By The Unknown Soldier
I wake up from my slumber, trying to rub the dreams from my head. When my feet touch the cold floor, I instantly know that winter is bad news. The chill of the night is in the entire house. If you listen you can hear the water running through the pipes trying to warm up the house and the people in it.
When I finally have my clothes on and am sitting in the kitchen, I wonder. Is the car going to start and how cold is it? Even though I have long underwear on, jeans and sweater, even though I am bundled up and sweating like a pig, when I open the door every part of my body is frozen. My toes and fingers are numb, the very first breath I take is frozen in mid air as with the rest.
My car is about 200ft away. My car is frozen shut, one solid block of ice. I have to get out my trusty hammer to open it. My mission is to get to Mini. While I am chiseling away the ice on my car, icicles are growing on my nose. When I get in my car it starts to make awful sounds, yelling at me not to turn it on, yet I persist on. Yet finally winning the battle of man and machine.
As I sit in my car waiting for it to warm I listen to my very cold car clank, rattle and make noises I have never heard. As I am listening I wonder what I have done to deserve this. I am just a simple man with simple pleasures.
As I walk through the halls trying desperately to get to first hour, every one asks me, “What’s going on Nutt” and I say, “Damn it’s cold”.