* * *
Sam awoke in a cold sweat just after dawn on Thursday morning. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, it took him a minute to remember where he was�and why. Looking over toward the fireplace, he shivered a little and rubbed his arms. There was little more than a few glowing embers in the hearth now and it had grown chilly�but it was nowhere as chilled in the room as he felt on the inside.
He wished he could say that he didn't dream of Josie the night before, but he'd be lying to himself if he did. She had been there, just as she always seemed to be, on the other side of his eyelids. But this dream seemed to be different from the others. It was closer to a nightmare, actually. Josie was calling out to him�she needed him. But he was lost�he couldn't find her. All around him was a thick white cloud, and he couldn't see. Somehow he could sense that if he didn't find her, something terrible would happen, but it seemed that, for all his desperate searching, he was getting farther and farther away from her. He could feel the panic rising in his throat, while he could hear her voice whispering, echoing all around him, full of despair, 'Why? Why didn't you come?'
Shivering at the memory, he shimmied out of the sleeping bag and knelt before the fireplace, placing new logs in it and getting the fire restarted. Once the kindling had caught fire, he stood up, brushed ash from his knees and hands, and then ambled into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Placing the coffee grounds inside the percolator basket, he bent down and put a couple of logs in the wood stove and lit them. Carrying the empty coffee pot, he walked over to the sink and poured cold water from the tap into it, set the percolator basket inside it, and then put it on top of the cooking stove.
Trying to keep his mind off of his troubling dream, he pulled out the battery- powered radio, and turned it on to a news station. Settling down at the table, he played with the antenna until the station came in clear. "And now, for weather on the fives�" the announcer said. "Batten down the hatches, because winter has officially arrived�in spades."
Sam sat up straighter and turned up the volume as the voice of the meteorologist took over. "That's right folks, Blizzard '99 is on its way, and it's bearing down fast. Looks as if central Minnesota and Wisconsin will be hardest hit, with the potential for snow measuring in feet, not inches. Snow will start falling in earnest in the Green Bay area by nightfall, and will continue at least through Friday. Make sure to take extra precautions and stock up, because with the high winds in some areas, there is a great potential for lots of downed power lines and impassable roads. I need to stress that this is not a false alarm. Snow is definitely on its way, and it looks like Santa is going to be the only one who will be able to get around for a while�"
Sam turned off the radio and poured his coffee into a travel mug. Placing the rest of the percolated pot on the counter near the stove, he reached into the fridge for the milk, pouring it into the mug along with a spoonful of sugar before stirring it and placing the cover on top. Plopping the carton into the fridge, he took inventory of what was in the house for food.
Making a mental list of what he would need, Sam grabbed his coat and hat and headed out to the old Chevy Blazer that his family kept at the cabin for the more rugged travel conditions. It was heavy, and had four wheel drive, which was a boon for his dad and older brother, who liked to ice fish up there during the winter months.
Driving into town to buy the additional things he would need, he took a sip of his coffee before placing the mug in the drink holder in the console. He wasn't that worried about getting snowed in�because the cabin had a generator instead of standard electric power. However, the generator was only used for heat and power in the most basic sense: keeping the water pipes from freezing and for a few electrical lights and appliances. But if he wasn't going to be able to get to the generator to refill it with gas, he was going to have to seriously conserve.
But again, he'd done plenty of camping; he knew how to rough it when necessary. Pulling into the local supermarket, it seemed that he wasn't the only one that had heard the weather report. Even at 8 o'clock in the morning, the parking lot was already packed. Sighing, he climbed out of the Blazer and shut the door. He just hoped he could get the items he needed before the frenzy started in earnest.
* * *
By 8:20 am, Josie had been up for over three hours. After a fitful night of not much sleeping and a lot of crying, she had given up on rest at about 5:15, and instead decided to make use of the time by working on her story. She had worked furiously, throwing herself wholeheartedly into her work, putting together a solid rough draft of her story, leaving room at the end for the additional info she would receive from her appointment that morning. Finally satisfied with her article thus far, she took a moment to connect up to the internet and sent the story and the rest of her notes to her work email account for safekeeping.
