Chapter 6
Bob Long pulled the Jeep away from the cabin and started down the long driveway. The trip to Hinley shouldn't be too bad this time of year. The ski season hadn't started yet, although it would in a couple of weeks. Bob noticed an occasional snowflake but they stopped by the time he reached the county road.
In Hinley Bob decided to get dinner in the lone restaurant that was open. As he walked into the restaurant he stopped to talk to several of the locals that he knew. After the pleasantries he moved to a booth and sat down and waited for the waitress. Bob decided to order the ham and cheese club sandwich and a salad. The waitress hurried to his table and took his order and scurried to the kitchen to place the order. The restaurant was doing a brisk business even though the ski season hadn't really started yet. Just before he finished his dinner he looked out of the plate glass storefront and noticed that the snowflakes had started to fall again. He motioned for the waitress to bring him the check and the young girl headed for his table.
"It looks like winter is going to be a little early this year," the waitress said as she put the check in front of him.
Bob looked out the window again, "They're only calling for flurries aren't they?"
The waitress got a bored look on her face, "Naw, they changed it. They're calling for three to six inches now."
Bob left the money for the check and the tip and left the restaurant and headed for the stationary store to get a ream of paper. The snow was starting to fall steadier than when he had left the cabin but not so hard that he would have trouble getting back to the cabin. He was used to driving in snow and he had chains in the back of the Jeep if he needed them.
After he purchased the ream of paper he walked back to the Jeep. The snowfall had become heavier and he figured that the weather forecaster was right; there would be three to six inches by morning. Bob started the Jeep and let it warm up a little before he started for the cabin.
By the time Bob was on the county road that led to the cabin the snow had become a lot heavier and there was about an inch accumulation of snow on the road. The headlights were reflected off of the flakes and visibility started to be affected. Bob slowed down and put the Jeep in four-wheel drive.
By the time he neared his driveway there was a snow accumulation of about two inches on the road. The snowfall was becoming very heavy. The Jeep made it's way through the snow without any problems. The four-wheel drive did its job and Bob was within a couple of thousand feet of his driveway when he saw red lights flashing ahead of him. He couldn't make out what the lights meant as the visibility was getting worse and the snowfall was getting heavier by the minute.
Bob slowed down and approached the lights at a slow speed. As he neared the lights he saw that it was a small car parked at the side of the road with the hazard flashers blinking. He parked in back of the car and could see that someone was in the car. There was smoke coming from the exhaust so he knew that whoever was in the car was keeping the car running to keep warm.
When Bob came to a stop in back of the car a woman got out of the car and started walking back to the Jeep. Bob could see that she only had on a light jacket. She definitely wasn't dressed for this kind of weather. The woman slipped several times before she got to Bob's car.
Bob rolled the window down as the woman reached him, "What's wrong? Did your car quit on you?"
The woman looked like she was ready to cry, "No, I hit a deer. It's lying in front of my car. My car runs but both headlights are broken so I can't see where I'm going."
"Get in my car and get warm. You're not dressed to be outside in this mess."
The woman hesitated for a minute and then walked around the Jeep and opened the door and got in. Bob could see that she was half frozen. He turned the heat up full-blast and told the woman to put her hands in front of the vents.
Bob turned and looked over the back seat and found the tow strap that he always carried, "I've got a cabin up that driveway. I'll pull you off of the road with my tow strap and get you up to the cabin and get you warm. Do you think that you can steer the car while I pull you into the driveway?"
The woman nodded her head. Bob could see that she was not too happy about going to his cabin but she didn't have much choice in the matter. She would freeze to death in the car after it ran out of gas.
Bob maneuvered the Jeep in front of her car and backed as close to her car as he could. He instructed her to stay in his car until he pulled the deer away from in front of her car and he got the tow strap hooked up. He pulled the dead deer from in front of the woman's car and got back in the Jeep and backed closer the car. He got out and hooked up the tow strap and walked back to the Jeep.
After he was in the Jeep he rubbed his hands together, "Let me get warm for a minute and then you get in your car and I'll pull you off the road into my driveway. We'll just leave it in the driveway until the snow stops and then we'll worry about getting it out."
The woman didn't say anything and Bob knew that she was uneasy having to leave her car and probably spend the night in his cabin. He began to talk to her to try and calm her fears a little.
"My name is Bob Long. What's yours?"
"Um, my name is Ann Simmons. If you could just get me to the condo on the other side of the lake I could call someone to get the car."
Bob smiled at her, "I don't think that you'd get anyone to come out here tonight and I wouldn't want to attempt driving around the lake and trying to make my way back. They only predicted snow flurries this afternoon. Now they're predicting three to six inches. The way this stuff is coming down I'm sure it will be more than six inches by morning. Now, do you think that you're ready to get your car off of the road?"
Ann nodded and got out of the car and made her way to her car and got behind the wheel. Bob put the Jeep in gear and slowly took up the slack in the tow strap. Ann's car began to follow the Jeep as Bob turned into his driveway. She was unfamiliar with his driveway and was having trouble knowing where the driveway was under the snow. Bob had her car about twenty feet into his driveway when her car ran off of the driveway and became stuck in the ditch that he had installed to drain the water from the driveway. Bob got out of the car and unhooked the tow strap and motioned for her to get into the Jeep. She got out of the car, looked at it for a minute and then made her way to the passenger door of the Jeep and got in.
Bob started toward the cabin, "At least it's off the road. Let's get inside and get warm."
"Can you possibly give me a ride to the condo that I'm staying in and I'll call some friends and see if they can help get my car out of your driveway," Ann said hesitantly.
