The Too White Christmas

“Sorry, Ladies,” the cop said when Cheryl rolled down the window for him, “You can’t go any further. Big accident with a semi down the road. You’ll have to park it in Chandlerville for a while.”

“But we’ve got to get to the Cities, Officer,” Cheryl pleaded. “Our Christmas depends on it! We need to get to the Mall of America, and we’re going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra tonight!” She was stressed from the drive through the blizzard but didn’t want to stop.

“Sorry. Roads are closed. You’ll have to park it. There’s a diner two blocks down if you like.” He waved them on their way as Cheryl rolled up the window.

“This is going to suck, you guys!” Anna complained. The other girls agreed. None of them remembered a storm this bad. Cheryl eased the Ford into the diner.

“Are you serious?” Maggie asked. The tan siding was peeling from the building. The Diner sign on the roof was faded a sickly gray and the Open sign flickered weakly from a dirty front window. “We’re not eating there!”

“Well, we need to stop, so at least we can have coffee or something. Really, Mag, how long can they close the roads? We’ll be going again soon,” Cheryl answered, shutting off the engine, relieved to be stopped safely.

They entered the diner. It was clean, felt old. It was a fifties diner, but not the new, trendy fifties-stly diner – it was obviously from the fifties.

“Definitely just coffee,” Dawn whispered to her friends the waitress straight out of Mel’s Diner told them to take a seat and she’d be right with them. They giggled, despite their unwanted delay. The waitress served them four cups of coffee and four water-stained, cloudy glasses of water.

“Anything else, Hun?” she asked Cheryl.

“Just coffee, thanks” Cheryl’s reply was less than enthusiastic.

“Waitin’ out the storm, are ya? Looks like a big one! If you need anything else, you just holler, okay, Hun?” The waitress sashayed away, chewing her gum.

Conversation was at a minimum, partly due to the stress of the ride, partly due to the disappointment of the delay.

By the third cup of coffee, Maggie had to break the silence. “So, great weather we’re having, hey?” Her weak attempt at humor drew only snorts from her friends. Just then a Wisconsin State Trooper came in to the diner and walked to the counter.

“Hey, Marge! Can I get a cup of coffee? Looks like the Interstate is going to be closed at least until tomorrow. Man, it’s a mess out there!” the cop said, sitting down at the counter.

“Tomorrow?” Cheryl wailed. “We need to get to the Twin Cities, like right now!”

“Sorry, Kid. You’re not going anywhere. There’s a motel across the lot here. If I were you, I’d get a room before they’re all gone. Wish I could be more helpful, but nobody’s going anywhere.”

“Glen, we might be pulling an all-nighter!” Marge yelled back to the kitchen.

The motel, from what they could see through the blizzard, didn’t look any better than the diner. “This is ridiculous! I’m NOT staying in that place, for sure,” she sank back into the booth with Anna, Maggie, and Dawn. A family came in, also stranded, with three small children.

“Even better,” Anna said. “Now we can listen to somebody’s kids scream. Perfect Christmas.” The kids seemed well-mannered enough, but they knew it would not be long before they were restless. They poked and prodded each other after being cooped up in the car, their parents with little energy to control them.

Dawn stared at the motel with a smile. It was definitely as old as the diner, with the same tan siding. The neon Office light and the sign proclaiming the rooms had cable TV and telephones seemed the only modern conveniences.

“What’s your deal?” Anna was confused by the obvious change in her friend’s demeanor.

“Good memories.”

Cheryl scoffed.

“One of my best Christmases started out like this.” The other girls looked at Dawn, confused.

“We were kids going to see Gran in Michigan. It was snowing like anything. Same deal. We couldn’t get through, you know?” Her friends listened as they drank their coffee. “Well, we stopped at this flea bag motel. Dad was cranky. Mom was crying. Lori and I were oblivious. We were just scared Santa wouldn’t find us, you know? Mom didn’t want to stay. Dad told us all to shut up. Lori and I didn’t want to be around when they were like that. They never fought, you know? And if they did, it was scary. Anyway, we went outside. They said it was okay as long as we stayed out of the parking lot. Then this creepy old guy came up to us.” Her story was attracting the attention of the other stranded travelers.

“ We didn’t know whether to run back inside or what. Winds up he was the owner. He asked if we’d help him with a project. He seemed nice, even though he looked creepy, so we said yes. Well, he told us he needed helpers just like us because he wanted to decorate the place with snowmen, which sounds dumb now, but it was pretty cool back then, you know?” Her friends shook their heads, refilling their coffee. “We made snowmen with him. He brought out a hat and a carrot for the snowman’s nose and stuff. Then he made us hot chocolate and we strung cranberries and popcorn to put around a tree outside. He said we needed a Christmas tree and we would see something special the next morning.” Everyone was listening now.

“Well,” Dawn continued, “The next morning, we were surprised that Santa found us. We had presents. Then we remembered what that old man said, so we ran to the window and peeked out. There were birds and squirrels eating our tree decorations, and then we saw a deer come in and steal Frosty’s nose! It was so cool. I guess it didn’t matter where we were then. It just mattered that we were together. Even Dad smiled.” The girls were quiet for a minute, but they knew what they had to do.

“Who wants to make a snowman?” Anna yelled. The children looked up, wide-eyed, at their parents, begging without saying a word. Their mother finally nodded and smiled.

Their father mouthed, “Thank you” to the girls as they zipped up the little ones’ coats and helped them with their hats and mittens.

“I’ll grab some carrot noses from the kitchen,” Glen, the cook, laughed.

Another waitress who had been listening brought out a sewing kit full of needles and thread, “We can make some garland for the tree out there for the birds with this.”

“I’ll get the hot chocolate and popcorn ready!” Marge chimed in as the girls ran outside with the kids, throwing snowballs and laughing.