Christmas Delays - Part 1

Merry 2nd of December Friday Fiction Fans!
Do you have all your decorations up? I wish we did. But, since I'm pretty much the only one who has time to do them this year . . . Yeah, it's happening a bit slowly. :) And, since I've always had a bit of trouble remembering the "odds & ends" of projects, it really feels like I can't get anything done because I keep remembering and then forgetting the little things that finish off some place. So last night I made a list. A rather long list, of all the decorating left to do. And I put down those "odds & ends" so I wouldn't forget them.
Now, if you have not been here before in December, I wanted to let you know that I don't just post on Fridays. I love Christmas, I love December, so I post here, there, and any time I want to. If yo don't want to miss a post, make sure you are following me or check back often.

My week has been a bit on the crazy side. Trying to decorate here and there, trying to read, trying to write, trying to get other things done and then releasing my new book. :) If you didn't hear about it, you can go here to find out. Here's the cover though.

Now, since it seems that everyone enjoys a WWII story, I decided to re-post this story. It was my 2nd Christmas story that I had written. I hope you enjoy it.

Christmas Delays

Part 1

    “Great! Here we are in a ditch! This is the third delay this morning!”
    A merry peal of laughter was the only response his wife gave him for a minute.
    Dave Quincey tried to frown but instead smiled wryly at his young, dark eyed wife. “At this rate we won’t make it to your folk’s house until New Year,” he grumbled good-naturedly.
    “Oh, Dave, I couldn’t help laughing. This is the fourth, not the third delay. First the alarm didn’t go off, then you got stuck talking on the phone, or listening rather, to a patient, then we had a flat tire and now we’re in a ditch.” Here she broke off to laugh again.
    It was Christmas Eve; the sun shone brightly on the snow covered trees and fields. This was Dave and Linda’s first Christmas together. Not only that, but Dave had received a notice to report to the Medical Corps for service by the 10th of January. The young couple knew well that it would only be a matter of time before Dave was sent overseas or to the Pacific  to join in the war against the power hungry Nazis and Japanese. They were determined, however, to make this a joyful Christmas, and had promised to spend it with her parents and siblings who lived hours away. They had planned to leave first thing in the morning, but first one thing and then another had delayed them. Now it was early afternoon, and they still had several hours left to travel.
    Dave sighed. “Did you tell them when we would be there?”
    Linda shook her brown head. “I didn’t know if you would have calls to make today or not. I said we’d be there before Christmas. If nothing else, we could get out and walk.” Her eyes twinkled.
    Dave grinned. It was impossible to stay upset with a wife as merry as his.
    Just then a truck slowed down and stopped in front of them. The driver got out and came back to their little car. “Do you need a hand?”
    “A pull would be more helpful I’m thinking,” Dave replied.
    The truck driver laughed. “I’ve got a chain. I’ll have you out in no time. Just wait there.”
    True to his word, within five minutes the truck had pulled them out of the ditch. With a hearty thanks and an exchange of Merry Christmas! they went on their way.

    “I can’t believe we are actually going to spend Christmas with my folks,” Linda’s voice showed her excitement.
    “Now Honey,” Dave spoke gravely though the corners of his mouth twitched, and when he glanced at his wife, his eyes twinkled. “Don’t get too excited, we have three more tires that may need changed.”
    “And miles of ditches to get stuck in,” she retorted gaily. “Oh, I didn’t tell you that the boys are planing a snowball fight if the snow doesn’t all melt. I have a feeling you’ll be initiated into the Stephens Sibling Secret Society sometime during our stay.”
    “And what might that be?”
    Linda shook her head with a laugh. “Oh, I can’t say. I just thought I’d give you a little heads up warning so to speak.”
    The car continued down the snowy road filled with merry talk, bright laughter and many an affectionate word. After a time, the sun which had been shining so brightly in its effort to melt the snow, disappeared behind a large bank of clouds that were piling up in the west, and the temperature began to drop.
    “I wonder if we’ll get more snow,” Linda mused, her eyes on the clouds.
    “We already have snow. What would we do with more?”
    “You never can have too much snow for Christmas.”
    Dave grunted, his eyes on the road before them. “I’ll remind you of that when we get caught out here in a blizzard.”
    “A blizzard!” Linda’s ready laugh sounded again. “Then we’ll head to that little house over there and seek shelter for the night. It is such a small house. See, Dave?”
    Dave glanced over and then nodded. “Yep, I saw. It looks rather abandoned to me.”
    “Perhaps there will be a light on the other side where it is closer to the road.”
    Dave didn’t reply as he eased the car around the curve in the road, eyes searching for hidden patches of ice, for with the cold deepening, ice was beginning to form once more.
    “There! I told you there’d be a light! A candle in the window. I love candles in the windows. They make a house so inviting.”
    Now that the road was straight again, Dave ventured a glance. At that moment the wheels of the car hit a hidden patch of ice and began to slide. With strong hands on the wheel, Dave fought to gain control, but in vain. The car turned around and plowed straight into a large snow drift.
    “Great! Now what!” Dave sighed.
    Linda couldn’t help a little laugh. “We could try to dig it out, or we could just stop and have a snowball fight.”
    “Honey, aren’t you even a little upset about being delayed for the fifth time today?”
    Linda looked surprised. “Why should I be? It wasn’t your fault. Besides, I haven’t had this much fun since I went camping with my Girl Scout Troop and a huge rain storm came up.” She chuckled at the remembrance. “And I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather be stuck with than you.”
    “Darling, you always see the silver lining. I don’t know how you do it, honestly. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
    “And,” Linda retorted brightly, “if it weren’t for you, I’d still be at home helping to get supper on the table.”
    Dave leaned over and kissed her.
    “The question is, what are we going to do now?”
    “Why walk over to that little house and ask for a shovel to get our car out.”
    “Or we could just ask if they have a horse and sleigh we could use,” Dave added dryly.

    Soon Dave and Linda were tramping through the snow towards the little house.
    “It doesn’t look as though anyone has been out since the snow fell two days ago.”
    “That’s a pity,” Linda said. “No one to make a snow man or snow angels.”
    “Perhaps no one is home.”
    “Oh, someone is there, I see a whiff of smoke from the chimney.”
    Dave assisted his wife up the slippery porch steps of the tiny weather beaten house and knocked.
    In a moment the door was opened, and a pale, tired looking woman looked out.
    “We’re sorry to bother you,” Dave began, “but our car is stuck in a snow drift, and we were wondering if you had a shovel we could borrow to try and free it.”
    “Come in,” the woman offered opening the door wider. “I’ll see if I can find one.”
    As she shut the door behind her two visitors, the woman suddenly leaned against it and pressed a hand to her side and her eyes closed momentarily. Linda noticed that the woman appeared very pregnant, and she glanced at her husband. Dave had also noticed.
    “Ma’am, are you all right?” he questioned. “Here, let me help you to a chair, you shouldn’t be standing.”
    “I’ll be all right,” the woman gasped as she sank into a chair. Both hands pressed on her stomach, and her breathing was rapid. “The baby has been trying to come all day, but I can’t get out . . . to the hospital.”
    “Linda, I’m going to get my medical bag.” Dave glanced around the dim room, noticing its bareness, three small children huddled close to the stove, and a bed in the far corner near a cold fireplace. “Help her to bed. I’ll be right back.” With that he was gone.

Have you ever slid on ice when in a car?

Every gotten stuck in a snowdrift?

If you want the next part, come back on Monday!