Southern Hospitality

"What the frilly fuck?" Edwina Walker, known to friends and family as Neddie, mumbled to herself as she gazed out the dining room window of the Smithson's Forest Hills B&B where she lived and worked. Snow was coming down pretty thick. Which did happen on occasion in North Georgia though usually not in summer, three days before the 4^th of July. "Hey y'all come looka this." She called out to those back in the kitchen getting breakfast ready.

"Hang on." Macon, the adopted son of the owners, called out. Neddie thought he was a sweet kid, though his flapjacks weren't stacked all that high. Her assessment had been, when he had said "You think I'm dumb don'cha." (In that sullen way teenagers use when they expect life to kick them while their down), she said that she thought he was slow. "Though, sweetpea, when you finally get what I'm tryin' to teach you your mind is a steel trap. I can tell you I've met plenty of 'smart' people that I could talk to 'til I'm blue in the face and they will refuse to get what I'm trying to teach them, now that my young padawan is dumb as hell." He had grinned at her and she had thought what a beautiful smile, got to get him to do that more often.

His Momma didn't help any with her long stretches of neglect punctuated with a few days of smothering love. Ellie and Louisa Smithson had taken him on a couple of summers ago, when he was 14 and getting into trouble with the local law. Ellie had grown up with his Ma and felt someone had to finally step in for the boy before he ended up in prison or worse. Louisa was hesitant to deal with all the drama but she was crazy in love with Ellie so she told her she was willing to give it a chance. Ellie got his Momma to sign over custody the next day. That was still one of their biggest fights to this day.

"Ho-lee Shit." Louisa said as she came up alongside Neddie. "Well, I can rule out I'm havin' a hallucination since you're seein' it too." said Neddie, Louisa just smiled throwing an arm across Neddie's shoulders giving her a squeeze as Ellie came up on Louisa's other side. "Woah, I've never seen this much snow like this." Macon's comment seemed to be equal parts dread and excitement. "Me, neither." Ellie and Louisa spoke at the same time "And definitely not in summer." Louisa finished, the silence wrapping back around them for a few moments "Y'all are making me feel damn old. Yeah, seems about right though. You my young padawan weren't even a twinkle in your Momma's eyes, and you two might of been about 2 or 3 maybe, when the Storm of '93 hit. I was only about 25 or 26 at the time. That was a biggun... my how time do fly." Neddie chewed her bottom lip for a moment "Cain't say as I've ever seen this in the summer myself. Gives me the collywobbleys."

Right then a slow building hum was followed by a loud *Cra-POP-zzzz* and the lights went out. "Crud, transformer blew. Alright, Neddie you and Macon go check on the generators, get 'em up and runnin'. Ellie, go make certain the guests are okay and not losin' their damn minds. Imma go finish putting the food in the chafing dishes and check the food stocks. Thank goodness we have a gas stove and fireplaces. Oh, and Neddie make certain that the cord woods filled up, though most of it is still probably green." She walked away, mumbling the last part, trusting the others to hop to.

Neddie and Macon headed down to the basement towards the back loading door and the shed that held the generators right outside, grabbing a couple of the (thankfully) charged flashlights on the way. Checking that nothing had gotten into or chewed on anything vital in the generators Neddie ran through the steps to get the first one up and running, making certain that Macon paid attention as this was one of the things he hadn't fully gotten yet.

Sending Macon back to help Louisa, Neddie took the opportunity to grab some rope and make a guideline to her cabin that she could just barely see before the storm got too much worse. After unburying and changing into winter gear, she grabbed her gun case, bug-out bag and some blankets she kept in the cedar chest by her front door.

Before she left Neddie had taken a quick look out of the back. Debating with herself about trying to cover up the small garden out there to possibly save anything. She noticed that the nearest cabins she should of been able to see were gone. In their place was a dense tangle of what looked like Douglas Firs.

Getting back inside, bringing a full carrier of logs with her, Neddie heard one of the guests "What do you mean, there's no phone service or internet and we're snowed in!? This is Georgia in the Summertime!" followed by stomp, stomp, stomp "Oh..." Neddie was unsurprised that particular guest, Mary something? Martha maybe, was questioning the audacity of life being life. She struck Neddie as one of those who wasn't quite happy unless they were complaining about something. Humming the Gershwin classic, that Ella & Louis, Billie and Janis (among other greats) had made their own and given away to the audiences that loved them, Neddie made her way back to the dining room.

