December 2, 2009 arrived with the worst snowstorm that Jack had ever experienced that early in the winter. The sky had dumped four inches of snow over the night and it was only getting worse. The weatherman was predicting that accumulations could reach a foot by evening. Watching the forecast, Jack decided that he had better dress in lots of layers before heading off to work.
The university was closed, but essential personnel were still required to come into work. In this context, Jack was considered essential personnel. All of the maintenance and grounds crews would be there today. There were students living in dorms on campus and essential services had to be provided. He knew that he'd spend the day shoveling snow from the pathways so that the students could get from the dorms to the cafeteria. Someone else would be using a snowplow to clear out the parking lots.
Jack left the house driving ten miles an hour on roads that were slick with snow. Recent cuts in local government spending affected road clearing operations so the roads were in very poor condition. By the time he reached the university, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't be returning home that night. He wasn't looking forward to a night curled up on the floor of the maintenance building.
Jack arrived after driving for almost two hours. Despite having left for work an hour early, he was still almost an hour late. He climbed out of his truck stiff from the tense drive. He walked up to the maintenance building and entered expecting to get yelled at for being late. Roy was at the front desk and looked up when Jack came in. He said, "You're the second one to make it in. I guess that lets you run one of the snow blowers."
"Great," Jack said pleased not to be in trouble. He had expected to be shoveling snow by hand.
Going over to the map of the university, Roy pointed to an area and said, "You'll need to clear out the walkway from these dorms over to here. I've got Dennis clearing out the path in front of the cafeteria. You just need to tie into his path so that the students can get to the cafeteria without wading through the snow."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Jack said.
"Don't kill yourself out there. If you get too cold, step inside a building and warm up a little," Roy said. Smiling he said, "The students are young enough to get their feet a little cold."
"Right," Jack said with a laugh. He went over to the garage and picked out a snow blower. It took him a few minutes to get it started. Once it was going, he let it drag itself out the door. He blew a path from the maintenance building over to the dorm figuring that someone else would have to make the trip.
After clearing snow for an hour, Jack was surprised when someone tapped him on the back. He stopped the snow blower and turned to see who was trying to get his attention. Much to his surprise it was a student. Holding out a foam cup, the student said, "I brought you some hot chocolate."
Accepting the cup, Jack was shocked by the thoughtfulness of the student. He said, "Thank you. That's very nice of you."
"I'm with Phi Beta Kappa. We're doing that for all of you guys out here in the cold," the student said.
"It is very nice of you," Jack said. He took a sip of the hot drink. It was obviously out of a packet, but it did warm him. He said, "That tastes good."
"I'm glad you like it," the student said. He waved and headed back into one of the dorm buildings.
Stamping his feet to get some of the snow off his boots, Jack said, "These students are really nice kids."
At the community house, everyone in the commune with the exception of Jack and Johnny were gathered in front of the television watching the weather. The weatherman was saying that the storm could last three days. Dave shook his head and said, "This is a pretty nasty storm."
"I bet Jack is freezing his butt off," Rich said thinking about him out there clearing snow.
"It is nice of him to go in to school on a day like this," Liz said.
"He has to work. There are a bunch of students stuck on campus," Bev said. She wondered how many of them were frightened by the prospect of being stuck on campus during a major storm like that. In her mind they were still kids.
Liz said, "It is a long way to the university. Surely someone else could do it. How is he supposed to drive home tonight?"
"I don't think he'll be home anytime soon," Dave said.
"Did anyone pack a lunch for him?" Claire asked afraid that he wouldn't have a chance to eat.
When no one answered, Laura said, "He left really early this morning."
The television showed a major pileup on the highway. Twenty cars were involved in the accident. It looked like a real mess and Rich could imagine himself trapped in the traffic. He said, "Thank god I'm not out there this morning."
"You can say that again," Cheryl said thinking that she would have been watching the video hoping not to see his car in the midst of the accident. She looked over at her boys and saw that they were still playing a board game with Mary. She was amazed that kids raised on video games would enjoy playing an old fashioned game like that.
Gail said, "It is beastly cold out there."
"At least we're nice and warm here," Sally said. She was wearing a light sweater to keep the chill away.
"It was a little cold in the house this morning," Emily said.
Looking over at Emily, Sally said, "It was your idea to turn the thermostat down to 64."
"I'm not complaining," Emily said. "We're going to save on the heating bill this way."
"You turned the thermostat down to 64? We only turned ours down to 66," Mary said.
Rich looked over at the boys and said, "We're keeping ours at 68."
Ella said, "We've got ours turned down to 64, but we're using a portable heater in the bedroom."
"You're only heating one bedroom?" Claire asked wondering which one of the women slept in a cold room.
