Andi's Dream - A Blizzard in Buffalo

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Andi woke up feeling lost and alone. She had laid down with the twins for a little while, trying to settle them down, and fell fast asleep. She was nearly weeping from missing Paul so much. She had planned to spend the night with him on the couch again, but she slept right through it, and that hurt.

Then she smelled coffee. And bacon. She heard voices coming from downstairs. She looked around for the twins, but they were gone. She put on her sweatpants under her floppy flannel night gown then she pulled on Paul's bathrobe that dragged the ground when she walked, she then slowly crept down the stairs. There were two elderly couples seated at the table which was pulled away from the wall to make room for them. Madeline was sitting on the oldest woman's lap, Sandy was flitting around the table with a plastic cup in her hand, talking a mile a minute. Andi walked down the steps slowly taking in the whole scene, then Sandy saw her and raced towards her, a big white milk mustache adorning her face.

"Mommy! Grandma Hirsh brought me milk! From a cow! It's sooooo good! Can I pet the cow?"

Andi scooped Sandy in her arms. "I see that snuggle bug! Are you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Bug bug."

"Honey, these are our neighbors Irma and Gerry Hirsh, and Dianne and Brad Clemmons. They gave me a hand getting your rental out of the ditch." Paul gestured toward the window and there it was, parked facing the patio, two snowmobiles sat next to it.

"Oh, thank you all so much!" cried Andi. Having the sedan out of the ditch made her feel very relieved. "It was buried, how did you get it out?"

Brad spoke up. "Yer man called us in the middle of the night..."

"It was 9:30," his wife Dianne swatted him in the arm. The hog farmers were both slim as rails and in their late sixties.

"That's the middle of my night," continued Brad to chuckles around the table. "He asked us to show up at your car around sunrise with a shovel and he'd make us breakfast."

"He darn near had the whole thing done by the time we got there," said Gerry Hirsh.

"Yes, he did!" agreed his wife Irma. The dairy farmers were both a rotund and vital couple, clearly in their eighties.

Brad continued, "when Dianne and I headed out we found that your man had a lane plowed clear on Trevette road all the way to Route 39. When we got there, he had the car dug out mostly. We hooked up a chain, brushed off the snow, gave it a little tug and Irma there," he said gesturing to his neighbor, "drove it here to your doorstep."

"We've been having coffee and eggs and bacon and chatting for an hour now waiting for you to wake up," laughed Irma.

"Mooo!" said Sandy after a long drink of fresh milk.

"I don't know what to say," said Andi feeling the tears welling up. "The words 'Thank You' doesn't say enough."

"No, they don't, but these eggs and this coffee sure do!" laughed Gerry and the whole table broke into laughter.

The damn broke and Andi broke down into tears at the thought of neighbors waking up at sunrise to help another neighbor in need. "I'm sorry for being silly, but where I'm from all a neighbor seems to do is report you to the HOA for not cutting your lawn. You're all so wonderful!"

"Oh, heck little one," said Irma as Andi threw her arms around Gerry's neck and wept tears of gratitude, "if your man there couldn't cut your lawn, I'd make damn sure Dad here would."

"I sure would," said Gerry "Now sit down and eat your breakfast and stop acting silly."

Andi wiped her tears and pulled up a folding chair. Paul brought her a plate of scrambled egg whites (actually 2 egg whites mixed with one yolk), a cup of coffee with farm fresh milk, and a cherry pop tart, her favorite flavor. While she ate her neighbors regaled her with stories of blizzards past.

"Ok, folks, we love to have you, but we have to get dressed and head into church," announced Paul.

"See you there," said Dianne as she kissed Andi goodbye and headed out the door with Brad who waived.

"Going to join us this Sunday Irma?" asked Paul.

"No, Gerry can't be marked absent at St. Aloysius again or he'll get put on a committee," she laughed.

