I
found the inspiration to write this story from the Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
–Snowy Night.
A New Year’s Eve to Remember
By
Keri Teach
The day had started out as anything but normal for
Admiral Harriman Nelson, the owner and creator of the fantastic nuclear
submarine Seaview and head of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research. Christmas
had already come and gone with the annual party. Everyone had enjoyed the gift
exchanges, caroling, and elaborately decorated Christmas cards that bore the
Nelson family crest.
Harry’s secretary, Angie, as always, had planned and
helped the staff with all holiday details and celebrations. But now it was
December 31st and all was not well. The annual New Year’s Eve party had been
cancelled for the first time in recent memory because of the weather, of all
things.
Harry could
not remember when he had ever seen it so cold in Southern California let alone with
snow drifts of more than one half foot. What was it the local weatherman had
said? The chance of more snow was 100% and wind chill made it feel like it was
only 15 degrees. It was definitely a day that would go down as a record breaker
in the annals of weather history.
It had snowed all day and would continue into the
evening and tomorrow. As excited as Harry might be at the thought of
researching this weather phenomenon, right now it was more important to get someplace
warm. He could worry about doing research later when he didn’t have to worry
about freezing. Because of the slick conditions he had decided to walk instead
of drive the short distance from his office to his on grounds bungalow. He was glad he’d had the small residential area built when he
first purchased the property that became the Nelson Institute.
With the wind chill, he was sure if he spent too
much time outside, he’d be risking a good case of frostbite on his ears, nose,
and face. It usually took only about 15 minutes to walk home, but with the snow
slowing him down he was sure it would probably take more than 40.
Still, Harry couldn’t help noticing how all the
different Christmas lights on some of the office buildings, trees, and fences
looked particularly lovely with the different colors reflected in the snow.
“Those boys in the maintenance department did a nice
job putting up these light displays,” Harry thought to himself. The display out
in front of his office was particularly nice with a grouping of lighted
animated deer by a small group of trees.
As he listened to the sound of fresh snow crunching
beneath his feet with every step, he was reminded of past winters and the many
White Christmases he enjoyed in his youth in Boston. It brought back fond memories of building huge
snowmen to entertain his little sister Edie and the many snowball fights he
enjoyed with childhood friends and schoolmates. He’d even built an igloo.
He remembered how he played for hours out in raging
snow storms and how the cold never seemed to bother him then. Not even when he
was wet and soaked and
had to be called inside by his mom or
dad who complained that he’d get frostbite if he didn’t come in soon.
As he trudged through the snow his thoughts turned
to his younger sister and wished she could have been here to spend the holidays
with him like they used to. Edith would have thoroughly enjoyed helping plan
and set up the holiday festivities but Edith was very much a socialite these
days and was actively involved with different charitable organizations. As she’d
gained more experience she’d become more and more successful convincing donors to give
more generously with each event.
As the cold settled more into Harry’s bones his
thoughts turned back to the present. The sooner he got home, nice and warm, the
better, and he picked up his pace.
“Admiral?”
Lee Crane panted, so winded because with every step he took, he had to fight to
keep his footing in the slippery snow. “Admiral? Wait
up.”
Lee was almost totally out of breath by the time he
finally caught up.
“Are you OK Lee? How about we stop and rest a minute
and give you a chance to catch your breath?” Nelson pointed to a snow covered bench nearby.
Lee nodded in the affirmative as he was too short of breath to answer.
Harry brushed off the fresh powder from the bench
with his gloved hands so that they could sit without getting too soaked.
Both men sat in silence momentarily admiring the
sparkling colors of Christmas light displays off in the distance. The snow and
the lights together seemed almost magical.
“So Lee, you decided to leave your car and walk in
the snow too?”
“I thought it would be safer. Admiral, to your
knowledge has there ever been a weather event like this so far south on the
West Coast?”
“Not that I recall. I’ve been watching the weather
reports and history for the area but there’s nothing ever recorded like this snow storm. By the way Lee, I
thought we agreed you would call me Harry outside of working hours.”
“Yes adm… I mean… Harry.”
“It’ll get easier with time. Remember, I feel about
you as if you were my own brother.”
“Same here.”
“We have known each other for a long time. We’ve
been through a lot serving together over the years. I have great admiration and
respect for you too. Well, Lee … have you caught your breath enough now, that
we can continue on? We really need to keep moving.”
“You’re not
kidding. I feel like an iceberg.”
“Do you have any plans to ring in the New Year,
Lee?” Nelson asked as they got up and began to lumber through the heavy snow
again.
“All I want is to crash by a nice warm fire with a warm
drink. I don’t think I’ve felt this cold
since that mission we spent a week at the north polar ice cap.”
