Shortly after dinner, with the news anchors droning about the falling snow and all the drivers stranded around town (cough idiots cough), I was looking out the window. By this time, we had just under two feet of snow, and I was pondering how we'd get around after this ended. Every road would be impassable, and we didn't have a sleigh.
Jesse came up behind me, apparently thinking the same thing. "People are going to need help after this."
"I know," I replied. "I'm just trying to think of ways to get to them, using the materials we have. We're virtually stranded up here. The nearest town with plows and other supplies is an hour's drive away in good weather."
We started bouncing ideas off each other, but he'd lived in Egypt for several years and didn't have a good handle on the idea of snow. Last winter was the first time he'd even seen snow (that he could remember), but last winter was also New York's warmest winter in decades, so they only got about six inches total all winter.
I kept looking out the window, trying to figure out a way to get across the snow. I remembered seeing something in Colorado a few Christmases ago…
"That's it!"
Everyone looked over at me with various levels of perplexity written on their face, but I waved them off and rushed upstairs. I remembered people using snowshoes a couple of years ago when Denver got a really bad storm. What's more, I remembered what they looked like, and knew how I could build some.
Once upstairs, I went into my freezing-cold room and started digging through my closet. I quickly found several sturdy pieces of wood I'd been planning on making into a pair of stilts to play with, then went to Machaela's pile of various materials she tinkered with and grabbed a roll of heavy-duty wire and a pair of needle nose pliers.
I carried all my materials downstairs where it was warm and dumped them in a well-lit corner. Noticing everyone looking at me, I finally spoke what I was thinking.
"Once this storm ends, there are going to be several people who will need help digging out, and others whose homes might not be inhabitable for a day or two—or more. Schools and community centers will be open for these people to use, but the matter is getting to them. There's both a community center and a school within easy walking distance from here. We need to make snowshoes so we can get to them."
"Do we have a sled somewhere?" Machaela spoke up.
"Yeah," I answered her. "A long toboggan. It's above the garage, right, Mom?"
She nodded. "It's in front, too, so it'll be easy to get down."
"Ok," I directed us back to my project, "then we just need to build these. Everyone grab some sticks. You'll need four pieces the same length, about an inch longer than your shoe."
A couple pieces had to be cut down to size, and more than once we had to trade out, but eventually all four of us had four sticks each, each stick an inch or so longer than our shoe.
I then started wrapping the thick wire between the wood, making sure to keep the gap wide enough to step in. "Machaela," I asked as I worked, "do you have any more of this wire? And more pliers? If you do, we could all work at the same time." She went off to look, coming back as I finished wiring my first shoe. She only had one more wire roll, but we managed to finish my shoes, plus one of hers before we hit the sack.
The next morning we spent finishing our snowshoes. By lunchtime, we each had a pair of shoes we could strap onto our boots to let us walk atop the snow.
The snow continued to pile up. With the snow much too thick to even consider going out in it to play, we decided to play board and card games. Machaela won just about every round of Monopoly, Jesse proved good at most card games, and I liked the strategy of Rummikub. Mom soon gave up trying to win those, and taught us how to play Phase 10.
About two hours before sunset, we were taking a break from the games when I thought I heard something outside. The falling snow muted any noise, but when I glanced outside towards the closest houses, I heard a crash and a cloud of snow lifted. In the kitchen behind me, the lights flickered and went out.
Machaela came running into the room before I had a chance to realize what had happened. "The neighbor's house collapsed!"
Yeah, I know. Short chapter. Sorry about that but there's nowhere else to end it. Next chapter will be much longer. Let me know what you're thinking about this extremely fluffy story! Next chapter will be up sometime next week, unless I get lots of reviews (hint hint :D)