Mrs. Henderson

Jared unbuckled and stepped out of his car just as the first few flakes of snow started to dance their way to the ground. He saw Mrs. Henderson, his only neighbor, gathering grocery bags from her old minivan.  She was in her 70’s and lived alone like him, so he started across the dirt yard to see if she needed any help.  As he made his way to her property line he called out to her. “Hi Mrs. Henderson! Need any help?”.  

    She looked back and saw him and a big smile broke out on her face. “Sure!” She smiled broadly, her bright eyes and round cheeks gave her a youthful look, much younger than her actual age.  He hurried over and grabbed the rest of the plastic grocery bags in both hands and followed her inside as tiny snowflakes swirled around them both and the wind cut at his face.  She picked her way carefully over the dirt yard to the front door, with a bag of groceries in each hand and her purse over her shoulder.  He followed diligently behind her with his 6 bags.  When she got to the door, she handed him one of the bags as she dug through her purse for her keys.  

    “I was hopin’ to get home before the snow started, but I guess it ain’t too bad!”

    “Yeah, it’s supposed to get pretty bad.  I am not looking forward to work in the morning.” Jared replied, making awkward small talk.  Jared was polite, but distant like always.  Mrs. Henderson unlocked and opened the door, shuffling inside as Jared followed.  She put her bag and purse down on the kitchen counter and stepped back so Jared could put his load on as well.  He set the bags down gingerly on the counter and slid his hands out of the handles carefully.  “Do you need help putting them away?” He asked obligatorily, but really hoping she would refuse. 

    “No, Hon. I’ve got it from here.” She flashed another big smile at him and turned back to the groceries digging through one of the bags.  

    “Alright, I’ll head out.  Stay warm.” Jared forced out before taking the few, short steps to the front door.  “Let me know if you need anything else.” Jared scurried across the dirt lot to his front door and let himself in. 

          He turned on the lights, and the TV and opened the refrigerator to find some dinner.  He immediately closed the fridge, there was nothing in there to eat.  He opened the freezer instead and pulled out a TV dinner.  He pulled the plastic tray out of the box, poked a hole in the plastic cover and popped it into the microwave.  

    5 minutes later he was settled in front of the TV, a scalding tray of mystery meat and chalky potatoes on a towel on his lap and a fork in his hand.  He flipped through channels until he found some dusty old sitcom from his childhood.  He took a forkful of mashed “potatoes” and popped it into his mouth.  He pulled out his phone and started scrolling through social media.  He scrolled and froze.  He saw the smiling face of his ex-girlfriend Melissa smiling out of the tiny LED screen.  She was surrounded by a group of people all smiling and gathered around a table littered with half full beers and shot glasses.  He felt a twinge in his gut and scrolled on, deciding tonight was not a night for pining.  

Jared woke with a start, the witty dialogue from the sitcom was no longer playing and he was freezing.  He stood up and rubbed his own shoulders shivering.  It was dark, the only light a narrow beam of moonlight cutting down the middle of the room between the curtains.  The light from his phone screen revealed the little plastic tray and fork he had left sitting on the couch.  He grabbed them both up and deposited them in the trash can and the sink, respectively. He made his way to the bedroom, using the light from the phone screen to see.  He flipped the light switch, nothing happened. Power was out, probably the storm.  He grabbed some sweatpants and a long sleeve T-shirt from the drawer and pulled them on, hoping it would keep him warm.  He grabbed another blanket from the linen closet in the bathroom and climbed into bed, adding this blanket to the top.  He poked at his phone and saw he had 24% battery left.  He checked his 6am alarm and plugged his phone into the charger, hoping power would come back on by the time he had to get up.  

    Jared woke to the sound of his alarm blaring and quickly silenced it.  6:00am, His phone battery was now at 16% and the power was still out.  He dragged himself out of bed and clicked on his phone flashlight.  He pulled out some underwear and socks from the drawer and a shirt and pants from the closet.  In the bathroom, he left the flashlight on as he started the shower.  He put the phone face down on the sink to let the flashHe gave it a minute to warm up and used the toilet.  When he returned, he stuck a hand in the water.  Freezing cold.  He pulled his hand out.  Great, the water heater was not working.  Jared debated internally on whether he should just put the new clothes on and head to work showerless or brave the icy water for 2 minutes.  Social pressure eventually won out and he jumped in.  Gasping and spluttering in the cold, he lathered up and rinsed off before turning off the water.  He jumped out shivering and grabbed a towel rubbing himself ferociously.  Subconsciously, he was trying to rub his cold away with pure towel to skin friction.  

