Title

The Sandman Cometh

It had been snowing for days, leaving two feet of fresh snow atop a frozen crust of another eighteen inches. Nancy cursed as she fought to find the middle of the road with her Subaru station wagon, but realized she had turned too far to the right as her car began to list thirty degrees. Carefully, she steered to the left until she felt the little four-wheel drive right itself.

“God, that was close,” she said to no one but herself, as she slowed down even more. Finally she had to stop, fearing if she didn’t get out and remove the snow that had piled up, the wiper gears would surely strip themselves. She shut off the wipers, buttoned her coat and started to get out of the car. The door would only open far enough to engage the overhead lights and let in a shovel full of snow.

“Damn,” she shouted, realizing the snow was a third of the way up the side of her car. She slammed her fists on the steering wheel, accidentally hitting the horn as she did.

“This is just great! Just great!” She pulled up her coat sleeve up far enough to read her wristwatch. “I’m supposed to pick up Roger at the airport at eight-thirty, and it’s almost nine! He’s gonna be drunk and pissed off by the time I even get there. I don’t see how things could get any worse!” She hit the steering wheel again, tears beginning to form in her eyes, when the engine sputtered. “No! Don’t you dare, don’t you even dare!” It sputtered once more, and then died. The lights inside the car instantly dimmed. What had been tears turned into miniature waterfalls down the sides of her face, which only made Nancy more furious.

“Damn you Roger! Damn you! I wanted a Chevy Suburban, but nooooo, you said it was too much for a girl like me. You pushed me into this four-wheel drive rice-rocket because it was more my size. Didn’t have anything to do with the fact that you’re the stinkin’ Northwest regional Subaru dealer, did it Roger?” She rambled on for another minute until the tears began to dry up and she had run out of things to call him. It was only then that she decided she needed to form some kind of a plan.

The heater fan was blowing cold air by now, so she switched that off. The lights were still on, although dimmer than before, so she quickly turned off the main headlamps. Then she tried to close the door, but so much snow had wedged in the door-jam that she couldn’t. She felt herself wanting to cry again, but she used her anger to focus herself.

“Okay, okay. I can do this.” She took a deep breath. “First, that overhead’s got to go.” She turned in her seat and reached up to remove the lens cover, then the bulb. It took a moment to get used to the darkness.

“This is not working,” Nancy said shakily, as she fumbled for the glove box door. When it popped open, the little light inside came on. What a glorious feeling, she thought, as her spirits instantly began to rise again. Underneath some maps she found her flashlight, but she was afraid the batteries would be dead.

“Well, here goes nothing,” and she clicked it on. Light flooded the entire inside of her car, bouncing off the snow crystals that now covered every window. “God bless the Energizer bunny!” She slammed the glove box shut to save the car battery, and then returned to her problems at hand. She tried starting the engine again, but it turned over with no signs of a spark. She gave up as the starter began to growl to a stop. “Damn!”

After stewing for a few more minutes, Nancy popped the hood, and decided to crawl out the window to take a look. While she knew she wasn’t a mechanic, she knew a dipstick from a stick shift, and right now, Roger was definitely a dipstick. She made her way to the front of Subaru and lifted up the hood. So much snow had packed into the motor well that all she could see was the air cleaner. She knew everything electrical must be soaked, and Armageddon would probably start before her car would so she turned toward the road and started trudging through the snow.

She hadn’t made much progress in the minutes that followed, except to develop a bad case of hypothermia. Her tennis shoes did nothing to protect her feet, and her jeans were soaked through up to her crotch. All she could think about was lying down in the snow and going to sleep. Nancy decided to look up the road one last time, and that’s when she saw the amber lights and heard the rumble coming towards her.

“Grreat,” she said deliriously between chattering teeth, “a frigggin’ uuu-ff-ooo!”

+ + +

When she woke up, she was somewhere foreign, yet deliciously warm. There was a rumbling sound, and soft green lights emanating from the right of her.

“You okay, lady?” came a low, gravelly voice. “I was plowing and sanding when I thought I almost hit you.”

When she reached under the blanket to pinch herself, to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, she realized her jeans were gone! She turned towards the voice to see a bearded face swathed in green light.

“Uh, sorry about that lady, you would have frozen to death if I’d a let you stay in those jeans, they were caked with ice. Nice undies though.”

“Yeah,” Nancy replied as if still in a dream, “Momma always said to wear your best underwear when taking a trip, in case you ever get into an accident." As she laughed quietly to herself, the sandman overtook her once again.

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