Chapter the Tenth -- In Which We Learn Some Folklore
In these frozen and silent nights,
Sometimes in a dream...you appear.
Outside under the purple sky,
Diamonds in the snow sparkle.
Our hearts were singing,
It felt like Christmas time.
The Pretenders - 2000 miles
Chapter 10 -- Heavy Weather
Two weeks passed after what Mara was now calling in her mind "The Early Morning Incident." Neither she nor Rafe mentioned his tender kiss.
She had spoken with Grove and worked out a "rental agreement" with him and Rafe so that Rafe would have a truck to drive around. Mara ruthlessly paired him up with MarySue, much to Rafe's amusement and private dismay. MarySue did have her own vehicle, but it was a lightweight little two door from the early 90s that would have no problem sliding off the road should the weather turn hostile.
The weather had turned "nice" again, at least as nice as a blustery east river South Dakota March could be. Rafe had found out from Mara that the Missouri River more or less divided the state in half and also seemed to be a dividing line politically as well. That and it was somewhat traditional for the two sides of the state to have a mild contempt for each other.
Even though she had grown up in South Dakota, Mara wasn't entirely sure why this was, just simply that it was. She thought that perhaps the east river folk disliked the west river folk because their weather was on more of an even keel. The west river folk disliked the east river folk because of Sioux Falls being the largest city in the state, and east river generally having a better situation economically. Or so she conjectured.
Today, a clear and sunny, yet very windy Friday, had MarySue and Rafe out on the road. MarySue having been around longer in the state wanted to show off her knowledge of the immediately environs to Rafe. Mara sent them off with her blessings.
She wasn't blushing anymore around Rafe, but Mara still couldn't figure out why their kiss bothered her so much. No, bothered wasn't the wrong word, unless it was bothered as in "hot and bothered." 'Troubled' was equally too negative. She resigned herself to being confused in a positive sort of way.
When she wasn't infuriated by the whole thing. Mara hadn't dated in ages, other than the occasional cup of coffee with Arthur. She didn't really consider those dates, more 'two friends getting together to chat' even though she wouldn't really call Arthur a friend per se. He was nice enough, but there was still something about him that set off some mild alarm bells. Nothing major, just a mild discomfort. At least with Arthur, she was able to plant that 'discomfort' towards the negative side of the emotional spectrum.
Rafe, however, was still up for grabs.
She grinned at herself as she thought of that. 'Up for grabs' in more ways than one. He appeared to be a free agent all around, whereas Arthur might as well have 'perennial bachelor' stamped on his forehead. Rafe...who knew?
She looked at her watch: 2:25 p.m. Her office suddenly phone rang.
"Pittsville Prairiedog, this is Mara."
"Hi, Mara, this is Adele."
"Hi, Miss Simonson, what can I do for you today?" Adele Simonson, a long time resident of Pittsville had celebrated her 94th birthday a couple of months ago. She was one of those older women who spoke her mind, and had enough wisdom and life experience that you usually paid attention.
Adele, being also a woman of few words, got down to business right away. "Have you seen the forecast?"
"Yeah, it's supposed to be sunny and windy for the next three or four days. Why?"
"Throw that out. I know you get the weather from the National Weather Service out of Sioux Falls, but they'll be changing it soon, too. My knee has been locked up with arthritis since this morning. It's worse than when we had that blizzard three years ago.
"That was pretty nasty." Mara remembered having to dig out from under that one and didn't relish the idea of having another Spring storm roll through with two to three feet of snow.
"Mara, I'm worried we're due for another blizzard like the one in 1966. It snowed something awful then. I remember my sister living in Pierre told me they had snow piled 5 foot deep. I was in Tucson when that happened, praise the Lord, visiting my other sister, Irene. The Mister had to dig himself out of that by himself."
"I'll keep an eye on it, Miss Simonson. Thanks for the warning." Mara jotted it down on her note pad, and went to the NWS site for Sioux Falls to get an update.
"Keep an eye on that weather, you may want to get your Sunday edition out early."