Checking her watch, Josie powered down her laptop and packed it in its protective case. She went over to the mirror, double-checking her attire and makeup. At least, Josie thought, she didn't have any outward appearance of being miserable.
Packing up her toiletries, she packed the rest of her items into her overnight bag and put her long, black woolen coat on over her black pantsuit. She put the handles of her purse and the overnight bag over her shoulder and picked up the computer case, and then exited the hotel room, closing the door behind her. Dropping the keys in the drop box, she headed out to her car. She was relatively close to downtown, so she figured it wouldn't take her more than ten minutes to reach the government building where Jen Tierney's HUD office was located.
Parking her car on the street, Josie stood looking up at the twelve-story building, and then marveled at the bustle of people on the street. All of them seemed hurried, rushed�but then it was the height of Christmas shopping season, she mused. Walking up to the main entrance to the building, Josie was more than a little surprised when she found the doors locked. She shielded her eyes and peered in through the glass doors, but the building looked deserted. Confused, she backed up a few paces, pulled out her notepad from her purse and double-checked the address against her notes. Yep, this was definitely the place.
It was then she noticed a small sign posted on the door. Walking up to read it, it said: "Due to inclement weather, all government offices will be closed until Monday, December 27th. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Josie looked up at the sky and then around. The sky was overcast, sure, but there was no precipitation. The roads were clear and dry. Shaking her head in bewilderment, she finally shrugged her shoulders and headed back to her car.
* * *
It was nearly noon before Sam had checked out of both the grocery store and the hardware store, securing the items he would need to ride out the storm. Actually he had more than enough. He could ride out a storm for three weeks with the amount of food he had bought. But he figured he'd be better off with too much than not enough. Loading the cans of kerosene for lanterns in the back of the Blazer, he shut the back with a satisfying thud. Climbing into the front, he was not surprised to hear his cell phone ringing.
Picking it up and pushing the 'talk' button, he said, "Hi, Mom�"
"Gosh, Sam!" Sarah Coulson exclaimed. "I was starting to get really worried about you! I've been calling you all morning and you haven't answered!"
"I was out getting supplies and I left it in the car," he explained.
"Oh. Okay�that's a relief. But�are you sure you don't want to come home now? We're supposed to miss the brunt of the storm here in Racine, while it seems that your area is going to be one of the hardest hit. I'm sure you could make it if you left right now�"
"Mom, I'm not coming home. I told you I wanted to be alone. Alone in a snowstorm is fine, too," Sam said.
"But� It could be days before they can get you out of there, Sam�"
"I don't have to be back to work until after the New Year. I'm sure they'll have me out by then. It's not like I have anywhere I need to go," he reasoned.
"But what if you�?" Sarah began, but Sam interrupted her.
"Mom�I am not changing my mind about this. I'm staying."
Sarah sighed, but said nothing.
"And don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while, either," Sam continued. "It's likely I won't be able to call out, even with a cell phone, for a number of days if the lines go down."
"At least let Sheriff Parker know you're in town, so they'll know to look for you."
"Already took care of it, Mom, but thanks for the suggestion." Sam paused for a moment and then said soothingly, "Mom, I'll be okay�I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."
Sarah thought that, at least emotionally, that was debatable. "I know, honey," she said. "Just be careful, and I'll talk to you when it's all over, okay?"
"All right, Mom," he agreed. "I'll talk to you soon. Love you."
"I love you too, Sam. Be careful!"
"I will. Bye."
"Bye, Sam."
Sam clicked off the talk button and then plugged his phone back into the cigarette lighter to recharge the battery. He figured that he should keep the phone charged to maximum power so that he would have it in case he did need to call someone for an emergency.
Fighting the unusual traffic, he turned east and drove toward Lake Michigan�toward the outskirts of town where the cabin was.
