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THE MIDNIGHT SKULKER 30

Schaumberg, Illinois

Saturday, March 3, 1974

7:42 a.m. Central Standard Time

Wanting to get an early start in the procurement of cardboard boxes from the local super markets, up at six-thirty, bounding to the window, “Oh, shit!”

Apparently the temperature had lifted overnight because the snow did… The snow certainly did begin to stick because, so far as Mitchell could see, the world was coated in white. Even the four foot high chain link fence was all but buried, and a goodly portion of the rear sixty-five foot length was completely hidden beneath a long snow drift.

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Bundled in his fur-lined leather coat and calf length galoshes and his old, blue knit ‘watch cap’, shovel in hand… shovel in hands, his breath steaming before him, taking about forty-five minutes of hard shoveling – making a mountain of snow on either side of the fifteen by twenty-five foot driveway – as all the while remembering the forty minute walk he and his wife had taken along the Pacific Ocean in near eighty degree weather at this same time, just the day before.

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Finished, finally, though knowing he wouldn’t be going anywhere unless a city snowplow plowed by.

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In late October or early November, or whenever there came the season’s first measurable snowfall, his children –- not so much Michael now— would be outside, in-mass, doing things kids love to do in the snow. But come the New Year, snow becomes irksome and tiresome – especially to anyone planning on going anyplace by car – and on this Saturday, the first Saturday in March, one more snow storm was downright boring and this Saturday morning found Sammy, Ellie and Sherry lying on the carpeted floor in the family-room … Actually the three were lying on the floor with their heads pillowed onto Sabra’s stomach and flank, watching the disarray of Saturday morning cartoons.

Thinking… hoping that his eldest son would have gotten dressed and come outside to help shovel, “Where’s Mikey?”

“Don’t know.” Marsha shrugged her shoulders. “Guess he’s still sleeping… What do you feel like for breakfast?”

Pouring a cup of coffee, ”Doing all that shoveling, all by myself, I might add…”  knowing he was landlocked until the streets get plowed, figuring he might as well take time to eat. “…made me kind’a hungry, so how’s ‘bout,” thinking a moment, “We got pork sausage?”

“Yes.”

“We got Matzos?” (The unleavened bread used for the Jewish holyday, ‘Passover’)

Going to the pantry, “Yes,” Marsha said from within the pantry, “two boxes.”

“Good! Let’s have fried Matzos and sausage.”

“ ‘Kosher Matzos and pork sausage?” They’d gone through this a number of times and it had become kind of a standing joke between Marsha and Mitchell: “ ‘Kosher Matzos’ and pork sausage? You don’t think a bolt of lightning might get you for that?”

Coming up behind her, wrapping his arms about her waist, “That’s why I always like sitting next to you when we eat the stuff.”

“Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty.”

Rubbing his eyes as he came into the kitchen, “Yeah, ‘mornin’, Mom’. I, uh, kind’a slept a little.”

“I’ll say,” Mitchell said, “Couldn’t be ‘cause the driveway needed shoveling, huh?”

“Nah, I don’t even know that it snowed… It snowed?” Going to the window, looking out. “Yeah, it sure did!  I’ll get dressed and help you shovel, Dad.”

“It’s all done… Go! Go get washed for breakfast!”

The phone rang.

“You want to get it, Mitchie.”

Catching it on the second ring, “Hello.”

“ ‘Morning, Mitch. It’s Sophie. Hope I’m not calling too early.”

Glancing at the clock over the sink: 8:15 here; 10:15 in California.

“No. We had a bit of snow last night…”

“Yeah,” Sophie said, “so I see on TV.”

“Yeah, so I’ve been out shoveling…” making a silly, pretend smiling face at Michael, “since about six-thirty. How’s the weather there?”

“Cloudy and cool this morning.”

“ ‘Cool’? How cool?”

“Oh, we’re at about sixty-five now.”

“Jezze, Marcie…”

Standing at the stove, she’d been listening to the one way conversation.

“…Sophie says it’s cool there; all of sixty-five degrees… Poor lady, I hope you’re all bundled up.”

“You’ll see what happens after you live here a couple of years and your blood thins… The reason I called is because I wanted to let you know that you got ‘loan approval’ yesterday afternoon.”

“Really!” Turning his attention to Marsha “We got loan approval yesterday,” he said happily. Bringing his mouth back to the phone, “That’s wonderful, Sophie! But that was really fast, wasn’t it?”

“Well, you bought the house on Wednesday and we opened escrow and got the loan docs started on Thursday and the bank called your boss, uh…” consulting her notes,  “Mr. Plankow Friday morning and he… Plankow gave you a glowing earnings report. So we got loan approval late yesterday afternoon, but I was tied up till about nine-thirty, so thought I’d give you the good news to brighten your day today.”

“That’s great, Sophie. That’s just great!”

“You hear anything on you end? You talk to Alice?”

“No. we were caught in traffic and got home late yesterday evening then we had to tell everyone about the trip and the new house and by the time we were through with dinner and talking it was getting late and we were tired so Marcie and I figured that if there’s anything we should know, or any problems, Alice would let us know. But if we don’t hear from her by Monday, we’ll call anyway.”

©November 5, 2011 / Mark M. Lichterman