Chapter 1: Chores
September 3rd, 1948
“Uh” I said as I threw my sheets up on the bed. Saturday was my least favorite day of the week, it usually meant endless chores. There were windows to wash and meals to make, dresses, shirts, and slacks to wash and iron for Mondays school outfits. Oh and sorting too, socks, and the assortment of new or clean clothes. “Oh well I give up” I stated tiredly. “I need books” I groaned. I picked up my Nancy Drew book and I started to read. A soft knocking at my door brought my attention away from the book and into the real world. “Oh hey Mommy” I said barely glancing from the page. “Oh hey Autumn I was just going to give you your clean clothes” My mom said. “Uhhhhhhh no more please mother pleaseeeee” I whined “Now don’t whine Autumn” Mom corrected. “Right now you’re the only one that’s here to help me to chores this morning”. A loud wail broke our conversation. “Madeline!” we both exclaimed together She was having a tantrum again. “Autumn please just…. Get your work done” Mom said. My 3 year old sister could sometimes be a big nincompoop. When she was finally satisfied with her new diaper, me and Mom sat down to watch Lady and the tramp, a new movie that had just come out. “Hey mom can we have some popcorn please?” I asked, eyes pleading “Oh sure I’ll go make some” Mom said reluctantly We ate dinner and I got into my pajamas and we finished the movie. “Daddy!” I exclaimed as he walked in the front door. “Hi sweetheart” he said sweeping me up into a hug “Hi Honey” said mom to dad “hi Honey how are my girls doing ” he said back “Susan!” I exclaimed as my 15 year old sister came in the front door. We said our greetings and mom and I finished our movie. “Ah goodnight mom” I said when I had settled into bed. “Goodnight sweetie.” Mom replied.
Chapter 2: School Starts
September 5th 1948
“Autumn get down here or you are going to be late to your first day of school ”Mom yelled from downstairs As I checked by satchel for I think the 27th time, I remembered the special silver watch that grandma had given me before the first day of school. “Coming mom” I yelled back after I had clasped the watch on my wrist.
After breakfast I picked up my stuff and marched to the bus stop. This was my year of being 8, yes this was third grade. Math was our first subject and quite a boring one in fact. After about 4 subjects, I was ready to go home. When I saw what was for lunch though, I changed my mind. There were so many choices. Choices between crunchy Fried chicken, cheesy pizza, salad, barbeque pork, and juicy hamburgers were so hard to make. I finally decided on, hamburger, salad, and French fries, topped of with a hot fudge sundae with cookies and whipped-cream. When I got home after P.E, mom was waiting for me. “Hey Autumn.” She said when I walked in “hey mom.” I replied grabbing a cookie “pop” went the top of the milk-jar as mom opened it to pour some. “Do you want some milk to go with that cookie? I tasted them this afternoon and they seemed dry.”
“Oh sure” I replied happily “but I think that they taste fine” “Well here is your milk anyway. Finish your snack quickly please, you have piano today.” Mom said “oh yeah……I forgot about that, okay”. I replied. After my lessons we went home, and I went to go finish my notebooks and to hopefully sew.
“Time for dinner” mom yelled from downstairs “We’re on the stairs mom” me and Susan yelled we soon sat down to a delicious lamb stew with rolls and mashed potatoes. For dessert we also had chunky applesauce topped with vanilla ice-cream.
Chapter 3: Adventures in the Snow
November 8th, 1948
“Hey Angie” I said to my best friend “Are you ready for tonight?” “Yeah, I heard that there will be tons of snowfall tonight”. She replied “Swell! I can’t wait” I exclaimed Angie and I were going to have a sleepover tonight. “Come on Ang. We need to get to class. I’m so glad that it’s Friday.” I said tugging at her sleeve. “Okay come on” she replied.
