Nice and
17:42cool."
17:44Douglas did not grin. He rode at the
17:46middle of the pack with his jaw tight
17:49and his eyes on the sky. And in his vest
17:51pocket, the folded square of paper
17:54pressed against his ribs like a hand.
17:56The canyon walls rose around them,
17:58limestone cliffs streaked with gold,
18:01pines crowding the edge of the road.
18:04Spearfish Creek ran alongside, clear and
18:06shallow and bright over its stones. It
18:09was one of the most beautiful roads in
18:11America, and Douglas had ridden it a
18:13dozen times. Today, the beauty felt like
18:17a held breath.
18:19At 5:05 Carl signaled and swung into the
18:22second bridge pullout, a wide gravel
18:25shelf just above the creek. The riders
18:27spilled off their bikes, stretching,
18:29laughing, pulling out phones. Carl lined
18:32them up along the rail for the annual
18:34photograph.
18:35Wind swept down the canyon and rattled
18:38the pines. A cold gust slapped Douglas's
18:41face. He looked at the creek and noticed
18:43something he could not explain. The
18:45water, which had been clear a mile back,
18:47had a faint brownish tint, like tea.
18:51"Doug, get in the picture."
18:53He didn't move. His hand had gone to his
18:55pocket on its own.
18:57He unfolded the note, and this time,
19:00with the wind pulling at the corners,
19:02he read the back.
19:04It was written in careful, crowded blue
19:06letters, with some words pressed so hard
19:09the marker had nearly torn the paper.
19:12Storm over Wyoming at 2:00. It comes to
19:15the canyon by 3:00.
19:17The creek gets brown first, then the
19:19water comes fast. The second bridge is
19:22low. I know because my daddy was a
19:24spotter and he taught me. I am not
19:27making it up. Please go home now. If the
19:29water is brown, call 911.
19:32Thank you.
19:33Anna Whitaker.
19:35Douglas read it twice. The words did not
19:38change.
19:39Then thunder rolled down the canyon long
19:41and low, and the first fat drops of rain
19:44struck the gravel like thrown coins.
19:47Carl!
19:48Douglas's voice cracked across the
19:50pullout. Carl, get everybody on their
19:52bikes. Now!
19:54Carl lowered his phone, annoyed. Doug,
19:57it's one photo.
19:59The creek's going brown.
20:01Douglas shoved the note into his
20:02friend's hand.
20:04She wrote it down. The girl in the
20:06diner. She said the second bridge. We're
20:08standing on it.
20:10Carl read the note.
20:12His smile slid off his face in stages.
20:15He read it again, and Douglas watched a
20:17man of 58 confront every dismissive
20:20thing he had said that morning.
20:23Then they both heard it.
20:24It began as a low rumble up the canyon
20:26so deep that Douglas felt it in his
20:29boots before his ears caught it, like a
20:31freight train a long way off.
20:33The pines began to shake.
20:36Brown water appeared around the upstream
20:38bend carrying branches and foam and a
20:41whole pale log that rolled over and over
20:44like a toy.
20:45Move!
20:47Carl roared, and his voice for the first
20:49time in 22 years held no joke.
20:53Everybody up! Leave the bikes! Climb!
20:56There was an old forest service road cut
20:58into the slope behind the pullout, a
21:01gravel switchback that climbed 40 ft
21:03above the creek. The Iron brothers
21:05scrambled for it, boots slipping, riders
21:08helping riders. The first brown wave hit
21:11the base of the pullout where the bikes
21:12were parked and rolled three Harleys
21:15onto their sides.
21:16Douglas counted heads as they climbed.
21:1911, 12, 13. Carl made 14. He counted
21:24again. 14. They had come with 15.
21:28"Where's Tyler?" he shouted. Nobody had
21:31seen him since the bridge. Douglas
21:33remembered now. Tyler had refused to
21:35stop for the photo and had cranked the
21:37throttle laughing saying he wanted to
21:39open it up on the curves. He was
21:42somewhere ahead on the low stretch of
21:44road beyond the pullout.
21:46Douglas ran.
21:48Carl shouted after him, but he was
21:50already sliding down the gravel, rain
21:52hammering his shoulders, the water
21:54boiling brown against the rail.
21:5750 yd past the bridge, the road dipped
22:00into a low spot where the creek had
22:01begun to flow across the pavement.
22:04And there, against the guardrail half in
22:07the current, lay Tyler Boone's bike, its
22:09back wheel still spinning.
22:12Tyler was pinned beneath it. His face
22:14was white. The water was already at his
22:17waist, tugging at him with a patient
22:19terrible strength.
22:21"Doug!" Tyler screamed. "My leg! I can't
22:23get my leg out!"