"I'll bear that in mind. Thanks again for calling me."
Mara felt a mild concern. Adele's knee seemed to be able to predict the weather accurately about 95% of the time. Well, nothing else to do but keep a close eye on the weather service.
She had turned off the small weather alert radio she kept in her office due to the currently nice weather. The NWS periodically sent a test signal across the airwaves and always managed to startle Mara when she was focussing on something.
Reaching over to the small radio, she turned it on, and made a mental note to turn the one at home on, as well. She knew from past experience, that Adele would be passing the news throughout her small network of friends and that it would spread like ripples in a pool. Most people knew that Adele was as accurate a forecaster (if not more so) as the NWS.
Mara had long since filed Adele and some of the other folk living further out in the country in her mental file of "Some things that country folk know better than other sources." She always shook her head in absent amazement over the stories they told and their wildly accurate predictions whether it was about the weather or how well a calving season would go. She hoped the storm would hold off until Sunday and buckled down to see what she could do about getting the Sunday PrairieDog ready to go early
She had finished up the Friday evening edition well over an hour ago, and Joe was running it on the press. She could feel the steady vibrations caused by that large piece of machinery, even though her office was virtually soundproofed from the noises coming from the main pressroom.
It was a fairly old press, but Joe knew just how to keep it running. Mara hated to think of what the expenditure would be to get a newer one once this one could no longer be fixed and finagled along. Her father had left her with a trust that provided a moderate income besides what she made at the paper. She didn't want to have to break that trust to buy a new press, she was hoping to keep it intact so that it could continue earning slowly on the capital.
Well, that worry would happen when it would happen. She turned her attention back to the NWS site. The Weather Service had modified the forecast to reflect mild flurries by Sunday.
Too bad weather forecasting wasn't a more exact science to where they could accurately predict up to 30 days out or something. 'Too much of the butterfly effect in operation,' she thought. Well, what was running on the press was what was running, too late to change it now.
She turned back to the Sunday edition editorial page and started editing in earnest.
-------------------
Five hours later, the pressroom was now silent, the evening paper having been distributed to the carriers, and drivers who took it out to some of the smaller towns and villages 'near' Pittsville, near of course being a relative term.
Mara was still bent over the Sunday edition, working on the layout. A knock at the office door startled her out of her musing.
The door opened and Rafe stuck his head around it, "Hi."
"Hi! You startled me."
"It's almost eight, were you planning to come home soon?"
Mara smiled to herself. It made her feel good that Rafe felt comfortable enough at her house that he would be calling it 'home' at least temporarily. "Yes, I've done just about everything I can today. I've been keeping an eye on the weather. We may have to go to press early tomorrow."
"I didn't think that it was going to get nasty, at least over the next few days."
"Well Adele Simpson called me because her knee was acting up..."
"Wait a second. Her knee was acting up?" Rafe looked at her with a skeptical smile on his face. "I thought that was an old wives' tale about people's joints and muscle and whatever predicting bad weather.
"Don't laugh. Miss Simpson, 84 years of age, bless her heart, has had a near 95% percent accuracy rate when it comes to predicting weather. She says there's a blizzard coming."
"Yeah, right."
"Don't believe me? Well here's some numbers. I've been tracking her predictions since the first winter after I became editor at the Prairiedog. I thought she, and Joe, were high, too when they first told me about it. He's been unofficially tracking her for longer, but not on paper." She held out a thin file folder to Rafe with her documentation of the weather. Over the past seven years had been almost dead on. Usually when something was off, it was the timing of the weather itself.
Rafe shook his head in disbelieving wonder after reading and handed the folder back to Mara. At just that moment the weather radio decided to let out an alarm. Mara squeaked, jumped and muttered something under her breath about obnoxious loud sounds.
She looked up at Rafe, "Well let's give it a listen."
"The National Weather Service at Sioux Falls has issued a Winter Weather advisory for the following counties, Minnehaha, Turner, Hutchinson, Yankton, Bon Homme..." the radio rattled on through a list of about a dozen counties and proceeded to issue a severe weather advisory for those counties, the watch period starting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.
