"Snowdrift."(Kevin Hughes) Author's Note: This is the last of my Christmas Stories for this year. Merry Christmas everyone, and I bet you can tell where the inspiration for this story came from. The weather outside if frightening...


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She could barely hear above the howling wind. The snow had covered her car hours ago. She thought she heard a thumping sound. Then the wind whipped away all the sound again. So she drifted back into a semi stupor. She was so cold. Until the snow covered her car she kept turning the engine on for a few minutes to keep warm…but then she got afraid of dying from Carbon Monoxide poisoning…so she stopped turning the engine on and off. Then it got to cold to even try and start the car. She didn’t know how cold it had to be to make a battery die…but surely it was below that number outside.

She heard it again. Someone was shoveling snow above her car. She held her breath. A dark shape started to move snow out of the way of her window. She watched in fascination as the shape kept a steady pace…throwing snow that instantly got swung up into the air by the harsh winds. The shape was making progress now. The shape seemed to hold back and not speed up…it just kept shoveling at a steady pace…like a metronome.

Swish, swish, thunk, throw…swish, swish, thunk, throw…swish, swish, thunk, throw. Never hurrying or slowing down, just one shovelful after another. Like a machine set on low. She couldn’t see much, it was so dark out that even the blowing snow was just a veil thrown over everything. The shape kept digging.
Finally, the shape thumped on her window. She straightened up in the driver’s seat. A gloved hand was motioning her to open the door.

She didn’t want that cold and wind to come inside her car. Maybe she was being rescued, but she didn’t think so…the wind and snow were relentless. She had slid off into the median more than three hours ago…and that was just a little before Five PM. So she knew the conditions would continue to get worse for another twenty four hours. So it wasn’t a rescue…nobody even knew she was out here. Her phone just stopped working when the temperature got to minus ten. She thought it was probably minus twenty now…and that is without the wind chill factor.

The gloved hand thumped against the window again. Making more frantic hand gestures. Her mind was as numb as her fingers and toes…so she made a decision. She opened the door.

“Move over!”

The voice was muffled and muted, but she heard the power and concern in that voice. It broached no argument. She lifted her bum, and slid over the center console to the empty passenger seat. The shape crawled into the drivers side and closed the door. She couldn’t see much, the shape was human, but buried under heavy coats, ski hats, and huge mittens. The shovel was thrown in the backseat as the shape forced the door to close again…even though the wind and snow were fighting it from closing. Once the wind was blocked, and the door closed. The snow started burying the car …again.

“First we lightly heater.”

“Wa…wa…what?”

The shape took off one big mitten…then the shape looked over at her. It had two big brown eyes and some truly epic eyebrows staring out of it. Right then, those eyes were filled with concern. The shape took off the other mitten and handed both to her.

“Put these on, and rub them together until your hands tingle…you are half frozen.”

“Half? I am frozen to the bone.”

She heard him laugh. It was a him. But she did what was told. The mittens were so warm…the first warmth she had felt in three hours. She started to rub the mittens together. She felt the blood coming back to her fingers. At first they tingled, and then…they hurt. She uttered a grunt of surprised pain. The odd shaped bundle of clothes spoke again:

“I know it hurts, but keep rubbing. Your fingers must have been real close to frostbite. Once we get this heater going …and the car warms up…I will check your feet.”

“My feet?”

“Yeah, if your hands are hurting…you probably can’t feel your feet.”

She thought for a second, reaching out with her mind to inventory her body. He was right. She couldn’t feel her feet…or her legs. Fear started to find its way to her conscious mind. She blurted out the thought that was coming into focus:

“Am I going to lose my feet?”

“Not if I can help it. The heater will get it warm in her in just a few minutes…we will check them as soon as it is warm enough.”

Something in his voice reassured her. He seemed to know what he was doing. And she liked his voice…a lot.

He fumbled a bit lighting a candle he pulled out of a small backpack that she hadn’t even noticed he was carrying. It was thick and about five inches tall. He lit it. Just the light made her feel warmer…safer…hopeful. It smelled delicious. So she said so out loud:

“What is that smell?”

This time his laugh was a lot stronger…and much more humorous.

“I used some of the wax from my Sisters stash of tea candles to make my emergency heater…so I think that is “cinnamon/spice.”

It was already getting warm in the car. Well above zero in just a few minutes. She just sat quietly…as did he, as the inside of the car started to warm up. He reached in his bag and pulled out a digital thermometer . He set it on the dash and it read: Three degrees. The blue light it gave off made a soft glow on the snow covered window. She wondered what else he had in that magic bag of his. She drifted off as the warmth started to form a cloud of heat near her head.