"We decided to share the bed last night to keep warm," Ella said. It had been very cold the previous night. The wind had been blowing and it seemed like the walls didn't stand a chance in holding it back.
Gail said, "I used an electric blanket last night."
Dave looked over at Rich and asked, "Are you ready to blow some snow?"
"No, but I'll do it," Rich said getting out of his chair. Looking over at Abby, he asked, "Are you going to help, Abby?"
Abby slowly turned her head to look at Rich. In a tired voice, she asked, "Why do it? It is just going to snow some more."
"We do it now so that the job won't be worse later," Rich answered.
"Does it really matter?" Abby asked thinking that nothing mattered. She had seen her future standing out on the street in front of the lingerie store. It was only a question of when she had to face that future.
"Yes, it does matter," Dave said. He looked at her thinking that it was the first time she had even hinted at what was bothering her. In a quiet voice, he said, "It is all about delaying the inevitable long enough that it stops being inevitable."
"That doesn't work," Abby said shaking her head.
Claire noticed that Abby was getting a little more animated. She said, "I'm older than dirt. I've been around a block or two. Trust me when I say that Dave is right."
"You don't understand," Abby said looking down at the floor. How could they understand the sense of helplessness that she had? She was a thirty-something woman waiting for her job at a fast food place to end and her job as a prostitute to begin.
"You aren't alone unless you choose to be," Dave said looking at her.
"You'll chase me out of here when I have to start turning tricks to make rent," Abby said.
Ella snorted and said, "Do you think so? We haven't chased Frau Schultz out of here."
"Honey, I've slept with as many men as most hookers. You don't see them chasing me out of here," Sally said.
"So you admit that I'm facing a future as a prostitute," Abby said angrily. She didn't know why it made her so angry.
"We didn't say that. We just said that we wouldn't chase you out of here if you did that," Ella said.
Dave asked, "What makes you think you are destined to prostitution?"
"What else can I do when they start shutting down the fast food places? Do you see any factories around here? No, they all went overseas. Do you see any jobs for maids? No. Do you see any jobs of any kind out there? No you don't. No one is hiring," Abby said.
Dave said, "I see a lot of empty houses. Someone needs to take care of them and I haven't seen anyone do that yet. Probably a dozen of them will have water leaks by the time this storm is over. Who is going to know? As far as I can tell, no one will know and the house will get damaged."
"Huh?" Abby asked. It actually sounded like a good idea. She had gone over to Penny's house the night before to turn on the heater so that the plumbing wouldn't freeze.
Claire said, "A dozen people are moving out of the neighborhood to join their families. They probably need someone to help them pack. You're a whole lot better than having a strange man in the house."
"Help them move," Abby repeated thinking that was another good idea.
"How about writing up a guide on how to start a commune? Lots of people are in the same situation we were and I'm sure that what works for us could work for them. Hell, you could end up selling a million copies," Liz said.
Rich said, "Create your own job."
Abby looked around the room unable to believe that in less than five minutes, she had been given three different ideas for a job. Even if one didn't work out, she had two more possibilities. She said, "I need to think about it."
"While you're thinking about it, why don't you help us remove the snow?" Dave asked.
The three of them had just stepped outside when Rich's cell phone went off. Puzzled, he dug it out from his coat pocket and answered it. After a few minutes discussion, he turned to Dave and said, "I've got to head over to the house. It should take me about half an hour to take care of this call."
"Take your time," Dave said. He looked over at Abby and, winking at her, said, "He'll do anything to get out of working."
"You're telling me," Abby said. She picked up the snow shovel and went to work on the steps. The snow blower in the garage could clear a lot of snow, but it couldn't do a thing on the steps.
Abby's mind was in a whirl while thinking about the ideas that Dave, Claire, and Liz had tossed out so easily. After the horrible experience in the massage parlor, Abby knew that a life of prostitution would kill her. There wasn't a future in the fast food business no matter how she looked at it. Even if government didn't kill it off, the income wasn't enough to cover her financial needs. It had seemed to her that there wasn't going to be any choice in her future; she was going to end up standing out on a street corner soliciting men. Their ideas had changed all of that.
Like many people, she didn't feel as if she was employed unless she was working for a company. The idea of starting a business in something that wasn't massage was intriguing. She didn't have any idea where to even begin. Of course, she wasn't alone. Mary knew how to find information and Johnny understood accounting. The old women had life experiences that often provided insight into problems. Even Jack understood how to tenaciously pursue employment opportunities that lasted from job to job.
Finishing clearing off one set of steps, she went to the next house and went to work on the steps up to the front door. Her body worked on autopilot while her mind struggled to put together a plan. For the first time since the fat tax had announced, she was beginning to see a future that wasn't dark. She attacked the snow with a vengeance.