* * *
After grabbing breakfast at a local diner, Josie sat in her car, studying her map. Since she was leaving Green Bay a few hours ahead of schedule, she decided that she wanted to take the "scenic route" home to Chicago. Instead of taking Interstate 43, Josie decided to go east on Route 29 out to the coast, figuring she could pick up the highway again in Sheboygan and only have lost an hour or two of time. She wanted to make it back home before nightfall so she could put the finishing touches on her article and have it ready for Gus first thing in the morning.
Once Josie had reached the end of Route 29, she turned south and followed the local roads, as glimpses of the great Lake Michigan fell in and out of view with the rolling hills. The area was mostly forested, with an occasional house or general store to break the monotony of the trees.
She turned on the radio, flicking the auto search button until she landed on a soft rock music channel. The first song she heard was "If I Could Turn Back Time" by Cher, followed by "How Do I Live?" by LeAnn Rimes. Sighing, she just rolled her eyes. By now, she was used all the songs on the radio reminding her of Sam.
Sam. Josie's eyes watered, and she had to dash the tears away so that she could see the road. She missed him so much. Last night she'd dreamt of being held in his arms, snuggled together comfortably in a big brass bed. The comfort and love that emanated from him, just from his arm innocently around her waist was enough to make her weep now in daylight, far, far away from the fantasy of dreamland.
As Josie drove along, snow started to fall in small, soft flakes.
* * *
Sam looked at his watch as snow started to fall. It was only 12:30, and much too early for the storm to have rolled in. More likely it was just a lake-effect snow squall. No matter, he thought. He was only a few minutes from the cabin now, so it could snow as much as it wanted.
* * *
Five minutes later, Sam was wishing he'd never thought the snow squall didn't matter. It had quickly picked up in intensity and he was now driving at a snail's pace in practically whiteout conditions. He couldn't see more than 50 feet in front of him. But being from Wisconsin, and having grown up dealing with snow, he knew that if there was no shoulder to pull over onto (and on this two lane road, there wasn't), he needed to keep moving in order to prevent other cars behind him from hitting him because they wouldn't see him stopped.
Hunching over the wheel, Sam concentrated heavily on the road and the surroundings. He was lucky that he was familiar with the area�otherwise he didn't know how he'd manage to keep the Blazer on the road.
* * *
The windshield wipers on Josie's Buick steadily swished back and forth as the snow began to fall more heavily. She tried to keep herself loose and unworried, knowing that in another hour or so, she'd be back to the highway. The deejay said, over the end of another love song, "At the top of the hour, we'll highlight the weather conditions, but first, a special request song�"
Josie perked up, hearing that they were about to discuss the weather, but then her heart constricted painfully when she heard the request song start to play:
"Good times, for a change�
To see the luck I've had could make a good man turn bad�"
With a sob, Josie reached out and violently turned the knob to the radio, shutting the music off�but she could not turn off the thoughts the song evoked: Sam, so handsome, dressed in his tuxedo at the Senior Prom, Sam crowning her Prom Queen, Sam asking her to dance, Sam dancing close to her, holding her as they danced to that song�while Morrissey's voice crooned "Please, please, please, let me, let me, let me, let me get what I want this time�"
Tears coursed down her face as she tried to hold back the rest of the images, but they wouldn't be denied: Sam's soft vulnerability as he told her he had something he had to tell her� Sam's shocked look as she revealed her true identity, the waves of betrayal that emanated from him after he'd overheard George ask if she had the story on him, the pain, and anger, and mistrust when he turned and left her standing in the country club garden�and left her standing on the ball field.
Josie could barely see the road for her tears. Angrily, she brushed them away with her hand, only to have her vision appear to get worse. It took her a minute to realize that it was the blowing, swirling snow that hampered her view, not her tears. She had suddenly driven into a tempest, or so it seemed.
