Its the late 1960s and Diane Brown, her three siblings, their parents and their dog have just set off on a Christmastime road trip to Disneyland.
But, as Brown recalled at the annual storytelling event The Flame: Holiday Season Edition on Nov. 7 at The Cultch, this family vacation didnt go exactly as planned.
Three days later, were still driving and now were in the mountains of Northern California, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a snow storm, says Brown, an actor and artistic director at Vancouvers Ruby Slippers Theatre.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, theres this gigantic crash, and my dad hits the brake and I fly through the air and I plough into the dashboard and I thud to the ground.
The familys Rambler station wagon skids on black ice. When it comes to a halt, the passengers are OK, but the Rambler is not. It wont start.
The whole back ends completely smashed in. Theres glass and theres metal all over the snow, and whoever did it has taken off.
The six of them have no choice but to seek help on foot. As they are walking, Shadow, their 11-pound Sheltie, stops and lets out a deep, guttural growl. And then, boom, the leash comes out of my moms hand and he leaps into the darkness, into the forest, and he attacks something.
There are growls, yelps and then silence. Bravely, Browns father ventures into the woods and retrieves the now blood-covered dog.
My eyes are welling up with tears, says Brown, but I can see theres a little blurry, yellow light through the woods.
Its coming from a tiny trailer. They bang on the door and a flowery fat woman ushers them inside. Her male companion motions to put the dog on the kitchen table and the woman leads the kids into living room where they watch TV, drink cocoa, eat graham crackers and try not to listen to Shadow whining in the next room.
I fell asleep with my hands over my ears, Brown says. The next day I think I hear my moms voice, and she says Merry Christmas Di, and Shadows face is looking at me. Hes got a little twinkle in his eye, and a little wag in his tail, and its Christmas Day.
In a serendipitous turn of events, Browns family just happened to have stumbled upon the trailer of a retired veterinarian. In later years, Brown has often pondered the odds of this most fortuitous Christmas Eve. And ever since, she has been a firm believer in random acts of courageous compassion.
We didnt make it to the Magic Kingdom, she says, but I think we were already there.
The Flame: Holiday Season Editionispresented with Metro Vancouver as part of itsCreate Memories, Not Garbagecampaign. It will be broadcast onShaw TV, Channel 4in December and will be available to view at MetroVancouver.org.
Read WE Vancouver for more Christmas tales from this years storytellers. This year's archives include Grant Lawrence and Alvin Saunders.