22:25"I'm here, kid. I'm here." Douglas
22:27dropped to his knees in the current. The
22:29cold shocked the breath out of him. He
22:32braced his shoulder under the frame and
22:33heaved and the bike did not move. Carl
22:36arrived beside him, then two others,
22:38then four. They grabbed the handlebars
22:41and the frame together.
22:43Someone counted. One.
22:45Two. Three.
22:48And they lifted as the water surged.
22:51The bike shifted 6 in and Tyler yanked
22:54his leg out with a scream. They dragged
22:57him up the bank between them, his boot
22:59gone, his shin bent wrong, his teeth
23:02chattering.
23:03"I'm sorry." Tyler gasped over and over,
23:07though nobody could tell whom he was
23:08apologizing to. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
23:12They hauled him up the forest service
23:14road and laid him under a pine while the
23:17creek swallowed the pullout behind them.
23:1911 motorcycles disappeared under the
23:22water within minutes.
23:24The roar of the flood filled the canyon
23:26like the inside of a drum. Douglas
23:29fumbled out his phone. One bar. He
23:31dialed 911 and it rang and rang and
23:34connected. "911, what is your
23:37emergency?" "I'm at the second bridge
23:40pullout on the Spearfish Canyon Byway.
23:42We've got a flash flood. 15 riders, one
23:46injured, a leg maybe broken. We're on
23:48the old forest service road above the
23:50water."
23:51"Sir, stay where you are. Is this the
23:54group of motorcycles from Sturgis?"
23:57Douglas blinked rain from his eyes.
23:59"How did you know that?" "We received a
24:01call about 40 minutes ago. A woman gave
24:04us your exact location, the pullout, the
24:07number of riders, the time. A deputy is
24:104 minutes out. Sir, stay on the line."
24:14He could not speak for a moment.
24:16"What was her name?"
24:18"Anna Whitaker."
24:19Douglas lowered the phone and looked at
24:22the brown water that had been a bright
24:24creek 20 minutes before.
24:26He thought of a yellow coat in a gravel
24:28lot and his own hand on her shoulder.
24:31"Sweetheart."
24:33He thought of her voice, patient and
24:35clear. "Please read it, Douglas, before
24:38you go."
24:39He had promised.
24:41At the mouth of the canyon, 11 miles
24:43away, Anna stood in the middle of the
24:45road in her yellow rain jacket with both
24:47arms raised.
24:49Janet's Subaru was parked crooked across
24:51the northbound lane with its hazard
24:53lights flashing. Thunder cracked above
24:56them and the rain came down in gray
24:57ropes.
24:59A line of motorcycles was backing up
25:01along the shoulder. 30 riders at least.
25:04Stragglers who had left the rally late
25:06and had no idea what waited upstream.
25:10Some of them honked. One man leaned on
25:12his horn and shouted something Anna
25:15could not hear.
25:16"Please." Anna called. "Please don't go.
25:19The canyon is flooding. The water is
25:21coming."
25:22A rider swerved around her. Close enough
25:25that she felt the wind of him.
25:27Another slowed, stared at her, and shook
25:30his head. And she watched the same
25:32expression she had seen all her life
25:34settle over his face. The one that said,
25:37"She doesn't know what she's talking
25:39about."
25:40Her knees trembled. Her glasses were so
25:43wet she could barely see. She almost
25:46stepped aside. Then a white pickup truck
25:48skidded to the curb and Walt Haines got
25:51out.
25:52He had followed them from the diner
25:54after Linda had put down her towel and
25:56told him, in a voice he had never heard
25:59from her,
26:00that if he did not go after that girl,
26:02he would answer for it the rest of his
26:04life.
26:05He crossed the road with rain streaming
26:08off his vest, heavy and breathless.
26:11He did not take Anna by the elbow.
26:13He stood beside her instead and raised
26:15his reflective arms over his head.
26:18"Folks, listen up." Walt bellowed in the
26:21voice he used on rowdy crowds.
26:24"There is a flash flood in that canyon.
26:26Turn around. This young lady has been
26:28warning you since noon and she was
26:30right."
26:32Some of the riders hesitated. A few
26:34killed their engines.
26:36"Tell them, Anna." Walt said quietly.
26:39"Tell them what you told me."
26:41Anna took a shaky breath and she told
26:44them the dew point, the cloud over
26:46Wyoming, the creek turning brown, the
26:49way the water arrives all at once.
26:52She spoke slowly, setting each word down
26:55carefully, and this time, in the cold
26:58rain, with an old man beside her, they
27:00listened.
27:01One by one the engines shut off. One by
27:04one the riders turned their bikes. The
27:07first deputy's radio crackled from
27:09somewhere up the road. Anna heard it
27:11faintly through the storm. All riders at
27:14the second bridge accounted for. One
27:17injured, non-critical. Repeat, all
27:20accounted for.
