A Pivotal Moment

“Life is the sum of all your choices.” Albert Camus

Saturday December 7th

11:55pm

Orchard Street

Nora was startled awake by the ringing of the doorbell. At first she thought she was still dreaming, but when she saw her husband also rubbing his eyes groggily, she sat up in bed.

“That is the doorbell right? I am not imagining it?”

Max nodded. He pulled the curtains back from the bedroom window and peered out at the front lawn. Snow was still drifting down, it had been slowly falling all evening. the streetlights casting an orange glow over the neighborhood.

“There is a woman outside,” he said. “Should I go and see what she wants?”

________________________________________________

12:00am

Nora signed in annoyance. It was midnight. If she got out of bed now she knew it would take her hours to fall back asleep.

“Just ignore her. Maybe she will go away.”

Her husband frowned. “It is snowing outside. Maybe she needs help.”

The woman outside rang the doorbell once again, and Nora flinched, listening for the sounds of Nate’s cries. So far, nothing, but it was only a matter of time before the noise woke her son.

"She can go next door if she is really in trouble."

Max looked at his wife one more time, a slight frown on his lips.

“Are you sure you don't want me to make sure she is ok?"

Nora’s answer was simply to roll over and throw the blanket over her head.

12:00am

Nora sat up, her brow furrowed in concern. It was midnight. No one would be outside in this weather unless something was wrong.

“Yeah you probably should check. Maybe she is in trouble?”

Max swing his legs out of bed and quickly threw on the blue hooded sweatshirt that was on his desk chair. He then hurried down the stairs and threw the door open.

“Oh my god I am so so sorry to wake you! My car is stuck in a snow drift and I can’t seem to get it out. Can I please come in and make a phone call?”

A tall woman stood in his doorway, slightly out of breath. She had bright red hair and wore a fuzzy green scarf around her neck.

Max invited the woman inside and watched as she stomped the snow off of her boots.

“Thank you so much, you really are a lifesaver. I will be as fast as I can I promise.”

Sunday December 8th

7:30am

Orchard Street

The Morning After No

After Max returned, Nora had lay there, staring at the ceiling for hours, wide awake. Eventually she had given up and climbed out of bed, tiptoeing quietly downstairs to make herself a cup of tea. She then sat on the sofa, gazing out the front window where snow continued to fall, coating the front yard in a smooth, white blanket.

She must have dozed off at some point, because when she opened her eyes she was still on the couch, but now the hazy sunshine of early morning was breaking through the clouds. Nora stood up and went to the window to survey the neighborhood. She half expected to still see the woman standing, on her doorstep, frozen like an ice sculpture.

There was no woman of course, but suddenly, almost as if it could see her watching, a large tree branch heavy with new snow snapped off and crashed down right onto the windshield of their blue Toyota Camry.

Cursing under her breath, Nora quickly slipped on her boots and coat and went outside to examine the car. From inside her living room, she had seen a long crack appear where the branch had fallen. Now up close, she noticed some smaller cracks pulsating out like a spider web. The windshield was most certainly going to have to be replaced, and as soon as possible. There was no way anyone could drive the car like this.

Nora signed and shook her head. It was too early. Her son was going to wake up any minute and he would want breakfast. She needed strong coffee.

The car would have to wait.

Sunday December 8th

7:30am

Orchard Street

The Morning After Yes

The woman had been true to her word, staying less than half an hour. She had made a quick phone call and then sat down at the kitchen counter with the mug of hot chocolate that Nora had offered her. Halfway through it, she had received a text, and after thanking Nora multiple times, had hurried back out into the snow. Nora didn’t know who the woman had called, or where she had gone off to, but by 1am Nora was back under the covers, fast asleep. Thankfully none of the commotion had disturbed Nate, who had remained quiet until his usual waking time.

Now her son sat at the kitchen table happily smashing bits of banana with his fists, while Nora slowly sipped her coffee. The snow had stopped falling outside, but the whole street was covered in a thick white blanket, the sunlight sparkling off of it like Christmas lights. The view reminded Nora of her childhood, sledding in the local park and building lopsided snowmen with her brother George. She couldn't wait to do those things with Nate when he was old enough.

As if he could read her thoughts, her son pointed at the window.

“Dnow,” he proclaimed.

“Yes Natey, that’s snow.”

Nora watched as her child stuffed a handful of mushy banana into his mouth.

“Nana,” he said.

Nora nodded again. She knew she had to start getting Nate dressed for the day, but these early morning moments were some of her favorite. Max wasn’t up yet and Nate was well rested and fed and not at all fussy. Briefly she thought of the woman from the night before. Had she gotten home ok? Was her car still outside?

Nora peered out the window again but the only car she could see was the blue Toyota Camry that was parked in their driveway. She made a mental note to tell Max to move it, otherwise the nearby oak tree was liable to dump a mountain of snow on top of it the next time there was a big gust of wind.

Just as she finished her coffee and was about to place the mug in the dishwasher, her phone rang.

“May I speak to Nora Harper?”

“Speaking. But..”

She was about to tell the woman on the other line that she was not interested, and furthermore, that 7:30am on a Sunday was completely inappropriate for a sales call. But before she could, the woman cut her off.

