She looked at her watch – it was nearly noon. She took out one food bar and ate it. While she was eating she heard a plane and tried to wave but it went on. After a while she turned on the radio and started moving from one channel to another, listening for a transmission. In an hour she heard none. On each channel she made a short distress call and listened for a minute. This took over an hour. As she finished this she remembered that her dad had told her a text message sometimes reached a cell phone even if you couldn’t talk on it. It made no sense but she wondered if the same went for a message to be sent. She put the radio in her pocket with the switch on to the most used channel and pulled out the cell phone. She turned it on and slowly typed out the e-mail addresses for several people she knew and the message, “Crashed mule trapped hurt alone help 3 mi s trail Sandra.” It was choppy but it conveyed the situation.

After checking it she hit the send button. She found several places that the phone would get a weak signal and held it there for about ten minutes before she heard the beep. She looked at the phone display. It said, “Message accepted.” She turned off the phone and put it away. She was thirsty so she picked up the water bottle and drank the rest of it. She put the empty back in the pack. She had no idea what value it may have but she wanted every resource she could retain.

She had been trying to ignore two sensations she had dreaded since she realized she was trapped. Her bladder was notifying her it was nearly full and the Kotex she put on when she got up at five thirty was getting squishy. The squishy Kotex was not unusual. Days two and three of her period were usually very heavy, this was day two. If the Kotex failed to handle the flow it would stain her clothes. The slacks were torn but the thought of having someone in an ER deal with the mess was revolting. If she could avoid it she would. At first she thought to just relieve her bladder but she was learning to think everything out. If she did and she was not rescued for a day, not only would she be smelly and more miserable; the urine would irritate her skin and possibly make another problem she could not do anything about. She had seen diaper rash. With her other injuries she did not need a skin problem that might get infected. She looked at the position of her legs. They were spread some, maybe enough for this to work. She pulled out the scissors and vented the crotch of her jeans, then cut the panties to allow her to get access to the Kotex. She could see it was near it’s limit of absorption. She worked the old one out and replaced it. She would have to be frugal with the use of this resource, she had only five more of them. She regretted not packing more of them. She balled the old one and threw it as far as she could. She did not want the blood to attract animals to the mule. She removed the top from the empty water bottle. With a little experimentation she found she could hold the bottle as best she could and let out some of the urine till it got about one third full. She dumped it and tried again. She was able to catch most of it. With that done she put the cap back on the bottle and put it in the one holder. She would need it again unless someone came. She found a sweater in the backpack and lay it over her lap. It would help her retain body heat and she still had some feelings of modesty. If, no, when someone came she did not want to be totally exposed.