" 'Bout that, “I think we're not in Georgia anymore, Y'all.” to paraphrase the misquote." At the blank looks she sighs, "Wizard of Oz, Dorothy says “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.” most people misquote that, like they do "Play it, Sam." in Casablanca." Before anyone else could speak up she continued "Took the opportunity to grab some of my stuff from my place. Lookin' out the back to figure whether or not I should cover my garden up, happened to notice that the cabins behind mine have been replaced by a whole mess a Douglas Firs. I supposed that we could still be in Georgia and them cabins have gone walk about... 'cept for the weather, that sprang up pretty darn quick and them firs were all about buried up past their skirts by a good foot. Ours barely have a foot of snow around 'em, either way they're gone." Having had her say Neddie went over to the fireplace setting the carrier down and then made her way over to the buffet table the breakfast dishes were on. Normally, she would of excused herself by this point grabbed her meal and gone back to her cabin. This day had been anything but normal and Neddie was concerned with how much stranger things might get.

Louisa spoke up "Neddie, Macon, when the storm dies down I'd like y'all to unbury as much of the driveway and road as y'all can. The old snowplow my Dad got for the truck should still be in the barn." They both nodded and went back to eating. "Also, Neddie, when you're done eating would you mind hunting down the key to the old bomb shelter and seein' what's in it. Don't know if there's anything worth a damn in there, it's been locked up as far back as I can remember." She nodded again looking thoughtful "That's the door buried behind all that bric-a-brac down in the basement?" Louisa laughed "Yup, Mom would of pretended to be offended at your summation of her gewgaws and what-not, Dad would of just laughed his butt off. Not for the first time I've thought they both woulda loved you." Neddie gave her a slightly sheepish, though pleased smile.

" I hope you all know that we're not continuing to pay for these rooms while were trapped here." The officious woman started up again "Oh, stuff it Marla" the older woman, with ash blond hair, sitting next to her said "don't be so fucking daft. They've all been nothing but gracious to us since we got here. Plus, in case you're not catching on, there are bigger fucking problems than whether we can pay or not. Now, that beautiful breakfast is not going to eat itself, come on." With that the she grabbed the now rightly named Marla and headed to the buffet table. "Hayley, what the heck." Hayley promptly ignored her and the younger brunette huffed knowing she'd not get another word about the topic out of her older companion until after breakfast.

By that point Neddie had already made her way down to the basement having a fairly good idea of where the key might be. There was an old office that Louisa only went in long enough to clean and would on rare occasion stay for most of the day; Neddie had caught a brief glimpse of it one of those times about a year ago. The reason Louisa had Neddie looking in a place she was more familiar with is something they've never really talked about or fully acknowledged. Neddie had a gift for finding lost things. It didn't matter if she'd been there before or not. Once put on the trail of a missing item the majority of the time she would 'know' where to go.

The office was never locked. On those rare occasions that Louisa stayed she was usually stumped about something and trying to be closer to memories of her Dad to figure out what he might say or advice he might give. Louisa's Mom and Dad had been killed in a car accident the year before Neddie had met her. That had been a little over ten years ago. Louisa and Ellie had been in their early twenties and Neddie was in her early forties at that point. They'd both seemed a little lost having this much adult responsibility landing on them. Neddie had been down on her luck looking for a good job and a soft place to rest her weary, battered soul. They'd all found what they needed in each other.

Though he'd last been in this office around 2011 the place seemed trapped in the time of a much younger man. The walls were sponge painted in a hunter green with a subdued botanical wallpaper edging the blond-wood crown molding and wainscoting. The neon sign that spelled out 'office' was turned off. There was blessedly no wall to wall carpeting, however there was a slightly brighter botanical motif tile pattern to match the wallpaper. The furniture looked like it was about ten years 'newer', early 2000s instead of 1990 something.

Neddie shook her head to clear it from the slap of nostalgia and let her body meander around the office 'feeling' where to go. A mild electric zuzz feeling went through her and she stopped in front of an old filing cabinet. She went to open the top drawer, stopping she focused in on a small hole above the left edge of the cabinet. It looked about right for a small hook someone might use to hang keys off of. There was a small gap between the back of the cabinet and the wall. Neddie went back out to the tools corner in the basement and grabbed the hand truck. With a bit of effort she got the cabinet moved and found the key. There was a metal fob attached to the key ring with a mix of symbols, numbers and letters engraved on it.

