“That’s going to be tricky. It is going to take all your PR skills to get some of the R-towns on board.” They all grinned at the use of the new word.
Even Major Morna said he was in agreement with this plan over all. They had all winter to hash out the details.
Chapter Thirteen
The second snow storm caught all of them by surprise. They had seen the first one coming from miles off. It hit last week and the sky from the west was so dark with such an obvious line of storm clouds marching forward, they had time to speed up their pedaling and sort of race the storm until they found a house. In order to be able to stay in that house, they had to wrap up one decomposing body and put it out back. They layered lots of blankets on top of the couch where this person had died and that seemed to cover the smell.
They even had time for them all to bring in arms full of branches and wood and light up a roaring fire in the fireplace. They all had to stay in the living room around the fireplace to stay warm enough. Most of the heat went right up the chimney. The bedrooms down the hall were just too cold for comfort. But the living room was toasty. It was like an adult sleep over, they were all feeling safe inside a house, not camped out open to wind, animals and crazy people. They even found some old popcorn and popped it over the fire. Then they all dropped off to sleep all over the living room.
Steve had thought they didn’t do too bad for a group of city folk who had lived near the ocean most of their lives. Sure, Rhode Island did get a little bit of snow once or twice a year. Things would ice up and a light dusting of snow would stay around for a day or two. But basically they never had to deal with snow.
Ah, the false pride
, Steve chastised himself. They had seen this second storm coming too. They had not been able to race this one and reach a shelter before it hit them. They may have thought it was cute to be stretched out with arms flung over someone else’s foot or what have you during that other storm. Well, now they were all huddled against a rock cliff with blankets overlapped over their heads and shoulders. Any extra blankets or pieces of clothing were under them or covering their legs. They were all crammed against each other and shivering so badly it was going to be impossible for any of them to get any sleep.
The snow was not only falling heavily, it was being whipped up, swirled and dropped back down in drifts or on their huddled mass of a shivering human blob. No one was saying anything, but the literal chattering of teeth could be heard. Steve hoped they all could make it through this night. He was sure it was not much below the freezing mark; the day had not felt that cold. It was the wind that was going to be the worst.
Mind over matter. He had heard that many times. Everyone was freezing and he knew they were all wondering if they would make it through the night. He remembered when he was a boy how he couldn’t wait for a snow storm. It was the best day of the year when he could run out into the falling snow and run and grab hands full of slushy snow to make snowballs. One thing his mother always did with him when he came in all frozen was sing Christmas songs as she fixed him some hot chocolate. Whether it was before or after Christmas, it never made a difference. They belted out
Jingle Bells
and all the other carols they knew. Even that thought warmed him.
Steve knew the others didn’t have this history to fall back on, but everybody loved Christmas songs. He began with
Let it Snow
…
Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
He heard a choking laugh.
And since we’ve no place to go
He was shocked when half the group chattered the next line with him.
Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!
Then they all laughed. They may have thought he was done, but he let the laughter die down just a little and after he got out the first two words of the next sentence, they all joined him for the rest of the song.
It doesn’t show signs of stopping
And I’ve brought some corn for popping ….
He went right into
Jingle Bells
after that. Then he had each one of them name their favorite Christmas song. Often they would sing a song over again if someone said it was really their favorite.
They sang for hours. It must have been after midnight when they were settling down. Their bodies were becoming used to the cold. The rock wall they were huddled against must have finally been holding some heat. They were by no means comfortable, but crammed shoulder to shoulder and arm to arm, they were able to fall asleep sitting straight up.
The night was restless; they all would wake up at various times. No one was willing to break the circle to go to the bathroom; there were many uncomfortable bladders that night.
The cold morning light was just coloring everything in black and white when they had to break their circle and head behind trees to pee. The wind had died down and now the snow was coming down in light and sporadic flakes. The storm seemed over.
Still shivering and cold to the bones, they left their bikes where they had dropped them the night before. The left their blankets in a wet heap. They headed back to the road in search of the closest house to make camp in for at least a day to dry out and warm up and get some new blankets.
Steve was amazed at how Kim had not made any fuss but suffered in silence. She really had learned her lesson and knew now what was important.
Glenn waited until they were all gathered in another stranger’s living room and settled down and bundled up in new dry layers.
“Father Polus, I want to thank you for saving our lives last night.”
Steve blushed from the unexpected compliment. While he knew he would risk his life for his parishioners, he didn’t know how to take this thanks.
“It was…well…my duty. I was inspired by my own memories that warmed my heart. All I did was share what I knew. I don’t think I can take the credit for saving lives. We all stuck together and kept each other warm.”
“You, Father, are our spiritual leader. You, Father, knew our spirit had hit rock bottom. You, Father, were the one to reach out and spark our spirits back to life. Just…thank you.”
Steve wiped the water from his eyes. The room fell into a comfortable silence. It was still early morning. Everyone napped and snacked on and off the whole day and all slept through the night.
It was a quiet 24 hours. Everyone was somber, realizing they had been merely hours away from death.
