Winter Storm

[very_sharpe]

Thomas stands at the window, watching the snow falling. It's falling fast and a considerable bit has accumulated already. The television in the background announces that more is expected, and he can only think of Edith. It sounds as though the city will shut down, for the most part. What if she needs something? Automobiles couldn't make it through this mess, and with her crutches, going anywhere on foot simply isn't an option. Fretting enough, he turns from the window and begins to bundle up in warmth clothes, topping off with a scarf, his coat, and a wool hat. He turns off the television and puts on his gloves and new boots, then heads out.

No one has cleared the snow at the front of the building, so he has to shove the door open with some force to actually make it out. The wind is not so terrible yet, but the air is far from still. He has learned much of the city now, and Edith had been kind of enough to offer her address. He keeps it in his coat pocket, checking the paper though he memorized it not long after she gave it. He sets out, careful to keep to the sidewalks though they are no more easily passable than the roads. Along the way he stops at a small grocery he finds open. Perhaps she doesn't need anything, but he picks up tea, some good cocoa, and a fresh half dozen scones.

From there it's a cold trudge to the Bramford Building, but his determination and lingering concern keeps him going. Thomas has no idea how long it actually takes him to get there, but is grateful for his experience with the bitter Cumberland winters.

Thankfully he is able to get into the building when he arrives, and he heads to Edith's floor to her door. Perhaps he should have called ahead, he realizes, a bit embarrassed that he'd just set out without thinking it through even that far. Well, he is here now. So he knocks.

Comments

[ghostsarereal]

Edith doesn't have to be following any weather reports to know that there's no way she'll be leaving her apartment for at least a couple of days. All she needs to do is look out the window at the snow piling up, the gusts of wind moving it around. Under her current circumstances, she hasn't been getting out quite as much anyway, but with this, it would be nearly impossible. She doubts she'd make it halfway down the block in this state, her crutches hardly equipped to support her on icy sidewalks and the risk of injury not worth attempting it. There's nothing to do but wait it out. In spite of knowing that there's a good chance she'd have been staying in anyway, she can't help but find that a little frustrating, restless as she moves carefully around her apartment. At least she isn't entirely alone here, the building full of others who likely won't be getting out either, but the situation feels uncomfortably familiar even so.

She's in the middle of checking her kitchen cupboards for the third time when she's startled by a knock on her door, abandoning her current task in favor of hobbling over to answer it. There are really very few people it could be, so perhaps it shouldn't surprise her to see Thomas standing there, but it does all the same, given the walk he must have had to take in this weather. "Thomas," she says, her eyes widening, and quickly remembers herself, moving to the side to leave the doorway open. "Come in, you must be freezing. Did you walk all this way?"