“Please don’t hang up, Mrs. Harper. I am not selling anything. On the contrary, I am calling to let you know that you have won our grand prize.”

Sunday December 8th

12:25pm

Main Street

After No

Max had walked the ten blocks into town, only to have Brian the mechanic tell him he could not even take a look at his car until Tuesday at the earliest.

“You know what it is like around here. Six inches of snowfall and suddenly everyone’s cars stop working.”

Brian suggested he have someone take him over to the Pep Boys down by the entrance to I87, that they might be able to help him sooner, but just the thought of that made Max want to go back to bed. So after promising to limp the car over some time on Monday, he walked back down Main to Joe’s diner. There was nothing like a double stack of Joe’s pancakes to cheer a guy up.

The diner was packed with the usual Sunday brunch crowd, however, Max managed to squeeze into a spot at the counter. He had just finished ordering when his phone rang.

“Max!” His wife’s voice was shrill, almost panicky. “You will never believe this. I just got a call from Natasha. Apparently there was a fire in the store overnight and its totally gone. The whole thing, just burnt to the ground. She says there is nothing left but ashes. ”

Max nodded thanks to Joe who had just placed a steaming plate of pancakes in front of him.

“So do you need to go in to work today? I can watch Nate. Brian can’t work on my car today anyway.”

Nora laughed, but there was no joy in the sound.

“No Max, there is no work,” she replied. “She fired everyone; I was her last call. She is going back home to California, the store is done. ”

Monday December 9th

6:00pm

Orchard Street

After Yes

Nora cooked a celebratory dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and opened up one of the better bottles of Merlot they had stored in the basement. When Max returned home from work that night they sat with Nate, sipping wine, and laughing as their son tried to spoon pasta into his mouth. They had decided to spend the prize money on an all expenses paid trip to Jamaica, in late January, when their small town was still dark and frozen. Nora imagined sparkling blue water, pristine white sand. She pictured dipping Nate’s toes into the ocean for the first time.

Max had been just as surprised as she was when she had told him about the contest. He knew that she sometimes entered things that she found online, mostly sweepstakes connected to one of their many credit cards. But she had never even come close to winning anything before.

He was rinsing the wine glasses in the sink when his wife handed him a card.

“Oh, also this was slipped under the door this afternoon. It is from that lady. You know the one with the car that broke down.”

The card was one of those pretty Hallmark ones, with flowers on the front and a sweet but corny message written inside. To this, the woman had added one simple paragraph: “Thank you so much for helping me out the other night. Most people would have just let the doorbell ring. It is nice to know that there are still good neighbors out there. Happy Holidays! I hope this season you get everything you have always wanted. ”

There was no signature, no name.

“That’s very nice,” Max replied. “I am glad she is ok.”

After putting Nate to bed, Nora and Max decided to finish the bottle of wine. Afterwards, they tiptoed upstairs, giggling, careful not to make too much noise on their way to the bedroom.

Tuesday December 10th

9:00am

Main Street

After No

Max dropped off his car with Brian, pleading with him to get to it as soon as possible. The mechanic replied with a noncommittal “I will see what I can do.”

It was cold and windy, even more than it had been over the weekend. Grey clouds hung low in the sky. The forecast had called for more snow later that evening, and Max found himself fantasizing about hopping a flight to somewhere warm, somewhere with bright sunshine, pristine beaches, colorful cocktails with tiny umbrellas inside. It was not the first winter this he had had this thought. Perhaps someday.

Preoccupied, he started across Main Street, not noticing the truck until it was frantically blasting its horn in front of him.

Sunday January 26th

10:00am

Montego Bay, Jamaica

After Yes

Nora lay back on the blanket, feeling the warmth of the sunshine on her face. Next to her, Nate sat on a beach towel, wiggling his toes in the sand. He was fascinated by everything about the beach, the sand that tickled his skin, the cold blue water. Nora exhaled, smiling, feeling the weight of the ground underneath her.

“Its so pretty here,” she sighed. Max smiled down at her, his nose already pink and freckled from the sunshine.

“Agreed,” he replied, laying down next to her and taking her hand in his. ”Make sure you remind me of this day the next time I make fun of you for entering all of those contests.”

Sunday January 26th

10:00am

Orchard Street

After No

Nora had no idea how to plan a funeral, had no memory of doing so in fact, yet here she was pulling a dress out of the closet, dressing her two year old in a tiny black suit. She briefly considered two pairs of heels before discarding them both for big bulky snow boots. It was still winter here, of course. Max used to say that it felt like winter in this town went on forever.

She wasn’t sure how she was going to explain all of this to Nate, how she was going to move on through spring and summer and all the winters to come. She wasn’t sure if she even wanted to stay in this town.

Nora knew she would have to make choices, decisions that would determine what kind of life she would have going forward. For now, she wrapped a big fuzzy scarf around her head and prepared to go out into the snow.

___________________________________________________

Saturday December 7th

11:55pm

Orchard Street

“That is the doorbell right? I am not imagining it?”

Max nodded. He pulled the curtains back from the bedroom window and peered out at the front lawn. Snow was still drifting down, it had been slowly falling all evening. the streetlights casting an orange glow over the neighborhood.

“There is a woman outside,” he said. “Should I go and see what she wants?”