Standard disclaimer: Characters don't belong to me, they belong to Sony/Tristar television.  No copyright infringement intended.

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Snow Angels
by Maryilee
 

 "Ahhhh!"  Gary yawned, stretching sleepily.  He rolled over, and burrowed more deeply under the warm covers, hugging the pillow close to his face.  He blinked drowsily, slightly confused.  Why was it so light in the room, he wondered?  Lifting his head, he looked at his alarm clock.  Eight-twenty.

"OhmyGodthepaper!"  He bolted out of bed and dashed to the door, flinging it open. There it was, in the usual spot. He had almost hoped that maybe this would be the day that he didn't get it anymore. He let out a sigh of frustration, or was it relief?  He didn't stop to reflect on it, as he was too startled by the sight that met his eyes.
 
On top of the paper, curled up into a cuddly ball, was the cat; one paw partially covering his eyes.  Always before when Gary opened the door in the morning, the cat would meow loudly and dart into the room --its manner all business-like and urgent.  This was new; the cat actually was acting like...well...like...a cat.  Gary was dumbfounded as he bent, and gently nudged the sleepy creature off the paper.  The cat purred, and rose reluctantly, arching its orange back and stretching.  He twined himself in and out of Gary's legs, rubbing his fur up against Gary's calves.
 
"Hey, what's the matter?  Are you sick?"  Gary asked, slightly worried.  The cat *had* been sick one time before.
 
The orange ball of fur just sat and calmly started washing himself.
 
"Well, I guess you're okay." Gary said out loud as he squatted to examine the feline.  The fur was soft and had a healthy shine.  Gary absently scratched the cat behind the ears, as the cat closed it's eyes in ecstasy, tilting its head to give Gary better access.  Gary chuckled and stood up.  He studied the headline on the paper.
 
 "Major Winter Storm Buries City"
 
The article gave the details of the storm, which was apparently going to dump sixteen inches of snow on the city.  Gary glanced out the window.  A fresh blanket of snow was already covering everything. The air was thick with millions of big, fluffy snowflakes floating to the ground.
 
Not seeing any major catastrophes that needed his immediate attention; Gary headed for the bathroom and took a long hot shower.
 
"I know I have some somewhere!" he muttered in exasperation, as he dug through his bureau.  "Yes, I knew it!" He grinned triumphantly as he pulled out a pair of long johns.  He found a matching thermal undershirt and quickly donned them, pulling a pair of jeans and a dark blue turtleneck and a sweater a few shades darker, over it all.  He followed these with two pairs of socks, and finally a pair of insulated hiking boots.  Now he was ready for whatever Mother Nature, and the paper, sent his way.
 
He quickly straightened his room, tossing dirty clothes into a basket, making a mental note to do some laundry in the next few days.  He started to make his bed, but the cat was now firmly entrenched in the middle of it, sound asleep and purring loudly.  Gary grinned, he didn't have the heart to toss the animal off the bed, shrugging, he left him there and went downstairs to the bar.
 
 
Marissa and Chuck were already there, sipping cups of coffee.  Chuck was reading the Chicago Tribune, and Marissa had some books in front of her, her fingers lightly skimming the pages.
 
Gary grabbed a mug and filled it with hot, steaming coffee,  "Good morning, Marissa, Chuck."  He said as he pulled out a chair and sat down.  "You guys are here early today."  He commented, taking a sip of the fragrant brew.
 
Chuck glanced up from the sports section, "Early?  Have you looked at the clock?  It's after nine."  He folded the paper and set it down.  "We thought that you had already gone out this morning."
 
 Marissa smiled, "Yes, where have you been?"
 
 Gary glanced down sheepishly, "I overslept."
 
"No way!" Chuck exclaimed.  "That fur-bag wouldn't let you do that. What did ya do?  Put it in a sack and toss it in the river?"  Chuck chuckled at his morbid attempt at humor.
 
 "Chuck!  That's sick." Marissa admonished, smiling anyway.
 
"No, I didn't toss it in the river." Gary scoffed.  "In fact, the 'fur-bag' is sleeping up in my room."  Gary shook his head; "It is weird though.  I mean, Chuck is right. The cat never lets me sleep late."  He went on to tell them how he found the cat lying on the paper.
 
Marissa thought for a moment, her elbows propped on the table, cradling the coffee cup between her hands.  "Maybe the paper is giving you a day off."
 
