Blizzard Night

by Marlane Kennedy

  “I’ll dig under the snow and see what I can find. You stay close to Maggie and keep her warm,” Jayden told him. By now the sun had almost set. There wasn’t much time left before nightfall. He needed to get the fire started before it was too late to see what he was doing.

  Jayden scrambled over to the pine trees and was able to find some needles under the snow. He took off his knit cap and filled it with the thin red-brown shafts. The wind whipped sharply through his curly hair and nipped at his uncovered ears. He pulled loose bark from a few trees and picked up a few sticks poking up from the snow-covered ground. Arms full, he brought the spoils of his hunt back to the boulders and headed out for more. Then he went in search of larger pieces of wood that could keep a fire going. He found a fallen tree that was long dead and snapped the branches off by the armload.

  By the time he had a ring of the needles, bark, sticks, and branches built at the entrance of the tunnel, his entire head was numb. He couldn’t control the shivering that overtook his body.

  The tunnel was cramped, with barely room for the three of them, but Jayden figured that would work to their advantage when it came to getting warm. He took off his gloves, and despite stiff, frozen fingers, he managed to dig the book of matches out of his pocket. He struck one match and held it with a shaking hand to a clump of pine needles. The match flared, but went out without igniting anything.

  Connor moaned in disappointment.

  The next match went out, too. What if I go through this whole book of matches and don’t get a fire started? Jayden was growing frustrated. And worried. But the third time was the charm, and soon the pine needles began to glow orange. The flame grew steadily as Jayden rearranged the branches and sticks.

  The warmth from the small fire felt good on his face and hands. “Bring Maggie closer,” he told Connor.

  And so the kids settled in for the night. Since there wasn’t much room, they had Maggie sit closest to the fire. The other two snuggled in behind her. In time, Maggie’s shivering eased and her cheeks began to look pinker. Jayden stopped shivering, too. His face and ears tingled as the numbness wore off. No one really felt warm or comfortable, but at least the cold wasn’t so painful.

  It was pitch-black outside, but the fire illuminated the still falling snow. They ate a dinner of Goldfish and Jolly Ranchers without talking much. Connor reached out into the snow and scooped a handful to his mouth.

  “Don’t!” Jayden barked.

  “Why not? I’m thirsty! We have to be dehydrated by now. We need water and snow is basically water, isn’t it?”

  “Eating frozen snow will lower your body temperature. It can make hypothermia worse. Which wouldn’t be good considering the situation we’re in.”

  “So what are we supposed to do?” Connor snapped. “Die of thirst instead of freezing to death?”

  “Hey, I know!” Maggie said. Jayden noticed that she was no longer stuttering or slurring her speech. She held out an empty Goldfish bag and said, “Can’t we fill these with snow and hold it close enough to the fire to melt?”

  Within minutes the three kids were drinking from Goldfish bags. They had shelter, a fire, a bit of food, and something to quench their thirst. They were okay. For now.

  “So how did you know all that stuff about hypothermia? And what to do about facing a bear?” Connor asked. “Are you a genius or something?”

  Jayden laughed. “No, I just read adventure books. Lots of them.”

  As the night grew on, Jayden began to hold his first real conversation with his foster brother and sister. They talked. They really talked.

  Maggie and Connor told funny stories about school and their friends.

  “I should invite some of the guys over soon so you can get to know them better,” Connor said. “Fred can burp nursery rhymes like ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat,’ and Kyle can impersonate anyone. Even me! He cracks me up.”

  “Oh, please, no! Fred and Kyle are so annoying!” Maggie said. She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning like she enjoyed their antics, too.

  “Yeah, like Jayden would rather be around your giggly friends,” Connor said.

  “Well, I bet Lily could outbelch Fred anytime!”

  “She probably could!” Connor laughed.

  Jayden shared stories, too. First about kind Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield, who had cared for him. Then about the busy, hectic life he experienced later on in the home filled with many foster kids. They were good stories about pleasant things, but still there was a tinge of sadness to Jayden’s voice. “A lot of times, just when I’d get to be good friends with someone in the group home, they’d move on for one reason or another,” he said.

