Page 26 of Natalie's Nighthawk

He snorted. “Then why not call it the multipurpose room?”

Natalie paused;whydon’t wecall it that?“I have absolutely no idea.” Graham chuckled.

Natalie watched as he took in her home away from home. She’d worked hard many years to set up her room just right. Posters of all sorts filled the walls, the color wheel took up a prominent spot at the front of the classroom. One wall was reserved for posters of some of the most recognizable masterpieces. Another wall was covered with works of her current students. Throughout it all, inspirational quotes about creativity were spaced. The room was colorful and cozy.

In the center of the room were six long tables, each with six chairs. The center of every table held a plastic caddy with glue, scissors, markers, crayons, and anything else a young budding artist would need. And of course, each table was splattered with paint. Natalie tried to clean up as much of the paint at the end of the day as she could, but the look of chaos the paint created signified the creativity that took place in this room each and every day.

One corner of the room held other much-needed supplies. Rows of construction paper stored by color in specific slots. One cabinet was full of large glue jugs, jars filled with a colorful assortment of pipe cleaners, boxes of crayons and colored pencils. Another held the paint, both in bottles in every color of the rainbow, and in the rectangular plastic boxes that the fledgling artists used regularly.

She was proud of the work she did at Lake Haven Elementary; helping young minds find their creative side was most rewarding. She loved the mess, the chaos caused by each new project; watching the outcome of the creativity of those young minds made it all worthwhile. No two visions were the same and that fact gave Natalie enormous satisfaction and pride.

“So, this is where the magic happens.” Graham wandered over to the wall that displayed her current students’ works, observing each piece.

Natalie smiled at his description. Some days it was like magic. Other days she wished she could run and hide in her studio. But she always returned, year after year. The joy of watching the little ones create feeding her inspiration.

“It’s like I stepped back in time to my own childhood,” he mused, taking in a haunted house project the second graders were working on for Halloween. “I remember doing a similar project.” He grinned and turned to face her. “Bet my mom still has it saved in a memory box somewhere.”

Now wasn’t that just the sweetest thing ever. She doubted her mom had any such memory boxes. Natalie learned long ago if she wanted to preserve any of her childhood, it would be up to her to do so.

“Come on. I’ll show you where you can set up.”

Natalie finally had a free period late in the day to sit in on Graham’s presentation. She’d heard so many good things from her students that she was beyond curious. When she walked into the café-audi-nasium, she noted that he had the attention of each and every fourth and fifth-grader. No small feat. They were enraptured as he displayed the items necessary for survival in the wilderness for them.

“Who’s excited for the snow tonight,” he asked the group. Little hands everywhere popped up and an excited twitter rippled through the room. “Me too,” he confessed laughing.

“Now, if you were going outside to build your epic snow fort, what would you need to stay warm?” he asked.

Hands shot up. He pointed to one fifth-grader who called out ‘boots.’ Nodding approval at the girl, he pointed to another hand, ‘heavy coat,’ that voice shouted. This continued until everyone had exhausted their ideas.

“Good!” he praised the room. “Now, what if you and your family were going for a long hike in the snowy forest. What else would you need? Hint, I bet you’d find a few of them on this table.” He gestured to the table where he had displayed a variety of possibilities. Kids started shouting out all the things they thought would be useful. Almost every item on the table was named.

“Now, let’s flash forward to summer vacation!” There were cheers from the crowd. Everyone looked forward to summer break. “You are on the same hike with your family in the same woods. What would you need then?” The kids were shocked to realize they would need most of the same items plus a few extras like bug spray. Natalie watched Graham as he explained the usefulness of each. He was a natural in front of a room full of kids and it was obvious he was enjoying himself. There was no question why his SAR training facility was becoming so popular; he was a natural instructor.

“Okay, you’ve been hiking for a while, and suddenly you realize you can’t see your parents anymore. What do you do?” The kids all looked at each other. “I’ll tell you something someone told me long ago that I tell myself every time I’m in a scary situation,” he said, glancing at Natalie. “Slow your panic.” The room was so silent one could hear a pin drop. Graham continued to hold Natalie’s gaze. “Works every time.”

Natalie’s heart fluttered. It still amazed her that he remembered those words; she certainly hadn’t. And the fact that he used them as a personal mantra was remarkable. She wished she had remembered them, they’d have come in handy that awful night with her ex. Shuddering, she pushed the unwelcome memory away.

