Blizzard Bound

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?”

Marilyn looked out the window at the storm, bit her lip, turned back, and said, “No, no I’ll be fine Wendy, as we’ve closed early I won’t have any distractions. I just have to tally up the day's sales and I’ll be out of here too.” She sounded braver in her own ears than she felt.

           “You’re sure? It’s looking awful nasty out there this blizzard isn’t getting any better, and the weather forecasts call for people to stay off the streets unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

           “Well, then scoot.” She urged.

           “Okay, if you’re sure Marilyn.” she wrapped a scarf around her neck, and over her mouth, she headed for the door at Walnut Tree Grocers.

She muffled “Bye, see you tomorrow.” She waved her oversized snowmobile mitt that made her hand look like a puppet. She crouched into her coat pulled the hood down, lowered her head, and walked out into the wintry night.

Marilyn went to the door and gave the lock a firm twist. “There, now I feel safer.” She said to herself as she gathered up several flyers that had fallen on the floor, as she headed back to the small desk behind the customer counter.

           She pulled out the ledger from the drawer and together with the receipts and using her reliable adding machine, went to work. So absorbed in her work as her fingers flew across the keys it was only when Marilyn glanced at the wall clock and saw that an hour had passed that she thought about Earle. He’d be would be wondering what was keeping her. She gave the cell phone on the desk a swipe to turn it on.         “Great, no power, and my charger is in the stand at home, thank God there’s still the good old fashioned wall phone,” she said to herself as she stood up stretched and yawned. A shiver ran down her spine she rubbed her arms with her hands it was then she realized that the building’s temperature had dropped. “A sweater, that’s what I need,” she said as she stepped away from the desk and headed down the canned vegetable aisle. She stopped midway straightened two cans of peas and made a mental note to order more.

           As she lifted the phone off the wall’s cradle and dialed her home number, the power flickered. “Hello, Earl? Earle? I can’t hear you very well, I’m just finishing up and I’ll be along. Hello? Hello? She let out an exasperated sigh. “Great! The line’s dead, so much for small-town power.”

           She hung up and walked toward the storage room, the power flickered again. Inside the storage room, the lighting was poor at best. She surveyed the mess today’s delivery people made. Next time they came a talk was in order. She remembered now the two men, one was new.

           He was young and looked almost boy-like. His coat was several sizes too big and hung on his small frame. The oversized box seemed to dwarf him as stick-like arms struggled under the weight of the box. He didn’t notice her watching him as his eyes darted around with unusual interest in the store’s layout. A future night time visit perhaps? “Okay Marilyn, you’ve been watching too many cop shows,” she muttered. The angle of the box to her indicated that he was anxious to drop it as the Sanka Coffee box teetered on atop the rest. She recalled thinking he must not be feeling well his face had paled and a dark wet spot seemed to spread down the back of his jeans he practically ran from the store. Marilyn scrunched her nose up at the imagined smell. Poor kid, something must not have agreed with him. Her sympathy turned to annoyance though when he pushed the door open with such force that he almost knocked Mrs. Williams off her feet. Her husband caught her and raised a fist at him.

           “Hey, watch where you’re going.”  

He never looked back.

The storage room was in such disarray, it took her a moment to locate her sweater.            “A flashlight, where’s that flashlight?” The lights dimmed just as she spotted it attached to the post. It was in her hand when the lights went out. “Funny how nothing looks scary with lights on, but now it’s creepy back here. Stop that,” she scolded herself.

           “What was that?” she questioned. With a flick of her wrist, the beam moved back-and-forth in front of her.

           “Marilyn get a hold of yourself. There’s nothing here. Wait! What was that? Eww, a mouse? No, it didn’t sound like a scurry, more of a rustle? You think so? So now what? Are you going to argue with yourself, you silly fool?” She flicked the shaft of light up-and-down over the boxes. It was indistinct almost feeble, but she heard it.

           “Mewl, mewl”

           Now it sounded muffled as she tilted her head to one side, but she still heard it, she definitely heard something. It was coming from the Sanka box. “Did it just move? Well whatever, it is it’s staying there for the night”. She whispered.

           “Mewl, mewl.”

           “Marilyn, pull up your big girl panties and go and see what it is. It must have come in with the delivery guys.”

            The box moved again. Marilyn marched over to it armed with the flashlight, ready to whack whatever might be in there to put it out of its misery. She yanked open the flap and shone the flashlight inside. “Oh my God!” she wailed, stunned at the contents of the box she clutched her heaving chest, as she stood rooted to the spot in shock and disbelief. Lying on the bottom a tiny newborn baby, wrapped in a dirty plaid lumber jacket.

           Numb with emotion and fascination Marilyn watched as this little thing wiggled. Its crumpled face let out the mewling sound that she first heard, now turned into a ‘wahhhh’ that got louder and louder. Her grandmotherly instinct kicked in. Reaching into the box, she picked up the baby supported its head, and pressed the little body into her own. Afraid her legs wouldn’t hold her she half staggered as she carried the infant to a lawn chair. She sank down in disbelief at what she had just found. She laid the baby on her lap, undid the buttons exposing a baby blanket with a note pinned to it. It read, ”please, please look after my baby girl I can’t’.” It was signed ‘J’.

The room was too cool to undress her any further so Marilyn wrapped the jacket back around the baby picked her up and looked in the box to see if anything else had been left. Three bottles of milk were propped up in a corner.

           “Well, you’re in luck we’ll just go down the baby aisle and do some shopping.”

The cries got louder.

           “Okay, okay, shush, shush,” Marilyn said as she stood up took one of the bottles from the box slipped it into her uniform pocket and backed out of the storage room door. Aisle B was near the front of the store she stopped at the diaper section read the sizes then plucked a box by its handle off the shelf.

“These look like they should fit you baby. Since I found you in a Sanka box, I know now what going to call you, Sanka,”

            “Now let’s go change you.” The ceiling lights had distracted the baby as she lay quiet, but she knew it wouldn’t be long before hunger took over and the contented baby would be crying soon. That’s when she remembered young Becky’s silly Christmas gift, a battery-operated kettle, still stashed in the cabinet below the counter. Bottled water from her lunch bag was just the right amount, and soon the kettle was gurgling and clicked off. The baby bottle buoyed around in the coffee mug as the steam from the water looked like mist lifting from a lake. While the bottle warmed, back to Aisle B she sauntered, this time to pick out a new outfit. “I might as well use one of these change mats for you too,” and pulled one from its hook. The counter was just the right height for a make-do change table but when she undid all Sanka’s clothing little did Marilyn know she was in for yet another surprise, the umbilical cord was still on her little body. Marilyn felt sick when she thought about how the results could have ended so differently, had it not been for the storm. Her experienced hands kept the baby’s discomfort of nakedness to as little as possible. A feeling of peace came over her that this innocent newborn had been rescued. Changed and content the baby sucking quite greedily on the bottle gave Marilyn an opportunity to glance out the window at the storm. “Well Sanka, I guess you and I will have to make the best of this night, as nothing is going to happen until daylight. I hope your mother is somewhere warm and safe.” Just then the image of the boy flitted across her mind. “No, it couldn’t be? Could it?”

           A lone figure waded through the snowdrift across the parking lot toward the lighted store window. Her weakened body forced her to lean in as she cupped her hands around her face and tried to peer through the frosted glass. Disappointed that she didn’t see what she’d hoped, she turned and followed her own path back in the snow. “I made a mistake I’ll come and get you tomorrow morning, I promise.” Hot tears mixed with blinding snow hurt her face.