Roy drove up to where Jack was taking care of the snow in one of the little electronic carts used to ferry small items around the campus. In the back of it were a can of gasoline, bag of salt, and a snow shovel. He got out of the cart and said, "I figured that you were about to run out of gasoline."
"I was about to head back to the maintenance shop to pick up a can," Jack answered. He had finished the first can of gasoline that Roy had delivered earlier. The snow was still coming down heavily. It looked like it wasn't about to stop any time soon.
"Fill it up and then clear the path down to the cafeteria. When you get there, stop and get a bite to eat," Roy said looking around at the paths that had been cleared. The early paths already had an inch of snow filling them. The wind was blowing and moving snow into some areas so that there were drifts that were two feet deep.
Jack said, "I'll have to stop by the cash machine."
"Your meals are covered," Roy said. Considering that they might be there for three days, the university picked up their meals and provided a place to sleep.
"That's nice," Jack said surprised by that little piece of news.
"You're on emergency duty. We've got cots set up in the gym. They aren't great, but it beats sleeping on the floor," Roy said. Emergencies like this didn't happen often, but they had procedures in place for dealing with them. It was going to kill the department budget, but that was his battle to fight.
"I didn't think I'd make it home," Jack said. He worried about all of the old folks back at the commune.
Roy said, "With the kids out of classes all day, the residential hall folks are showing some movies over in the auditorium. You'll have a break later. You might want to stop by and watch a film."
"That sounds like fun," Jack said. He wasn't used to that kind of treatment by an employer.
Nodding his head, Roy said, "I'll let you get back to work. We're short-handed since Big Mike and Little Mike didn't make it in."
"What happened?" Jack asked. They had two Mikes working in maintenance. Everyone called them Big Mike and Little Mike to keep them straight.
"Big Mike was in a major pile-up on the way in. He's in the hospital and probably won't be back at work for months. Little Mike's car is stuck in a ditch at the bottom of a hill," Roy answered. Although he was at irked that Little Mike didn't make it in, he understood the reason. Little Mike was always talking about the road down the hill on which his house was located. It went straight down the hill and made a sharp turn at the end. A lot of cars ended up in the ditch at the turn when it rained.
"I hope Big Mike is okay," Jack said. He could imagine the hospital bills that would pile up as a result of the accident.
"They were still working on him when his wife called. She said that he wasn't in serious condition. Of course, who knows what that means," Roy said. He was going to be running shorthanded for the next few months.
"I wish him a speedy recovery," Jack said.
Roy said, "I better move along. One of the cops got his car stuck in a snowdrift."
"Do you need some help?" Jack asked. He figured it would be a lot of work digging a car out of a snowdrift.
"No. I'll make him dig it out. Clear this walk out and head over to eat," Roy said with a chuckle while walking back to the golf cart.
After working for two hours out in the blowing wind, Abby returned to the community house feeling cold and tired. The warm air in the house seemed hot in comparison to outdoors. She removed her coat and sweater. The air was filled with the smell of chili cooking on the stove. She sniffed and said, "That smells good."
"Chili for a chilly day," Laura said with a smile. It was good to see Abby taking an interest in what was going on around her again.
Abby grabbed a bowl and filled it with chili. Taking it over to the table, she sat down and started eating without making conversation. Frau Shultz was over by the door wiping up the melting snow that had come in on Abby's boots. When she had finished half of the bowl of chili, she said, "I can't believe how hungry I was."
"You haven't been eating too well, lately," Claire said.
"I know," Abby said. She stared down at the bowl and added, "I guess I had given up."
"What happened?" Claire asked.
Abby answered, "That day they announced the fat tax I realized that my job at the Taco Emporium was going to come to an end. I might hate the job, but it is a steady paycheck and is a lot better than the nursing home. I was trying to figure out what I could do for a living. I'm not exactly skilled labor. I don't have a college education. I can't even type. Every other store on the drive home was closed so there wasn't even a future in being a store clerk. What is left?"
"Not much," Claire admitted.
"I drove past the lingerie shop in town and saw a bunch of women standing around. They were dressed in slutty clothes. I knew exactly what they were doing out there," Abby said.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out," Liz said.
"I recognized one of the women. She was the last person in the world that I expected to see out there. She used to work with me at one time. She is a real religious type who is always talking about God and Jesus. I think she prayed ten times a day," Abby said. The idea that a woman like that would turn to the oldest profession only highlighted how bad the situation was getting.
"Does she have any children?" Bev asked.
"She has a son that she dotes on like he is the only person in the world," Abby answered.
"The things a mother will do," Bev said shaking her head sadly. She said, "You can't blame her."
"I knew when I saw her that I was looking at my future," Abby said.
Dave said, "Jack was telling me that he was at a convenience store the other day and a woman was handing out flyers advertising a brothel she was starting. I never thought I would live to see that."