“What say you
spend the night at my place? It’s closer. You can get the fire lit while I put
together some sandwiches or something. Perhaps some hot chocolate too. We can
sit by the fire and maybe even watch TV when the Santa Barbara courthouse drops
their countdown ball. Not as impressive as New York’s display but we can watch
that too, even if it’s three hours ahead of us.”
“I’d like that, Harry. I really would like that a
lot.”
It may have been minutes, but it felt like hours
before finally arriving at the bungalow, stamping packed white slush off their
boots on the front porch so as to keep tracking the wet melting snow inside to
a minimum. Shivering from the cold, it was a little difficult to remove their
heavy gear once inside. But soon they’d divested their coats, gloves, and
boots.
Lee had a fire going and growing in the fireplace
and Nelson had fished out a bottle of Irish whiskey under the bar.
“How about some Irish whiskey, Lee?
I think I’d prefer it to cocoa.”
“As long as it works like antifreeze, I don’t care
what you make.”
“Great. I’ll get the coffee started while you go
ahead and raid the fridge. Choose anything you like.”
It wasn’t long before Lee had scrounged up various
cheeses, fruit, cold cuts and bread.
“This isn’t too much for both of us, is it?” Lee
asked.
“Nonsense.
I always try to have enough munchies on hand if anyone shows up, even on a snowy
night like this though I really doubt anyone would just want to drop by and….”
he stopped as the doorbell rang.
“Speak of the devil,” Lee said as he opened the door
to admit Kowalski, Patterson, and Sharkey.
“Welcome gentlemen”, Harry said with a smile. “What
are you three doing out on a night like this? Don’t you have anything better to
do?”
“Well,” Sharkey said, “I sort of volunteered to
drive these guys back to their quarters, after all,
I’m kind a used to snow and ice but the doggone car conked out on me. We didn’t
even make it to the gate. We saw your lights on and …
“Any port in
a storm, Chief, I understand. Why don’t you hang your coats over there, and
anything else that needs to dry out over by the fireplace. I’ve
got a full pot of hot coffee almost at the ready to join some whiskey. That
should warm everyone up.”
“Irish Coffee?
Hey, that’s great sir, just um…well, I can’t if I’m going to drive these guys
home after I warm up and figure out what’s wrong with the car.”
“Good man. When the weather clears, I’ll have the
motor pool send some mechanics down. In the meantime, I think we may need something
more substantial than that platter, Lee. My housekeeper, Maria usually has a
few casseroles in the freezer just waiting to be heated up.”
“Sounds great by me,” Patterson said, rubbing his hands in front of the
fireplace.
“Man, talk about being stranded in paradise,”
exclaimed Kowalski.
“Yeah,” added
Patterson, “good thing we didn’t make it off the institute grounds at all, or
we’d all be frozen for sure.”
“I think the important thing right now,” Nelson
said, “ is that everyone is safe and warm. I’m sorry
you’ll have to wait for the weather to clear. Those cars in the motor pool are
not tuned for these extreme conditions either.”
“Ski?” Sharkey said, “make yourself
helpful and brew another pot of coffee. I have a feeling you’re all going to
need more than one mug per man…with the Admiral’s permission that is.”
“Granted, with pleasure,” Nelson said and let
Sharkey play bartender.
As soon everyone was comfortable with the
refreshments, Nelson turned on the big flat screen TV and it wasn’t all that
long before they watched as the New Year countdown
televised from New York. They would have to wait for the west coast countdown
later.
About then a hip hop group started to perform one of
their songs.
“I just don’t get this music that all the kids seem
to go crazy over,” Nelson sighed. “ If no one cares, I
think it would be better to turn off the tube and put on some softer mood music
or maybe it would be better with nothing.
“Yeah, some nice mood music would be nice,” said
Kowalski.
“Nicer if the volume is lower too.”
“Some nice music to watch the snowfall would be
great,” Patterson also commented.
“Technically, it’s still the holidays,” said
Sharkey. “How about some soft Christmas music to listen to
and watch the snowfall?”
“I think it would be nice to just sit and sip our drinks, watch
the snow, and reminisce about being
getting out of school for snow days, and other things, for those of us it
affected with snow and ice in our youth,
that is.”
Everyone agreed. The rest of the evening was spent
talking about the past, until one by one each man tired and
dozed off as they watched the snow. They’d all agreed that this would be a New
Year’s Eve they’d never forget.
It wasn’t until early the next morning, that the motor pool
was able to send a mechanic to check out and fix Sharkey’s car. Still, the
weather became an all time new record for the area.
While not as bad as it had been New Year’s Eve, Nelson decided to shut down the
institute until the front finally moved off and cleared somewhat.
“Admiral?”
Lee asked after the men had driven off.
“I don’t suppose this freak storm could be the result of some kind of
alien attack?”
“Heavens, I hope not!” Nelson laughed. Even though
Lee had meant it as a joke, both men couldn’t help thinking after what they’d been through aboard
Seaview, there was always the possibility.
.