 "Ha!"  Chuck barked out.  "He wishes."
 
 Gary shot him a dirty look, but shook his head side to side; "I doubt it.  There's gonna be a major snowstorm today, so I'm sure that all kinds of things will go wrong."
 
 "Not necessarily."  Marissa said.
 
 "What do ya mean?" Gary asked, hope flickering reluctantly in him.
 
"Well, today is Sunday, so there won't be much of a traffic problem and Sunday is usually a slow day anyway, soooo...maybe that cat knows that, and chose to let you sleep in."  Marissa finished, taking a sip of coffee.
 
 "Well, maybe."  Gary admitted, trying not to get his hopes up.  He pulled the paper out of his back pocket, and started a thorough search.  His coffee growing cold as he absently sipped it.
 
 The phone rang, and Chuck got up to answer it.  Marissa went back to her studying.
 
In the next half-hour, the phone rang several times.  Each time, Chuck rose to answer it. Gary continued his search of the paper "Well, it looks like were going to have to close today." Chuck said as he made his way back to the table.
 
 Gary glanced up from the paper, Marissa may have been right; he could find nothing that needed his attention.  Turning to Chuck, he asked, "What?  Why?"
 
 "The cook, the bartender and most of the waitresses have called to say that they are snowed in."

Gary looked out the front windows; the snow was coming down so hard, he couldn't see the street.  He got up and walked over to the window.
 
 "Wow!"  He breathed softly.  It was beautiful out.  All the dirt and harsh lines of buildings were blanketed in pure white, muting the shapes of buildings and parked cars, until everything was just one unbroken expanse of soft white.  Nothing moved outside.  There were no pedestrians, no cars racing by, not even any pigeons flew by to break the stillness of the scene.
 
Marissa approached, pausing next to Gary.
 
"What's it like outside?"  She asked softly, a wistful look flitting across her face.
 
"It's beauti-" Gary turned, about to describe it, when he saw the expression flash across Marissa' countenance
 
 He grinned. He had an idea.  "Come on, let's go out and see what it's like."  He grabbed her hand.
 
 Marissa smiled; Gary's enthusiasm contagious. "Well, okay, but let me get my stuff on."  She hurried to the office, eager to go out.
 
"Are you guys nuts?" Chuck said incredulously.  "It's cold out there and snowing like crazy.  Nobody in their right mind would go out in this unless they have to."  He shook his head.
 
 "Aww, come on Chuck, it'll be fun.  Remember when we were kids?  We loved these kinds of days."  Gary appealed with a hopeful smile.
 
 Chuck sighed, "Aw, okay, but we'll freeze our as-"
 
 "I'm ready!" Marissa interrupted, all bundled up in mittens and boots.
 
 "Okay, I'll be right back."  Gary turned and dashed up to his room.
 
 "Hey!  Do you have any extra gloves?" Chuck hollered after him.
 
 Two minutes later, Gary was downstairs all decked out in winter gear, carrying an extra hat and gloves for Chuck.
 
 
 All three ready, they ventured outside, Marissa following Spike.  Though it was still snowing heavily, the air was still, and it didn't feel too cold.
 
Gary looked up into the sky.  He let his head fall back, blinking up at a never ending cascade of snowflakes, one following the other, until looking up at them almost made him dizzy.  He laughed, and held his hand out, trying to catch one especially fat snowflake.
 
Marissa also had her face to the sky, her eyes closed, feeling the snow gently falling on her face.  Suddenly she stuck out her tongue to try to snare a flake out of the sky.  She giggled as one went in her nose.
 
 Even Chuck seemed entranced with the snow.  He watched Marissa's attempts to catch snow in her mouth, and decided to help her out.  Grinning, he grabbed a handful of snow, and winking at Gary, he plopped the snow into Marissa's mouth.
 
 "Hey!"  She sputtered, laughing.  "Who did that?"
 
 Gary and Chuck dissolved into laughter, as Marissa pretended to be indignant. She bent down and scooped up some snow, and threw it in the direction of all the laughter, hitting Chuck on the back of the head with the cold stuff.
 
 Gary threw some snow at Chuck also, and soon all three gasping for breath as they flung snow at each other, even Spike got into the act, as though he knew what was going on.  As soon as Marissa would scoop up snow, he would lead her towards Gary or Chuck, and when they were throwing snow at Marissa, he would lead her away so that only her back would get hit.  Spike's tongue was out, lolling as though he was grinning at his cleverness.
 
