"Mae, your car is gone!" Richard called out in surprise. He was a great kidder, forever pulling jokes on someone or ribbing them, always at someone else's expense. He knows that the little red Toyota is my pride and joy, bought and paid for with my hard earned cash while I was working for the US Forestry Service. I keep the car in top-top shape because it must last me a long time.

I really didn't believe him when he called out, but I naturally had to check it out. As I looked out the window, I gasped in surprise; the car wasn't there! Instead, a huge mountain of snow loomed before us.

It had started snowing early last evening, though the weather forecast was for flurries only, and here was a white wonderland. Everything was covered with a foot of new snow. Being a photography nut, I quickly donned my boots, jacket, cap, and gloves, ready for an interesting photo session. But, no, I really must clean off the car and start it first.

I swept off the steps and the light, fluffy snow made shoveling easy. In no time I had the path cleared to the car. Then I grabbed the broom again and carefully swept off the front of the car so it would show how deep the snow was. I was having trouble unlocking the driver's door, so I finally gave it one swipe above the windshield and then the passenger door. Even though it was zero outside, old faithful started right off. I let the wipers run for a few seconds, then decided to take photos before we really got into shoveling.

Richard stood by the window laughing, as I entered the house, and said I had created a monster. I gave him a "Yeah, sure!" look and picked up my camera. As I walked past him, I glanced out the window and sure enough, there was my wide-eyed white monster!

I still have the memory, worth a thousand words, of how my little red Toyota disappeared during the night and turned into a huge white monster.

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