"Father Juan is a tough one," Gerry said as he shrugged on his coat. And with a series of goodbyes and promises of milk for the 'babies' everyone headed out the door, mounted their snowmobiles and roared off to their respective farms.

Paul made quick work of the cleanup while Andi washed the girls faces, brushed their golden hair, then led them upstairs to get dressed for church. Once dressed in matching outfits they came downstairs and found that Paul had the weeks garbage bagged and hauled outside, the kitchen spotless, the air vents on the wood stove closed and the fire slowly strangled to death.

They pulled their coats on and stepped outside into the bright morning sunshine, the sound of water dripping off the barn and cabin roofs filled the air. Paul walked over to the barn, opened a side door and drove out a new Ford Ranger. It was fire engine red with black fenders and huge wheels.

Wonka jumped into the back seat and sat straight up in the middle while Sandy and Madeline were buckled in on either side of him. "We have to get child seats right away," muttered Paul.

He started to get into the Ford when he noticed Andi standing in front of the cabin taking a picture of it with her phone. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she said, "I just want a picture of the place where I first found refuge..." she paused for a moment then continued, "...and love."

"Take a picture for me too," Paul whispered, and their arms entangled, he leaned down and they kissed.

They must have kissed for a long time because they suddenly noticed that the twins were yelling "Come ON you two!" - something the twins have been hearing their entire life.

Route 39 was opened from Morton's Corners to Springville so as they turned on to Rt 39, the truck climbing easily over snow left behind by the county plow, Andi was impressed by the huge piles of snow on the side of the road. "That's really impressive," she said.

"The snow may be gone in a matter of days, or it may be there all winter, it's hard to tell up here," said Paul.

Andi turned around to check on the girls. They were both holding on to Wonka's collar with a tiny hand, and Wonka seemed to enjoy their attention. "Are you OK?" asked Paul.

"Why do you ask?"

"Scratching."

"Oh," said Andi sheepishly, "I haven't worn a bra since Thursday afternoon. It kind of feels alien."

"Was that for me?" grinned Paul.

"It was for both of us," she whispered.

Paul had difficulty keeping his mind on the road, this was the first time he had driven with her seated next to him. The neckline on her dress wasn't even close to daring, but the memory of the delights nestled in her bra cups surfaced, and her legs - so beautiful, he hasn't concentrated nearly enough on them. But right now, Route 39 demands his full attention. Even though it was plowed, the road remained snow covered and was slippery. This was a fairly new vehicle, and this was the first chance he had to try it in the snow.

Eventually 39 widened to four lanes and descended into a steep valley. "This is Spooners Gulch," said Paul as Andi and the girls marveled at the forest on both sides of the road.

"So steep," said Andi with a shudder, "I don't even remember the road going down or up."

"That's called spatial disorientation. Your vision was obscured by the snow and your mind couldn't deal with the confused inputs it was getting." A well-known problem for pilots and as their flight surgeon, Paul would know.

"I don't even remember driving this far, how far is it between the US 219 Expressway exit and Trevette Road?"

"It's ten miles, and also, this is Western New York, we don't say 'the US 219 Expressway' we say 'da 219.'"

Andi was looking at maps on her phone and pointing them out. "Da 33?"

"Yep."

"Da 401?"

"Absolutely."

"Da 190?"

"Yes ma'am, it's also called da Youngman."

"Da 90?"

"Yes, but that's mostly called da trooway."

Andi sighed. "Will there be a test?"

By the time they got the vernacular of Western New York by-ways hammered out they were out of Spooners Gulch and passing under 'da 219.' "Here's where I should have turned left."

"And that's where you probably would have stayed," said Paul pointing out a huge, cozy looking Victorian farmhouse on the corner of 39 and 'da old 219.' As they eased into the village the roads were still partially snow filled and Andi was glad she didn't drive into Springville in the first place, she still would have been snowbound.