27:21She sat down on the wet curb in her
27:23yellow coat and cried until her
27:25shoulders shook. Janet knelt beside her
27:28and held her, rain soaking through both
27:30of them, and neither of them said a
27:32word.
27:33The emergency room at Spearfish Regional
27:36Hospital smelled of floor wax and wet
27:38denim.
27:40By 6:00 that evening, the waiting area
27:42had filled with leather vests, dripping
27:45hair, and the particular silence of
27:47people who have come very close to
27:49something and are only now beginning to
27:51feel it. Tyler Boone lay behind a
27:54curtain with a splint on his shin and a
27:56bandage on his collarbone.
27:59The doctor said the leg was broken in
28:01two places, clean breaks, the kind that
28:04heal. Another 5 minutes in that water,
28:07he said, and it would have been a very
28:09different conversation.
28:11Tyler stared at the ceiling tiles for a
28:13long time after that.
28:15When Douglas came in, the younger man
28:17did not make a joke. He did not try to.
28:21"I laughed at her," Tyler said. His
28:23voice was hoarse.
28:25"I told her to take a ride around the
28:27block. She was trying to save my life
28:30and I laughed at her."
28:31"Yeah," Douglas said.
28:34"So did I. Not with my mouth, with the
28:36way I talked to her."
28:38Tyler turned his face toward the wall.
28:41"What do I do?"
28:43"You say it to her," Douglas said, "and
28:46then you keep showing it. That's the
28:48only apology that counts."
28:50In the corridor, Carl Ridgeway sat with
28:53his elbows on his knees and his big
28:56hands hanging between them. He had
28:58called every one of the 14 Iron Brothers
29:01wives and girlfriends and mothers. He
29:03had told each of them the same thing.
29:05Everyone was safe. He had not told them
29:08why. When Douglas sat beside him, Carl
29:11did not look up.
29:13"My app said clear." Carl said, "All
29:16day, 0%. I had the whole sky in my
29:19pocket and I trusted it over a woman
29:21standing right in front of me telling me
29:23what she could see."
29:25"Because she looked different." Douglas
29:28said quietly, "And talked different. And
29:30we decided that meant she didn't know
29:32anything."
29:33"30 years I've been president of that
29:35club. I've given speeches about
29:37brotherhood."
29:38Carl rubbed his face. "We don't get to
29:41say that word until we can say it about
29:43everybody."
29:45The automatic doors hissed open at a
29:47quarter past six. Janet Odum came
29:50through first, her library badge still
29:52clipped to her blouse, her gray streak
29:54dark with rain.
29:56Behind her walked Anna, still in the
29:58yellow jacket, still carrying the little
30:00black radio, with Walt Haynes and Linda
30:02Pruitt a step behind like two people who
30:05did not know whether they were allowed
30:06to be there.
30:08The room went quiet.
30:0914 bikers rose to their feet. Nobody had
30:12asked them to. Douglas crossed the
30:14waiting room slowly. He felt the weight
30:16of every step. In his hand he held the
30:19folded note, soaked and creased. Its
30:22blue marker bled at the edges, but still
30:25legible. He stopped in front of her.
30:28"Anna." She looked up at him. Her
30:30glasses were fogged. "Is Tyler okay?"
30:34"He's going to be fine because of you."
30:37Douglas swallowed.
30:39"I owe you an apology, and it's a big
30:42one.
30:43This morning, I read the front of your
30:45note and called you sweetheart. I patted
30:47you on the shoulder like you were a kid.
30:50You asked me to read the back, and I
30:52promised I would, and I didn't. Not
30:54until the water was already coming.
30:57Anna turned the radio over in her hands.
31:00"A lot of people read the front," she
31:02said. The words were not angry. That was
31:05what made them land so hard. She said
31:08them the way someone states the weather,
31:10a fact she had measured a hundred times.
31:13"People read the front of me, too," she
31:16continued. "They see Down syndrome. They
31:18see a girl in a yellow coat. They don't
31:21read the back."
31:23She looked up.
31:24"It's okay.
31:26I am used to it.
31:27But I wanted you to read the back,
31:29Douglas.
31:30That's all I wanted.
31:32I did not want to be right.
31:34I wanted you to be safe." Douglas's eyes
31:38burned. He held out the note.
31:40She took it, smoothed it flat against
31:43her knee, and tucked it into her
31:45notebook beside the others.
31:47"You gave me a gift," he said.
31:49"I didn't know how to open it."
31:52Then Carl Ridgway did something nobody
31:54in the room expected.
31:56He stepped forward, took off his Iron
31:58Brothers cap, and held it against his
32:00chest.