    Jared dressed in the dark, put some gel in his hair and did his best to make himself presentable with only the cell phone flashlight to guide him.  He pulled some shoes on and made his way out the door.  The sun had just crested the horizon and a sea of snow greeted him. There were 2 feet at least, halfway up the doors of his little car and piled up past the bumpers in the front and back.  Jared hadn’t seen this much snow here since he was a kid, no even then he hadn’t seen this much snow.  He turned and went back inside to find some boots.  He pulled on his boots and trekked outside to see if he could get his car ready for the commute.  He knew there was a shovel somewhere on the side of his house, hopefully it wasn’t laying on the ground.  He trudged through the snow, lifting his feet to waist level each step.  As he rounded the corner, he saw the handle of the shovel leaning against the side of the house.  Relieved he wasn’t going to have to dig it out, he grabbed the handle and broke the shovel free from the snow.  Carrying it up high like a torch, he battled the snow out to his car.  

Once he got there, he started shoveling the snow away from the driver’s door.  He finally freed the door and he pulled it open with some effort.  He jumped in and turned the key.  The engine turned over immediately and he cranked the heater to high and he shut the door.  Jared started clearing the rest of the snow that surrounded his car, starting with the tailpipe.  He was starting to get a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that he might not make it to his office today.   He jumped back in the driver’s seat, his pants soaked up to the knees, his hands soaked and freezing and his toes numb from cold.  He pulled out his cell phone, 6% battery.  Jared dialed his boss and put the phone to his ear. “This call cannot be completed at this time, please try your call again later.” followed by silence.  He flipped over to his messaging app and fired off a quick text to his boss explaining that he was snowed in and would not make it into the office until later.  

Jared left the car running and plugged his phone into the car charger he kept there.  He headed back inside to change into dry pants, trudging through his old tracks.  As he stopped on the stoop to brush snow from his pants and stomp it from his boots, he thought of Mrs. Henderson.  He wondered if her heat was out too.  

He shook his head and changed direction, headed across the yard to her front door. He dragged his feet through the snow now, making a trench as he went.  The cold was deep in his bones now and he was shivering hard.  He arrived at her door and rang through the crunching snow across the front of the house to the window that he knew looked into Mrs. Henderson’s bedroom.  He hesitated, then rapped his knuckles on the thin glass. He didn’t hear anything.  He cupped his hands around his face and pressed them against the glass.  The blinds covered nearly the entire window, but he leaned over to the side and there was a small gap in the blinds towards the bottom.  Peeking through into the dark room, he could just make out Mrs. Henderson’s gray hair poking out from the top of the blankets, the rest of her was covered by blankets.  Jared fought back a memory he tried not to relive.  His mother, lifeless in a hospice bed and a dark, cold feeling creeping from his hair and down his spine. He rapped again, louder, more urgent, watching for movement.  He saw her stir, and called out “Mrs. Henderson, it’s Jared.  Are you ok?”

“Jared?” Her voice was weak.  She pulled the covers down and looked up trying to figure out where his voice was coming from.  

“I’m at the window.”

“What in the heavens are you doing out there in the snow?” Mrs. Henderson had a note of incredulity in her voice as she sat up painfully in bed. 

“I just came to see if your power was out… and see if you needed anything…” Jared trailed off as he realized how ridiculous his trek had been.  

“Well come in, my power is out, but maybe we can have some coffee until the power company gets off their heinies and gets it up again.” She pulled off the covers and began to get to her feet. Jared started to make his way back through the trench he had made to the front door.  A couple of minutes later, he heard shuffling and the sound of the deadbolt disengaging.  The door swung open to reveal Mrs. Henderson, her hair wild, wearing a floral patterned, flannel nightgown and house slippers.  

“I’m sorry” Jared stammered. “I just wanted to see if you were ok. My power was out, my car is stuck and I thought maybe… just…” 

“Thank you.” She said with surprising sincerity. “I’m ok, it was a cold night and I didn’t sleep much, but a little company would be great this mornin’.” She turned and shuffled back to the kitchen.  

Jared followed her into the kitchen and stood awkwardly in the doorway.  It was still cold in here, but Mrs. Henderson dug a match out of a drawer, struck it and turned on the gas stove.  She lit a burner, shook out the match, then shuffled over to the sink, filling a tea kettle with water from the faucet.  She saw his standing there awkwardly 

“Sit down and stay a while! I don’t think your car is getting you out of here for some time.  I haven’t seen a snow storm like this in quite a while.”  