 Their snow fight took them around the corner, and Gary and Chuck stopped when they heard someone cursing.  They looked across the street, and spotted an older gentleman trying to push his car out of a snow bank.
 
 "Hey!  Need some help?"  Gary offered, as he strode over.  He looked over his shoulder, "Come on Chuck, let's get his car un-stuck!"
 
 The older man looked grateful.  "Thank you so much.  My daughter is at the hospital, and I was trying to get up to see her."
 
 "I'm sorry to hear that." Gary answered.  "We should be able to get you unstuck, but I don't know if you should try driving any farther today."  Gary eyed the car doubtfully.  It was facing into a large snow-bank.
 
 "Why don't you get in and steer, while my buddy and I push, okay?"  Gary said, taking charge.
 
 The man nodded, and got in. Gary and Chuck braced themselves against the car, and gave the signal for the man to put the car in reverse.  After much grunting and straining, the car broke free of the snow bank.  The man stopped the car, and leaving it running got out.
 
 "Thank you so much." He said as he reached for his wallet.  He pulled a twenty out, and tried to give it to Gary.
 
 Gary smiled and shook his head. "No, we can't accept that.  But you should reconsider about trying to drive anywhere today.  I have a feeling that we are in for a lot more snow before this is all through."
 
 The man looked uncertain.  "But what else can I do?  I doubt that I can get back home any more easily than I can get to the hospital."
 
 Chuck, who was starting to get cold, saw this as a chance to get back inside.  "Why don't you go in McGinty's?"  Nodding to Gary, he went on.  "We own the place, and you can use the phone, and wait out the storm there."
 
 "Yeah, that's a good idea."  Gary added  "You and Marissa can make some fresh coffee and dig up something to make for lunch.  While you guys are doing that, I'll shovel some of this snow."
 
 The man nodded.  "Okay, what should I do with my car, though?"
 
 Gary thought for a moment.  If the car were left on the street, it would get plowed in.  There was a private parking lot in back of McGinty's.  If the snow wasn't too deep yet, they might be able to get it in there.  He suggested this to the man, who agreed, and allowed Gary drive it into the lot.
 
  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 

Huffing and puffing from the exertion, he tossed the last shovel full of snow on top of the pile he had created. Suddenly, he noticed how hungry he was, and remembered he hadn't eaten anything yet today.  He rested the shovel next to the front door, and went inside, stomping snow off his feet, and brushing it off his jeans.

The restaurant smelled good.  The aroma of coffee, hot chocolate and bacon wafting from the kitchen made Gary's stomach rumble noisily.

The older man had made himself comfortable at the bar, a bacon sandwich and potato chips in a basket in front of him, his eyes glued to the TV above the bar.

Gary wandered into the kitchen, surprised to find Chuck busily cooking more bacon and making toast.  Marissa was pouring hot chocolate into mugs.  One of the busboys had made it in, and was stacking some plates on a shelf.  Since he had gone to all the trouble to get to work, they couldn't very well send him back home.

Gary smiled as he snatched a mug, and plopped some marshmallows into it.  "It looks like Chuck has found himself another job." He teased.

Chuck looked up from his task, grinning, "Hey, at least it keeps me warm."

Gary and Marissa laughed, and pitched in to help.  Soon, all three took plates out to the bar, and ate, making small talk with the man, who Gary found out after introducing himself, was named Benjamin Greenberg.

His daughter had just had a baby, and he had been on his way to visit her, and his new grandson.

"Congratulations!"  Gary smiled, taking a bite of his BLT.

He had retrieved the newspaper from his room, and studied it to see if anything had changed.  In the metro section, he found a small article about a man who died of a heart attack from shoveling snow.  The address listed for the man was only a couple of blocks away.  Gary glanced at his watch, it was almost twelve o'clock now, the paper said that the man died around three.  It didn't say when the victim had first started having symptoms though.  For all Gary knew, the man may have been at the hospital for a while before he died. Gary quickly finished his lunch, and started getting his coat back on.

"Where are you going?"  Chuck asked

Not wanting to say too much in front of Mr.Greenberg, Gary just mumbled something about shoveling some more snow.

