Snow Story ch1

My first attempt at a story. I tried my best to format it correctly. Please tell me what you think. The second and third chapters are going up at the same time.

Snow Story

I should have known something was going to happen. It always does when my bosses go out of town for any length of time. Their week in florida, we had a flood. Their trip to the outer banks, major ventalation failure. This time was no different.

I didn’t intend to end up the general manager of a restaraunt. I wasnt one for grand dreams, but I thought my business degree would at least get me out of the fast food business. Even if said business had paid for the degree. The bad job market in my area had left me kinda desperate coming out of school, so I went back to my roots, so to speak.

I started working in a fast food job at 14. I worked my way up to shift leader before I graduated high school and started college courses. When the loans and various scholorships I had scraped together fell short, they even let me pick up a few shifts to keep myself above water. When I returned after getting my degree, they offered me an open shift manager position. The pay was decent, and I really needed a job, so I agreed. Three years later I was made the general manager when the owners decided to retire from active management.

So here I was, 30 years old and running a very successfull business. A business I was preparing to purchase and make my own, along with another location a few miles away. I considered myself pretty successfull.

Financially.

Personally, things were a different story. I was always a bit shy through high school and even college. I had friends and girlfriends here and there, but never any serious relationships. I had little time over the last several years for “mate shopping”, and had seen even less action than during school. Honestly, I was a bit lonely.

A large portion of my work crew were teenagers. And being a guy, I stole the occasional glance at some of the girls, but I never touched any of them. Beyond the whole jail bait issue, I just didnt feel anything towards most of them. And the ones I did, it was more of an uncle kind of thing. I knew I had been the subject of the occasional crush now and then, but none of the girls ever acted on them. My female managers did a decent job of blunting the relationship dramas that popped up from time to time. The kinds of things that happen when a bunch of teenagers spend a lot of time together.

It was late January and I was working an evening shift. My usual assortment of teens running around, trying to look busy while doing as little as possible. I knew they did this, but I didnt say much about it often. As long as my to-1do lists got done, I was pretty lenient. The kids were talking about the weather that night. Would it snow enough to close school tomorow? (It was a Thursday.) The report I had seen before leaving for work had said we were in for a decent covering, but it wasnt supposed to start till after close. I had the walks salted and ready, so when it did start early, I didnt really give it any thought. Other than it would hurt my business for the night. I already had the crew working on a bit of an early cleanup when I got a call from one of the parents I knew a bit better than the others.

“Hello” I answered, recognizing the number on the CID.

“Jimmy, it’s Laura, Kate’s mom” she said. “Bill is on his way to pick up Kate. Tell her not to try to drive herself home.”

“Is something wrong?” I asked, a bit confused.

“You havent seen the weather alert?”

“No, last I saw we were just in for a couple inches late this evening.”

“Oh my,” she said “Its all over the news and weather channels. Some kind of freak front collision is causing this storm to go nuts. They are talking about feet of snowfall. Snow emergencies have already been announced. People are supposed to be getting home as fast as they can safely.”

“Damn,” I said as I looked outside for real, seeing 5 or 6 inches already and heavy fall. “OK how far out is Bill?”

“About 10 minutes, at this point”

“I’ll have them get a rapid cleanup going and get her and the rest ready to leave as fast as I can.”

“Thanks Jimmy, be safe getting home.”

“Thanks Laura, good bye”

Hanging up the phone, I called out to the crew. “OK guys, the weather has turned really bad all of a sudden. Get finished on the cleanup as fast as you can and call and get rides as needed to get home. You may use your cell phones to get the calls done as quick as possible.”

10 minutes later I had 3 who lived pretty close together headed out the door to one of the boys’ truck. He was a bit older and had some offroad experiance. I was resonably sure of their safety. Bill came in as they left.

“Kate ready?” He asked.

“Hey Bill, yea shes ready. Would it be possible for you to drop these 2 off also? They live pretty close to you.” As I pointed at a couple of the other girls.

“Sure,” he said. “If nothing else, Ill at least take them to our place. We have a couple extra beds. They will be safe till this mess can be cleared up.”

“Thanks a lot bill” I said as I looked around. “wheres Tina?”

Kate said, “she’s over there, still on the phone.”

“Need me to take her too?” Bill asked.

“No, she lives completely the opposit direction from you. And Im not sure what her ride status is yet. You guys get going and drive safe. Ill look after her.”

“Be safe your self. Good night and good luck” he said as he herded the girls out the door.

I walked over to Tina, who was still on the phone, and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and spun around. When she did, I noticed tears in the corner of her eyes. I had a hunch why. Tina was a good kid, but her home life was a bit rough. I had taken her home several times when the parent who was supposed to come pick her up had been too drunk. As far as I knew, they didnt beat her, but they didnt exactly lavish her with attention either. I had even been helping her with her homework a bit when I had some extra time.

“whats wrong?” I asked.

“No one is answering” she nearly sobbed. “Im sorry, I cant find a ride.”

“Its alright. I’ll take you myself.”

“But its so far out and in this weather.”

“Its not a problem. My truck can handle this. Lets get going.”

We bundled up and headed out to my truck. On the way out, I notice that there was a good 3-4 more inches than when I had looked not 20 min before. This is gonna get bad, I thought to myself. I brushed off the windows and we got rolling. Before too long I was flagged down by a police officer. As he walked to my window, I recognized him as a friend of a friend.

“Hey Scott, bad night”

“Sure is Jimmy.