The power had gone out at some point in the night. Lucy wasn't sure when, guessing she was too deeply asleep to be awoken by the absence of sound from the old radiators. It must have been hours ago. The chill in the air cut right through her cheerful reindeer and elf pajama set.
Last night she had fallen asleep on top of the covers, too warm from a belly full of lasagna and hot toddies. Now she could see her breath. She pulled a thick pair of socks over the thin orange pair she had slept in and scrambled to find her hat and gloves.
"Ughh. Winter…" she muttered to herself as she looked across the room at Wyatt, snoring away under the covers of his twin bed. Tip-toeing out, she made her way to the kitchen with one thought on her mind: the procurement and consumption of vast quantities of coffee.
The cabin was well equipped, as far as rental cabins in the secluded wooded mountains of Washington State go. There wasn't a lot of room to maneuver but it had all the basics: a small refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a 5-cup coffee maker sitting on the peeling laminated counter. Unfortunately all these appliances required electricity to operate.
Rufus was lamenting to his mother, Pauline, about her inability to make breakfast when Lucy walked in.
"All year, Mom! All year Kevin and I wait for your French toast," he said it a mock-whiney voice.
"You know I can make it anytime, honey. You just need to ask." She responded.
"Its not the same. They taste better on Christmas morning," he said. He smiled at her and gave her a big bear hug. She laughed and said, "The secret ingredient is love and that's in season year round."
Watching from the doorway, Lucy felt a pang of jealousy in her gut. Before her mother revealed that she was a prominent member of Rittenhouse, they had had their differences, sure, but there had been love, trust, and respect. Now there was nothing, not even cordiality, between the Preston women. Over the course of one conversation, Lucy lost the last bit of her family. Rittenhouse profoundly reframed her entire life - past, present, and future - without the use of a time machine. Seeing Rufus and his mother sharing a tender moment made her loss seem even more acute.
Pauline looked up, and seeing Lucy in the doorway she said, "Merry Christmas, Lucy dear! It's shaping up to be a cold one!"
"Seems that way," Lucy responded as she blew into her gloved hands to give them some warmth. "Any idea what happened to the power?"
"A downed power line somewhere. We got about 3 feet of snow last night. I called the owner of this place and she said that there was an avalanche nearby which is preventing maintenance crews from getting to us. Plus, you know, it's Christmas," said Rufus, "I don't think they are exactly in a rush to fix anything."
Pauline took a deep breath saying, "We will just make the best of it. We are all here, safe, warm…ish, and together. The Grinch won't steal this Christmas. Lucy, go wake up Jiya and Wyatt. My genius son and I will figure something out as far as sustenance."
Wishing hard that the coffee pot would magically fill itself, Lucy ventured to the room Rufus and Jiya were sharing towards the back of the cabin. It had been a few weeks since Jiya's last "time seizure" as they had taken to calling her episodes. They seemed to happen whenever she got emotional or stressed and Lucy hoped a power outage in the middle of nowhere during a blizzard wouldn't cause her too much alarm. Lucy gently knocked and heard a muffled "come in" and slowly opened the door. Jiya was awake, sitting up in bed, covered in blankets, and staring at her phone.
"Please tell me a fuse blew and it is just this room that doesn't have power."
"Sorry, lady. It's the whole cabin. Plus there's been an avalanche. And there's no coffee. We are doomed," she said cheerfully.
Jiya let out a frustrated noise and threw herself backwards on the bed. "I told Rufus when we were driving here that this place looked too much like Rura Penthe for my comfort. Why must I be so burdened with being right all the time?"
"You're a regular Cassandra, Jiya," Lucy said.
"Who's Cassandra?" asked Jiya.
"What's Rura Penthe?" asked Lucy.
"Rura Penthe is the Klingon prison planet in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Cassandra was the Trojan princess cursed by Apollo to see the future but never be able to convince anyone that her visions were real."
Both women turned to the doorway. Rufus' little brother Kevin stood there, looking very impressed with himself. "What, you thought Rufus was the only smart one in the family? I know things!"
Both women laughed heartily and the three of them commiserated about the cold conditions in their once cozy cabin and Rufus' wayward idea to rent a place so far away from civilization for their Christmas getaway.