Fifteen minutes later she felt him tug at her shoulder. She slowly came out of her semi stupor. He pointed at the thermometer. It read: 42 degrees. She stared at it. Could it really be that warm? Once again, her brain seemed to skip the preliminaries and just send the thoughts straight out in her voice:

“Oh, is it really that warm in here?”

Another gentle laugh.

“Yep. I think it will get about two or three degrees warmer, but that thing only puts out about 170 watts…so with our two bodies, and the survival blankets I have in my pack…we should be just fine in a bit. Now…lets have a look at those feet.”

“My feet? What, why?”

“Because your hands were in pretty bad shape…so your feet are even further away from your core…and they have more surface area without any dense parts to hold the warmth in. Here…put both your feet on my lap.”

He seemed to know what he as doing…and in her half sleepy, half stupor, frozen state…he seemed…nice. So she swung around in the passenger seat and placed both her legs over the console. He reached over and pushed her sweat pants up to her knees, then he took off both her boots and shoes. She could see him studying her toes, as he pulled them apart and looked at them closely with a little flashlight that he had in that magic pack of his.

“Did you walk in the snow?”

“No. But I tried to push my car out of the snow…I guess my feet got a little wet.”

He grimaced at her. Reaching into his backpack he pulled out a dry dishtowel. He started drying her feet. Rubbing her calf and spreading her toes to get to each toe. He kept massaging her calf and rubbing her feet as he worked to get the circulation back. She didn’t feel a thing. His touch was professional, not intimate…and psychologically…it felt good.

He made a grunting sound, and then started opening his parka, peeling it back from his shoulders, and then pulling a sweater, a shirt and an undershirt up to expose his armpits. She thought (to herself) that it was a mighty fine show she was watching. In a different situation she could imagine admiring the view. As it was all she could do was stare in confused curiosity.

“Okay, I am going to put one of your feet in each of my armpits. Then I am going to pull as much of my clothes back down as I can. Let me know when you feel anything. Okay?”

She merely nodded. What strange behavior this man is capable of. His voice was warm and soothing…so she did what she was told. She felt him shiver when her cold feet hit his skin. She was surprised at how warm he was. Her feet felt like two blocks of ice…and his body felt like hot coals. They stayed that way until her feet started to throb.

“My feet are starting to tingle.”

“Great!”

With that, he stared to rub her feet against his body, using his arms to stroke them through his clothes and parka. Her feet started to tingle. She welcomed the pain, she could feel her feet again. The man surprised her yet again. He reached into his magic bag and brought out a couple of candy bars, and some water.

“Her, eat one of these, chew it slowly, and after each bite…when you swallow, take a sip of the cold water. I will share the bottle with you.”

With that, he took a bite of his candy bar…and drank a sip of water. So she mimicked him. She wondered why they were eating cold candy bars…and drinking even colder water. Once again, what she thought was just in her head, came directly out as speech. So he answered her.

“We have to get our core temperatures up. If I took your temperature right now, it might be as low as eighty degrees. Eating is one of the fastest ways to raise your core temperature…it takes heat to digest things. The chemistry works in our favor. Just keep chewing slowly and sipping the water. “

They ate two candy bars that way…and then a protein bar. And another bottle of water that he took from his bag. She was starting to get warm. Warm enough to think.

“Are we in danger?”

He answered honestly.

“That depends. Your feet were in bad shape, but I don’t think you are going to lose any toes. My portable heater can keep the interior just above freezing with the window cracked just a little bit. But we are going to have to take some more steps to stay warm…if we want to be alive when they find us tomorrow. “

“What steps, and why can’t we turn the engine on…I have plenty of gas.”

He smiled.

“Yeah, but your exhaust system is packed with snow, you turn on your engine and we won’t have to worry about freezing, we will die from carbon dioxide poisoning. Your choice.”

She smiled back.

“How do you know all this stuff? And where did you get that magic bag and snow shovel?

He laughed.

“It isn’t a shovel, it is an entrenching tool. And my magic bag is really just my Winter “Bug Out Bag” I always keep in my car when traveling in cold weather.”

She stared at him. He blushed.

“And how do I know all this stuff? I used to teach a cold weather Course for the Military. Never had to use it in real life…not until today anyway. And before you ask, a “Bug Out Bag” is what we used to keep handy incase we had to leave in a hurry. I have one for cold weather, and one for hurricanes. If I have to leave in a hurry, I have the stuff I need for about five days. And an entrenching took is a basically a shovel that folks up.”

