Those thoughts empowered Joe and gave him the strength from within to fight the water that wanted to claim his soul for his own. Starting to swim to one side, Joe kicked and paddled with all of his might. But the cold water was quickly zapping his energy and strength.

That thought alone gave him the extra kick that he needed. His face broke the surface and he took in gulps of air as best as he could. The coldness had restricted his breathing and his chest just would not let him take deep breaths. Joe opened his eyes and saw the shoreline in the moonlight.

The blond haired boy started swimming again with all of his might--- and his persistence paid off. He soon felt rocks below his body, but he did not stand up. If there was still water flowing over the rocks, then the water could push him over and hold him under the water. The river guides called that "rock trapnal" when they went river rafting on the Gauley River. Joe was going to go this summer and train to be a river guide, but first he had to get out of the river. He just kept swimming until his stomach scraped the bottom of the riverbed. Joe crawled up on the rocky shoreline and collapsed. The cold swim had drained all of his energy. He could not even move his arms or his legs and his body shook uncontrollably. He knew that he had to get warm quick or he was going to die of hypothermia, but he just could not move from his resting spot. The coldness had almost overtaken him and his thoughts were now jumbled. All he could do was pray.

At that one last thought, Joe Hardy slipped into nothing and lay on the riverbank with the snow fluttering peacefully down to the ground.

"JOE!" Frank was screaming as he walked down river. His voice was almost shot, but he could not give up. He had to find Joe and get him warm. "JOE! ANSWER ME!" he called out again over and over. But all he heard was the sound of the snowflakes hitting the leaves.

Frank’s feet were freezing and his face was almost numb from the cold wind that would whip around him every so often. He kept the flashlight trained on the shoreline. It was hard to see through the brush and trees in places, but Frank had a careful eye. It was then that he spotted something tan among the rocks along the river’s bank. His heart leapt out of his chest and he broke out into a run. There was no time to waste if it was his brother. Frank had never run so fast down a set of rocks as he did that night.

"JOE! Is that you?" Frank said as he reached the tan object. The closer he rushed to it, the more the figure of Joe Hardy became recognizable. The oldest Hardy ran to his brother’s side and quickly turned him over. Joe Hardy’s eyes were closed and his lips and skin was a horrible shade of blue. Checking for any signs of respiration, Frank leaned over and felt a small breath of air whisk across his cheek. Joe was breathing, but very slow and shallow.

"Okay Joe, we have to get you out of here and get you warm," Frank said out loud. He was hoping that somehow Joe was hearing him as he took him under the arms and drug him up to the top of the path.

Frank said those words over and over as he carried his brother as far as he could. When he made it to the railroad trestle, Frank had to put his brother down and rest.

"Joe, I sure wish you would help pull your weight good buddy. You are not exactly light you know and we have to get across that bridge," Frank said out loud, nervously glancing over the bridge. He knew that help was on the other side as soon as he could get to the van. There, he would get his brother out of the cold wet clothes and rush him to the nearest doctor. But it was not going to be an easy task.

"Okay, Joe. Ready to go? I hope so, we have to get you warm real soon," Frank said. Talking to Joe made him feel more at ease.

"Uh? Son? That boy needs to be warmed up now," a voice spoke out behind Frank. The dark haired boy about jumped out of his skin as he turned around to face the owner of the voice. It was an older man who was quite tall and stocky built. He could see the man’s white hair sticking out from under his older cowboy style hat in the moonlight. His whiskers seemed to glow in the light with the snow. "Did you hear what I said? We need to get that youngun by a fire."

"Quincy?" Frank asked.

"Yeah, but how did yah know my name?" Quincy asked. But then he stopped himself short. "Let’s discuss why you all are out here on a night like this when we get back to my cave."

"I was going to get him over to our van and change his clothes and then get to a doctor. He is just too cold," Frank said, looking across the bridge. "My van is just…"

"Totally worthless! There is not enough time. This boy needs to get warm NOW! The nearest doc is just too far away to get to, especially in a sled like that."

"Sled?"

"A van for Heaven’s sakes! It is a sled in this type of weather and in these hills. You will both freeze. Now we are wasting time. Do you want my help or not?" the old man said in a stern tone. Frank nodded. With that, the two picked up the motionless Hardy boy and walked up the hillside. The snow had slowed down to a trickle at this time.

Frank was surprised at how well Quincy was able to steady his brother and keep a quick pace. The old man nearly ran Frank out of breath a couple of times and Frank was in top physical shape. Within five minutes of starting their ascent, they were standing at the foot of a cave like house. It looked like Quincy had boarded up the front of a small cave opening and added a door and a small window to the side of it. An orange glow came from the window. Quincy quickly opened the door and directed Frank to the rug beside a twin size bed in the one room dwelling.

