By Kathryn Jackson
When Jody Hawkins first heard reports of her son?s rescue, she had already resolved that he might be dead.
The call came across a walkie-talkie early Tuesday afternoon, advising her to separate herself from the crowd of searchers.
She feared the worst. Climbing into a waiting Summit County Sheriff?s vehicle, she collapsed with dread.
?I felt peace with the situation, but I thought he really could not survive that long in the wilderness,? Jody told reporters during a press conference Wednesday morning outside her Bountiful home. ?So when I was going to get into the sheriff''s car I knew they were going to tell me that Brennan was no longer with me.?
She smiled, and, teary-eyed, looked up to her husband Toby and recalled when they first heard their 11-year-old son Brennan was alive and well after four days lost in the wilderness.
?My brain still cannot comprehend that,? Jody said.
Toby said reuniting with his son ?was like a dream.?
One of the first things Brennan said was, ?I have the best family in the world.?
The boy?s parents knew everything was OK when Brennan asked one thing: ?Mom, did my Pokemon cards arrive??
Lost in the Uinta Mountains for four days, Brennan returned to his Bountiful home Wednesday and in his first public appearance told reporters Wednesday he is ?good.?
After his rescue, Brennan spent Tuesday night in Primary Children?s Medical Center for precautionary dehydration treatment but was released early Wednesday morning. He has not talked much about his four-day ordeal.
?People know me?? Brennan asked his mother when she told him about the media coverage of his disappearance since Friday.
At the press conference, Jody and Toby Hawkins said most of the ordeal is a ?blur? to their son, saying he thinks he was only lost for ?one to two nights.?
Brennan did tell his parents that while he was lost he kept two Hawkins family mantras in his mind ? stay on the trail and don?t talk to strangers.
?His biggest fear, he told me, was that someone would steal him,? said the boy?s mother, Jody, at a news conference outside the Hawkins home.
He was so worried that he avoided rescuers on horseback and ATVs who he thought to be strangers.
Brennan told his parents he did not eat or drink during the four days and at night he got into what he calls ?midget mode,? crouched down with his sweatshirt pulled over his knees.
?Brennan continues to amaze us,' his father Toby said. ?You know, initially I made the comment that I thought that he was the most ill-prepared out of our five children to deal with it. Now I think he was maybe the best prepared.?
Toby also talked specifically about the ?divine intervention? of the weekend?s events, saying that Brennan said a prayer when he first realized he was lost.