He’s laying in the snow hurt….remember? Jamie’s snow story was angsty, as, of course , are all good disaster/rescue stories. Will Claire find him in time? Will they both freeze? How will they get home? Well, I ‘m not James Alexander Malcomn Mackenzie Frazer, but I’ve got an angsty snow story!
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I’m startled awake certain sounds don’t need to be explained. Like …for instance, the sound of a shotgun being loaded at the end of your bed. You don’t ask any questions, you just kiss your life good bye. While kissing my life good bye, I hear my husband whisper, “there is someone in the house and the lights have been cut.”
I hadn’t recovered from the first ominous sound when I heard what he’d heard. Someone was in the house. My husband, being the brave man that he is, started down the stairs with his loaded shot gun. He gets to the first landing, points his gun at the floor and yells, “hey”. At the time, this seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Later, upon further reflection, I wondered what kind of response he had expected? Did he think the intruder would yell back,”what?”. But, I digress. There wasn’t any answer, but we heard someone running followed by what sounded like the back screen door slamming shut.
“Get in the kids’ bedroom and look out the window! “, my husband exclaimed. I dutifully and hurriedly entered the kids’ room and headed for the window. It had been a rough cold winter and we kept all the curtains and blinds shut. So, to look out , I literally tore open the windows and threw up the sash. (Well, almost). And what to my wondering eyes should appear. Snow. And a lot of it!
I yell out to my husband who is still on guard at the top of the stairs, “I don’t see anyone running and there aren’t any tracks in the snow!” These words coincided with the “someone is running through the house” sound. I turned to the window again and in time to see a very large (and noisy) pile of snow slide off the slate roof and onto the gutter with a bang.
It took us only a few more seconds to make sense of our “cut” lights and made our way down stairs to call the electric company. Our crisis like Jamie’s had been adverted. Well, if it wasn’t a crisis, it sure felt like one and we were grateful it had been adverted.
Upon finding Jamie , Claire was concerned when she realized he wasn’t shivering. We, however, couldn’t stop shaking. Neither of us could even light a candle to call the power company. Angst is great when you’re reading. Real life? Not so much.