"Git those wet scrubs off of him and we will move my bed over by the fireplace," Quincy directed as he walked over to a rather large carved out "fireplace". Frank followed his orders, stripping his younger brother down to his underwear. Quincy glanced over and shook his head. "When I said git those scrubs off, I meant everything. For God’s sake son, it is not like we got a woman around. This is a fine example of how each and every mother in the world is right. There WILL be a time that yah should be glad that yah got clean britches, but I don’t see a mother around to have to worry about youngun."

Frank then quickly, but modestly removed the last bit of clothes off of his brother. Joe was shaking uncontrollably at this time.

"Here, put these on him. Dry clothes are better than wet clothes that fit you know," Quincy commented as he dropped a pair of jogging pants, a heavy flannel shirt and a pair of wool socks. "I am going to get some water boilin’. Got to warm him up."

Frank again followed the man’s orders and quickly dressed his brother and put a quilt from the bed on him. Then he went over and started to scoot the twin bed over towards the fire. Quincy soon helped him and they both put Joe up into the bed and covered him with several quilts. Joe’s skin was still quite blue and he had not gained consciousness, but Frank felt that he was in good hands.

"We need to git him warmed up enough to be able to sip some of this warm water. Yah need to rub his hands and feet under the covers to help get the blood flowin’ better," He directed again as he put a pot of water over the fire. The dwelling reminded Frank of some of the "living" areas that he envisioned for a hermit in some of the books he had read as a kid. There was nothing fancy about it, but it served its purpose. It was a nice cozy shelter.

"So how did you git yerselves out here in this situation and how did yah know my name?" Quincy questioned as he stirred the water and added some broth.

"Joe came out here looking for you," Frank started to say.

"Lookin’ for me? Why on Earth would he be out here lookin’ for me? I don’t even know him."

"He is friends with Amelia."

At the mention of that name, the old man almost dropped the spoon into the kettle. "You see, his girlfriend works at the nursing home and he met Amelia there. The other day she mentioned that she had a brother and that she would like to see him. So Joe came out here looking for you," Frank continued.

"Why did he do it at night? Besides, Amelia knows that I don’t go into town anymore. I just…" Quincy started to say, but Frank cut him off.

"Amelia is sick. Really sick. We were planning to find you tomorrow, but he found out that she did not have much longer to live. I was out on a date and he didn’t wait on me. I guess I should have canceled my date and came with him in the first place. But I put him on hold like I have been doing for the past few weeks," Frank replied sadly. He didn’t realize it until then just how guilty he felt about not spending as much time with his brother like he used to in the past. "I guess I have your sister to thank though. She kept him company."

Quincy at first remained in deep thought. Then he lowered his head and bit his lip. After a few moments of silence, he took a deep breath. "So Amelia is dying. I wondered how much longer it would be with the cancer."

"I appreciate you coming to tell me. I will make sure that she gets the best of care. Money is not a problem," Quincy muttered softly, stirring the water again.

"Money is not what she needs," Frank said abruptly.

"Son, I don’t think you are old enough to tell me what my sister needs," Quincy fired back. But Frank was not in the mood. He could not stop his mouth from uttering the words he was about to say. The words came straight from the heart and experience.

"I am going to tell you this sir. I might be just eighteen, but I have helped my father and my brother solve many cases. I have been in bad situations that I didn’t know if I was going to make it out of even. But I learned something tonight. I learned that I need to stay in touch with my brother because you never know what is going to happen. Time is something that you can’t turn back or take for granted. I let my brother sit alone a lot. Enough that he came out here on his own just to give your sister the one thing she wished for--- to see her brother," Frank said sternly. "My brother nearly died to get give Amelia her wish and I am going to make sure that he gets his wish as well."

Quincy at first turned to face the older Hardy brother with fire in his eyes. But then those angry eyes soon turned to deep sadness.

"I guess you got me there. It is not that I don’t want to see Amelia. I love her very much, but I thought she was better off without me since everyone thought I was crazy. She had such a career in the movies and stuff. I didn’t want to spoil her life. I wasted so much time," Quincy recalled.

"Then you shouldn’t waste anymore. There is not too much time left I am afraid," Frank commented softly.

"Not until we get this one up and going. We need to git him awake. You said this was your brother? Joe right?" Quincy asked. Frank nodded. "Looks nothing like you. Are you one of those adopted deals?"

Frank laughed and shook his head. He looked over at his brother. While it was true that the brothers did not look alike, they were very much brothers.

"By the way, I never caught your name?" Quincy asked, taking the kettle off the fire.

"Frank Hardy and this is my younger brother, Joe," Frank said. Then he turned his attention to Joe, who was still lying on the bed. Quilts covered him still. "Do you think we got to him in time?"

"Not sure, but I think so. I just know that you would have never made it back to the doc in time. So this was his only fighting chance. I am surprised that he lived to be drug out of the river. How did he get into the river any ways? I am just assuming since he was wet, but I don’t think he was swimming for the fun of it."

"He went across the railroad trestle and must have fallen through the bridge. I found him down river on the bank."

"Well, we need to get something warm into his system, but I don’t want to do it until he comes to or he will choke."