The Blizzard
Glenn Johnson roused from a deep sleep, as the form next to him shifted under the arm that enfolded her. A mass of hair he knew was golden blonde brushed his chin. She was nuzzled tightly against his bare chest, with her arms wrapped against her bare breasts. Her face pressed into the crook of his shoulder and neck.
In the darkness, he shifted his hand from her slim waist to the curve of her firm butt. As he did so, his fingers graced the lace material of the thong panties she wore and cupped one of her supple gluts. She moaned softly and then giggled in her sleep. Smiling to himself, he wondered if she was having a dream reliving the day they had experienced.
As he lay in the darkness, enjoying the feel of the woman nearly forty-years his junior next to him, he himself thought back over the previous day, which had been interesting to say the least.
- - - - -
'Well shit! The power must be out', he thought as he opened his eyes. Rolling onto his back and using the palms of his hands to rub his eyes and scratch the stubble on his face, he saw it was lighter than when his alarm clock normally sounded for this time of year. Looking to the nightstand, he saw that the clock radio was completely inert, with no time showing. He also noticed that it was cooler than it normally was. The heater would've normally kicked-in by this time.
Yawning, he then thought out loud as he threw the covers off, "Looks like we lost power, during the night."
"Thank God, I have the genny," he muttered, as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed as he got out of bed, and stretched, then padded into the master bathroom. On his way, he pulled back the privacy blind on the window that overlooked his back yard and he muttered, "Damn!"
He saw that there was a considerable amount of snow on the ground and large fluffy flakes were continuing to fall in a torrent. Going into the bathroom, he did his morning business, took a quick shower, shaved, then afterwards dressed for the day in a pair of jeans and a red and black tartan flannel shirt. He grabbed a pair of socks from the dresser and walked downstairs. He would need to go to the garage to flip the switch for the emergency generator to start before he could enjoy his morning coffee. Before he did so, he opened the curtain of the bay window in his family room and at the French doors to his deck, to let additional light in. Beyond the awning he saw that at least six-inches had already piled-up. All he could say at the sight was to repeat the exclamation, "Damn!"
Walking to the front door, he grabbed his shoes and then returned to the kitchen to put on his socks and footwear. By this time his feet were beginning to get cold. 'The floor is the garage is going to be like a slab of ice', he thought and then muttered out loud with a grim smile, "No sense in my feet freezing any more than they already have."
Before heading to the garage, he walked over to the fireplace and flipped the switch on the gas log and with a hardy 'WOOSH' flames jumped to life behind the glass of the hearth. "Glad we got gas," he said and thought back over the years of the several winter storms that he had to endure in this house.
He grabbed a flashlight from the shelf in the pantry and on walking out to the darkened garage, he recalled how he and Carolyn had bought this home when he had retired from the Navy and had hired-on at Boeing as a Process Engineer. The development of 250 homes was just beginning at the time and he and his wife had thought of this dwelling as their dream home. Not having kids, they decided to purchase several upgrades. Instead of opting for completely electric heat, they had decided on gas.
Over the years, he had remodeled several things in the home and after the first couple of winters where they had lost power, he had used some savings and his bonus from that year to invest in an emergency diesel generator. It wasn't big enough to power the whole house, but it did provide juice for the appliances in the kitchen and an outlet under the awning on the deck. He had an abundance of flashlights and LED candles that could provide lighting, if the outage lasted into the night, but until then daylight could provide the light necessary to move around the house.
Maneuvering around the small sports utility vehicle parked in his garage's center stall, he went to the circuit breaker panel, opened it, and flipped the necessary switches and finally pushed the activation button on the genny, which was outside. Powered by propane, he heard the growl of it turning over on the other side of the wall, in the small alley way between his house and his neighbors. They were snowbirds and had migrated to Arizona in December, before winter had begun.
He walked a short distance to the right and checked the tank. Smiling at the reassurance it was nearly full and he had three spares. 'Won't have to go out today, thankfully', he thought.
Walking back inside the house, he saw that the clock on the stove was flashing, which told him there was power once again. He went to the counter and turned on his coffee maker and then checked his phone. It was almost fully charged, and he had sufficient bars, even though his Wi-Fi router wasn't powered. Checking the gas and electric company's app, told him that several thousand homes in his area were without power and there was no update as to the cause or when service would be restored.
Grunting, he said out loud, "Likely it was a tree branch," and set the smart phone on the counter, as he went about his morning ritual of preparing his breakfast, drinking a couple of cups of black coffee, and then cleaning everything up. He pondered, just sitting by the fire and make a few drawings of the snow. As he cleaned up the dishes and the kitchen, it dawned on him that he had become a true creature of habit.
Carolyn had been the love of his life. He had met her while in the Navy. She was a pretty, petite brunette, with a bubbly personality. A perfect match to his quiet, thoughtful reserved self. They had met while he was stationed on shore duty in Texas, and they fell in love right from the start. After retiring from the Navy, they hoped to settle down and start a family, but that dream didn't materialize, so they decided to have fun and love each other. He as a Boeing Engineer and her as a teacher. They loved life and had many adventures, right up to when an aggressive form of early onset Alzheimer's struck.
Looking out the kitchen window as he finished the dishes, he remembered how much she loved winter and seeing the snow. "You would love this one, honey," he said out loud and brushed a few tears from his eyes.
Soon after she was diagnosed with the terrible disease, she left her position at the elementary school that she taught at, near their neighborhood. He continued to work for several months, but an accident at home while he was at work convinced him that his once vivacious wife needed more direct care, and he hired a home care nurse for her. As her condition continued to spiral downward, he took a leave of absence and with the assistance of hospice, helped to make her remaining days as comfortable as possible.
He decided to have one more cup of coffee. After the Keurig brewed it, he carried the cup into his living room at the front of the house. He wanted to do a drawing from the front of the house. He grabbed a coaster and set the cup on the coffee table and went to his office next to the family room to grab his sketch book and pencils.
Walking back and looking out the window through the falling snow, he saw the small coupe his other neighbor had sitting in her driveway, under a blanket of snow. He immediately wondered how she was fairing. The cooler temperature in the living room away from the fireplace at the rear of the house reminded him of the current circumstances.
Her name was McKenzie Blake, and she was a twenty-something single who had gotten a deal on one of the older homes in the development, having purchased it the previous summer. He had met her after she had moved in and chatted with her briefly at a couple of the neighborhood gatherings. He knew she worked as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines. She was gone on a regular basis, and she had asked him to keep an eye on her house, on the occasions she was on flight rotation.
