Blizzard Work

Up on the hill the only source of light were the headlights of the old Cadillac, if not for the town lights down in the distance he felt trapped in a void with nothing in existence but him and his car. The storm was starting to strengthen, the snow getting heavier and the wind picking up. He couldn’t see the stars due to the cloud cover but looking up at the snow falling toward him he felt like he was travelling through the galaxy at warp speed. For this moment, this small infinitesimal amount of time, he was alone and enjoying the sense of snow landing on his face. This wouldn’t last.

“Hey Frankie,” his partner Jerry, a few years younger and still a newbie, called from the car, “why’d you only bring one shovel?”

“Only need one there Jerry,” he didn’t look down and let some more flakes land before continuing, “a young guy like you’ll be fine. I’ve gotta watch my back. Old football injury you know”

“Ah hell, fine,” the kid popped open the truck and took out the shovel, making a racket of getting it out from under some other tools. “Where we diggin’ Frankie?”

“Somewhere flat, use your best judgement.” The snow was still coming down at a steady clip. He remained still, enjoying the bracing wind on his face but now the ambiance was mucked up with the sound of digging and the occasional curse from Jerry. “Make sure it’s deep enough.”

“Hell Frankie, this ain’t my first rodeo,” the kid had a good heart, but his cockiness could get the best of him one day. Hopefully it will be in a lesson he could learn from and not one that will be taught to others to prevent fatal mistakes. He witnessed enough of those and had one himself back in the day that luckily left him intact and wiser.

Frankie kept a look out, watched the snow fall and the pile of dirt pile up by the hole. “Couldn’t we have done this on a different night? The grounds hard and it’s freezing out here. The snow coming in as I go isn’t helping either.”

“Quit your blubbering, the boss wants it done now it gets done now.” Frankie took out a cigarette and lit up. Jerry was right though, it was terribly cold out and the snow was falling faster. “Think the schools will close tomorrow?”

“What was that?” Jerry poked his head up from the hole like old Punxsutawney will in about a months’ time.

“I said do you think there will be a snow day tomorrow,” he gave his shoes a kick to get some accumulation off them. “You know a snow day.”

“I know what a snow day is, I’m ain’t that dumb.” Jerry stopped for a moment, stuck the blade of the shovel in the ground and rested his elbows and chin on the handle end. “Way its coming down? Most likely. Good for them, I always a good snow day even though I probably skipped more days than not anyways hehe.”

“We should probably finish a might bit quicker then, kids probably come here to sled still. I know I did when I was young. Nothing like a free day to just spend it out in the snow without a care about anything but the now.”

“Well, it would get done quicker if you bothered to bring another shovel! Are you starting to get nostalgic on me old guy? Waxing poetic about the good old days and all that?” Jerry hopped out of the hole, stuck the shovel in the ground and went to the trunk. “Could you at least help me with this?”

“Sure, sure,” Frankie tossed his cigarette aside and joined him at the open trunk, which Jerry really should have closed since it’s filling with snow but he’ll scold him on this later, and they each took one end of the item they were sent to bury. They hobbled over to the hole and after a count of three tossed it in.

“Whew, he’s a bit heavier than I thought he would be, what did he do anyways” asked Jerry.

“Don’t know exactly, whatever it was it pissed the boss off something fierce if this is where he ended up. I didn’t get this far by asking too many questions,” he jerks his thumb towards the shovel, “Let’s finish this up.”

Jerry sighs, “Once again, if we had two shovels this would be quicker. That seems like either an unforced error on the veteran or a smart move to get out of work. After your little philosophy talk earlier, I’m expecting some final lesson like ‘the lone shovel works more efficient’ or ‘the second shovel is what you learn along the way’ or some such nonsense. Didn’t exactly pay too much attention to it when they tried to teach it in school.”

“And it shows.”

“Aw piss off Frankie.”

Frankie went back to watching the ever-strengthening snow fall while Jerry filled in the hole. He stole a peek down in the hole, at once person that will never see the snow or fee it and the dirt no piling on him. At this rate there most definitely won’t be school tomorrow. “I used to take little Shelly here to sled when she had snow days too. Then we’d go home and make hot chocolates.

“Yeah? Well, aren’t you father of the year.”

“No, but I did my best. I should give her a call; she’ll be home from college for the holidays soon.”

“No more holidays for this guy huh?” Jerry elbows Frankie in the ribs.

“I try not to think about it. Make sure to even out the dirt and snow.”

“Cold, hard professional all the way.” Jerry finished up the burial, placed the shovel in the trunk and closed it. “How long you expectin’ to stay in the game Frankie?”

They both got in the car and started warming up their hands. “Not sure there Jerry, probably going to hang it up sooner rather than later. How about coffee? Yeah, let’s get some coffee.”