The Blizzard of 2056

The wind moaned scratching at the window pane like a demented cat demanding entrance. Noel started to pulled the covers over her head, but decided she needed to check on Aunt Cleo before going back to sleep. She sit up, put on her slippers, her robe, and went into her Aunt 's bedroom. Odd, she thought opening the door, I don't remember closing this door last night. Inside the room, the wind was an arrow penetrating the wool of her robe.

"I know I didn't leave the window open," she whispered attempting to close the window.

"Noel," Cleo called. "Please, don't close the window until Lewis comes home."

Removing the butter knife, which held the sliding window open she pushed i t shut and locked it . "Auntie," she went to the bed. "Uncle Lewis won't be coming home in this blizzard." A tear rolled down her cheek as she remembered her Uncle's funeral ten years ago.

"Noel," Cleo pushed the covers down. "Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary, he'll come home and climb through the window the way he did on our wedding night."

So that's why he went out into the snow that night, wiping away her tears, she tucked covers around her aunt. "Aunt Cleo, what year is it?"

"It's 2046, Noel," Cleo smiled. "Lewis and I will celebrate fifty years of marriage on Christmas day. Now will you please open that window or I'll do it myself!"

"OK, Aunt Cleo," she picked up the controls that would lock the plastic shield over the bed, turn on the oxygen, contact the hospice nurse, and then the doctor.

Sitting down in the heated recliner at the foot of the bed, she checked the time. In this weather, it will take the nurse at least two hours to get here.