"Hey Al, look, they're talking about Mom on that Clothes show," Jason exclaimed from the couch, causing Allison to look up from the sketch she was completing.
"Oh my God," she gasped, "Jas, turn it up!" Allison went to the couch and sat down on the arm rest.
The commentators were discussing one of Elizabeth's new gowns that she'd recently worn to a dinner with some foreign dignitaries.
"Midnight blue is an excellent color on the Secretary," the commentator said, "it really brings out-"
"...The color of her eyes," Allison finished with a grin, causing Jason to look at her.
He rolled his eyes at his sister, "You've seen this already."
Allison shook her head, "Nope."
"How'd you know they were gonna say that about Mom's eyes?" Jason asked, puzzled.
"That's the dress Mom asked me to pick out for her," she explained, "I picked it specifically for the sweetheart neckline and the midnight blue color."
"Okay, I'm gonna pretend like I know what that means and say it's nice," Jason replied and Allison lightly smacked his foot.
"Al, this is really good." Allison turned around to see their father standing at the table looking at her sketchbook.
"Thanks Dad," she said, leaning against the back of the couch.
"On Fashion's Fab and Fiascoes, they were just talking about the dress I picked out for Mom to wear to that dinner last week. The one she had with that Ambassador."
"No way! The blue one?" Henry inquired, shaking his head at Jason as he made choking motions behind Allison's back.
Allison smiled, somehow Henry always remembered. "Yeah, they said the color really brought out her eyes," she elaborated, proudly.
Henry grinned, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Pretty soon Mom's gonna have to put you on her payroll as her personal fashion, uh..." Henry trailed off, looking at her, "What do they call those-?"
"Consultant or maybe a stylist," she answered, blushing softly at her father's praise.
"Hey listen," Henry said, coming around the side of the couch to look at both of his children. "I just got a call from a colleague. He accidentally picked up my folder of exams and took it to his office by mistake. I've gotta get those graded as soon as I can, so I have to run to Georgetown. Anybody wanna come?"
"Dad, it's like 7 degrees outside and a forecast of snowy DOOM! No school for days!" Jason exclaimed, getting up from the couch to turn on his video game.
Henry ruffled his son's hair, "I'll take that as a "no."
"Does it mean anything to you that it's Thursday night, Jas? We only have one school day left this week: Friday. Then it's the weekend and we don't go to school then," Allison explained in an overly dramatic slow voice. "One day off isn't much to celebrate, goofball."
"Go ahead," Jason started, sighing. "Keep making fun of me. Maybe the Quakers will change their minds and make you go to school in five feet of snow and I'll get to stay home."
Henry jumped in, "Nobody's going to school tomorrow which is why I have to get to my office and grab those tests, so we can be snowed in for the long weekend!"
"Snowball fight tomorrow morning?!" Jason cried, pulling on a blanket from the back of the couch and glancing at his father. "I'll beat you, old man!"
Henry laughed, "You're on, kid. But remember, I taught you everything you know." He gave Jason a high-five over the side of the couch. "I'll be back as soon as I can," Henry told him.
"I'll go with you, Dad," Allison said, sliding her sketchbook into her bag.
"You sure, Noodle?"
"I want to," she answered, going to the closet to pull on her heavy coat and scarf.
"You guys are nuts!" Jason yelled from the living room.
"Yeah, we love you, too!" Henry yelled back in response, making Jason laugh.
"Al, let me put some salt on the stairs before we leave," Henry said, reaching for the bag of salt and the shovel from inside the closet. He tossed the keys to Allison, "You wanna start the car for me?"
His daughter nodded and ventured out the door. At the last moment before stepping on to the cold snow, she grabbed his arm, reminding him of when she was little, and tested the snow covered ground of the alleyway with her boots.
She shuffled her way to the car and opened the door with only slight difficulty. The wind was blocked by the homes back here so the doors would not freeze closed. Henry glanced up as Allison started the car, knowing she'd put the heater on full blast. She hopped out of the front seat with the ice scraper in her hand and set to work brushing the snow off of the Jeep. Henry heard her laugh softly and turned to find her in a moment of her own, completely uninhibited. His nearly seventeen year old daughter was twirling around in circles, her arms thrown out for balance, the sparkle of the snow glittering around her.
Henry laughed, "You gonna be a ballerina, Noodle?"
Allison smiled, mischievously. "No, I think I'll leave that to Jas," she said sweetly, making Henry laugh some more.
As he put the shovel and the salt bag back in the house, he had a sudden thought.
"Hey Allie, you wanna drive?" he asked her, sticking his head back out the door to look at her. Allison bit her lip and Henry was reminded strongly of Elizabeth for an instant, before, "I've never driven in this much snow before, Dad." she admitted.
