“It don’t work? Huh, I can have that probably fixed by this afternoon, can’t guarantee it though.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’ll be working on clearing out the parking lot and access road to this cabin. We only got a couple plows in town, but those boys know how to handle snow. I’d expect you can take off, well, provided they get the pass opened up, by nightfall, though I’d recommend another night to be safe.”
“Thanks Max.” I was about to shut the door when I had another thought. “Do you have a working phone, by chance? My parents were expecting me a couple nights ago and I thought I should call them before they worry themselves sick.”
“Yeah, I got my phone back at the office. It works, ’cause I called around this morning about the roads and plow progress.” He looked over my shoulder again. “Why hello, Miss. I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure…” He was extending his hand toward her. I stepped out of the way. Katherine was dressed in the heavy clothing we bought at the store.
“I’m Katherine, nice to meet you.” She shook his hand. “How bad are we stuck?”
“Well, I was just sayin’ probably one more night, to be safe.”
“Thank you, for clearing this out.” Kat looked behind him, her mouth hanging open in awe. I remembered, she said she hadn’t seen snow, so to see the tunnel must have been a new sight. “How did you get through all that snow with that little machine?”
He chuckled, holding his finger up to his lips before whispering, “It’s my li’l secret – a method that earns me lotsa money clearin’ out snow.” He stepped back from the door. “You two take care, stop by if you need the phone; I got a path clear to the office. I’ll be running the truck later, trying to clear some of this away. Not sure how that part’ll work, with the snow higher than my blade… haven’t figured out a secret method for that one. Anywho, see ya folks later!” I shut the door to keep some of the heat in the cabin.
“Paul, we can get out of here! We can call our parents!” Kat was jumping up and down, then threw her arms around me in a crushing hug.
“Whoa,” I grunted, her hug squeezing the air out of my lungs.
“Sorry, I’m just happy. I mean, this has been amazing, seeing snow, being with you… but I’d like to get back home, and hopefully sort some of this mess out.”
“Yeah, that would be nice.” Outside, we heard Max start the snowblower back up, the sound slowly fading away. “This whole town just seems to be full of nice people.”
“You’re right. Helen, our waitress, Monty, the store clerk, and Max, the cabin owner… It almost feels like a TV sitcom or something.”
“Cheers… ‘Sometime’s you wanna go…'” I started to sing the theme song. She was giggling.
“‘Where everybody knows your name!'” She finished for me, laughing. “That’s awesome.”
“Ok, well, if you want to get dressed to walk through this, we can head up to the office and make some phone calls,” I offered.
“Yeah, sounds good.” Kat bounded off to the bedroom again, and emerged a few moments later, wearing snow boots, gloves, hat, and scarf wrapped around her face. She looked adorable, so I thought I’d compliment her.
“Kat, you look… gorgeous, beautiful as always, but exceptionally cute in all that cold-weather gear.”
“You look pretty handsome yourself.” Her compliment made me grin and blush slightly.
“Alright, let me get my things and we’ll head out.”
The trek through the snow wasn’t as bad as I had expected, but it was still incredible to see all the snow. It looked like the pictures of the Sahara Desert with the swirls and trenches created by the wind. We passed Max along the way, waving to him. He had gotten in to his truck as he had told us, and was working on the roadways, bit by bit.
Arriving at the office, we kicked the snow off our boots and stepped inside. I found the phone just inside the main desk area.
“You want to call first?” I asked Kat.
“Nah, you go ahead, let your parents know you’re ok.”
“Ok. Here goes.” I dialed my parents’ home number. It picked up after two rings.
“Hello?”It was my dad’s voice.
“Hey Dad, it’s me, Paul. I’m ok, just got caught in that blizzard and had to ride it out.
“Just a moment.”There was a slight pause and shuffling, before the phone speaker nearly deafened me.
“PAUL!!! OH MY BABY, I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!!! HOW COME YOU DIDN’T CALL, YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED US. YOU WORRIED ME SO MUCH, YOUNG MAN!!!”I had the receiver away from my head, but my mom could still be heard quite clearly. Kat mouthed the word ‘wow’ to me. I mouthed back, ‘I know.’
“Mom… it’s ok, calm down. We didn’t have any phone service, and were literally snowed in.”
“We?? Why did you say ‘we’?”Figures my mom would be both that quick and that nosy.
“Kat and I. I fou…” Kat interrupted my words with an elbow to my ribs, shaking her head. ‘Later’ she mouthed to me. I cleared my throat. “I met Kat earlier and thought I could give her a ride since she lived in Phoenix, too.”
“Oh, ok, honey, that’s nice of you. We were so worried, Paul. We heard about the blizzard, and we thought the worst when we didn’t hear from you.”
“I’m sorry you had to be worried like that. Well, the roads will probably be safe enough by tomorrow, so I’ll probably see you guys tomorrow night. Love you.”
“Ok, honey, we love you too. Be safe, be careful! I still want to meet this girl, you know.”
I laughed. “Yeah, of course, Mom. Bye now.”
“Bye bye, honey.”I heard the line click and set the phone back onto the receiver.
“Whew, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be…” I said to Kat.
“You did a good job,” she said with a smile.
“What, lying to my parents?”
“No, of course not. I meant how you allayed your mom’s fears in such a calm way. Besides, you didn’t directly lie, you just didn’t tell the whole truth.”
“I suppose you’re right. You need to call your dad?”
She sighed. “Yeah, I’d better, before he spends way too much money paying for search parties and whatnot.” I stepped aside so she could dial.
“Here goes,” she whispered to me. She waited longer than I had to. Based on her face, I assume she was listening to the answering machine, or voicemail, whatever it was. Then she started speaking.
“Hey Dad, it’s me. I’m ok, really. I’m not harmed in any way – I’m ok. A really nice gentleman saw me on the side of the road and offered help, so I’ll be riding back with him tomorrow. The snow has had us trapped for so long, but it’s been fun to see all the snow. Well, I’ll get going, tell Mom I’m ok. Bye.” She hung up the phone and turned to me. “It was his answering service. He must be away.”
“Do you think we should call the FBI or something, let them know you’re fine?” I wondered.
“Naw, my dad will do that part. He’ll have an easier time getting the message across.”
“Ok, well, let’s go then.”
With our messages delivered to the best of our abilities, we headed back to the cabin. The rest of our day was largely the same as the past couple days – food, hang-out time, chatting, making love. Although we did get out to build Kat her first snowman. She loved that part, because afterward, when we were cold, we raced into the cabin and helped each other stay warm with hot chocolate, warm showers and cuddles.
The evening and overnight passed by quickly. The next morning we checked around the cabin, packing all our belongings, cleaning here and there as needed, when we heard a horn sounding outside the cabin. I peeked out the door, surprised to see Helen waiting for us.
“Hop on in, Sweeties! Max told me you’d be leaving this morning.” Helen drove up the small inclined hill, parking in front of the office. I paid Max, thanked him profusely for his assistance and wonderful cabins. Back in the truck with Helen, she drove us to the diner, where we enjoyed a meal before we’d be heading out on the road. She gave us some last advice for getting over the pass.
“Honey, I have some extra chains. I had a truck with tires pretty much the same size as your Explorer. So you get those chains on over the pass and take them off when the sign indicates.” Helen even stepped outside with us and showed me how to install them. I thanked Helen so much, since without her I doubt we’d have been able to make it to the cabins.
Leave a Reply