Let It Snow! (Modernity Series)

Jerry watched the screen enraptured, not only by the colorful blues, purples, and greens and the neat little map of the southern United States.  The animated motions of the storm heading his way were thrilling, scary even, and the weather lady with her tight dress and voluptuous frame made him feel all warm and fuzzy. For a few moments, he was hypnotized with fear, wonder, and lust all mixed into a hormone-spiking cocktail running through his body. The thrill of the the largest snow on record heading his way had got the whole town riled up, because people in those parts had barely seen any snow whatsoever in over twenty years.

“If you look closely here,” she said.

“Uh oh, oh yeah I’ll look there alright,” interrupted Jerry.

“You can see this high pressure system moving down into this area, and over here you’ll see another system moving toward it that has precipitation.…” the weather woman said.

“Precipi-what? I can look at your systems all day, baby,” said Jerry over the lip of his beer can.

“What you have going on here is a BOMBOCYLONOGENESIS over here near the coast and that means the pressure will drop VERY quickly,” she said. She certainly sounded like she knew her stuff, an expert as it were, but one couldn’t help but commend her on the overall delivery of her….systems.

“So what we are really looking at here is an UNPRECEDENTED snow storm for this southern area with up to a FOOT or more of snow. We would urge you all to prepare accordingly as the infrastructure many not be able to handle this type of event. You may not be able to get around for awhile because right behind this storm are freezing temperatures which means the snow won’t melt quickly,” she said with a flash of pearly whites.

Why is she smiling like that? Jerry thought. She sure is fine though, dang.

Jerry hopped up and decided to drive down to the grocery store instead of popping open his second beer. He lived in an area that was large and full of forests and fields and long roads, so he realized he might need to prepare. Probably needed to do it sooner, too. His little town was somewhat of a run-down thing of the past.  A poor town, one without the historical knowledge of the place might say.  Jerry grew up here and all his friends and family were still here and he didn’t really have the desire to “go off” into the world like some of the people from his high school did. His neighbor Mark was an older farmer who had lived there his whole life as well.  Jerry wondered if he should have asked him if he needed anything.

It takes a few minutes to get to the store from where Jerry lives, so he turned on the radio.

“Hey now this looks to be THE BIG ONE! You got about 36 hours to make sure you are stocked up and ready people!” squawked the man on the radio. Good grief, thought Jerry. These people sure are talking this one up real good.

Pulling into the grocery store, it was obvious that people were in a panic of some sort. The lot was packed; there were only two grocery stores within a 20 mile radius of Jerry’s house and he really didn’t want to drive out that way if he could help it. Plus, he knew he would likely find the same chaotic scenario there.

Walking into the store, he could already hear the murmur of voices coming from inside.  It didn’t sound pleasant; there was yelling and he could see people pushing each other and trying to get to certain aisles.  His neighbor Mark was standing just outside the door, looking afraid to go in.

“Hey Mark, how you doing? Ready for this storm?” said Jerry.

Mark looked at him quizzically with those old, knowing eyes.  “What storm, Jerry?”  said Mark.

“You haven’t seen the news yet? You haven’t been watching?” asked Jerry.

“I don’t much like to watch the TV anymore really.  Too much junk on it these days,” said Mark.

“Well they are sayin’ its gonna be a big one! Foot or more of snow!” said Jerry.

Mark erupted with a loud chuckle, then started laughing harder. Jerry didn’t find it all that funny, but Mark was his elder so he held his tongue.  When Mark stopped laughing he stood there silently, looking up into the sky.  He just stood there for a minute, like he was listening for something, or feeling for something, Jerry didn’t know what.

“You know, I been on this earth a long time. I’ve seen many seasons. I’ve farmed my lands since the day I could walk, and my father and grandfather before me. Knowing the weather is in my bones. I don’t need no stinkin’ weather man to tell me anything,” said Mark.

Jerry just chalked it up to old man pride and said nothing in response. “Well, I can grab some milk or something for you…if there’s anything left, that is,” said Jerry.