“Want some more popcorn?”Asked Angie as we sat watching the Muppets “Yeah sure can you hand me some?” I asked “Yeah, this movie is great”. She replied “It’s hilarious.” I said laughing “Well I’m tired I think I’ll get my sleeping bag unrolled. “Okay” she replied
Hours later we were snuggled in our sleeping bag waiting for the big snowfall that was supposed to fall tonight. I woke up first and immediately looked out of the window. There had to be 3 feet out there and it was still blizzarding. “Yes!” I shouted excitedly “whaaattttt” said a sleepy Angie “This is swell Ang. There must be 3 feet of snow. There is still a blizzard going on to.” I exclaimed “This is so cool. Lets hurry and get some breakfast and then we can get dressed.” Angie said “Morning girls” said Angie’s mom as we came downstairs “hey mom.“Said Angie “hi Mrs. Williams.” I said “Do you all want some Hot cocoa and cinnamon buns” Her mom asked “Sure.” We both replied, After the warm breakfast we were set to go after getting our snowsuits on. “You all have fun out there.” Her mom called after us “hey lets go sledding” I suggested “Okay I’ll go get the sleds.” Angie replied, After sledding for about 3 hours we went inside for a snack. We had cookies and warm milk. We went to walk around the neighborhood, grabbing icicles as we went along. As we strolled I felt the occasional snowflake brush against my cheek. It was such a beautiful day; snow was sparkling on the rooftops and the trees. When we got back to the house for dinner we found out that the road was blocked in our neighborhood so mom and dad could not get to Angie’s house tonight but would get there tomorrow morning. “Yes!”Angie exclaimed “Swell!”I said excitedly “A double sleepover!” I said
We had so much fun that night it snowed again and there was only 2 feet this morning so my parents were defiantly coming today.
Chapter 4: Snowstorm
December 5th 1948
“Come on Autumn, hurry up” Angie called to me one freezing morning walking to school. “Don’t called me that any more, its winter definitely, so call me uh sparkle and I am coming” I replied “Well come faster or we’ll be late” She yelled “Well it’s not my fault that our bus-stop is rezoned.” I called back “Uh Oh” said Angie said “What is it?” I asked “Well…. Um it’s starting to snow like a blizzard” She replied “Oh No and it’s another 2 miles from here” I whined, Angie didn’t reply so we just kept walking. “Hey there’s a phone-booth over there.” I yelled from behind. “Yeah, and.” Angie replied. “Well we can possibly stay in there and call our parents.” I said. “Hey that’s a good idea.” She said. “Sooooo…… let’s get in there before we freeze. I replied slowly. “It must be about lunchtime now.” We settled in and then we each took a half of my sandwich for lunch. Angie was planning to buy lunch that day, so she had money to use for the phone-booth to call our parents. Hours later we realized that there was about, well 5 feet of snow. So we were practically snowed in. Considering that the booth was only 6 feet tall. “Hey uh Angie what time is it?” I asked her hours later. “Uh well 9.” She replied. “Nine? Wow it’s really late. I think that it’s time to take out the leftovers of my lunch.” I said shocked. “Yeah I think so too. Uh Oh” She said. “What?” I asked. “It’s frozen solid.” She replied. “Well uh what do we do?” I asked, puzzled. “I don’t know.” She replied. We ate frozen food but it was a little warmed from our hands. I must say though it was not very satisfying. We had to stay there that night and it was freezing. Hopefully the snow would go down tomorrow, so that we could get a cup of hot chocolate and muffins from the corner store for breakfast. We went to bed but it was hard to sleep in the freezing temperatures. But we both had our jackets and gloves. I prayed that we would make it through the night.
Chapter 5: The Snow Goes Down
December 6th, 1948
I again woke up first and immediately saw that it had stopped snowing. The snow outside had gone down about 4 feet the night before. That meaning we would be able to get out and have something hot for breakfast. “Angie. ANGIE wake up, wakeup.” I said. “What is it?” She asked sleepily. “The snow went down last night! That means that we can get out of here and possibly get to my Cousin Brittany’s house. Well, after we get a hot breakfast from that corner store over there.” I replied. “Yes! We can get out.” Angie shouted. Hot food and tea were never more appreciated than they were that morning. Unfortunately, the store was out of hot chocolate but tea was fine, as long as it was sweetened. After breakfast Angie and I continued the cold and bleak walk to my cousin’s house. Brittany gave us a welcoming hug as we walked in her door-way. “Why are you two out here in this weather?” She asked us with a grin. “Ohhhhh, well it’s kind of a long story.” I replied hesitantly. “Yeahhhhh pretty long.” Angie agreed. “Well we have time come on, tell me the story”. She said. “Welllllll okay”. We told her the whole story including the snow-storm and sleeping in a telephone booth. She nodded and slowly turned and picked up the phone. “You can stay here tonight since it’s supposed to blizzard all this afternoon” She said after picking the phone up. “Thank you!” We exclaimed. “You’re most welcome girls”. She said. She attempted several times to call our parents on the phone but soon gave up. “The lines are down.” She said flatly. That night Angie and I were snuggled in the guest room bed, the only extra bed in the house. Though it was probably below 0 degrees outside, we were toasty warm under the warm alpaca wool blanket that my cousin had sacrificed from her bed. “Hey Ang.” I said to her. “What?” She asked.
