Reader’s Digest Canada – September 2019

By midafternoon, Jean had scouted

out the place she’d call home for how-

ever long she needed it. She’d found

two trees that had fallen next to each

other. She used branches to build a roof

and to close off one end of the space,

leaving an opening for a doorway.

Inside, she stacked branches to use at

night to close off the opening, and

spread moss to make the ground softer.

At the end of day three, Jean and

Yoda entered their small shelter. As

she settled in, so many thoughts, some

absurd, ran through her head. She’d

bought tickets with a friend to go on

an October cruise that would take

them to Greece, Italy and Spain. Would

she get to go? And then there were

those cherries. She couldn’t stop think-

ing about them.

The next day, her fourth in the forest,

Jean settled into her survival routine.

Several times over the course of the day,

she made her way down a steep hill

to drink water. Taking care not to fall,

she dug her heels into the ground and

clung to the bushes.

She tried building a fire by gathering

dry pine needles and then rubbing a

small stick against a stone, hoping the

stick would get warm enough to ignite.

It failed, but she kept trying.

Jean ate wild currants, tender pine

needles and even ants, which had a

OBSTRUCTION

POINT ROAD

AREA OF

Urn DETAIL

found

Port Angeles

Seattle

Olympic

National

Park

Washington

Jean’s

car

4 search

areas

Jean and Yoda

found here

0 2,000

FEET

PE

TE

R^ O

UM

AN

SK

I

Jean and Yoda were spotted

just outside of the original

four areas where volunteers

searched for them.

reader’s digest

44 september 2019