Chapter 27

December 2, 2009 arrived with the worst snowstorm that Jack had ever experienced that early in the winter. The sky had dumped four inches of snow over the night and it was only getting worse. The weatherman was predicting that accumulations could reach a foot by evening. Watching the forecast, Jack decided that he had better dress in lots of layers before heading off to work.

The university was closed, but essential personnel were still required to come into work. In this context, Jack was considered essential personnel. All of the maintenance and grounds crews would be there today. There were students living in dorms on campus and essential services had to be provided. He knew that he’d spend the day shoveling snow from the pathways so that the students could get from the dorms to the cafeteria. Someone else would be using a snowplow to clear out the parking lots.

Jack left the house driving ten miles an hour on roads that were slick with snow. Recent cuts in local government spending affected road clearing operations so the roads were in very poor condition. By the time he reached the university, he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be returning home that night. He wasn’t looking forward to a night curled up on the floor of the maintenance building.

Jack arrived after driving for almost two hours. Despite having left for work an hour early, he was still almost an hour late. He climbed out of his truck stiff from the tense drive. He walked up to the maintenance building and entered expecting to get yelled at for being late. Roy was at the front desk and looked up when Jack came in. He said, “You’re the second one to make it in. I guess that lets you run one of the snow blowers.”

“Great,” Jack said pleased not to be in trouble. He had expected to be shoveling snow by hand.

Going over to the map of the university, Roy pointed to an area and said, “You’ll need to clear out the walkway from these dorms over to here. I’ve got Dennis clearing out the path in front of the cafeteria. You just need to tie into his path so that the students can get to the cafeteria without wading through the snow.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Jack said.

“Don’t kill yourself out there. If you get too cold, step inside a building and warm up a little,” Roy said. Smiling he said, “The students are young enough to get their feet a little cold.”

“Right,” Jack said with a laugh. He went over to the garage and picked out a snow blower. It took him a few minutes to get it started. Once it was going, he let it drag itself out the door. He blew a path from the maintenance building over to the dorm figuring that someone else would have to make the trip.

After clearing snow for an hour, Jack was surprised when someone tapped him on the back. He stopped the snow blower and turned to see who was trying to get his attention. Much to his surprise it was a student. Holding out a foam cup, the student said, “I brought you some hot chocolate.”

Accepting the cup, Jack was shocked by the thoughtfulness of the student. He said, “Thank you. That’s very nice of you.”

“I’m with Phi Beta Kappa. We’re doing that for all of you guys out here in the cold,” the student said.

“It is very nice of you,” Jack said. He took a sip of the hot drink. It was obviously out of a packet, but it did warm him.

He said, “This tastes good.”

“I’m glad you like it,” the student said. He waved and headed back into one of the dorm buildings.

Stamping his feet to get some of the snow off his boots, Jack said, “These students are really nice kids.”

At the community house, everyone in the commune with the exception of Jack and Johnny were gathered in front of the television watching the weather. The weatherman was saying that the storm could last three days. Dave shook his head and said, “This is a pretty nasty storm.”

“I bet Jack is freezing his butt off,” Rich said thinking about him out there clearing snow.

“It is nice of him to go in to school on a day like this,” Liz said.

“He has to work. There are a bunch of students stuck on campus,” Bev said. She wondered how many of them were frightened by the prospect of being stuck on campus during a major storm like that. In her mind they were still kids.

Liz said, “It is a long way to the university. Surely someone else could do it. How is he supposed to drive home tonight?”

“I don’t think he’ll be home anytime soon,” Dave said.

“Did anyone pack a lunch for him?” Claire asked afraid that he wouldn’t have a chance to eat.

When no one answered, Laura said, “He left really early this morning.”

The television showed a major pileup on the highway. Twenty cars were involved in the accident. It looked like a real mess and Rich could imagine himself trapped in the traffic. He said, “Thank God I’m not out there this morning.”

“You can say that again,” Cheryl said thinking that she would have been watching the video hoping not to see his car in the midst of the accident. She looked over at her boys and saw that they were still playing a board game with Mary. She was amazed that kids raised on video games would enjoy playing an old fashioned game like that.

Gail said, “It is beastly cold out there.”

“At least we’re nice and warm here,” Sally said. She was wearing a light sweater to keep the chill away.

“It was a little cold in the house this morning,” Emily said.

Looking over at Emily, Sally said, “It was your idea to turn the thermostat down to 64.”

“I’m not complaining,” Emily said. “We’re going to save on the heating bill this way.”

“You turned the thermostat down to 64? We only turned ours down to 66,” Mary said.

Rich looked over at the boys and said, “We’re keeping ours at 68.”

Ella said, “We’ve got ours turned down to 64, but we’re using a portable heater in the bedroom.”

“You’re only heating one bedroom?” Claire asked wondering which one of the women slept in a cold room.

“We decided to share the bed last night to keep warm,” Ella said. It had been very cold the previous night. The wind had been blowing and it seemed like the walls didn’t stand a chance in holding it back.