"Need some help?"  Chuck offered

Gary looked up in surprise.  Chuck rarely offered to help.  Usually Gary had to cajole him.  "Uhh, sure.  There's another shovel in the storage closet.  I'll meet you around back."

A few minutes later, Chuck emerged from the back door, shovel in hand.

"So, what's up?" Chuck asked

"Oh, well, some guy is going to have a heart attack shoveling snow. I thought that if I got there first and started shoveling, he won't have to, so then he shouldn't have a reason to have a heart attack."

Chuck nodded, and the pair continued walking, in silence.  The snow had let up slightly, and as they passed houses, they could see kids starting to come out and play.

Chuck broke the silence after a while, commenting, "This reminds of when we were kids.  Remember how we used to go around making money shoveling driveways?"

Gary smiled and nodded.  " Oh yeah. We would race to see who could shovel faster."

Chuck laughed.  "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I never actually raced.  I just let you think I was, so that you would shovel faster, and I wouldn't have to do so much."

"What?" Gary exclaimed, laughing.  "No wonder I always won."

"Umhm, but we always split the money in half, so really you were the loser, 'cause you did at least three quarters of the work." Chuck said gleefully.

Gary laughed, shaking his head.  "Remember Mrs. Antonelli?  She used to pay the best, and always had cookies and hot chocolate ready for us when we were done."

"Oh yeah." Chuck remembered.  "But she always liked you best.  She always gave you more cookies and more marshmallows in your hot chocolate."

"Maybe it was because she knew that I shoveled more snow."

"Yeah, probably." Chuck agreed, grinning.  "I could never fool her.  She would pinch my cheek and say, 'I know what you're up to, young man.'"

They arrived at the address of the would-be heart attack victim. Gary started shoveling.  Chuck looked around.

"What?  We don't go up to the door and ask him if he wants us to, or anything?"  Chuck asked, feeling kind of silly shoveling a complete stranger's driveway.

"Nope. If we ask, he'll probably say no." Gary said, bent to his task. "I mean look at the house.  Does it look like he can afford to pay anyone to shovel?"

Chuck had to admit that it looked like the house had seen better days.

"He probably has too much pride to let anyone do it for nothing." Gary continued.  Gary stopped to take a deep breath from the exertion.  No wonder the guy would have had a heart attack.  The snow was fairly heavy, and Gary could feel a sweat breaking out already.  "So, we just shovel, and hopefully he won't notice us until it's too late, and we're done."

"Uh, okay." Chuck answered, it made sense, but he still felt silly.

Twenty minutes later, they were done, leaning heavily on their shovels and breathing hard.  The owner of the house hadn't seemed to notice them outside, which was good, as Gary didn't really feel like explaining why they were out there.

Gary dug the paper out of his coat, and turned to the page where he had seen the article.  It was gone.  He grinned at Chuck.  "We did it."

"Great."  Chuck agreed, half-heartedly, his back already sore. "Let's go back to McGinty's now.

Gary was scanning the paper, trying to read through the snowflakes.  Suddenly, his eyes widened, "Oh man!"  he exclaimed.

Chuck groaned.  "Don't tell me that we have to shovel another driveway."

Gary looked up with a wide smile, "No, just don't miss tonight's Bull's game.  It's gonna be a good one."

"You were reading the sports?  I thought that you didn't do that.  How come you won't let me?"

Gary shook his head, and started to walk back to McGinty's.  "I never said that.  I read it. I just don't bet on the results.  There's a big difference."  He gave Chuck a playful shove.  "Come on.  There's nothing more in the paper today."

On their way back, they noticed all the snowmen that had sprouted up.  They stopped walking, and critically eyed one, comparing it to snowmen that they had made as kids.

"It's pretty good.  I'd give it an eight."  Gary said cocking his head to the side and eyeing the five-foot high frozen balls of snow.  There was a baseball cap perched on its head, rocks for eyes, a radish for a nose, and it looked like cranberries formed the mouth.  Two sticks stuck out of the sides.

"I don't know." Chuck said doubtfully. "I'm sure ours were much bigger."

Gary laughed.  "I don't' think so.  We were just much smaller."

"Are you sure?  It seems like ours were about eight feet tall."

They started walking again, only to find that they were someone's targets.  What started out as one snowball, soon became a flurry, as it seemed a whole army of children was waging war on them.

