Greece, NY
It’s been close to two weeks and Nick has still not been found. I woke up this morning again to the sound of the helicopter. It is supposed to get up to 50 degrees today and the police and search crews are back. The sun shines and I hope that they can find him.
It struck even closer to me today. One of my childhood buddies, Mark/Bruce, was in town for the weekend. He did the family stuff for the past couple of days, but we had set up breakfast for this morning. He came over to the house at about 10. He caught up with my parents and we headed over to Char Broil for some eats. From driving by, Char Broil has been the home base for a lot of the friends and family of Nicks. With the search back on, they were there eating and talking.
There were a few young guys standing outside of the restaurant as we walked in. I wasn’t sure what to say to them. I wanted to tell them I’m feeling for them and I so want their friend to be found. I wanted to say hi. I also felt guilty because I didn’t walk with them. As us people do, I said nothing. Mark and I walked in and sat down. I had told him about the search.
Strangely, the power is out down by the lake today. There hasn’t been an explanation and it only seems to be right in this area. The menu was limited. The only thing that affected me was no toast. We sat down across from a large table that I assumed was part of the search party. I didn’t want to snoop but as Mark and I ate I had an ear turned to them. I didn’t catch much. I heard something about, “If my friends were…” but most of it was the tone of voice. They were subdued and I could sense it wasn’t right. I cannot imagine how hard it is to not have the closure. To be waiting for two plus weeks to see where your friend is, or your family member. I guess the sound of their voice was like when you’re standing outside, waiting for people to be ready to go. You have that small talk, that short, choppy, lower tone to your voice. You don’t make eye contact. You just kind of look around, maybe fold your hands together, then your people come out and you go. I am not sure if that makes sense, but it does for me.
Mark and I ate and caught up. He travels all over the country for his job and was in New Jersey. He had the weekend off and headed over to the Roch to see the family. He was taking off after eating to go to Staten Island to watch the Super Bowl. I finished my 2 scrambled, bacon, and grilled hard roll (no toast) and my decaf coffee. Mark was leaving the tip and I struck up a conversation with the lady behind the register.
I told her I lived across the street. “It must have been a busy few weeks for you guys,” I said to her in a quieter voice than normal. She knew what I meant.
“It has. I hope they can find him and bring some closure,” she said back.
I nodded my head. She went on, “They’ve been out there every day, his family.”
And that was that. She saw the story unfold firsthand. She heard them come in from the frigid cold, with feet that may have been wet from breaking through some ice. She probably gave them free coffee or hot chocolate. Mark came back and we went our separate ways. He drove off to the highway. I walked across the street to my house. As I walked by the woods, there was a group of searchers with cross country skies or snowshoes on getting ready to go in. I paused for a second and watched them enter the woods, with TV cameras in front of them, and hoped they find what they are looking for.
As I spell checked this the power came on. Nice. 11:33 AM.