Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

I Am Stronger Because of All I've Been Through

[b]A Thanksgiving Memory
[/b] . . . . . . . .
[i]Monique and her friend Evy overcome several obstacles from a harrowing trip in the snow . . . . . . .[/i]

I was in my sophomore year of college. I called my mother on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving to tell her I wouldn't be making the three and a half hour drive home. It had snowed most of Wednesday and was still snowing. "Mom, don't worry, Earl and Doris invited me over for the day," I assured her.

Earl, owner of Earl's Garage, and his wife Doris, had become my adopted parents, giving me employment, timely car repairs, and a home away from home. Doris did not replace my mother of course, but became a wonderful and trusted friend, with whom I could share my worries, and provide for me the sane voice of reason.

I worked for Earl part time at his garage managing his accounts, ordering parts, straightening up and keeping the parts inventory organized, and on occasion getting my hands dirty while helping Earl tear down and re-build an engine.

"But what will you do all day?" my mother asked concerned. "I am going to sleep. I am going to sleep a sleep that is so deep and wonderful that I may not wake until Monday!"

That night I dreamed the strangest dreams. In one dream it was summer, and I was walking through a hay field in my bare feet. I thought I should find my shoes. Hmmm, they must be by the river. I could see the sparkle of the river and was moving toward it and then I was descending a steep hill grabbing tree branches as I went. Next I was lying on a rock and looked over and saw a man fishing. He was shaking his head at me for some reason. I looked down and thought I saw my reflection but it wasn't me.

I awoke and put on my robe. I made my way down the hallway to use the bathroom. That was one disadvantage about renting a room without a bathroom. But it was 2am in the morning and the house was quiet. I returned and read for a while until my eyes became heavy.

I dropped off to sleep again and suddenly began to dream I was in a dark world. There were pipes and machines and I would sense someone behind me, but I would turn and there would be no one there. There were small animals scampering about my feet that I couldn't Identify. Suddenly my own dog ran in front of me. He stopped wagging his tail and turned to look at me. He barked. "Scout, come here boy!" I called. He barked again and ran off. It hurt that he ran away from me. I was trying to run after him but the air seemed thick and I couldn't move my feet fast enough. Then I was in the air flying over a town I didn't recognize and I began to fall toward the ground when I woke up again.

The lamp next to my bed was still on. The book I was reading had fallen to the floor. I reached over and picked it up. I was thirsty so I went over to the window where I kept a bottle of water where it stayed cool next to the window. I poured a glass of water and drank. Ahhhh, that was good. I felt much better. At the window, I used my finger to rub a hole in the ice covered window. I could see the alley and catch a glimpse of the street. It was still snowing. It was eerily quiet.

I crawled back into bed and turned on the radio. I tuned around the dial and found CBC Canada. It was a French speaking station from Quebec playing jazz. I liked it for a while, and then it became heavy and ponderous. I found a classical station but the signal was weak and choppy. I hung with it for a while but then switched to a talk show about farming. "What are they doing talking about farming at this time of night!" I switched off the radio and stared at the ceiling for a while. I lit a candle and switched off the lamp. There was something comforting about the glow of a candle. I stared at the candle as I fell back to sleep. I dreamt no more that night, at least that I remember..

There was a knock at the door. "Monique, it's me Evy."
I looked at the clock. Gosh, 9:30.
"Who?" I asked still drowsy.
"Evy, from school." she answered.
"Wait a minute," I said.
I unbolted the door and there stood Evy covered with snow. I thought everybody would be gone but there were still students on campus who couldn't make it home. She had done the best to brush off most of the snow. She came through and sat in the chair by the window and kicked off her boots.

I filled the electric kettle and boiled some water. I made two cups of coffee and we sat by the window. "Hope you don't mind me dropping in. My Dad didn't want to drive down here in the snow. I barely remembered where you lived. The buildings all looked the same." she said. I laughed a little. I had to hand it to Evy, she was certainly adventurous. "So you walked all the way over from your dorm?" I asked.
"Yup, I started out just thinking I would go for a walk. Then I remembered you and I was wondering if you had gone home. I was bored. I know it was chancy, but I thought why not." she added. "This is a nice little room you have here." she said. "Thanks, I like it. It's my own space. I had to convince my Dad to let me live off campus." I said.
"I'm not sure I could live alone like this. I mean I like my privacy at times, but I think I might go crazy." she said. "I tried the dorm for a semester. I knew I wouldn't survive." I said.