  “That must have been tough,” Maggie said.

  Jayden shrugged and stared at the fire. He longed for a real family and a real home. He didn’t share this longing with Maggie and Connor, but they seemed to be able to sense this and grew quiet.

  It was just as well. It was late and they needed their sleep. As Jayden finally drifted off, he thought about how this freak storm had given him a gift of sorts. He’d gotten to know Connor and Maggie so much better without the distractions of snowmobiles and adventure novels than he would have at the cabin. Still, as much as he’d enjoyed the past couple of hours by the warm fire with them, he hoped that the morning wouldn’t bring another blizzard. He couldn’t think of anything worse.

  Fortunately, Jayden awoke to bright sunshine streaming into the tunnel between the boulders. And no falling snow! As he stirred and stretched, he noticed that the fire had almost burned out. But at least it’d kept the snow from drifting too close. Further out, the snow looked deep.

  Maggie and Connor groggily opened their eyes as Jayden got to his feet.

  “I’m going to peek outside,” Jayden told them.

  Out in the open, the air was still. Jayden guessed the temperature must be in the mid-thirties. Not bad. The sky was blue and the snow reflected sunlight in brilliant bursts, making him squint. He took a few more steps away from the boulders into snow that practically came up to his knees. It would be difficult to walk through, but since the weather had calmed down, he’d take it.

  The smoldering fire still gave off enough warmth that the kids could melt and drink some more water. Despite the hunger that invaded their empty stomachs, it would have to do for breakfast.

  Soon they’d packed their few belongings and crept outside the leaning boulders, peering in every direction to survey their surroundings. “Which way do we go?” Maggie asked.

  “The sun rises in the east. We need to go farther north to reach the lake cabins.” Connor pointed, then grinned. “Using the sun as a compass is one of the few things I learned from the year I was in Scouts. I’m regretting not paying more attention to our troop leader, but I think I can at least get us going in the right direction.”

  Even with the sun as a guide, finding those cabins in the middle of nowhere is going to be like hunting for a needle in a haystack, Jayden thought.

  Maggie must have been having the same worries. “What if we wander around all day and don’t find any help, and we just get even more lost, and it gets dark and freezing cold again?” She suddenly looked scared.

  “Staying put won’t help,” Connor told her. “No one even knows to come looking for us. Plus Rory and Dad are depending on us. We need to keep going. Especially since the weather is good right now.”

  Jayden thought of his injured foster dad back in the van. Every passing minute must seem like an eternity to him. Once the blizzard started, he must have been worried sick about them. And by now he’d probably guessed that they were lost, since help never arrived. He could only imagine how badly Mr. Walcott’s leg must hurt. “Connor’s right,” Jayden told Maggie. “We’ve got to at least try.”

  The going was slow. Every step through the deep snow took intense effort. But the sun continued to keep them warm and they trudged on. After a while, Jayden even felt like he might be sweating a bit so he unzipped his coat.

  A good while lat
er — it must have been around noon since the sun was directly overhead — the ground started to slope down. It made walking a bit easier and they picked up their pace. Soon Connor spotted a large clearing in the distance.

  “Hey, there aren’t any trees over there! That’s got to be the lake!” he shouted.

  Adrenaline kicked in and now they were moving even faster, almost high-stepping through the snow.

  “It is the lake! It has to be the lake!” Maggie exclaimed as they drew closer. “I see a cabin! And look, there’s smoke coming from the chimney! Someone is home!”

  Maggie pointed at a small wooded finger of land that jutted into the clearing. And sure enough, Jayden saw a cabin nestled among the trees.

  “I know that cabin,” Connor said. “I think we passed it when we were boating last summer. It’s on the opposite side of the lake from ours.”

  Soon the kids made it down to the shoreline, where the trees stopped and only a smooth coat of snow spread out before them. Jayden thought the cabin ahead was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. It meant everything would be okay. It meant they wouldn’t have to spend another night in the woods. That Mr. Walcott and Rory would be rescued. That none of them would freeze or starve to death. It was just a matter of time before they’d all be safe and sound.