"See."
"Hmm. It's still in the predictive stage. Your numbers look good, but I guess I won't believe it until I see it."
"Where's MarySue?"
"She, ah, left."
"Do I detect something in that little statement?"
Rafe grinned at her. "I really can't get anything past you, now can I? She's a little miffed at me. I think she was expecting to have dinner with me tonight. Even though I really hadn't asked her or extended an offer."
"Be careful Rafe. You want to stay on her good side. She's going to be a very good reporter one day once she gets some of the romantic nonsense she's got in mind about the profession worked out of her system," she chided humorously.
"I'll take your word for it."
"Seriously. She's going to be quite good, whereever she ends up, once she gets past the sensationalism. Or that might even work in her favor if she tempers it with a bit of realism."
"Is that what happened to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You got all that romantic nonsense out of your system..." he trailed off, still smiling at her, but this time more...tenderly.
Mara knew at once that she was being handed a loaded question. She was attracted to Rafe, but didn't know if she should get involved. He appeared to be attracted to her, but in a few more weeks he'd being returning to Chicago. She wasn't sure if she could handle a frivolous relationship.
She smiled back at Rafe, a tentative, questioning smile, silently inviting him to expand on whatever he was thinking.
Rafe enjoyed her smile for a few moments and then changed tacks. "How about we discuss the issue of romanticism, whether in journalism...or elsewhere. I also want to chat with you a bit more about the Adele Simpson Weather Phenomenon," he joked to lighten the suddenly intense atmosphere in the office. "Tell you what. I'll cook."
Rafe had finally gotten rid of his cane, even though he still walked with a slight limp. He had been helping her with dishes.
Mara looked at him questioningly.
"Yes, I can cook, but that's another story for over dinner. Let's get out of here."
"Yes, let's. I've got to make a run to the local Piggly Wiggly and pick up some groceries in case we are snowed in. Why don't you drop off your pickup at the house and then we'll proceed from there."
Sometimes in a dream...you appear.
Outside under the purple sky,
Diamonds in the snow sparkle.
Our hearts were singing,
It felt like Christmas time.
The Pretenders - 2000 miles
Chapter 10 -- Heavy Weather
Two weeks passed after what Mara was now calling in her mind "The Early Morning Incident." Neither she nor Rafe mentioned his tender kiss.
She had spoken with Grove and worked out a "rental agreement" with him and Rafe so that Rafe would have a truck to drive around. Mara ruthlessly paired him up with MarySue, much to Rafe's amusement and private dismay. MarySue did have her own vehicle, but it was a lightweight little two door from the early 90s that would have no problem sliding off the road should the weather turn hostile.
The weather had turned "nice" again, at least as nice as a blustery east river South Dakota March could be. Rafe had found out from Mara that the Missouri River more or less divided the state in half and also seemed to be a dividing line politically as well. That and it was somewhat traditional for the two sides of the state to have a mild contempt for each other.
Even though she had grown up in South Dakota, Mara wasn't entirely sure why this was, just simply that it was. She thought that perhaps the east river folk disliked the west river folk because their weather was on more of an even keel. The west river folk disliked the east river folk because of Sioux Falls being the largest city in the state, and east river generally having a better situation economically. Or so she conjectured.
Today, a clear and sunny, yet very windy Friday, had MarySue and Rafe out on the road. MarySue having been around longer in the state wanted to show off her knowledge of the immediately environs to Rafe. Mara sent them off with her blessings.
She wasn't blushing anymore around Rafe, but Mara still couldn't figure out why their kiss bothered her so much. No, bothered wasn't the wrong word, unless it was bothered as in "hot and bothered." 'Troubled' was equally too negative. She resigned herself to being confused in a positive sort of way.