We chatted for a while. It was nice not to be rushed. At first, I felt like Evy had invaded my space , but after the weird and restless night with all the crazy dreams, I was warming up to having her there with some to to talk you.

"Hungry?" I asked. "I am hungry. What have you got?" she asked. "Peanut butter and crackers. It's all I've got. There's a little diner around the corner where I eat breakfast each morning. I order the Lumber Jack's special. That usually holds me until dinner."
Evy giggled. "But they're closed today, Thanksgiving and all.

So how long a drive is it for you to get home?" I asked. "About an hour and a half I guess." We were quiet for a moment. "It just feels strange. This will be the first Thanksgiving I've never been home for." she added. And then it occurred to me, this was also the first time I would miss Thanksgiving at home. "Same here." I finally said.
I looked over at Evy as she stared out the window.

The mood of the room grew heavy. A pregnant pause followed. And then, I had idea. I would have to give up my day of quiet and rest . . . but. "How about I drive you to your folks' house?" I blurted out. "What? How? Are you kidding?" she said. "We'll take my Volkswagen, my bug. Earl put two new studded snow tires on this week." I said. "Who's Earl?" she asked. "The man I work for at the garage." I said. "Oh right. Do you think we can make it?" "I don't know. We can try. It's better than sitting here, don't you think?" I answered. "You're right, let's go!" Evy cried excitedly.

Moments later, we were out on the street cleaning off the bug. I gave the engine a crank. R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- and then finally it sputtered to life. Vroooom .. vroom .. I gunned the engine to get it warm. Evy checked traffic on the right and I pulled out onto the street. We puttered along weaving around cars and piles of snow. The crews were still clearing the streets. Finally we were out of town on a two lane highway. It was still snowing. "Can we have some heat?" Evy asked.
"That is the heat. See that little vent down by your feet. It may not be open." I answered. Evy fiddled with the vent. "Yup, I guess it's open. How do you stand driving this thing in winter." she questioned.
"Oh, I get used to it." I laughed. Here we were all bundled up. VW bugs of that vintage were not famous for heat. It was an air cooled engine with some baffles that carried heat to vents on the floor and windshield. The windshield was worse with so little hot air coming from the defroster.

Every so often we had to stop, get out and scrape off the ice, and clear the wipers. At times, we could feel the snow brushing the bottom of the car. Evy started to sing. "Dashing through the snow in a one horse VW bug, over the hills we go, laughing all the way .. ha ha ha. I joined with ha ha ha, and we continued to sing and laugh. Suddenly we came up over a rise in the road. Evy screamed. "Watch out, there's been an accident!"

I slammed on the brakes and tried to stop the bug from fish tailing and then using the hand brake to slow us down. There at the bottom of the hill were six or seven cars that had slid off, spun around, or collided with other cars already stopped. I jammed the gear shift to third, to second, and finally first gear clutching while grinding it into gear. The engine was sputtering and I revved the engine to keep it going.

I deftly steered the bug through the maze of cars swerving while braking and accelerating. Onlookers watched in horror as they expected us to soon join the mass of tangled cars. By some miracle we soon shot out of the end of the carnage and were headed up the hill. We thought of stopping but I was afraid I wouldn't get the bug going again.

Up over the hill we went. We turned to each other and laughed at our good luck. We had barely finished celebrating when there was a clumping sound followed by a woo wop woo and then a strange wrenching sound like metal bending. Clonk! The wipers stopped. I turned the knob on and off. Nothing.

"Let's see how far we can go without them." I said. We didn't go far. The snow and ice began to build up until I had a hole the size of a quarter to see through. We found a pull off and began scraping the windshield. "This isn't going to work." I said in exasperation. We both sat quietly for a moment thinking this had been a mistake to attempt this trip. I let out a heavy sigh.

"Wait. I have an idea." Evy piped up. "Give me both of your boot laces." "What? What for?" I asked. "Just do it. Trust me." she answered. The next moment, with Evy's guidance, she tied all our boot laces together. She then tied them to the wiper arms and passed one end through the ventipane on the passenger side, through the car and out through the ventipane on the driver side and then attaching the other end to the wiper arms. Once complete, Ev pulled the laces back and forth working the wiper arms back and forth.

"Fantastic!" I shouted. "Let give it a try!" With me driving and Evy working the laces, we were able to continue, giggling with glee with our make shift wipers. It was cool in the air because we had to keep the vent windows open, but we were moving and keeping the windows clear.