  Maggie looked over at him and grinned, her face flushed with joy.

  Jayden started to grin back, when all of a sudden something cracked beneath his feet. The unmistakable sound of ice splintering under the snow. He saw Maggie’s expression change from one of delight to sheer terror.

  They weren’t following the shoreline, they were standing on the lake itself. And the ice wasn’t frozen solid.

  The cracking grew louder. Before Jayden could react, his footing gave way and his body plunged into ice-cold water. The sun disappeared as he sank into the murky darkness. With all of the energy he could muster, he kicked his legs until his head broke the water’s surface, and he gasped for air. He thrashed around, trying to get a grip on the edge of the ice, but his heavy coat and boots weighed him down and he sunk into the frigid waters once again.

  Jayden held his breath. He struggled out of his gloves and his waterlogged coat before popping back up to the surface again. He sucked air into his lungs as he tried to tread water, but his snow pants and boots made it difficult.

  “Get off the ice! Now! Go get help at the cabin!” Connor screamed at his sister.

  Jayden caught a glimpse of Maggie standing in shocked silence on the perilous ice before finally scrambling away, the ice crackling and moaning until she disappeared from his line of sight.

  He went under again and fought his way back up. When he managed to get his head above water he saw Connor lying on a shelf of snow and ice right above him with his hand extended. “Grab on,” he said.

  Jayden reached up with his frozen, numb hand and Connor latched on to him.

  “Just keep still. Let me pull you up,” Connor said. Slowly Connor began to inch backward across the snow. He grimaced, the strain of Jayden’s weight evident on his face. Creak! The ice he was laying on shifted beneath him.

  What if they both were to go in?

  Jayden rose a few inches out of the water with Connor’s help and grasped the frozen edge of the hole to help hoist himself the rest of the way out. All his energy spent, he lay down on the ice, panting through chattering teeth, unsure what they should do next. He felt weak, and though he wanted to jump up and run for the shore, he knew that probably wasn’t a good idea.

  “I think we should crawl,” Connor said. “The ice might not give if our weight is spread out.”

  Jayden nodded. They carefully soldier-crawled their way toward the tree line, inch by inch. Each time the ice groaned underneath his body, Jayden shut his eyes and clenched his fists.

  Once they reached the trees, Connor helped Jayden to his feet.

  Up ahead, Jayden caught sight of Maggie slogging through the deep snow as fast as she could.

  Connor cupped his hands and shouted, “Maggie! He’s out! We’re coming!” He took off his coat and wrapped it around Jayden. It did little to stop the deep-down cold Jayden felt in his bones. He was shivering violently, but seeing how close they were to the cabin made him stumble forward. Connor put his arm around him to help support his shaky steps.

  Maggie waited for them to catch up to her and then she, too, wrapped a protective arm around Jayden to help him along. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought” — her voice caught — “I thought you were going to drown before I could get help. I was so scared.”

  When they finally reached the front door of the cabin, it was all Jayden could do not to collapse in a frozen heap. Maggie pounded on the door. “Help! Is anybody home? Someone, please help us!”

  The door swung open and a surprised gentleman with gray hair and a beard greeted them. “Opal!” he called and was soon joined by an older woman with a kind, round face.

  “Gus, these kids look colder than an Arctic ice-cream cone!” Opal said. “Come in, come in!” Opal ushered the kids inside without question.

  But as the kids shivered in the hall, the story came spilling out. The accident. Mr. Walcott’s broken leg and how he and Rory were stranded down a ravine only a few miles away. Their night in the blizzard. Jayden’s fall into the lake.

  “Opal, call an ambulance, and I’ll take these two in the truck to find their father and brother,” Gus said. He then spoke to Maggie and Connor. “We’re closer than emergency service, so I’ll see what we can do to make your dad comfortable until the ambulance arrives. We can at least bring him some water and something to eat. The roads were bad this morning, but I heard the plow go by about an hour ago. Should be able to get to them in just a few minutes.”