Henry nodded, "I know. That's why I thought it might be a good time for you to practice. There's not gonna be a lot of people on the road tonight, Noodle. Could be the perfect time to get your snow legs..."
Allison doubled over in laughter, "Snow legs? Dad, it's not a boat."
"All right, all right there Miss Giggles, I'll drive there and show you how it's done. You can drive home if you want to," Henry told her, smiling as he slid into the front seat and Allison did the same on the passenger side. "Sound like a deal?"
"Deal," Allison agreed, giving him a fist bump with her mitten clad hand.
The snow in the lane crunched loudly as the Jeep drove out into the neighborhood.
"Seat belt?" Allie asked him, making her voice go deep to mimic her father as she repeated the check list he gave to her when she was first learning to drive.
"Check."
"Headlights on?"
"Check."
"Visibility clear?"
Henry laughed, "You make a darn good co-pilot, Noodle."
Allison smiled, "I distinctly remember Mom telling me that I could not only "have a Fighter Pilot teach me how to drive..."
"And yet!..."
"And yet, here we are." she finished with another laugh.
They drove in silence for a little while, Henry not going more than 30 miles per hour. Jason had been right about one thing, the snow was deep and it was starting to pile into drifts along the road.
Allison reached for the radio dial. "Hey, before you put that on," Henry said, "I want you to see something. I'm only going around 30 miles per hour but sometimes you can slide in this weather going even slower. If I tell you to put us into a lower gear, you know what that means, right?"
Allison looked down at the gear shift, "I'd put it into 3rd?"
"Exactly, you'd put your foot on the break and downshift into a lower gear. It makes it easier for the car to get traction that way."
Allison glanced at him sheepishly, "I actually forgot about that from studying my test."
"Aw, it's all right, Noodle. Nobody remembers things they don't put into practice regularly. I've just got a lot more years of driving in these conditions under my belt than you do," Henry told her.
Allison yawned, "And Grandpa had to walk 34 miles in the snow both ways to and from school..."
Henry smirked, "You getting tired of me already?"
"Nope, just thought you were going to go into a tirade about how cold it was when you were young and the dinosaurs roamed around," Allison jabbed playfully, making Henry reach across the seat to tickle her side.
"All right, put your tunes on," Henry sighed, pressing the radio dial. He listened as Allie hummed along to a female vocalist's song with a decent beat.
This was their second winter away from the farm. He missed the land and the barn. He knew the kids missed the house and Jason missed playing hockey on the pond when it froze over. Their new life had been more than generous to them and they had a lot to be thankful for. Still, Henry thought, he'd like to take them back there, someday. Healthy family, a warm house, Henry tallied all of the good things in his life in his head. Elizabeth had gotten to sleep in this morning. He'd awakened to squint at the clock through through her haze of golden hair and her warm weight on his chest. That was a precious commodity he was definitely thankful for. Nights like this, he thought. Nights without another soul on the road and the snow falling and my daughter sitting beside me tapping her feet against the dashboard to some kind of musi- what did that singer just say?
The song ended and a new one began. "Aww yeah!" Henry cried, turning up the volume. "This is my jam!"
"Dad! This is-"
"Pitbull! Come on, Al! I know Mr. 305!" Henry said, fighting and failing to keep the laughter out of his voice.
Allison stared at her father in shock and when Henry started to dance she began to laugh.
"Oh my God!" she cried, giggling as she grabbed her phone, "This is going on my Instagram!"
"Does Jason have one of those? Instagrams? Because he really might take me out tomorrow in this snowball fight, if he sees this!"
The song ended as they pulled up to a red light, both of them breathless from laughter.
"Does Mom know about this?" Allison cried, happily.
"Know about what?" Henry asked, grinning.
"Your Man Crush on Pitbull?"
Henry laughed, "Whoa! I wouldn't go that far, considering I don't even know what he looks like. I prefer to have my "Man Crushes" on your mother."
His daughter rolled her eyes through her giggles, then looked out the window, "Dad, there isn't anybody out here. You can probably go."
Henry looked both ways at the deserted intersection. "You never know, Al," he said, laughter still tinting his voice.
The light turned green, shining brightly against the dark clouds and the white snow, and the Jeep slid slightly as Henry eased his foot on the gas pedal. They moved forward into the intersection, crossing through...
The truck came out of nowhere. Henry caught it out of the corner of his right hand mirror at the last moment, grabbing the wheel and jerking it to the left, the Jeep spinning on the slick road, Allie's scream, the glass breaking, the airbags deploying, smashing hard against a tree and then silence. The snow continued to fall and the night wore on, the darkness a heavy blanket surrounding them.