“Now don’t you worry yourself about me. I got provisions. Be careful in there, Jerry,” said Mark.

At that, Mark walked back slowly to his car, all the while looking up into the sky.  He got in his vehicle and drove away.

Jerry didn’t have much time to think about that, as a few customers came flying out of the doors yelling and screaming at each other about the last bread loaf.

“I got kids at home you old bitty! You don’t need that bread more than I do!”

“I got there first!”

They two women looked like they were about to come to blows so Jerry got in the middle of them. “Hey now, lets just calm down here,” he said.

“This bitch gonna make my children starve! How you feel about that!” said the woman.

“Who you calling a bitch, girl?!” said the older woman.

“Okay Okay good grief, I ain’t dealing with all of this, y’all get on out of here,” said Jerry.  He left them arguing out front and headed into the store. It was ridiculous.  He stopped to ask the manager why they hadn’t prepared better by stocking up extra food.

“Well we sorta did do that, but the weather forecasters didn’t really start talking this storm up until a few days ago. We could have done more if we had known earlier.  The supply trucks are overworked all over the state now. They got people in a real frenzy, I’ll tell ya that,” said the manager. “It’s a small store too as you know; this type of thing don’t usually happen around here,” he said.

In the back of the store near the meat section he heard two men shouting at one another. When he looked toward the milk aisle he could see people pushing each other, swarming like a sea of ants trying to get the last of the dairy.

The shouting near the meat aisle escalated.  Jerry began to do some calculations in his head. Ok I think maybe I got enough odds and ends at the house to maybe weather this storm through. Canned beans, some noodles, some cheese. I’m just one man, I think I’ll be alright.

Suddenly the shouting reached a dangerous tone.

“And what are you gonna do with that knife you big DUMMY?!?!” said a voice. He heard gasps and screams and he glanced down the aisle and saw blood on the floor.

“He stabbed him! Good lord, he stabbed him right there!” said a scared voice.  All the people started to rush toward the front away from the violence…and right toward Jerry.

That was his cue. He turned quick and ran back out to his car, shaking his head at the absurd scene within. He didn’t wait around to see the fallout.  He headed back to his house and started taking inventory.

On the morning when the storm was forecasted to hit, Jerry walked outside.  The clouds did look rather grey and ominous.  He looked over to his neighbor’s property and saw Mark walking around with his dog following close behind.  Every now and then he would hold up his hand like he was feeling for something in the air. Jerry watched with interest.

He loved the idea of getting some snow. It was a novel idea in these parts and even with all the fear mongering around the storm, he hoped he would get to see something he’d only seen on TV and in photos. So he bundled up in his warm clothes and sat on the porch for bit.  It certainly was a bitter cold he hadn’t felt before.

So he waited. He began to see some flurries come down and excitedly rushed out to look up into the sky, maybe catch some on his tongue. He was successful, and the feel of the cold flakes on lips was exciting and new.  He decided to go inside and start a fire in the fireplace.  Once he had finished, he came back out onto the porch to see if any more snow and fallen. It hadn’t gotten any heavier in the last 30 minutes, so he went back inside and flipped on the TV.

And there she was, his favorite weather lady, looking good as ever.

“Well folks it looks like the pressure dropped over here instead of over here, and now the front has shifted further north than we anticipated. I know everyone was probably looking forward to finally getting some snow, but this change in patterns will mean maybe about an inch or so overall falling in this area here,” she said, pointing right over Jerry’s town. That smile, he thought. He didn’t much like that smile right now nor the way she was standing, like she was posing at a beauty contest.

He walked outside and looked over towards his neighbors house and saw Mark just standing there. Maybe Mark could feel Jerry’s eyes on him, because he looked over at Jerry at that moment. He couldn’t quite see his facial expressions, but it did appear that Mark had a sly grin on his face.  He certainly saw the shrug of the shoulders, the dog yapping behind him, the wind moving the crooked old tree limbs, the grey skies above.

Jerry didn’t see anymore snow that day, however.