Ella said, "You do what you have to do to survive. It is all well and good to say that prostitution is wrong, but stand there for three days watching your baby go to bed without food and see what you say then. Any mother worth her salt will spread her legs for a stranger in order get enough money to feed that baby. Anyone who tells you any different is an idiot."
"That's true enough," Gail said.
Claire said, "I don't understand how we let the world get to this point."
"It isn't what they are doing that bothers me so much; it is the fact that they don't have a choice," Cheryl said knowing that a lot of single women slept around without thinking too much about it. Of course, they were doing it for their pleasure rather than for money. They had a choice with whom they slept.
Abby said, "I know."
Jack finished clearing the path to the cafeteria building. He shut off the snow blower and went inside the building. The floor was soaking wet by the door. There was a coat rack filled with coats. He dropped his coat off there and headed to the cafeteria line. He loaded his tray with high calorie food that would provide energy for the work outside. The woman at the register just waved him through. Stepping out, he looked around for a table. Melissa was waving at him and he headed over to her.
"I was wondering when you were going to take a break," Melissa said when he reached her table.
"I didn't realize the campus was so big until I started clearing off the walkways," Jack said taking a seat.
"I know," Melissa said looking at his tray. She asked, "Have you got enough food there?"
"I don't know. I'm burning up a lot of calories out there," Jack said shrugging his shoulders. Using a snow blower wasn't as much work as shoveling snow, but after a couple of hours he still felt it.
"Are you going to take me home with you tonight?" Melissa asked. Sitting around the dorm room was killing her. She would rather spend the time over at the commune talking with the little old ladies.
"I am stuck here for the whole storm," Jack answered.
"I didn't realize that," Melissa said. She wondered where he was going to sleep that night. She would invite him to her room, but she had a roommate who wouldn't appreciate that. She asked, "Where will you sleep?"
"They have some cots over in the gym. It won't be too bad. We'll have showers and place to wash our clothes," Jack said.
"I'd invite you to my room, but my roommate is here," Melissa said.
"I understand," Jack said. He grinned and said, "I'd invite you to the gym, but all of the guys will be there."
Melissa laughed and said, "Maybe I ought to send my roommate over there and have you spend the night with me."
"I'm not too sure how she'll feel about that plan," Jack said laughing.
"You never know," Melissa said. Her roommate was a young woman from India who was studying computer programming. It had taken a little time, but the economic situation here was affecting the economic situation in India. Her roommate was afraid that she wasn't going to be able to finish school and would have to return to India.
"They are showing movies over in the auditorium. How about I stop by and pick you up when I take my break?" Jack asked.
"That sounds good to me," Melissa said.
It was nearing dinner time and Abby was outside with the two boys building a snowman when Rich finally returned from his trip over to his house. She waved at him, but he walked past them as if he didn't see them. His lack of reaction dampened the spirits of the two boys for almost a full five seconds before they turned back to working on the snowman.
They finished the snowman by putting in the required carrot nose and charcoal briquette eyes, mouth, and buttons. Pleased with the results of their efforts, the trio returned to the house. Once there, Abby could see that Rich looked excited. Surprised, she asked, "What's up, Rich?"
"I can't believe this day," Rich said shaking his head.
"What happened?" Abby asked. She looked over at Cheryl and saw a huge smile on her face.
"He made a dozen sales today," Dave answered.
"I made a dozen of the largest sales of my life today," Rich said. His total had been well over a million dollars. He didn't even believe that there was that much money loose in the marketplace.
"I thought your company was closed because of the storm," Abby said.
Rich said, "I guess I was the only salesman who thought to forward his phone. I was getting calls all day long. There was some kind of flood down south because of the storm. A couple of hospitals were flooded and their equipment was damaged. I was writing orders left and right. I didn't even have a chance to break for lunch."
"That's good," Abby said.
"I made almost half a year's commission today," Rich said stunned by the turn of events. He had never had a day like that. Between calls, he had been on the phone with the factory making sure that they could deliver the orders. He had confirmed that the electronic payments had been made.
"That's real good," Abby said.
Claire said, "You know. You might look tomorrow for other hospitals in the affected area and call them to see if they need any equipment."
"That's a good idea," Rich said.
Dave said, "Let's watch the weather channel and see if we can figure out where the damage is the worst. You might as well do your research now."
"First I want to get something to eat," Rich said heading over to the kitchen.
Seeing his mother and father happy, Chuck asked, "Did something good happen?"
"Something very good happened," Cheryl answered. She was envisioning paying off a couple of bills with the extra money.
Mike asked, "Are you going to come out and see our snowman?"
"You bet," Rich said feeling like a ton of weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He patted Mike on the head and added, "We'll even make a snowwoman and two snowchildren to go with him."