Several months earlier.

A black Volkswagen Jetta sped down highway 403 towards Hamilton. At the wheel sat Arthur Winters, a modest actuary by trade who had been giving a presentation to a Toronto-based company about risks and probabilities and investments and how to best manage capital. Now that that had gone more or less okay he was fixated on getting home to Elsa, Marie, and the home cooked meal that would (hopefully) be waiting for him. But the weather didn't want him to. The clouds and the wind and the pressure systems were more interested in showering southern Ontario with love in the form of beautiful and individually unique frozen water crystals. A lot of them.

And so Arthur drove through the snowy fields that kept getting snowier, and he kept destroying the beautiful acts of love that came too close to his big motor vehicle. And so did all the other commuters on the highway. But Mother Nature didn't care, she just made bigger and better snowflakes to keep sprinkling in their path.

And she didn't stop sending them.

And together, the little snowflakes made it hard for the commuters to see around them, and they made the big driving machines slow down. But the people still didn't appreciate the tiny works of art.

Far up ahead, a little car accidentally moved past an unseen line on the road, and then it bumped into another little car. Then a slightly bigger car slammed into them, and a much bigger car punched deep inside that slightly bigger car's metal frame. And then like dominos the highway travelers came to a crashing stop, one by one by one.

Further back, Arthur kept moving along in his Jetta, and soon enough he came up to the mess of cars. And he stopped, since the big mess of cars wasn't moving.

He took his cell phone out of his pocket and called his house. His wife answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi. It's me. There's a pretty big pileup on the 403 so I don't think I'll be home for dinner."

"Ok. Elsa and I are going to eat, then, it's starting to get dark. Be safe out there."

"I will. And I'll see you two when I get home. Love you."

"Love you too." *click*

The big mess of cars still hadn't moved, and the sky was getting darker and darker, so Arthur put his seat back, turned the radio down a bit, and put his feet up to rest.

And on the road, the snowflakes kept piling up higher and higher, and kept blanketing the exhaust pipe with their love.

And while Arthur was resting in his warm car, he slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.

But he didn't wake up.