When she wasn't infuriated by the whole thing. Mara hadn't dated in ages, other than the occasional cup of coffee with Arthur. She didn't really consider those dates, more 'two friends getting together to chat' even though she wouldn't really call Arthur a friend per se. He was nice enough, but there was still something about him that set off some mild alarm bells. Nothing major, just a mild discomfort. At least with Arthur, she was able to plant that 'discomfort' towards the negative side of the emotional spectrum.
Rafe, however, was still up for grabs.
She grinned at herself as she thought of that. 'Up for grabs' in more ways than one. He appeared to be a free agent all around, whereas Arthur might as well have 'perennial bachelor' stamped on his forehead. Rafe...who knew?
She looked at her watch: 2:25 p.m. Her office suddenly phone rang.
"Pittsville Prairiedog, this is Mara."
"Hi, Mara, this is Adele."
"Hi, Miss Simonson, what can I do for you today?" Adele Simonson, a long time resident of Pittsville had celebrated her 94th birthday a couple of months ago. She was one of those older women who spoke her mind, and had enough wisdom and life experience that you usually paid attention.
Adele, being also a woman of few words, got down to business right away. "Have you seen the forecast?"
"Yeah, it's supposed to be sunny and windy for the next three or four days. Why?"
"Throw that out. I know you get the weather from the National Weather Service out of Sioux Falls, but they'll be changing it soon, too. My knee has been locked up with arthritis since this morning. It's worse than when we had that blizzard three years ago.
"That was pretty nasty." Mara remembered having to dig out from under that one and didn't relish the idea of having another Spring storm roll through with two to three feet of snow.
"Mara, I'm worried we're due for another blizzard like the one in 1966. It snowed something awful then. I remember my sister living in Pierre told me they had snow piled 5 foot deep. I was in Tucson when that happened, praise the Lord, visiting my other sister, Irene. The Mister had to dig himself out of that by himself."
"I'll keep an eye on it, Miss Simonson. Thanks for the warning." Mara jotted it down on her note pad, and went to the NWS site for Sioux Falls to get an update.
"Keep an eye on that weather, you may want to get your Sunday edition out early."
"I'll bear that in mind. Thanks again for calling me."
Mara felt a mild concern. Adele's knee seemed to be able to predict the weather accurately about 95% of the time. Well, nothing else to do but keep a close eye on the weather service.
She had turned off the small weather alert radio she kept in her office due to the currently nice weather. The NWS periodically sent a test signal across the airwaves and always managed to startle Mara when she was focussing on something.
Reaching over to the small radio, she turned it on, and made a mental note to turn the one at home on, as well. She knew from past experience, that Adele would be passing the news throughout her small network of friends and that it would spread like ripples in a pool. Most people knew that Adele was as accurate a forecaster (if not more so) as the NWS.
Mara had long since filed Adele and some of the other folk living further out in the country in her mental file of "Some things that country folk know better than other sources." She always shook her head in absent amazement over the stories they told and their wildly accurate predictions whether it was about the weather or how well a calving season would go. She hoped the storm would hold off until Sunday and buckled down to see what she could do about getting the Sunday PrairieDog ready to go early
She had finished up the Friday evening edition well over an hour ago, and Joe was running it on the press. She could feel the steady vibrations caused by that large piece of machinery, even though her office was virtually soundproofed from the noises coming from the main pressroom.
It was a fairly old press, but Joe knew just how to keep it running. Mara hated to think of what the expenditure would be to get a newer one once this one could no longer be fixed and finagled along. Her father had left her with a trust that provided a moderate income besides what she made at the paper. She didn't want to have to break that trust to buy a new press, she was hoping to keep it intact so that it could continue earning slowly on the capital.
Well, that worry would happen when it would happen. She turned her attention back to the NWS site. The Weather Service had modified the forecast to reflect mild flurries by Sunday.
Too bad weather forecasting wasn't a more exact science to where they could accurately predict up to 30 days out or something. 'Too much of the butterfly effect in operation,' she thought. Well, what was running on the press was what was running, too late to change it now.
She turned back to the Sunday edition editorial page and started editing in earnest.