"Hey!  You little rugrats!"  Chuck bellowed, as a snowball caught him full in the chest.

Gary was too busy laughing to duck, and was soon pelted with at least a dozen snowballs.  He threw down his shovel.  " This means war!"  he shouted as he scooped up a ball of snow, and flung it toward a snow fort that was just to the left of the snowman.  Laughter and squeals let Gary know that his snowball had met its mark.

 Chuck was throwing snowballs as fast as he could make them, and within a ten minutes, Gary and Chuck forced the laughing, screaming kids to surrender.

"We give!  We give!" shouted one of the kids, as he waved a white scarf tied to a stick, above the wall of the snow fort.  Well, the scarf was mostly white, except for the little Batman figures all over it.

The kids, only four of them as it turned out, showed themselves, as they came from behind the fort.

"Do you always throw snowballs at strangers?"  Chuck demanded with mock sternness.

One young boy, about nine, grinned. "No, but there wasn't anyone else around to throw at.

Gary threw his head back and laughed, elbowing Chuck. "Yeah, Chuck, we were the only ones around.  What do expect the poor kids to do?"

A little girl, about five, was the last to come from behind the fort.  She solemnly looked up at Gary with big blue eyes.  "I didn't throw any snowballs.  I just made the snowballs for my brother."

Gary knelt down, smiling  "I bet you made really good ones, too."

She smiled shyly, and nodded.  "I can make snow angels too.  Want to see?"

Gary looked at Chuck, who smiled and shrugged.  With their luck, any moment the mom would come out and accuse them of attempted kidnapping.

Gary turned back to the little girl.  "I'd love to see."  She grabbed his hand, and led him to some fresh, untouched snow.  She turned to face him, and grinning, fell backwards, and started opening her arms and legs in a jumping jack motion.  She wasn't quite sure how to get out without spoiling her angel, so Gary offered a hand, and pulled her straight up.

"See?  Look, it's an angel! " She said excitedly.

Gary smiled and agreed, "It sure is.  It's a beautiful angel."

"Can you make one?"  She asked in all innocence.

Chuck snorted, and clapped his hand to his mouth to stifle the laughter.  Gary glared at him.

"Um, well, I...uh...I might be too big to make one." He stammered

Her face fell.  "Oh.  I guess my brother was right.  Adults are too old to believe in angels."

Gary stood up determinedly and marched to another fresh expanse of snow.  Holding his arms at his side, he fell backwards.  He wasn't quite prepared for the jolt of hitting the ground.  He didn't remember that from when he was a kid.  Of course, he did have a lot farther to fall now, he thought wryly.  He felt silly with Chuck grinning and guffawing over him, but he resolutely began moving his arms and legs in the 'angel movements'.  Done, he held his hand up to Chuck, who hauled him to his feet.

"Oooooh, it's beautiful!" breathed the little girl in wonder.  "It's so much  bigger than mine. I bet it's the same size as my daddy."  She looked up at Gary, who was brushing snow off his legs.  "My daddy's an angel, do you think he looks like that?"  She said, pointing at Gary's creation.

Gary stopped brushing his legs, and felt a lump come to his throat.  Chuck had stopped laughing and looked stricken.

Gary knelt down, "I bet he looks just like it.  Even better, probably."

She shook her head, "No, not better.  I want him to look just like that."  She said with a firm nod, and sat in the snow, staring at the angel.

Gary and Chuck backed away, and picked up their shovels.  The other kids had gone back to playing in the snow fort.  They started walking away.

"Hey mister!"

Gary turned.

"Thanks!"  She grinned.

Gary grinned back, waving.

Chuck clapped him on the shoulder.  "Come on, I'm freezing."
 

McGinty's was warm and inviting.  There were several more people in the bar, and from the number of stranded cars out front, most were stuck there until tow trucks and plows could get them out.

Soon the bar grew noisy as the crowd became boisterous.  Gary laughed and joked with the customers as he tended bar.  Chuck was in the kitchen cooking up soup and making burgers, while Marissa directed the busboy in cleaning up.  By midnight, everyone had found a way home, and Chuck had given Marissa a ride to her apartment.

Up in his room, Gary peeled off the layers of clothing, and flopped into bed.  He was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow, but not before he reflected on what a nice day it had been.

The End
 

Email the author: Maryilee
 
 

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