  Opal nodded and Gus left with Maggie and Connor. When she was done making the phone call for emergency help, Opal turned her attention to a dripping and damp Jayden. “Let’s get you out of those wet clothes, dear,” she said.

  Jayden was given a fluffy towel, a flannel shirt, and pair of tan pants and shown to the bathroom. As he dried off and changed into the clothes, he instantly felt better. The shirt and pants must have belonged to Gus — they were way too big. But Jayden didn’t mind. They were dry and toasty!

  When he emerged, Opal directed him to a big overstuffed chair by a crackling fire. “Sit here. Let me get you some hot chocolate. And maybe a sandwich. I imagine you’re hungry after spending the night in the woods. Do you like ham and cheese?”

  Jayden smiled. “That sounds terrific. Thanks.”

  Though it wasn’t gourmet or anything, the hot chocolate and ham and cheese sandwich Opal brought him seemed like the best meal he’d had in his entire life. Nothing had ever tasted so sweet and delicious!

  The fire glowed and snapped, and Jayden sank deeper into the soft chair. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude poured through him, warming him just as much as the fire. He thought about how the trip had started out. How he’d been concerned about fitting in with the Walcotts and how he’d felt so awkward around them. But during the night, he hadn’t worried once about whether Maggie or Connor liked him or not. That’d been the last thing on his mind. Like his new foster brother and sister, he was too busy trying to survive.

  And survive they had. By staying together and depending on one another, they’d made it through the blizzard night.

  Jayden was flying fast enough that the wind stung his cheeks. The morning sun was strong and bounced off the snow, but his tinted goggles helped with the glare. And his new winter coat and snow pants kept him warm.

  “Can I go faster?” he shouted. This was the last day of their winter getaway, and he wanted to make the most of it.

  “Yes!” Mr. Walcott yelled from behind. “You’re doing great! Just like a pro!”

  Jayden was driving the two-seater snowmobile while Mr. Walcott sat behind him. His foster dad had his lower left leg in a cast, but it didn’t slow him down at all during the week they’d spent in the Upper Peninsula
. The break in the bone was simple and clean, and once set, he was able to do everything he’d planned during the trip. He just moved a bit slower!

  Jayden revved the engine and tried to catch up to Connor, who was bounding through the snow up ahead on a smaller snowmobile. Maggie and Rory waited patiently for their turn, as they would soon switch off.

  Jayden was having the time of his life! He couldn’t quite believe he was driving a snowmobile. A snowmobile! He drove over a small bump, and suddenly he and his foster dad were airborne for a second or two. Jayden felt totally free. He laughed into the crisp, chilly air.

  An hour later, the family gathered in the kitchen of the cabin for lunch. It was their last meal before heading back to Ohio. Mr. Walcott had made chili the night before and they ate the leftovers, piling their bowls with crackers, cheese, and sour cream. Jayden thought the chili tasted even better than it did the previous night — the spicy warmth was perfect after spending the morning outside in the cold.

  Jayden looked around the cabin as he ate. Despite the rough start to the trip, he loved it here. The cabin was small and nothing fancy, but it was cozy. Wood beams lined the ceiling, throw rugs were scattered about, and a well-worn plaid couch faced a stone fireplace. When he wasn’t busy having fun in the great outdoors, he’d snuggled into the couch by the fire and read his adventure novels.

  “I can’t believe it’s time to go home already,” Jayden told the others. “I had an awesome time. Well, except for how the trip started out, of course!”

  “I’m so glad you were with us,” Mr. Walcott said. He smiled at Jayden as he blew on a big spoonful of chili.

  “Me, too,” Connor said. “If you hadn’t come along, Jayden, we wouldn’t be here right now. We wouldn’t have made it.”

  “You came into this family for a reason,” Maggie added.

  Jayden felt his cheeks grow warm — more from the compliments than the spicy chili. He looked down and shrugged. Even though his new family had told him such things before over the past few days, it still made him feel sort of bashful.