He turned his attention back to the room, “Every time I find myself in a situation that becomes a little too scary, I just say those words to myself. Slow your panic. It allows me to slow my breathing and think; because if you are freaking out, you can’t think. So, if you’re lost, slow your panic. Who knows what else you should do?” Answers came quickly. Graham praised each answer then, as a group, they decided the most important thing they should do was stay put, but only if they were in a safe spot. Help would always come to find them if they stayed in one place. Then Graham went on to explain the Nighthawks’ role in situations like that. It was the perfect segue for him to discuss all that his team could do and the different roles each team member played. The kids were fascinated.

Graham pushed a button on the remote that had been in his hand, and the screen behind him lit up with pictures of some of his rescues. There were images of him with the Nighthawks scaling impossible cliffs, strapping victims into what he called a litter. Sometimes those litters were hauled up to a waiting helicopter. Another image showed the litter being hauled down using a complicated rope system. There were also pictures on the water showing the team using more ropes to pull people out of rushing water.

Natalie stared at one picture where Graham’s head was barely above water, fighting the rushing currents, a small child wrapped under one arm. An image popped up of Graham standing atop a pile of rubble as a search dog explore the area for signs of life. The discipline and strength required for his work was extraordinary.

The last image was his rescue of Marcus Rayne and it had the kids all cheering. Then Graham began to answer questions. Anything ranging from how many mountains he had climbed to did he have a girlfriend asked by the curious group of students, and he answered every question with great patience, Natalie laughed when he answered the girlfriend question with "I'm working on it.". After they had exhausted themselves with questions, Graham asked for their undivided attention again.

“I have something very important I need to do now for one very special person.” The room hummed with the whispered mumble of curious adolescents. “This person has shown remarkable bravery and strength in the direst of circumstances.” Again, the whispers, as the kids looked around for who he meant.

“This person did everything right in a situation that would have paralyzed even the most experienced of hikers with fear. Using their intelligence, resourcefulness, strength, and bravery, they did the extraordinary; they slowed their panic and got themselves and someone else through a dire situation.” The room was beyond curious now. Natalie glanced around the room, trying to spot the boy, knowing exactly who Graham was talking about. In the corner with Letty were Mr. and Mrs. O’Donnoll and Lucy, their faces alight with pride. This would be a moment Colin would remember forever.

“I’m talking, of course, about a good friend of mine,” Graham continued, pausing for effect; “Colin O’Donnoll!” The room exploded in cheers, the sound echoing off the gym walls till Natalie felt she’d gone partially deaf. “Colin? Can you come up here?” The boy’s head popped up in the crowd. He stood there a moment, looking awkward and shy before he hobbled toward Graham. The ankle, thankfully, had not been broken, just severely sprained.

When Colin reached his side, Graham put an arm around the boy’s shoulders. Waiting till the room quieted down, he continued. “My good friend Colin did everything right and that enabled him to save not only his own life but the life of his sister.” Everyone cheered for their classmate. “And even though he’d been injured, Colin still managed to protect Lucy. He slowed his panic and used his smarts. He did something we on the SAR teams call rationing. He knew they didn’t have much food, and no idea when they would be found. So, he rationed their food, eating just a bit at a time to make it last as long as possible. Though they were in a hole in the ground, Colin still managed to erect a structure to keep the elements off of them, allowing them to stay dry and warm. These are things that I usually teach to people three times his age.”

Graham reached into the big duffle bag on the table beside him. “Colin O’Donnoll, in honor of your bravery, resourcefulness, and strength, I present you with this Medal of Valor.” The medal hung on a red, white, and blue ribbon and had a dazzling gold sunburst with the word Valor in raised letters across the top. The Michigan seal in the center of the sunburst in bright, bold colors made it look official. Graham made a grand ceremony of placing the ribbon around Colin’s neck. The boy stared at the medal in awe as the room once again burst into cheers and applause. Lucy rushed up and gave her big brother a huge hug. Colin, still looking stunned, stood frozen while his classmates lined up to offer their congratulations.

Natalie teared up as she watched Graham place the ribbon around Colin’s neck. She had never witnessed something so selfless; she was pretty sure that the medal was one of his. She felt herself falling just a little bit more for the man as he stood back to applaud the boy while his classmates crowded around to get a closer look at the fabulous medal.

Letty sidled up next to Natalie. “If I were thirty years younger,” she leaned in to whisper to Natalie, “I wouldn’t hesitate to snatch that man up; he is something special.”

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