An hour later, we pulled into her driveway, which was full of cars. When we entered the house, and were swept into a large room as a swell of cheers went up as they saw Evy. Her mother approached. "You made it after all!"

We were soon absorbed into the crowd of people, and I soon was handed a glass of something. I took a sniff. Oof, I think it was brandy, or whiskey, or Scotch perhaps. I politely set it aside. A little wine would have been nice, but frankly, I was hungry! There on a long banquet table was turkey, duck, ham, roast beef, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, all set out on a long table. After eating spagetti-os and canned soup and bread, I had visions of starting at one end of the table and just eating my way to the other end. The aroma of the food was intoxicating. I filled my plate and hunkered down in a corner.

I was not alone too long when one of Evy's uncles sat down next to me. "Do I know you?" he asked. I was determined not to let anything interrupt this wonderful food. "Monique." I said as I chomped away.
"Monique what?" he asked insistently. "Monique Gerhart." I said. I continued to slurp my through the mashed potatoes. Mmmm, they were fantastic.

"Gerhart, German right?" he offered. "Yeth, sap loot right." I tried to form words with my mouth full of food. Thankfully, Evy rescued me from her uncle and as I managed to make another pass at the food table as Evy dragged me to the other side to the room. Evy plunked me down next to her father. He was talking to someone and didn't notice me at first, when he suddenly turned to me with a startled look. "Who are you?" he asked. "Monique Gerhart. Evy's friend, from college. We drove up together." I answered. I kept talking hoping to get a reaction when I realized her father was a little drunk, or maybe very drunk. He kept staring and his head was making this circular motion. Finally a smile broke out on his face.

"Oh, your Evy's friend. Have we met?" he asked. "I don't believe we have,” as I answered in my proper lady like language. Here I was eating like a pig with gravy on my chin and I'm acting like Audrey Hepburn. "How did you get here?" he asked still weaving a little.

The man next to her father had picked up on our conversation and chimed in. "Did you drive up in the snow storm?" he asked. "We did. It was quite an adventure." I said. I then told about our harrowing journey avoiding accidents and using boot laces to keep our wipers turning. "Wow, that's quite ingenious." he sad. Finally, I had an active listener. We chatted away while Evy's father listened in.

But at that moment, for some reason I suddenly felt very home sick. Here I was in a room full of strangers, and I thought of my family at home. They would be there with some of my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and I would not be with them. My presence as part of my family would not be felt. No love or encouragement would come from me and no love would be received by me. My eyes teared as the noise in the room seemed overwhelming. I moved to the large sliding doors and looked out. “The moon is out and the sky is clear!” I said to myself.

I found Evy and interrupted her as she was talking to some young man. "Evy, I'm leaving now." I said. "But we just got here." she replied with a look of shock. "I know. But there are some people I need to visit, and I want to go now before it's too late." I insisted. "Oh Monique, I wish you would stay." she begged. "I know. But I really need to go. You stay with your family. Can you get a ride back on Sunday?" I pleaded. "Yes, of course." she said sadly.

Moments later, I was turning the VW around in the driveway. Evy was waving from the porch with both arms as if to get my attention. I rolled down the window to hear her say, "Who's going to work the windshield wipers!" I waved back, and started down the driveway.

I didn't have to use the wipers as much returning to town. I was fortunate to follow the snow plow nearly all the way back on the highway. I chose to lag behind the plow in second gear, my little engine purring along without straining. I turn off the highway and wound down back roads with my new studded snow tires gripping the road.

I pulled up in front of Earl's Garage to find it dark, but Earl and Doris's small house behind it was lit up with a couple of dozen cars and pickup trucks parked along the road. I parked in front of the garage. I walked up the path and paused for a moment to hear the sound of an accordion, a banjo, a violin, and other instruments playing music which sounded familiar, a sound that was sweet and rich. It was Earl's brother and his band playing Acadian folk music.

I rang the bell and a moment later, the door swung open and I was pulled into a room of love and warmth.

The End
shimmeringrose · 46-50, F
Hello. i find your stories really interesting. Are they true? If so, i'm amazed at your memory. Mind if i send you a private message?
Northwest · M
Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.
Moniqueinspring · 51-55, F
You're very welcome ...
best
Monique
olderuncle944 · 70-79, M
my favorite thanksgiving story
Moniqueinspring · 51-55, F
thank you my friend . . ..
Monique

 
Post Comment