“I feel sorry for Brittany; I hope that she has some Snuggle-Socks.” I Replied. “Yeah.” Angie replied sleepily.
Chapter 6: Morning trials
December 7th 1948
That morning I woke up to a bright and sunny day with the sun shining in my eyes. As I looked around I suddenly remembered were I was. Right, at Brittany’s house I thought to myself.
Though, when I tried to get up I found that I felt very weak. “Lay down.” Commanded Brittany as she walked in to the room. “But…but….but……. I need to ohhhhhhhh.” I groaned, holding my head. My head seriously felt like it had been stuffed with cotton balls and hit with a mallet. Sitting up was toooooooo tiring I soon obeyed Brittany by lying back down on the plump, down feather pillow. It felt cool against my burning cheeks. My head was pounded like a bedpost in construction. Brittany covered me with a sheet and told me to lay still. Voices were jabbering slow and fast, the only word that I could make out was blizzard. Hours which felt like days later someone stood over me and gave me chicken noodle soup to drink. The hot soup coated my tongue and burned my aching throat. I attempted to say thank you, but it came out as a croak. I took some Pepto Bismo for my stomach ache and some Shiloh cough and cold medicine oh and some catarrh for my stuffed nose and sinus headache. After that I took a long restless nap. When I woke up I saw Angie standing over me. “Hi” I croaked. “Hey don’t try to talk, Okay?”She replied. I nodded slowly and then tried to sit up but couldn’t. The voices in the room kept jabbering back and forth, loud and soft as the sun went down. I slept that morning until 10 o’clock and the jabbering voices stopped. I could finally make out what people were saying. A few minutes later, Brittany came in and greeted me good morning. “Hi Brittany.” I said clearly without a croak. I was still exhausted but the dull ache in my head had ended. “Hi, seems that you are feeling better. The doctor said that you were hit with the influenza.” She replied. “Oh.” I said as I sat up and ate the oatmeal that she had brought in on a tray. Later Brittany let me read books while sitting up in bed. I talked to Angie and found out that she too had been hit with a smaller and less intense illness but she recovered much more quickly than I did. Even by sundown that night I still wasn’t 100%. Brittany let me get up and walk on my dizzy legs. I swayed back and forth as I took the uneasy steps along the room, out the door, and into the kitchen.
Chapter 7: Heading out again December 9th 1948
“Morning Brittany.” I said as sat eating my bowl of Wheaties.
“Morning.” She replied holding the newspaper. She sat down and produced from behind her back, a pair of thick snowsuits and boots.
“Oh my goodness!” I exclaimed. “Are those for us?” Angie asked with rounded eyes. “Yeah, I figured that since you guys were planning to get back to your folks today, than you might want to be prepared for anything.” She replied grinning. “Well okay then. Let’s get going.” I said as I walked to sink and washed out my bowl. “Now?” Angie asked puzzled. “Yeah.” I replied
As we walked I saw that some of the snow was melting and felt relieved. I never wanted to see snow again. I just couldn’t wait until I got home and had some hot chocolate, Oh wait now I remember. Brittany put a Swissmiss packet and a hot bottle of water in my pack. Soon Angie and I were sipping hot cocoa while we walked. Put sooner than later, it started to blizzard again and we were still about a half a mile away. “Oh no.” Angie exclaimed worriedly. “Oh brother.” I said exasperated. “I really don’t feel like spending the night in a telephone booth again.” “Neither do I.” Angie replied. As we walked, the storm got stronger and I got more worried. Finally we were only 6 houses down but we were both staggering in the wind. As I squinted through the snow I saw the warm lights shining inside my house. I could almost feel the warmly lit fire that was sure to be lit for our arrival. We were tired and we were worn out from the long trip down, but at the same time we were excited to have a reunion with our family. 3 houses away, 2 houses, and 1 house finally we were home!
“Hi guys.” I said as I came through the door way. “Autumn!” Shouted my family as I walked in the doorway. There were a lot of breath-taking hugs as I walked through. Mom walked over and handed Angie and I 2 cups of cocoa. After reassuring them that we were okay (several times) we told them our story. Soon after our story Brittany called to tell her part of the story. Angie stayed the night because of the cold and the icy sleet and snow. It felt good to settled into my own bed and under my soft sheets. We were exhausted and both had a cold I was asleep in five seconds. I dreamed that I was playing in a beautiful blanket of snow while walking to school in a telephone booth. I woke up with dark clouds hanging in the sky with snow falling from them. Well, for some reason I couldn’t wait to get out there and to play.