After a few minutes, Lucy left Jiya and Kevin to complete her mission to rouse all the troops. She quietly crept back into the room she and Wyatt shared. The room had two twin beds, separated by a rustic nightstand. Wyatt was still in his bed, sleeping on his side with one of his pillows covering his face, a feeble attempt to block noise and light, Lucy thought.
The cabin had three bedrooms total; two with two twin beds and one with a queen. The original plan had been for Rufus and Jiya to share the queen, Lucy and Pauline split one twin room, and Kevin and Wyatt in the other. But last night Pauline decided to call it an early night and Kevin, probably bored out of his mind by the heavily redacted work-related conversation of the adults, soon followed suit. Rather than risk getting woken up by their respective roommates at some point in the middle of the night, Kevin moved his things into his mother's room and deposited Lucy's suitcase on his former bed.
Lucy pretended that she was apathetic about this change of plans, but deep down she was happy with the new arrangement. She wasn't fully ready to admit it to herself yet, but the idea of getting to spend just a few more waking moments with Wyatt during this trip made her happy.
And her happiness was hard to come by these days, especially during the holiday season. She had fully expected to spend Christmas morning at the bottom of a bottle of Malbec, alone in her new, devoid of anything personal, corporate apartment. When Pauline and Rufus extended the invitation to their family holiday vacation, she was overjoyed. When she learned that Wyatt was coming too she was elated. This was her new family. Not the one she was born into, not even one she chose. But it was the family she, Jiya, Rufus, and Wyatt had built on trust, mutual respect, and maybe even love.
Lucy tip-toed to Wyatt's bedside.
"Wyatt…. Wyatt." Getting no response, she poked him gently on the shoulder.
"Wyatt, are you alive?" Louder this time.
Nothing.
"LOGAN!" she yelled. He kicked the covers off of himself and hopped out of bed in roughly 2 seconds.
"What's going on? What's wrong? Lucy?" His eyes were barely open. He struggled to focus them on the source of the yelling while she doubled over in laughter.
Once he realized what was happening, he barked at her "What the hell is wrong with you? What kind of person wakes someone up like that?"
"Hey, I tried to do it nicely. You were sleeping like the dead," she responded.
"Yeah, and that nearly never happens. Do you know the last time I actually slept through the night? It has been months. So thank you for depriving me of that." he said angrily. Her face flushed. Even though she knew he was over-reacting, she immediately felt guilty.
Realizing how harsh he sounded, he tried to ameliorate the situation. "It's ok," he said, "no damage done. I just need some coffee. I'm not a morning person."
"Yeah…..about the coffee…..the cabin has no power."
Wyatt's mood did not improve with this knowledge.
Fortunately, Rufus' foraging around the cabin resulted in finding an old camping stove. Once Rufus located some matches, they were able to boil water for coffee and make some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Halfway through cooking, his cell phone rang. The owner of the cabin called to check on them and let them know that it would be at least tomorrow before the power was back on.
"I'll refund your money if you want to leave. I'm so sorry this has ruined your Christmas. But if you do decide to leave, please be careful. The roads are treacherous."
They all piled into the dining area. Jiya and Wyatt were clinging to their coffee cups as if they were giving them oxygen. Lucy had already downed two cups before they sat down. Rufus told them of his discussion with the landlord.
"So, should we stay or should we go?" he asked, after explaining the situation.
"Where would we go if we left?" questioned Pauline. "Its Christmas. I'm sure most hotels are booked up already. And I don't want to risk being out on those roads in this weather if we don't have to. It's snowing again. I vote we stick it out here."
"I agree," said Jiya. "I mean, I'm cold, but we can layer up."
"I checked the shed on the side of the house. There's enough firewood in there to keep the fireplace in the living room going for at least 36 hours. It's not ideal, but hey, it's not the French and Indian War," Wyatt said, with a smile creeping up the corner of his lips.
Pauline, who had never heard this particular idiom before, gave Rufus a puzzled look. He quickly responded to move the conversation along. "So we are agreed then. We stay?"
"We stay," said Lucy, "as long as the Chocodiles hold out," and she winked at Rufus.