Santa Clawed

and Cooper almost at their heels, rejuvenated by Mrs. Murphy’s voice.
    They found the cat draped over Harry’s head, her tail swishing to keep the snow from pasting Harry’s eyes and filling up her nostrils.
    Fair and Cooper knelt down, and Cooper gently lifted the cap.
    “God damn, that’s nasty,” she cursed.
    Fair took Harry’s pulse, fingers cold since he’d pulled off his glove. “Strong.”
    The snow had already covered the blood as well as Brother George’s tracks.
    “Maybe we can rig up a sled like the Indians used: two poles crossed. I’ll put my coat on them to hold her,” Cooper offered.
    “No tools. I can carry her down, but it will take a while.”
    “I can do the fireman’s carry. Spell you.”
    “You’re a good woman, Coop. Remind me to tell you that more often.”
    Tucker and Pewter huddled around Mrs. Murphy, who was half frozen herself.
    “Can you make it?”
Tucker asked.
    “Yeah.”
Mrs. Murphy stretched, then shivered.
    Fair touched the cat’s snow-covered head. “God bless you, Mrs. Murphy.” He looked over to Cooper. “You could carry her for a bit.”
    “Will do.”
    Fair stood back up, shook his legs, then knelt down and lifted Harry. Since he was accustomed to patients that weighed 1,200 pounds, Fair’s five-foot-seven-inch, one-hundred-forty-two pound wife felt light enough. He knew as time wore on she’d feel heavier and heavier, though.
    He used the fireman’s carry and they began the trek down, at times hardly able to see. The ruts in the old wagon trail began to fill up, pure white with no rocks protruding. A few saplings here and there helped keep their bearings. Tucker and Pewter, better able to keep on track, also helped. Tucker barked if anything needed to be sidestepped or if the humans began to lose their way.
    After twenty minutes, slipping and sliding now, Fair gently laid down Harry. He bent over, hands on knees, and gulped in air.
    “I’ll take a turn.” Cooper was taller than Harry and accustomed to lifting human burdens on occasion—since a cop’s duties require many strange moments with truly strange people. The deputy grunted, but she hoisted Harry on her shoulders and stood up. “I won’t last as long as you did.”
    “A breather helps.” He scooped up Mrs. Murphy, opening his coat and putting her inside, then zipping it back up, with her head outside for air.
    To her surprise, Cooper lasted fifteen minutes, almost the rest of the way down the mountain.
    She and Fair exchanged burdens. Mrs. Murphy noted that Pewter, quick to want to be carried, made not one peep.
    Tucker and Pewter, wind to their tails now, pushed ahead. Occasionally the wind would swirl, a white devil blowing snow into their eyes and mouths again, but they turned their heads sideways, keeping on, always keeping on.
    When they reached the creek, Fair again took a breather, sweat pouring over his forehead, little icicles forming.
    Cooper picked up Harry again and struggled through the creek, as there was no way to jump it. Some water crept into her boots where the soles had worn. The shock of the frigid water energized her for a little bit, although her legs had begun to weaken. Her back was holding up, but her quads burned. She knew she couldn’t make it too long, and she hoped she could get back to the farm on her own steam.
    Ten minutes seemed like a lifetime. Cooper faltered, lurched, and slowly sank to her knees so as not to drop Harry.
    “You okay?” Fair knelt beside her.
    She nodded, gasping for breath. “You hear stories,” she gulped again, “about guys carrying wounded buddies for miles in wartime.” Gulped again. “Heroes.”
    In a quiet voice he said, “Love comes in many forms. Some times I think it’s disguised as duty. Are you sure you can make it?”
    “I’m sure. Get her back. I’ll get there.”
    “I’m not leaving you. This will turn into a real whiteout. You could be one hundred yards from the barn and not know it. We’ve got to stick together or we might not make it.”
    “Okay. Let me see if my cell will work now.” She knew she usually couldn’t get a signal on the mountainside.
    Fair handed Mrs. Murphy to Cooper, who put her in her coat, and Fair hoisted up Harry again.
    Finally Cooper got a signal and called an ambulance. The line crackled, but she could hear and so could they. She told them to come to the Haristeens’. Next she called Rick.
    Twenty minutes later, after Fair and Cooper took more breaks, they finally