It was a Wednesday morning and I was on my way to catch the bus on the second last day of my Christmas exams. Only half a year to go before high school was just a memory. And only one more exam to go before I was free for a couple of weeks to celebrate the holiday.
I had to step over a little snow the plow had pushed into our driveway to get onto the road. The weather had really been acting up recently. My little brother hopped the mound and ran deliriously past me toward the bus stop. He would be finishing at the end of today and he obviously couldn't wait.
I was barely onto the street when I heard my name. I turned and saw James Clark shovelling his driveway. Mr. Clark was a lawyer in town, and a fairly prominent one. The town was small, but his reputation was still enviable. He was forty nine years old and very wealthy. One look at his house, a monster three story structure with a two car garage, could tell any idiot that this guy was rolling in it.
Mr. Clark had been friends with my father for a couple of years. I didn't really know the guy, but the odd exchange wasn't unheard of.
"Did you hear anything about a storm coming this weekend?" he asked me.
"Not the weekend," I replied, "I think it's coming tomorrow."
"Really? Wow, I had no idea."
"Supposed to be pretty bad. I got an exam tomorrow and if the weather's like they say it's gonna be, I'm gonna have to write on Friday."
"That your last exam?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, so it's not that bad then. Not like having to write it next Monday or Tuesday or something."
"No, it's no problem. I just want to be done."
"I know. Trust me, it's been a few years, but I remember."
"Same for everybody."
"Anyway, thanks for the information. You better get to the bus stop."
"Yeah. See you later Mr. Clark."
"See you Casey."
* * *
I woke up the next morning to my radio alarm, but the first thing I heard was the DJ telling me that the town was basically shut down. I didn't really get back to sleep, but lying there in bed an extra half hour was a great way to start the day. There wasn't a thing for me to do. I already knew my stuff for the exam I'd now have to do Friday morning.
Last one to breakfast, I made myself some toast and sat to eat. I could hear my brother making noise here there and everywhere. You couldn't tell if he was happy or sad sometimes. It was his first genuine day off and he'd planned to go sliding with a few friends of his but the storm pretty much killed that idea. He was desperate to go out and do something, but at the same time, the size of the storm was impressive. He spent his morning looking out any window he passed at the drifts as they built up around the neighbourhood.
I just finished my breakfast and went downstairs to watch some TV. I was just expecting to get a couple of daytime talk shows or something, but "Lethal Weapon" was on. It was cut to pieces and the swearing was dubbed over, with some pretty hilarious results. But hey, some "Lethal Weapon" is better than no "Lethal Weapon" at all. By the time the movie was half over, all the windows in the basement were completely covered in snow.
When I came up for lunch, the winds had died down. Since the streets were still a mess, there would be no afternoon exams, but I did have work to do with the rest of my day. At lunch, dad told me and my brother we had to help him clear the driveway. This didn't sit well with my brother, but I didn't really mind. Like I said, I already knew my stuff for the exam the next day and there was no way I'd be as lucky with the TV as I was that morning. Besides, dad wasn't a slavedriver. The work would get done slowly but it would get done.
Dad gave my brother a small shovel and I took the larger one. Dad himself took the snowblower. While he worked on the mouth of the driveway I handled the walkway. I had to work my way toward the car, which was under a drift so big you could only make out a fraction of blue paint under all that white.
As the afternoon wore on, you could gradually hear other snowblowers starting up all over the neighbourhood. The place was echoing with motors for almost a full hour at one point. Those who didn't have machines just chipped away with their shovels until a neighbour with a machine was free to lend a hand.
I was almost done sculpting the car out of the mound it was under when one of the many motors shut off. It was dad, and he was walking up the drive toward me. I flipped one last bit of snow onto the front yard and stood to talk.
"So you get the choice," he said. "You either get to go out back with your little brother and clean off the back step or you can take the machine over to help Jim get his yard clear."
"I'll take the machine."
He smiled at me. "Of course."
I had no reason to chose one alternative over the other. I could just as easily have said I'd go out back and shovel the porch. I didn't really give it much thought. Why would I? It was just some menial work I had to do either way, so what did it matter? But withing two hours of my choice, my life was totally changed.
* * *
I wheeled the machine across the street toward Mr. Clark's driveway. I could see, just above the drift in the mouth of his driveway, little clouds of snow flying toward his yard as he threw them from the shovel. I started the machine and started in on the drive. We couldn't see each other at first, but he knew he was being helped because I could see the little clouds of snow move farther away from where I was.
It took me a few minutes to make a dent in the drift at the head of the driveway.
"Finally made it in," he said when he could finally see me.
"I think you got it worse than us."
"It's as bad as it's ever been I think. My machine's been broken since early November and I just haven't gotten it fixed. I just didn't need it so I didn't get it fixed and now I need it and it's useless. Stupid or what?"
"It's no problem."
"Here, I'll start breaking it all down so you can get through it a little easier."
And he began tearing the massive drift down into the little path I'd made to get in. With the snow less packed, the machine went through much faster. Working together, we actually got it done much faster than dad our own. By the time the mouth of his driveway was clear you could still hear snowblowers humming all over the neighbourhood. My legs were starting to get tired and I could feel the cold nipping at my face. Once the storm died down the day hadn't been that cold, but I'd been out for a couple of hours so I was getting pretty cold.
I was about to shut the snowblower down when Mr. Clark said, "Look, I know you've been out for a long time now, but can I ask you to do just one more favor for me?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I just need a little path from here to the shed out back. It shouldn't take more than two passes. That part of the back yard is blocked by the fence so the drifts aren't that high."
"No problem."
He was right. I actually had it done to his liking after just a single pass. When I finally shut the machine down, my hands kept vibrating.
"Hey, listen, you should really come in for a coffee or something."