The sound of crunching metal and shattering glass against the snow blade made Marcus wince. He looked in his side mirror and saw the telling signs of a car having been forcefully pushed off the road by his blade. The sight wasn't new to him. There had been many times when blizzard conditions had left cars stranded and those cars had been covered in several feet of snow. If they were on the road it was no one's fault but the owner's, when a snow blade played havoc with chrome and metal. What was unusual and never before seen by Marcus' eyes, was the red cloth that was lapping back and forth in the wind. He stopped his truck and stared at the reflection in the mirror.
A gloved hand seemed to be attached to the red flag and that made Marcus' heart stop. He put the truck in park and clambered out of the cab. His boots crunched the snow as he ran back to the vehicle. He called out to the driver and brushed sizable chunks of snow away from the twisted metal. The glass from the driver's side windows had fallen in, luckily the driver had scooted over to the right passenger side and looked no worse for wear.
"Are you okay?" Marcus shouted.
The driver, pulled off the red hat and pulled down the top edge of the winter coat they wore, exposing bright pink cheeks, blue eyes and trembling lips. "Yeah, just caught me by surprise."
Marcus' shock continued to rise as he heard the telling tone of a woman's voice. "Jesus Christ, how long have you been in there?" he asked as he began to shovel more snow from the dented door.
"Just overnight," she said as she sat more straight and watched him work.
"And you're not frozen to death?"
"No. See," she picked up a bundle of material that had been pushed to the bottom of the floor. "It's one of those super below freezing sleeping bags and I have socks that heat up when you use a D-cell battery. I figured come morning I'd slowly open my window and start digging myself out, but I guess you beat me to it."
Marcus shook his head back and forth. "You're the most prepared motorist I've ever met."
The woman smiled. "My dad lived through many a blizzard and he always kept an emergency kit in the trunk. He passed that wisdom on to me."
"Well, you hold on and I'll have you out in a bit."
"Okay," she said. "My name's Molly.
"Marcus."
"Nice to meet you Marcus."
As Marcus worked away at the snow, Molly wrapped up her sleeping bag as best she could in her tight quarters. She also packed away the food she'd been eating when the snow plow had struck her and she pushed her garbage from the night before into another bag, which she tossed to the backseat.
"Okay, ready to climb out?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah, can I pass you my stuff first?"
"Sure," he answered, then proceeded to be given a purse, backpack, sleeping bag, and a small insulated cooler, which felt fully stocked with what he could only assume was survival food. When she popped her head out of the car, he chuckled. "Where were you storing all that?"
"In the trunk. The middle back seat pops down. I could have last for several days, if necessary."
"I'm sure you could." He helped her slide out of the car and onto the snow. She stumbled and he caught her, then helped her to the side of the road. "Climb on up in the truck. I'll pack your gear behind the seat."
"Thanks!" Molly said before walking toward the truck and climbing in. She blasted the heater and sighed with contentment as the heat flowed over her cool skin. When Marcus joined her she was grinning ear to ear. "Do you have a phone I can borrow?"
Marcus couldn't help but laugh. "With all that gear you didn't have a phone?"
Molly sighed, rolled her eyes and nodded her head. "Yeah, I know. I left the damn thing on my desk at work. Believe me I was pissed. I went off the road and grabbed my purse. Once I dumped everything out I remembered telling myself 'Molly you're going to forget your phone if you don't put it in your purse right now' and guess what -- I forgot it."
Marcus reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his phone and handed it to her. He then looked out his window as well as into the reflection of his mirrors and took his truck back onto the highway. "So did anyone stop to help last night?"
Molly stopped pushing numbers and glanced up. "No. Kinda sucks don't it?"
"Yes, it does." Marcus said nothing more as Molly finished placing her call. He listened to her voice and noticed how quick she was to calm whomever was shouting back at her. He assumed it was either her mother or her father, he really couldn't be sure. When she closed the phone and handed it back to him, she asked if he could take her to her parents' home. He explained that he would have to drop her off at the closest fire or police station. "Insurance doesn't look kindly on us picking up passengers."
"I understand," she admitted. "But if you drop me off, mom's got warm chocolate chip cookies and a steamy mug of hot chocolate waiting for you."
Marcus looked sideways at her and grinned. "Seriously, that's a tempting offer."
"Well, call your wife and tell her you're bringing cookies home for dessert."
"I'm not married," he told her.
"Ohh really?" The "h" was drawn out in a flirtatious manner which made Marcus smirk.
"Yes, really."
"Well that's all the better then. Come on Marcus, homemade chocolate chip cookies. When was the last time you had homemade cookies?"
"I had some from that Sub shop in town just yesterday evening."