Getting the various and sundry that had accumulated in front of the door moved took most of the morning. Ellie had stopped by to check on her and sent back Macon to help. Beyond the door was another door with a keypad giving the fob more context. Instead of going in right after opening it Neddie went back upstairs with Macon in tow. Explaining that she was going to wait for about an hour in case the door was on a timer and automatically shut, that way they'd know if there was a chance of getting trapped inside. It was a pleasantly boring hour spent eating lunch and having Macon chattering at her. Luckily, the door didn't close on it's own.

Dogging the door open with a wedge from the workbench Neddie went inside followed by Macon, Ellie and Louisa. As far as Neddie could tell the place was still sound. The filtration system had kicked on while they'd been waiting and while the air wasn't exactly 'fresh' it no longer had the staleness that Neddie had noticed when she first opened it. (The other reason she'd wanted to wait before going in).

"Well, Dad always said Granddad had a knack for building things. Mentioned once that he'd built this place with about three feet of dirt and gravel between it and an outside wall that was two foot thick concrete." Neddie gave an appreciative whistle. "Alright, gang, let split up and search for clues." Louisa said getting the laugh she hoped for from them all.

There was a walk in cold storage that had 6 pallets of mres dated from right before the car accident. A wall of shelves with canned water from around the same time and several bins marked seeds stacked along another wall. "They must of did this right before... " Louisa said, choking slightly on the last word, tears sliding down her face. "Come on, Honey, lets go back up and check on the guests" Ellie said wrapping Louisa in a hug and leading her away. Aside from some bedding, camping and winter gear they found a couple of large wooden pull sleds in good condition. Neddie suspected that one or both of Louisa's parents had a touch of the 'sight'.

The two went back upstairs in time for dinner. Jacob, an older gentleman (the third and final guest) was there. A professed night owl he'd slept through breakfast and had been caught up on events once he got downstairs. Neddie and Jacob had become fast friends from the start. Their bromance seemed to tickle Louisa and Ellie endlessly.

After helping them go ahead and put the snowplow on the truck he asked to ride along when She and Macon went to clear the road stating that "Three sets of eyes were better'n two." The storm blew itself out after three days. Neddie, Macon and Jacob had carved tunnels through to the generator shed, the truck barn and her cabin once the snow had reached head height. It took another two days of digging out for the truck to be of use and another few days after that to get the road cleared.

The road ended about a mile from the driveway of the B&B. It looked like some giant hand had sheared it off with a knife and plopped it down near the treeline. Not too far away what use to be a fairly even meadow had been replaced by a gradual slope that appeared to end in a wooded valley where they could see smoke rising from over the trees. They agreed there was no way the truck was getting down there without getting stuck or broken. Getting back they discussed what they found with the others and after a bit of arguing and finagling it was agreed that Neddie and Jacob would go scout out the source of the smoke in the wooded valley. They packed the sleds that night with everything they thought they'd need, plus extra and tried to get some sleep.

The next day found them at the top of the hill "Well, we could play it safe and trudge down this hill... " Jacob said as Neddie gave a loud whoop pushing her sled and hopping on the back " or we can go balls out." Jacob laughed and let out his own yawp, pushing to catch up with Neddie. There were a couple of near misses but both made it safe to the bottom, grinning like a pair of loons at each other. "Man that's been a long time. Haven't been on one of these things since I was about 9 or 10; Dad was station in Germany durin' the late 70s. On his last vacation there we went over to Switzerland, seems that's were they kept all the snow." Neddie said with a fond look in her eyes, a brief distance there that was seeing less complicated days. "I hear ya. My family, we were in Germany right before Saigon fell. I must of been about 16 maybe 17. Me 'n some buddies took the train into Switzerland, spent the weekend making fools of ourselves."

Grabbing up the rope harness on the front of their sleds they started pulling them towards the forest. They found a regular path that was too worn and wide to be a deer trail, following it they soon found themselves at the edge of a small frozen lake. Near the shore was a fishing hut. "Probably where the smoke was coming from yesterday." Neddie almost teased Jacob for such a blatantly obvious observation then stopped herself, realizing this was part of his way of coping with the unknown. Across the lake they saw what looked like a small village from medieval times. Steeling herself to step out onto the ice Neddie looked over at Jacob saying "Let's go say hi to the new neighbors." Looking back she contemplated for a moment "Maybe, we shoulda brought a casserole?" Jacob shook his head, laughing.