-------------------
Five hours later, the pressroom was now silent, the evening paper having been distributed to the carriers, and drivers who took it out to some of the smaller towns and villages 'near' Pittsville, near of course being a relative term.
Mara was still bent over the Sunday edition, working on the layout. A knock at the office door startled her out of her musing.
The door opened and Rafe stuck his head around it, "Hi."
"Hi! You startled me."
"It's almost eight, were you planning to come home soon?"
Mara smiled to herself. It made her feel good that Rafe felt comfortable enough at her house that he would be calling it 'home' at least temporarily. "Yes, I've done just about everything I can today. I've been keeping an eye on the weather. We may have to go to press early tomorrow."
"I didn't think that it was going to get nasty, at least over the next few days."
"Well Adele Simpson called me because her knee was acting up..."
"Wait a second. Her knee was acting up?" Rafe looked at her with a skeptical smile on his face. "I thought that was an old wives' tale about people's joints and muscle and whatever predicting bad weather.
"Don't laugh. Miss Simpson, 84 years of age, bless her heart, has had a near 95% percent accuracy rate when it comes to predicting weather. She says there's a blizzard coming."
"Yeah, right."
"Don't believe me? Well here's some numbers. I've been tracking her predictions since the first winter after I became editor at the Prairiedog. I thought she, and Joe, were high, too when they first told me about it. He's been unofficially tracking her for longer, but not on paper." She held out a thin file folder to Rafe with her documentation of the weather. Over the past seven years had been almost dead on. Usually when something was off, it was the timing of the weather itself.
Rafe shook his head in disbelieving wonder after reading and handed the folder back to Mara. At just that moment the weather radio decided to let out an alarm. Mara squeaked, jumped and muttered something under her breath about obnoxious loud sounds.
She looked up at Rafe, "Well let's give it a listen."
"The National Weather Service at Sioux Falls has issued a Winter Weather advisory for the following counties, Minnehaha, Turner, Hutchinson, Yankton, Bon Homme..." the radio rattled on through a list of about a dozen counties and proceeded to issue a severe weather advisory for those counties, the watch period starting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.
"See."
"Hmm. It's still in the predictive stage. Your numbers look good, but I guess I won't believe it until I see it."
"Where's MarySue?"
"She, ah, left."
"Do I detect something in that little statement?"
Rafe grinned at her. "I really can't get anything past you, now can I? She's a little miffed at me. I think she was expecting to have dinner with me tonight. Even though I really hadn't asked her or extended an offer."
"Be careful Rafe. You want to stay on her good side. She's going to be a very good reporter one day once she gets some of the romantic nonsense she's got in mind about the profession worked out of her system," she chided humorously.
"I'll take your word for it."
"Seriously. She's going to be quite good, whereever she ends up, once she gets past the sensationalism. Or that might even work in her favor if she tempers it with a bit of realism."
"Is that what happened to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You got all that romantic nonsense out of your system..." he trailed off, still smiling at her, but this time more...tenderly.
Mara knew at once that she was being handed a loaded question. She was attracted to Rafe, but didn't know if she should get involved. He appeared to be attracted to her, but in a few more weeks he'd being returning to Chicago. She wasn't sure if she could handle a frivolous relationship.
She smiled back at Rafe, a tentative, questioning smile, silently inviting him to expand on whatever he was thinking.
Rafe enjoyed her smile for a few moments and then changed tacks. "How about we discuss the issue of romanticism, whether in journalism...or elsewhere. I also want to chat with you a bit more about the Adele Simpson Weather Phenomenon," he joked to lighten the suddenly intense atmosphere in the office. "Tell you what. I'll cook."
Rafe had finally gotten rid of his cane, even though he still walked with a slight limp. He had been helping her with dishes.
Mara looked at him questioningly.
"Yes, I can cook, but that's another story for over dinner. Let's get out of here."
"Yes, let's. I've got to make a run to the local Piggly Wiggly and pick up some groceries in case we are snowed in. Why don't you drop off your pickup at the house and then we'll proceed from there."
posted by Dace @ 4:32 PM
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