Gail said, “I used an electric blanket last night.”

Dave looked over at Rich and asked, “Are you ready to blow some snow?”

“No, but I’ll do it,” Rich said getting out of his chair. Looking over at Abby, he asked, “Are you going to help, Abby?”

Abby slowly turned her head to look at Rich. In a tired voice, she asked, “Why do it? It is just going to snow some more.”

“We do it now so that the job won’t be worse later,” Rich answered.

“Does it really matter?” Abby asked thinking that nothing mattered. She had seen her future standing out on the street in front of the lingerie store. It was only a question of when she had to face that future.

“Yes, it does matter,” Dave said. He looked at her thinking that it was the first time she had even hinted at what was bothering her. In a quiet voice, he said, “It is all about delaying the inevitable long enough that it stops being inevitable.”

“That doesn’t work,” Abby said shaking her head.

Claire noticed that Abby was getting a little more animated. She said, “I’m older than dirt. I’ve been around a block or two. Trust me when I say that Dave is right.”

“You don’t understand,” Abby said looking down at the floor. How could they understand the sense of helplessness that she had? She was a thirty-something woman waiting for her job at a fast food place to end and her job as a prostitute to begin.

“You aren’t alone unless you choose to be,” Dave said looking at her.

“You’ll chase me out of here when I have to start turning tricks to make rent,” Abby said.

Ella snorted and said, “Do you think so? We haven’t chased Frau Schultz out of here.”

“Honey, I’ve slept with as many men as most hookers. You don’t see them chasing me out of here,” Sally said.

“So you admit that I’m facing a future as a prostitute,” Abby said angrily. She didn’t know why it made her so angry.

“We didn’t say that. We just said that we wouldn’t chase you out of here if you did that,” Ella said.

Dave asked, “What makes you think you are destined to prostitution?”

“What else can I do when they start shutting down the fast food places? Do you see any factories around here? No, they all went overseas. Do you see any jobs for maids? No. Do you see any jobs of any kind out there? No you don’t. No one is hiring,” Abby said.

Dave said, “I see a lot of empty houses. Someone needs to take care of them and I haven’t seen anyone do that yet. Probably a dozen of them will have water leaks by the time this storm is over. Who is going to know? As far as I can tell, no one will know and the house will get damaged.”

“Huh?” Abby asked. It actually sounded like a good idea. She had gone over to Penny’s house the night before to turn on the heater so that the plumbing wouldn’t freeze.

Claire said, “A dozen people are moving out of the neighborhood to join their families. They probably need someone to help them pack. You’re a whole lot better than having a strange man in the house.”

“Help them move,” Abby repeated thinking that was another good idea.

“How about writing up a guide on how to start a commune? Lots of people are in the same situation we were and I’m sure that what works for us could work for them. Hell, you could end up selling a million copies,” Liz said.

Rich said, “Create your own job.”

Abby looked around the room unable to believe that in less than five minutes, she had been given three different ideas for a job. Even if one didn’t work out, she had two more possibilities. She said, “I need to think about it.”

“While you’re thinking about it, why don’t you help us remove the snow?” Dave asked.

The three of them had just stepped outside when Rich’s cell phone went off. Puzzled, he dug it out from his coat pocket and answered it. After a few minutes discussion, he turned to Dave and said, “I’ve got to head over to the house. It should take me about half an hour to take care of this call.”

“Take your time,” Dave said. He looked over at Abby and, winking at her, said, “He’ll do anything to get out of working.”

“You’re telling me,” Abby said. She picked up the snow shovel and went to work on the steps. The snow blower in the garage could clear a lot of snow, but it couldn’t do a thing to the steps.

Abby’s mind was in a whirl while thinking about the ideas that Dave, Claire, and Liz had tossed out so easily. After the horrible experience in the massage parlor, Abby knew that a life of prostitution would kill her. There wasn’t a future in the fast food business no matter how she looked at it. Even if government didn’t kill it off, the income wasn’t enough to cover her financial needs. It had seemed to her that there wasn’t going to be any choice in her future; she was going to end up standing out on a street corner soliciting men. Their ideas had changed all of that.

Like many people, she didn’t feel as if she was employed unless she was working for a company. The idea of starting a business in something that wasn’t massage was intriguing. She didn’t have any idea where to even begin. Of course, she wasn’t alone. Mary knew how to find information and Johnny understood accounting. The old women had life experiences that often provided insight into problems. Even Jack understood how to tenaciously pursue employment opportunities that lasted from job to job.

Finishing clearing off one set of steps, she went to the next house and went to work on the steps up to the front door. Her body worked on autopilot while her mind struggled to put together a plan. For the first time since the fat tax had announced, she was beginning to see a future that wasn’t dark. She attacked the snow with a vengeance.

Roy drove up to where Jack was taking care of the snow in one of the little electronic carts used to ferry small items around the campus. In the back of it were two cans of gasoline, a bag of salt, and a snow shovel. He got out of the cart and said, “I figured that you were about to run out of gasoline.”