Bob continued toward the cabin, "Right now your car has the driveway blocked. We'll need to get a tow truck up here in the morning. No tow truck will even attempt to get up here tonight. I have a small New Holland tractor in my shed at the cabin but I think that I'll need something bigger to pull the car out of the ditch."
"I don't want to be any trouble. If you could just..."
Bob chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm promise that I'll stay at least twenty feet from you at all times. I'll even give you a kitchen knife so that you can protect yourself."
Ann managed a weak smile. She knew that she was probably being a bit silly. He did seem like a genuinely nice guy and he surely wouldn't try anything, after all he was the owner of the cabin not some transient.
Bob pulled in front of the cabin and the Jeep slid a couple of inches on the snow before coming to a complete stop. The snow was falling harder than ever and there was about four inches of snow on the ground. The only reason that he had been able to find the driveway to the cabin was because he had installed it himself years ago.
The two of them got out of the car and made their way to the door of the cabin. Half way to the cabin Ann slipped and went down hard on her rear. Bob helped her up and assisted her to the front door. When Bob opened the door Ann gave him a funny look and he told her that he often left the cabin unlocked if he knew that he wasn't going to be gone long.
"Get over as close to the wood stove as possible. You're soaked through to the skin. Look at your denims, you're soaked to your knees," he said as he pushed her in the direction of the wood stove.
He walked over the area that served as the kitchen, "I'm going to put some milk in the microwave to warm and fix some hot chocolate. The combination of the sugar and the warm liquid will get the blood flowing in your limbs again."
Ann stammered, "You don't have to go to any trouble."
"Nonsense. It will only take a couple of minutes and then I'll try to find you something to wear so that you can get out of those wet clothes. I'm sure that I brought a couple of sweat pants and sweatshirts up here the last time that I was here. I'll try to find them although you'll probably be able to fit two people your size in them."
"I'll be dry in a few minutes. You don't have to go to any trouble. I..."
"You're just not going to relax are you?" Bob laughed, "How about I let you tie me to a chair? Would you feel safer then?"
The microwave dinged to signify that the milk had finished heating. He took the milk out of the microwave and stirred in the hot chocolate mix and then took it into her.
Ann blushed, "I'm sorry. I just..."
Bob laughed and brushed by her and went to the loft that he slept in and searched through his chest and found the sweats and took them down to Ann.
"I know that these are going to be way too big for you. I have some clothesline in the kitchen so that you can make a belt to hold them up. The bathroom is over there under the loft. Don't look for a way to flush the toilet; it's a composting toilet. That way we don't pollute the lake. Now get out of those clothes, change into the sweats and get warm."
He turned and walked to the kitchen again and started to fix himself a cup of hot chocolate. He could hear the snowflakes hitting the window and he knew that the forecast of three to six inches was wrong. There was close to six inches on the ground right now He headed back to the wood stove.
There were two leather reclining chairs close to the wood stove and Bob and Marge had spent many an evening enjoying the crackling of the fire, watching the flames through the glass doors. He heard the bathroom door open and turned in time to see Ann desperately trying to keep the sweat pants up as she returned to the wood stove.
Bob laughed, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at you. Just don't pull your hands, feet and head into those sweats; we'll never be able to find you."
Ann scurried to the chair and sat down; making an attempt to keep the sweat pants from showing anything that she didn't want shown.
Bob handed her another cup of chocolate, "I made you another cup. You looked like you were half frozen. I'm going to turn the radio on and try to see if the weatherman has any updates on the weather. The radio has a TV band and I'll see what the news people have to say. I don't have a TV up here because when I'm here I'm usually working."
Bob got up and turned on the radio. He saw that it was already tuned to the local TV station. The newsman was talking about the latest incident in Kuwait and was going on about the American casualties. The terrorists had crashed a truck into the American Embassy compound and the suicide bomber had killed himself and several of the American troops guarding the compound. The security that Bob had a hand in designing played a big part in holding the casualties down.
After a commercial break the weather talking head came on and started his spiel, "That's right Bernie. This storm is unpredictable. We were expecting about three to six inches before morning but it seems like these two storms you see on the map have joined and the National Weather forecast is calling for six to twelve inches, possibly more. We expect the snowfall to stop sometime tomorrow morning or early afternoon."
Bob heard Ann gasp behind him, "Oh, no."
Bob turned the radio off and walked back to his chair and sat down, "I hope you didn't have somewhere to go tomorrow. I think that you might be here for a couple of days."
He saw the look of worry on her face, "I'd better get some wood inside so that it can dry out. Here, take my satellite phone and call your husband and let him know that you're all right. Give him the satellite phone number so that he can call you if he wants to. Don't worry about long distance because all long distance is a local call on this phone."
He stood up and handed the phone to Ann and showed her how to use it. He walked over to where his parka hung on the peg and put it on. He put the hood up and tied the cord tight to keep the snow from his ears.
As he walked to the door he saw that Ann still had the worried look on her face, "Call someone and let them know that you're safe. They're going to be worried about you. We don't want anybody searching for you and getting stranded in this stuff."
He turned and headed for the door. When he opened the door the wind
blew the snow into the cabin and he had trouble holding on to the door.
He pushed his way outside and trudged through the snow toward the
three-sided shed that held the firewood. He stepped between the stacks
of firewood to get out of the snow and wind and turned and began to
watch the snow. He knew that Ann would feel better if she had a little
privacy for a few minutes so that she could call her people and let
them know that she was Ok.