WINTER ICE STORM

WINTER ICE STORM

Jen listened to the news. “Last night’s ice storm has paralyzed the city. All schools in the state are closed, meetings scheduled for today are cancelled, and most businesses are also closed for the day. We urge you to turn in to our television station for closings and cancellations before leaving home.”

How much ice could one storm leave? Kathy wondered.

Crawling out of bed, she slid her feet into her Sylvester slippers and donned her warm fuzzy robe. No use waking the rest of the house if we can’t go anywhere.

Flicking on the light in the kitchen, she found it was too dark to see through the picture window. As she started the morning coffee, Ralph, their terrier, begged to go out. Kathy pressed the button to open the garage door. It moaned and crackled, but refused to rise. “Guess I’ll have to let you out the patio door,” she said to Ralph.

Ralph followed her. As soon as she opened the door, he ran out, but it looked more like a squat version of Bambi sliding across the patio and into the snow. Ralph picked himself up, shook himself off, and trotted across the top of the crusted snow.

The icy coating on the trees, houses, and lawns sparkled with an evil grin. Letting Ralph back in, Kathy noticed that the ice covered the back windows as well. “I guess this would be a great day to turn off the alarms and crawl back into bed.”

Word count: 249