Pillow Talk

Ice was…everywhere.  It covered the streets, the trees, and the mailboxes.  In the freezing temperatures no one went outside, for it was too dangerous.  If one foot landed in the wrong place, you could be down on the ground with a new baseball-sized bruise on your hip.  The shelves of the local grocery stores were empty, since people had been afraid that they were going to be iced-in their homes for days.  These people who bought bread, milk, and nonperishable items had been smart, because the ice had come.  The ice came in a torrent one chilly January night, and then continued off and on for days.  Power was out all across the small town of Tede, and the city could not get people to come and fix the power lines until the ice storm ceased.  For little Alexandra, the long-lasting ice storm was not a nightmare, but a dream.  Her power had been out for around 24 hours, and then had miraculously come back on.  Since her house was one of the only houses in the town that had heat, family and friends from all over her town brought suitcases stuffed with wool hats with pom-poms, long johns, and over-sized sweatshirts.  By the time each person had thawed with the blasting heat in Alexandra’s house, twenty people roamed the halls of Alexandra’s small blue house.  Nine children slept in the guest bedroom with pillows and blankets galore.  At night, laughter would emanate throughout the interior of the household as the children would engage in an enthralling pillow fight.  The rest of the eleven adults would sit around the dinner table, talking and playing cards.  When one of them won a hand of cards, there would shouting in protest and glee.  Despite the biting cold outside, Alexandra’s house had never been so warm with laughter and love.