And then…
David is heading into his house to take a break from shoveling his driveway.
It’s been snowing for two days. The snow is now measuring in feet, where it started as inches. The wind has been howling steadily and blowing the snow into deep drifts. He wonders if he’ll be able to keep up with it.
After peeling off his wet clothes he gets the fireplace going and starts water heating on the stove for a hot chocolate.
Soon enough, the tea kettle is whistling, letting David know it’s ready.
It doesn’t take long before he settles into his favorite chair, sipping his warm brew, in front of the now crackling fireplace. It’s an odd combination of sounds between the wind outside driving the heavy snow horizontal and the cracks and pops of the wood burning in the fireplace.
As darkness settles in, the flickers from the flames illuminate the room, generating random shadows, and creating an odd symphony of light and sound with the wind from the raging snowstorm rumbling in the background.
David sits back and briefly closes his eyes to take in the warmth of the fireplace and the oddly soothing sounds of Mother Nature in full force outside.
He is suddenly startled back to consciousness by a brief series of bright twinkling lights coming through the window next to him. There is a distinct quietness, and the fireplace is now a small pile of glowing embers. His hot chocolate is sitting on the table next to him, half-finished.
David rises from his chair, realizing he must have dozed off.
He turns to the window, looking to see what the light source is that woke him up.
Seeing that the light is the rising sun sparkling through the trees in his side yard, David becomes almost paralyzed with shock when he realizes there are leaves on the trees and the grass on his lawn is a rich green.
His lawn mower is sitting on the partially mowed lawn awaiting him to return after he took a break.