Trying to swallow her panic, she spoke to herself out loud, "Okay, Josie, you can do this�you've driven through this before�just keep moving�" She slowed down, and struggled to see more than a half a car-length ahead of her. She kept looking for someplace to pull over and wait out the worst of the blowing snow, but this road did not appear to have a breakdown lane. It was just one line of traffic in either direction with ground that sloped down into the woods from the road's edge.
"Damn it�why didn't I just let the damn song play so I could have heard the weather!?" she cursed herself aloud. She shied away from the edge of the road, afraid that she would be too close to it and drive right off the road. Ahead of her, there was only white�she could see nothing.
Josie's eyes were glued to the near edge of the road, so it wasn't until the very last minute that she saw the headlights of an oncoming vehicle clear in her path. Confused into thinking that maybe the vehicle was in her lane, she swerved to the left, thinking to go around it on its side of the road. It wasn't until her car started to lose control and slide off the far side of the street that she realized it had been she who had crossed the middle line. Trying valiantly to steer away from the edge, she only managed to turn her car 180 degrees before sliding off the road and down the embankment.
* * *
From the barely visible landmarks that Sam was able to pick out, he was very close to the turnoff for the cabin. Away from the open road, he reasoned, the blowing and drifting of the snow should not be as bad, because he knew that roads such as the one he was on acted like a wind tunnel when the snow started to fly, making a regular snowfall appear much worse. Watching the near side of the road for his turnoff, he didn't notice until the last moment that a car was mostly in his lane, and almost right in front of him.
Before he even had a chance to react, he watched in horror as the car in front of him swerved violently to his right and then the back wheels lost traction and spun the car around 180 degrees�then it slid down the embankment and out of his view.
Moments later, he heard the ghastly sound of glass breaking and metal crunching over the howl of the wind.
* * *
Josie felt the car as it slipped off the side of the road, tilting at a funny angle as it slid down the snow-covered hill like a toboggan. She could see the line of trees fast approaching and she prayed for a miracle as her life flashed before her eyes�
And then she felt the sudden jolt and crunch of the car's sudden stop as the front right of her car smashed into a tree. The seat belt tightened across her and the rough power of the airbag shoved her back and away from the windshield. But because she was so petite, the force from the sudden expansion of the airbag pushed her head back away from the direction of the crash harder than normal, and the left side of her head connected with the window on the driver's side door. The impact knocked Josie unconscious.
* * *
Heedless of the danger he was putting himself in, Sam pulled the Blazer as close to the side of the road as he could, turned on the hazard lights and jumped out, racing to the edge to look down into the gully. A huge slash of snow had been swept away by the car as it had skated down the slope. The gray Buick sedan now rested at the bottom of the hill, where its front end had collided hard with a huge oak tree.
Sam waded through the knee-deep snow down the hill, desperate to get to the car to see if anyone was seriously hurt inside. He knew that this strip of road was rarely traveled and it could be minutes or hours before anyone else came along. It was up to him to help whoever was inside that car. Reaching the driver's side of the Buick, he tried to swipe away the collecting snow and mud on the window and look inside, but the windows were too steamed up to see in. He knocked against the window hard, hoping to hear someone call out, but no one did.
Frantically, Sam reached for the door handle, forcing the door open on hinges that no longer worked the way they should. Inside, he could see a huge mound of material, presumably the deflated airbag, and a woman. A lone woman with her head turned away from him, and she seemed to be unconscious. Fearing the worst, he put a finger to her throat, and was relieved to feel a pulse beating strongly. The woman moaned a little in protest against his cold fingers and the blast of the snow blowing at her.
Hearing her moan, Sam leaned in, trying to shield the woman as much as he could from the wind howling around them. Placing a hand on the woman's shoulder, he said, "Hey, are you okay?"
Sam watched as the woman groggily shook her head as if to clear it, and then drift back into unconsciousness. But as she did, she turned her head so that she was now facing him.
Sam felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach. His head spun and he had to grasp the top of the open door to keep from falling over. 'No! It couldn't be! It can't be!' his mind rebelled.
But it was. There was no mistaking that the unconscious woman in the car was none other than Josie Geller herself.
* * *