. . . there really is a Mr. Winter."
graphic credits: BaltimoreSun.com
It had been a good winter - unlike last year where the wind would rip through the blue jeans as if they were lightweight pajamas instead of 4-ply denim; where the trip to the bare spot across the parking lot - the only place within miles of the hotel that actually had dead, brown grass showing through the ice and snow - was an exercise in sadism for both he and the dog. While she had been quite content to do her business on the carpet in the hotel room and he so tired that he almost let her, he had done his duty and walked the dog. She never forgave him for it.
This winter was different. He had walked the dog in February while wearing a T-shirts and no jacket. The dog (and the rest of his family) did not spend the winter in Chicago with him. The son was away in college and the wife was teaching again so he commuted each week between their home in Baltimore and the hotel in Chicago, spending only the weekends at home. But not this weekend, There was work to be done and would be staying in Chicago.
"You do know that they are predicting snow...?" his wife asked... "So you might as well stay there. If it snows here, I'm not coming to pick you up at the airport."
He smiles. "Yes, I have heard that before...it's supposed to snow here too..."
"I mean it." she said again. "Stay there. I'm not coming after you."
On Saturday, he sat and watched the flakes fall on the cars in the parking lot below. It had been hours since it started and yet only the slightest white tinge was visible from the 5th floor windows. "Yes, not like last year..." he thought.
He wondered how home was doing so he picked up the phone and dialed. There was no answer on the other end, so he hung up, intending to call again later, but forgetting.
On Sunday, his wife called. "Did you get any snow?" she asked.
"Some. Not really. You?" he waited.
"Oh ... a bit ... around 2o inches or so..." she told him. "More than I can stand. Good thing you didn't come home... you would have been stuck..."
He smiles, glancing out the hotel window into the glistening sunshine. It's not as warm as yesterday... but it is a sunny bright day ... and no snow. "Yep. Not like last year..."