She indicated one of the two chairs pushed under the kitchen table.  Jared looked down at his snowy boots and wet pants and suddenly became aware that he was dripping all over her kitchen floor.  

“Just sit down, I can clean the floor later.” Jared did as he was told and gingerly stepped across the worn linoleum floor and sat.  Mrs. Henderson pulled back the curtains over the sink, let another burner and put a pan on the stove.  She went to the refrigerator and started pulling things out.  In a matter of minutes, Jared was staring at a steaming plate of fried eggs, ham and toast with a steaming cup of black coffee beside it.  Mrs. Henderson set an identical plate down across the table from his and sat down letting out a satisfied sigh.  

“Thank you!” Jared said, with a genuine smile.  He waited until she started to cut her eggs before he tucked in. He was suddenly famished.  As Jared shoved food in his mouth, Mrs. Henderson started talking.  Only stopping here and there to place a dainty bite in her mouth and chew.  

"When I was a girl, we went near 2 months without electricity in our house once."

"Two months?" Jared replied in mild disbelief.

"My pa lost his job when the rig shut down. I guess this was around '56 or '57. He wasn't a driller, he was a drywaller, but when no more drillers were moving in, they ran plumb out of construction jobs.  I remember our first dark night.  I was pretty scared, but my Ma stayed up to watch the candle, so she burnt that candle almost all night so I wouldn't be too scared."

Jared was now listening intently, his forkful of eggs forgotten in his hand.

"The first night was the worst. After that it got easier, except the meat.  Until we got chickens, all we had for meat was some canned beef, canned chicken and canned tuna from the church commodities. The tuna was alright, but the beef and chicken was awful.  Have you ever tried canned beef?"

"I used to eat corned beef from a can."

This got her laughing.  She had a nice laugh. A deep belly laugh that shook her whole body.  

"That's not the same, not even a bit." Mrs. Henderson replied between peals of laughter.  Jared joined her laughter then, at first a chuckle, but then the whole ridiculous situation hit him and he started laughing harder. Soon their rumbling laughter echoed through the small kitchen.  

When the laughter finally subsided, Jared finished his plate and started sipping on the coffee.  He usually took flavored creamer so the black coffee was bitter, he cringed and made a face. Mrs. Henderson offered him sugar but said she didn't have milk.  Jared declined and resolved himself to not make any more faces.  

They sipped coffee and talked for some time. Mrs. Henderson telling Jared about her childhood and her short marriage. About losing her husband to the war. She asked Jared what he did for work.

"I sell insurance, well commercial insurance. I work for Pinnacle Insurance in town.  I started in personal insurance, but then got promoted last year."

"Promoted? Sounds like you went from helping normal folks to working to save some money for their bosses." She replied with a bit of humor behind her eyes.

"I guess that's true." He said "But the money is better and…" he realized he didn't have an 'and' so he trailed off.  It was then he remembered he had left his car running outside.  

He jumped up and Mrs. Henderson asked him "What's the matter?"

"What time is it?"

"I can't say for sure, but I'd guess it's around 9."

"I gotta turn my car off and check my phone." Jared ran out the door and back into the thigh deep snow.  He trudged through the snow, wetting his jeans again and filling his boots with fresh snow.  He marched across the property line with purpose and found his car still running, he opened the driver's door and leaned in to shut off the ignition.  He reached for his phone, then changed his mind and left it on the passenger seat.  He then turned and marched back to Mrs. Henderson's door.  She was standing in the doorway, her hair still sticking straight up and her nightgown and house slippers on.  

He kept his eyes on her as he was thinking about how bizarre it was that he had lived next door to this woman for 2 years and today was the first time he had actually talked to her.  It was a little sad, she didn't really ever get visitors and she was home nearly all of the time.  He didn't get out much, but he at least went to work each day and he would come home and wave at her if she was outside.  He had helped her bring in groceries once or twice, but he had never bothered to visit her or ask how she was doing or…

Jared's toe caught on a rock or something and he tripped, falling headlong right into the deep snow.  The pair laughed 

Jared sat back down at the table and the two of them chipped away at the coffee pot for the better part of the morning. They talked and shared stories about life, love, friendship, money and more.  When the lights finally came back on it was early afternoon and Jared finally excused himself to call his boss.  As he walked out the front door Mrs. Henderson wrapped her arms around him in the doorway. Jared leaned down and returned the hug with genuine affection. He knew at that moment that he had just come over to be a good neighbor but that small act had actually meant something more, to her, and to him.