The husky little Ford clawed its way through the village, people with snow shovels and snow blowers were at work everywhere she looked. Paul eased down a side street and pulled up to a beautiful Victorian house. The driveway and sidewalk and broad porch were cleared of snow. "I need to put Wonka in the house," said Paul after pulling into the driveway. "Give me a few moments to get rid of this trash then we'll have a super quick tour before church."

Paul let Wonka out of the truck, grabbed the garbage bags out of the back and disappeared around the back of the house. While he was gone the three Roberts girls busied themselves looking up and down the street. "This is Currier and Ives come to life," whispered Andi and she couldn't wait to see what the Christmas lights in this town looked like. "Girls! Look at the Christmas tree in the front window of daddy's house!"

"OOOoooOOOooo!" the twins said in unison as they saw the tree covered in tinsel, glitter, ornaments shining in the sunlight, and lights flashing on and off. They got out of the truck and looked at the house, it was amazing!

Andi was in shock as she took in the house, it was huge! Well, huge as far as she was concerned. The front yard was quite large with a big tree, weeping willow she guessed. The iron fence around the yard was decorated with holly garland, and she could see that there were lights woven into the garland. From the look of the window placements the ceilings in the rooms would be exceedingly high, and the house stood a full three stories tall.

Paul returned as the twins ran around on the porch, Andi was completely in shock. Looking for something to say she asked "30-year mortgage?"

"There isn't a mortgage."

"Oh." Andi just couldn't get over the 'gingerbread' decorating the house at peaks and corners.

"It's paid off," continued Paul.

"Oh God you say the sexiest things," she murmured still looking up at the house.

Paul opened the gate for her and while the twins skyrocketed to the porch, she slowly walked up to the house, went up the three steps to the wrap around porch. She could just picture the hanging plants and the whirr of the hummingbirds, the taste of the lemon aide, the warm summertime evening breeze. Across the street she could see a village park, with a large gazebo and she could almost hear the band tuning up for the summer evening performance. The twins roared past her in their own exploration of the porch, but in her mind, she could see them pulling their baby brother in his wagon. Baby brother?!? Where did that come from?

"I could live on this porch," she said nervously. That image of the baby really threw her. "What's it got under the hood?" she slapped the siding of the house.

"Well," started Paul, "first floor has a kitchen with formal and informal dining, a..."

"Informal dining?" asked Andi.

"A breakfast nook that got carried away. You can seat about 8 in there easily. There is a parlor, that's where the big Christmas tree in the front window is. There's a formal library and a living room. There's a media room, a gym, and a steam shower in the basement along with storage and a workshop area. On the second floor are six bedrooms, two are master en-suite, the other 4 are in pairs sharing a Jack and Jill full bath. The third floor is mostly attic storage, but my office is up there along with a half bath."

"So, what's all this in realtor talk?" Andi was simply overwhelmed with the entire thing.

"I guess ummm...'Cozy Victorian cottage with 6 beds, 5 full baths, 2 half baths, 3 fireplaces, hot tub, sauna, steam room, swimming pool, professional kitchen with dual wall mount ovens and walk in pantry, 5 car detached garage with workshop'. Personally, my favorite part is the grape arbor and the fruit trees, but fruit trees only get top billing with realtors in Florida."

Andi sank down into an Adirondack chair on the porch. "All those rooms! How am I going to keep it clean?" Andi's condo in Denver could almost be considered a studio apartment. Kitchen, dining, family room, it was all one big room. It was just over 850 square feet, and with twins it was a chore to keep up with.

"I've got a service that comes in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays." She sat unmoving, staring off into space. "Andi? Are you all right?"

She held her hand up and said "Shhhhh, I think I might cum, keep talking dirty to me." Paul laughed but she said, "How do you afford this on a doctor's salary?"

"Oh, most of my medical work is pro-bono... there's consulting fees and the like but..."

"STOP!" Andi almost shrieked. "Where does the money come from?" she demanded.

"Oh, didn't I mention? My business, Jarecki Motors, we have ten Ford dealerships..."