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------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- “It’s a blizzard, Morris!” ------- “I’ll say. Must be fifty miles an hour. If this keeps up we’ll be buried.” ------- They watched as the snow blew past the window and a drift began to form in their driveway. -------Terry cooked supper. They tried to ignore the howling and roaring of the storm. Finally it grew dark and the windows became so caked with snow they couldn’t see through them. Later they made cocoa. Morris read. Terry knitted. The radio played Mozart and Scarlotti. -------At ten o’clock the power went out. Morris got out the oil lamps and candles. He switched the radio to battery and kept reading. They’d had outages before, usually in the middle of the night. ------- Around eleven, someone banged on their door. Morris thought of the gun in the drawer by their bed. He opened the door cautiously and shined the flashlight on a middle-aged couple. They came into the hallway, stomping their boots and shedding snow. -------The man was close to his age, the woman a lot younger, a bimbo. -------“Out for a stroll?” Morris said. -------“Yeah,” the man said, “a stroll.” His voice was raspy. “Thought we’d drop in and use your phone.” -------“If it’s working,” Morris said. He pointed to the telephone. -------The man dialed and was answered immediately. -------“Scala,” he said, “Bayshore Road. Roof blew off. Somebody’s gotta get us. Yeah, a neighbor’s house. Hartley Lane.” He turned to Morris. -------“Sixty-five,” Morris said. -------“Sixty-five Hartley. No, I can’t stay here. Awright, awright.” He slammed the phone down. -------“Be an hour,” he said. “Got anything to drink?” -------“Can you make coffee on the hibachi, Morrie?” Terry said. “Why don’t you two sit on the sofa? You must be cold.” -------“Yeah cold.” The bimbo looked miserable. -------“Where you folks from?” Terry asked. -------“Bayshore Road,” Scala said, looking at her as if she were an idiot. “House with the Jacuzzi. The one that just fuckin’ blew away.” -------“Oh,” Terry said. “I meant... You’re new to the Cape?” -------“Lousy contractor took me for a bundle,” he said. “Cutie here thought it’d be nice we’d come up for Christmas.” -------Terry didn’t think she’d ever heard ‘nice’ used that way. -------“I grew up here,” Terry said. “Morris is from Florida. -------“West Palm,” Morris said. He was at the fireplace with his back turned.” -------“Figures,” Scala said. He looked around the room. “Swell little place.” -------“Big enough,” Morris said. -------“What business you in, Mr. Scala?” Terry asked. -------“Coffee’s going,” Morris said from the fireplace. “Good thing we kept the old percolator.” -------“Pharmaceuticals,” Scala said. “Import, export. Business you in, Morris?” The man’s voice dripped with ridicule. -------“Shoe store in the Bronx,” Morris said dully. ------- “Got anything to eat?” the woman said. ------- “Cookies,” Terry said. She got out a box of cookies, slightly stale. -------The couple drank coffee and took turns complaining about their house and the Cape. They were staring into the coals of the hibachi an hour later when there was a heavy knock on the door. It was a policeman in a yellow parka. -------“Scala?” he asked. ------- “They’ll be right out,” Morris said. -------“How about you folks?” the cop asked. -------“We’re fine,” Morris said. -------The Scalas left without another word. Strangely subdued, Terry thought. -------“Maybe we should have gone to the shelter with them,” Terry said. -------“’Why?” Morris said. “They were so much fun?” -------“You weren’t very friendly, Morris. Why’d you tell him you owned a shoe store?” -------“I worked in one when I was a kid. Funny business, shoes. You sell a ton, but you go broke anyway.” -------“I didn’t like the Scalas, either,” Terry said. -------Morris didn’t say anything. -------“What is it, Morrie?” -------“I know the guy,” Morris sighed. “Micky Scala. Michelangelo Scalamanga. You don’t want to know, Ter. Good thing we had the percolator.” -------“So you could make coffee?” Terry said. -------“So I could slip a few Xanax in the pot,” Morris said. “Maybe he won’t remember he knows me.” ------- ------- ------- ------- |