Clever Magazine, Fall '08 "Snowbound, Day 8 " (www.clevermag.com)

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Snowbound: Day 8

by Dianne Kochenburg

When Sidney woke the next morning, it felt warmer, cozy even. They’d left the little space heater running all night. The cat protested as she moved and stretched under the comforter. A well-heated room made it a little easier to get out of bed, she decided.

Matt was still asleep on the couch as she made her way to the kitchen to begin her now familiar routine of making the coffee -- thank you, Maggie -- and feeding the cat, who meowed insistently and rubbed against her legs until she portioned out a small scoop of cat food into her bowl. Then she scrounged around for something they could eat for breakfast.

She’d let the fire in the fireplace go out. She decided they didn’t need to burn up any more wood now that they had electricity. Who knew how long before it might go out again. She yearned for the newspaper, the telephone, a toasted bagel, good coffee, those familiar things she took for granted at home. She tried not to think about home and her daughter, the grandkids.

Matt stirred when Toast jumped on him. Toast preferred them both to get up at the same time. Nobody should be asleep when the cat was awake. She walked over him meowing as she went. She had several different meows. One was her questioning meow that began to sound like "when are you going to get up?"

He reached out his hand to pet her. The room was filled with her purring. She jumped to the floor, a very satisfied cat, once Matt got up. He grabbed his robe and went over to Sidney and nodded good morning. She smiled back and hugged him. They stood together for a long moment, another day ahead of them.

"How's your leg feeling this morning?" Sidney asked.

"A little better. Did you sleep well?"

“I’m lovely. There’s nothing like soaking in the tub before heading off to bed. I slept really well last night.”

Suddenly they both heard a noise. It began as a low rumbling sound. Then came a crack, and another bang, as if dry twigs were being snapped in half. The cottage shook and then shuddered and then the noise stopped.

Sidney yelped, “Holy shit, what was that? An earthquake?”

“Maybe.” He went to the door and tried to pull it open. It stuck as if the frame no longer fit the door. He pounded on it and then pulled the handle harder. This time it opened with a jerk, as if it were being pushed by somebody. Then a huge snow pile followed the door right into the kitchen. They stared at dirty hunks and debris littering the floor.

“What the hell is that, Matt?”

“Wow! I don't know. There's snow all over the place. I can't see anything but snow. It's packed against the door.”

“My god.” She watched the cat sneaking up on the snow pile, back arched, tail twitching.

Matt pulled on his boots and grabbed his jacket. “I’ll try the other door and check the porch. Snow must have slid down from the roof.” The cottage had two outside doors, the front door was carved out of the A-frame, with a small extended porch-like eave above it that protected the doorway from the elements. The other door was on the flat side of the house and led onto the front deck. It didn’t have an overhang. There was a wooden walkway from the deck around the side of the slopping roof to the porch. So a person could use either door to gain entrance into the cottage. Every day or so they shoveled the snow off both the deck and the side porch, pushing it off and down onto the ground, where it was piled up quite high now. Snow usually slid off the roof every day, but some had been building up over the porch overhang. Matt hadn’t paid much attention to it.

Outside, everything looked the same. The dark lake, the snowy trees and the white blanket covering everything. Even Matt’s sled stood against the wall next to the door just like he left it. Bitter cold, icy breath in front of him. He walked around the corner leading to the front of the cottage and ran right into the snow slide that now blocked his way to the porch. Next he noticed was how clean the top half of the roof looked. It must have been a huge pile of snow up there. Matt figured that the warm house had probably caused the snow pack to melt just enough to cause it to slide down onto the porch like that. What else?

It was going to take some work to remove it. They’d have to pitch the snow over the porch and down the side of the house. They could try to keep a path clear, he figured the piled snow would reach their waists once they got it cleared.

Luckily, there hadn’t been any new accumulation on the porch and deck. Now he was beginning to see how the snow build-up could cover a house. If this kept up, they’d have a tunnel on both sides of the porch leading out to the driveway. They’d have to start planning where to push the snow to keep a clear path. It was one thing to be snowbound, but it was another thing altogether to let this snow pack get so deep that they couldn’t get outside.

Last summer he heard of a cabin on the other side of the lake that had nearly exploded from the heavy snow on the roof. The sides had pushed out, windows broken, door jams askew, buckled the deck. The owners had to nearly rebuild the cabin from the ground up. He heard that the builders put big screws into the new beams on either side of the cabin loft. They would string cables between them when they closed up for the winter from now on, to sort of brace the walls to hold up against the weight of the snowy roof. They had even added one of those new snow roofs that look like metal. Now that Matt gave it some thought, he remembered seeing lots of those roofs these days. Now he could put two and two together. This was one hell of a snowy place in the winter.

It sure would be great to have one of those snow blowers he’d seen on TV. Digging out the mess in front of him was going to be a big job, especially since they’d have to carry every single shovelful down the porch and toss it over the side of the cottage. Even with Sid’s help, it would probably take them a couple of hours.

Sid showed up wearing her boots and heavy gloves. They took turns lifting the shovel, walking it to the edge of the porch and dropping the snow off. When they finished, the snow on the slopping lake side of the porch nearly reached the deck. It was lumpy and dirty from debris on the roof. Pine needles and small twigs mingled with the snow lumps in an unappetizing manner. It didn’t look like the pristine snow blanket that covered the forest around them.

'You know, Matt, I was just thinking, looking at this mess around our place, if anybody came by here they would definitely know we're living here."

"You got that right. Wonder if anybody ever comes up here in the winter? Seems like good snow mobiling country. Maybe we should put a sign up."

"What kind of sign are you thinking about Matt? Maybe something like Hot Coffee Here Brandy While it Lasts!" She smiled at her small joke.

"No, I was thinking like HELP! or SOS might be good."

"Whatever. I'm going in. It's too cold out here. There's more clean up to do inside.” Sid surveyed the mess around them. They had scraped the last of the snow that had fallen inside the cottage. Snow melt and debris puddled the kitchen area around the door. They could now open and close the door, and walk down the steps to the driveway. Just some mopping up to do.

Matt looked out at the lake. If he had been a kid he might have jumped onto the little sled and ridden it all the way to the lake. The snow pile looked like a perfect launch ramp. A kid would love it here. So many things to do. Like snow forts under the trees, snow angels, ice cycles, big drifts to jump into. But Sid and Matt didn’t see anything playful that morning after clearing away all the snow that had fallen onto them. Instead, they saw a daunting change in their landscape, mountains of snow all around them, a chill in the air that defied explanation, and above all, the realization that they might be caught up in one of the biggest snowfalls ever to hit the Sierra.

Next: Day 16