AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Feeling like a child in a snow globe, she dressed in her warm winter clothes and ran outside to make a snowman, laughing and giddy because she’d never seen piles of snow like this before. The air smelled fabulously fresh, and the dark sky, still filled with last night’s glowing stars, seemed close enough to reach up and touch.
Glen soon followed with Whit’s iPad in hand to take photos. He’d watched her taking shots with her phone the night they saw the aurora borealis lights and after commenting about how easy it was, she reminded him he could do the same with the toy he had. Now, he aimed the screen her way, and she laughed at him before throwing a handful of snow in his direction.
“Can you believe this, Glen? Look, it has to be a foot high, and it all dropped during the night. How cold do you figure it is?”
Glen shivered in his sweatshirt and moved toward the thermometer on the porch. “Says here it’s close to ten below. Feels colder. Don’t like the look of those clouds.” He pointed behind him, and she glanced that way to see the overcast darkness closing in fast.
“Guess we’re due for some of that winter weather you’re always warning me about.” She stood and brushed off her pants. When she moved closer, he reached out and swept the snow from her back. The fact that he’d touched her with no prompting lightened her spirits even more. Without knowing why, she laid her head against his arm and muttered, “Looks like a waffle morning to me. What do you think?”
“I think yes.”
Grinning, she teased. “You can’t think a yes. You can only say a yes.”
“Hmm! What would Whit say to that. Right.” He lowered his voice and spoke in a deeper tone. “Semantics my dear, semantics.”
It continued to snow that day and the next as the temperatures kept dropping. Suddenly, they were at twenty-five below and for the third time in three days, Glen helped her shovel around the cabin as far as where they parked their vehicles.
After finishing, Glen took a long coil of rope and tied it from the post near the parking area to the porch rail. He called Demi over and explained why he’d done this.
“We’ve had it calm lately but when the wind begins to blow, and it will… some days your visibility can be almost nil. When that happens, here’s the safety line to get you from the vehicles back to the house. Hold on to it tight. Don’t let it go. People have been found dead ten feet away from their homes. It can happen.”
“Okay. Makes sense.” Demi felt a shiver of fear and pushed it away.
As they walked back to the house, Glen added, “I think it’s time to take you driving. I’ve been remiss about it and… ahh, remembered you should practice driving in the snow, so you don’t end up in a ditch.”
“Jesus, Glen. You sounded like Whit just then.”
He winced, which made her feel bad. “Just kidding. I think you’re right about me driving. Also, I wanted to ask you about something that Harold wrote to me about in his last letter. He wants me to make up a care package for both vehicles.”
“What kind of a package?” Glen asked curiously.
“I memorized the list. First was food, stuff that won't spoil, such as energy bars and snacks like beef sticks. Then it said we needed water in plastic bottles.”
Glen got caught up and added, “Maybe a blanket and some warm clothing like extra socks and mittens.”
“Right. Thanks to Whit being such a stickler, we both have a first aid kit with bandages and salve for cuts and there’s already shovels. Right, and a window scraper.” Demi thought for a minute and then remembered. “Oh yeah, Harold mentioned we should have candles in a deep can and matches and reminded me that he’d had disposable foot and hand warmers in his gear that we need to keep handy in the glove compartments.”
“Okay, I’m on it. Now’s the time to get all that ready. Before we’re caught with our pants down.”
Demi laughed. “Nice visual. Thanks.”
After a breakfast of melt-in-your-mouth bacon, waffles smothered in blueberry jam, and coffee, they drove back and forth to town with Demi as the driver.
More than once, she’d had to grab the wheel as the truck, with a mind of its own, wanted to slide off the road. Listening to Glen’s instructions, she geared down and steered into the spin before slowly pumping her brakes.
Nervously, she admitted, “There’s a real skill to driving in this weather, isn’t there?”
“Yep. Guess if you grow up doing it, a person kind of forgets that others might find it scary.”
Unwilling to take her eyes off the road to turn to him, she answered with a gulp and a groan. “Scary? I’m freaking terrified.”
Snow continued to pelt the windshield forcing her wipers to work at top speed and making the visibility bad. Traveling slow but steady, they eventually made their second trip into town while they still had some daylight.
Releasing a huge sigh of relief, Demi suggested, “Let’s stop and see Norrie now.” If she could hold off the drive back for even a short while, it would give her time to unclench her teeth and let her white-knuckled hands relax. Though she didn’t want to sound like a city wuss to Glen, she knew her own limits.
“Sure. We need to pick up a few of those supplies we talked about for the vehicles so might as well get them now. Before we left, I put the extra blankets and clothes in the back seats that you left out.”
“And I got the candles and water bottles. Guess we just need to buy some protein bars, and we’ll be set up if we get into a situation.”