32:01"Miss Whittaker," he said in that gravel
32:03truck voice, "I want to say something in
32:05front of everybody. I laughed at you
32:07today. I let my men laugh at you. I told
32:10them a phone app knew more than you did.
32:12I was wrong, and I am sorry."
32:15One by one, the others said it, too.
32:17Tyler said it from his gurney when they
32:19wheeled him out, his voice breaking.
32:21Walt Haynes said it standing awkwardly
32:23in his wet uniform, turning his hat
32:26around and around in his hands. "Thirty
32:28years I've told folks to stay out of the
32:30way. I never once asked you why you were
32:33standing there. I'm sorry, Anna."
32:35Linda did not say anything at all.
32:37She wrapped her arms around Anna, and
32:39the two of them stood together in the
32:41middle of the waiting room while Linda's
32:42shoulders shook.
32:44Janet watched, and her own face was wet.
32:47For 29 years, she had braced for the day
32:50the world would be cruel to her
32:52daughter. She had not prepared for the
32:54day it would be sorry.
32:56It turned out to be harder to take and
32:58far more beautiful.
33:00The next morning, the rally lot behind
33:02Linda's diner looked the way it always
33:04did, gravel and chrome and sunlight.
33:08But when Anna came across it with her
33:09mother, the riders stopped what they
33:11were doing, dozens of them.
33:14Bikers who had never heard her name the
33:15day before stood in a long loose line
33:18along the fence, helmets in their hands.
33:21Carl met her at the dumpsters where she
33:23always stood. He had a small paper bag.
33:27"The Iron Brothers voted last night," he
33:29said, "unanimous. It's not much, but"
33:33He handed her the bag. Inside was a
33:35leather patch stitched in yellow thread
33:38on black, Skywatch,
33:40Anna Whitaker.
33:42"You're not a member, not officially.
33:44We'd have to change the bylaws.
33:47But we'd like it if you'd ride with us
33:49someday, as long as you promise not to
33:51tell me what the weather's doing."
33:53Anna laughed, a real laugh, high and
33:56startled. "I will always tell you."
34:00"I know you will," Carl said. "That's
34:03why we're giving you the patch."
34:05Janet signed Anna up for the National
34:07Weather Service Spotter class in Rapid
34:09City that fall.
34:11Anna passed with the highest score in
34:14the room.
34:15Her instructor, a retired meteorologist
34:18with a clipped white beard, held up her
34:20notebook in front of 30 students and
34:22said,
34:24"This is what disciplined observation
34:26looks like."
34:27She received her Spotter ID in the mail
34:30in November.
34:31She taped it above her bed next to a
34:33photograph of her father squinting up at
34:36a thundercloud with a clipboard in his
34:38hand. The county dispatcher, who had
34:41taken her call that afternoon, a woman
34:43named Dorothy Pike, sent a short letter
34:46to the Lawrence County Courier.
34:49It was printed in full. "Many callers
34:52that day gave us noise," she wrote. "One
34:55caller gave us coordinates, a time, and
34:57a count. I have worked dispatch for 19
35:00years, and I have never received a
35:02better report. I would like to know why
35:05it took a flood for the rest of us to
35:06listen."
35:08By the following August, Anna had a
35:10folding table in the lot behind Linda's
35:12Diner.
35:13Walt Haynes had set it up himself,
35:16grumbling, and then spent 20 minutes
35:18adjusting the umbrella over it.
35:20A hand-painted sign hung from the front,
35:23"Anna's Sky Report, free. Ask me before
35:26you ride."
35:28A line of riders formed every morning,
35:30men and women in vests and chaps,
35:32waiting their turn to hear her read the
35:34day.
35:35She still left notes on windshields.
35:38Now they said, "Have a safe ride" on the
35:41front and on the back, in careful blue
35:43letters, the day's forecast, the creek
35:45levels, and the hours to watch the sky.
35:48Riders tucked them into their vests like
35:50charms. Nobody threw one away.
35:53On the first morning of the rally,
35:55Douglas Hollis rolled his Road King into
35:57the lot, killed the engine, and found a
36:00small white square tucked under his
36:03wiper.
36:04He stood there a moment with it in his
36:06hand, a 53-year-old man with an eagle on
36:09his forearm and a daughter coming up
36:11from Denver to meet the girl he talked
36:13about on Sunday calls.
36:16This time, before he did anything else,
36:18he turned it over and read the back. It
36:21said, "Clear until 4:00.
36:24Storm west of the hills by supper.
36:27Ride safe, Douglas. You can stay. He
36:30laughed, wiped his eyes with his thumb,
36:32and crossed the gravel to the folding
36:34table to say good morning to his friend.

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