“Did you read my mind?”

“Nope. Just your face…which, if I might say…is beautiful.”

This time…she blushed.

Then he told her what they needed to do to survive the next fourteen hours to daylight. She blushed even more. He explained why they had to do it that way.

“The human body is the best heater. But you don’t want that heat escaping. I have blankets that they use for shock treatment. So our body heat will help us, but we have to have as little clothes on as we can. Don’t worry, romance is the farthest thing from my mind right now. I just don’t want to die in a car because I was stupid enough to drive under a blizzard warning.”

She thought the same thing. She did not want to end up a corpsicle either…and that made him laugh.

So they stripped to their undies, and padded the clothes under them in the back seat and wrapped the survival blankets around them. Whether from the cold, or exhaustion, they both fell promptly to sleep. A pounding on the car woke them both.

“Hey, anyone in there?”

“YES!”

Said both of them in answering the voice outside the car. They came instantly awake and alert.

“Hey, Charlie! Get some guys over here. There are people in this car…and they are alive!”

The joy in the man’s voice made them both sober quickly…his voice implied that they had found others in their cars…and they didn’t survive.

“Hurry, get dressed. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be found half naked with a stranger!”

She laughed even as she hurried to pull on her sweat pants and sweater. She made him almost choke to death when she said:

“What stranger? I mean we have been sleeping together already.”

By the time the Police had them dug out enough to open he back door, they were almost fully dressed. The Police man, and the two rescue Fireman helped pull them from the car. Since they were both barefoot, a fireman carried each of them over to the warm ambulance and started routine triage of their bodies for cold injuries, hypothermia, and shock.

“You two are in great shape! How in the world did you pull that off?”

She pointed to the man on the stretcher across from her:

“He dug into my car last night…and saved us both.”

The Policeman was still in the ambulance with them. He looked up at her words.

“Last night? What day do you think it is?”

She was startled by his words.

“Well, it’s Friday …isn’t it? I mean I left from work on Thursday about four in the afternoon.”

The cop leaned back…the two Paramedics stopped their attentions for a second. Sharing a look that said a lot.

“Ma’am…it is Christmas Day. You and him (pointing at the man who she had spent two days stuck in a car with) have been trapped in that car for almost three days. (His voice grew somber) and you are the first we have found alive today.”

There were no words. Just tears. She reached over and held his hand. They stayed that way all the way to the Hospital. She didn’t lose any fingers…but did lose the tip of one little toe on her right foot. The Doctor told her if that man hadn’t dried her feet and stuck them in his armpits…she might have lost all her toes, and maybe her left foot.


“Good thing that guy knew basic cold weather injury treatments…because he saved your life…and his.”

“Yeah, Doctor…I agree.”

Four days later she was released from the Hospital. The temperature had climbed back up into the sixties. Her car was in the repair shop. She went to the Lobby to call for an Uber…and there he was. She just ran and jumped into his arms. He buried his face in her hair. For a long time they just stayed like that. Wanting to say things that they didn’t have words for.

She finally let go…but not completely. She noticed his magic backpack was sitting on a chair by the exit.

“What’s in there now? It isn’t cold outside.”

He laughed and opened the backpack. In it were several gifts and the socks he had taken off her feet that night in the car.

“What are the gifs for?”

“Well, we both missed Christmas…so I got some gifts.”

“But I didn’t get you anything!”

“Oh, yes you did. You gave me a reason to live. You see, I am a Veteran…and well, I drove out that night on purpose. I was going to just let Mother Nature do to me what I wasn’t strong enough to do to myself. I knew how to freeze to death…the Cold Weather Course taught me how. I figured nobody would know…I would just be an unlucky stupid motorist who froze to death in a blizzard.

Then I saw your car…and …I …had to help…it is what I was trained to do. So…I did. And you were so funny, so calm, and so easy to be with …in life threatening circumstances…I knew I had to be strong…not as strong as you…but strong.”

His words died down…

She reached up and kissed him softly on the lips.

“Well, since you already slept with me…and I don’t sleep with anyone I don’t love…I think we should be strong…together.”

He laughed. So did she.

“Where should we go?”

“Somewhere warm.”

He laughed again. She reached down and grabbed his Bug out Bag.

“And this goes wherever we go.”

He laughed again.

The door closed behind them…as the future unfolded in front of them.

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