“Good morning everyone!”
“Good morning, Father.”
“I want us all to think about some choices today. It looks warmer; we will see if the snow will start to melt today as soon as the sun gets higher. For now, I want you all to think about our next step. Shall we keep on towards this goal of mine? Or, shall we search out a bigger house and see if we can set aside enough supplies to keep our large group fed through the winter? I suppose that if we all go out every day and gather wood – we could get enough to make sure we had a fire every day. It would be hard, because now is not the time to do this, it probably takes nearly a whole year to put away enough stuff to keep a family comfortable through a whole winter. I have new respect for our pioneer ancestors.”
“Amen.”
“So, you all think about that while I boil up some pasta for our breakfast.”
He got a few smiles for that. They were now used to eating untraditional foods for their different meals. Whatever a house had stocked that would keep without refrigeration was what they ate.
By the time their spaghetti breakfast was finished the sun was beating in the window and the room was actually getting hot. The snow had completely melted. One hard storm and two days later it was gone. But now Steve knew they could get a snow storm at any time. And there was no guarantee they would be near any suitable shelter.
He pulled out a map he found in the house, spread it out on the kitchen table and called the others to gather around. It was a map of the entire state of Vermont. The priest knew they had been biking in Vermont for days now, but he no idea of where exactly they were.
“Can someone look around the house for mail? See if we can figure out where we are and if there are any big towns nearby.”
Someone handed him a letter. “Says here the town is Waterbury. Let’s look that up.”
“Waterberry? Maybe that big lake from your dreams is near here?”
“Bury – like the water may be buried underground. Here it is, well we are pretty far up into the state. Looks like we have been moving west lately, a change from my going north.” Steve plunked his finger down on Waterbury on the map. Then he started tracking it along the paper west. He sucked in his breath when he realized a slit of blue was not too far west of Waterbury.
“What is it Father?” ask a usually quiet older lady.
“A lake. A big one.”
They all leaned over the map.
“Just looking the map, my eyes never really thought about what this blue slit really was. Sure my brain knew it meant some kind of water. But just now, when my finger covered the whole town of Waterbury and I slid it across the paper, I realized that this lake is huge! It is almost big enough to be like Lake Ontario or Huron. If we were standing at one shore of this lake, we could barely see to the other side. This has to be lake of my dreams. Lake Champlain.”
“It looks like a two or three day walk. If our bikes are still in good shape, oh my God, if the bikes work, we might be able to make it in just one day!” He sat down hard in a chair.
Now it was time for the others to gather around him and lift his spirits.
Steve had bulled through this, leading them, worrying about them. Now that the pressure was close to being lifted he had just run out of energy. But they were touching him on the arm, shoulder and even his head. Their very hands seeming to transfer their own energy and excitement to him.
He got up and looked at them. He knew the answer just from seeing their happy expressions.
“So, I take it you all are ready for one more day of travel?”
“Hell yes! Oh, um, sorry Father.”
“Hell yes is right, Sam. It is time to put on our boots and get moving!”
~ ~ ~
The group of bundled up bikers crested the hill near what was once a lovely university campus. The finely planned and laid out buildings stretched off to their right. A study in brick perfection. The entire campus was made up of matching red brick buildings with forest green trim. In the twilight it look like a model train village.
The hill was huge and looking down and straight forward they saw a big lake stretched out along the horizon. The road looked like it ran straight down into the lake.
They gave out a whoop of joy!
At this point Steve could not contain himself. He pointed forward like a little kid and shouted, “The bonfire! Look, the bonfire is right there on the beach like I saw.” Sure enough, against the dark grey sky and just before the sparkling of the grey/blue lake was a flash of orange. Just where a bonfire would be set up to enjoy the evening.
The group started down the hill, picking up some dangerous speed due to the steepness of the hill. The Marine on guard had heard their whoop of joy and watched them pointing. He saw the priest robes. He had not stopped them.
He did radio ahead so that Major Morna had a few minutes to have some soldiers ready in case they were not what they seemed. But unlike a local that might leave a gangland area, these guys had traveled far, it was obvious. They were not going to come into the city in order to spy or to commit some terrorist attack. They were here for refuge, to be a part of the place, so the Marine had reported all this and watched them streak and weave and bobble down the hill, straight toward the lake.
Lena and Mick and various people from their group were enjoying the night’s bonfire, freshly started and seeming to glow brighter as the sun was now finally set. The bonfire had become a social place, a place to sit around and drink a beer, to talk or to listen, to stare off into the sparkles bouncing off the lake. Close in the light danced from the bonfire, further out the light came from the moon if the weather was right. Major Morna was planning to have the bonfire every night, even through winter. It had become a beacon to his soldiers. It had become a beacon to the few he had been able to reach on the radio. It was a beacon for all who lived in the city. He didn’t know it, but even the gangbangers felt a sense of order when they saw the glow in the sky each night. It was like a declaration that the U.S. was not beaten. Like the heart of freedom still beating, dim now, but not out for the count.