Circle Of Love

I actually discovered after a recent snow storm that young people looking to make quick money with a shovel was extinct as the dinosaur. In my newest story, lets see how mother nature and social media treat a man getting up in age.

Arthur stared through the glass of the front window he cleaned with water and vinegar. His blood pressure rose as he looked at the waist-high snow blocking his driveway and front porch. In the back yard, snow drifts grew taller than his slender 6 foot frame. At 69 years young, his heart was strong but lower back pain from his days loading cargo ships remained after retirement.

The company gave him a gold watch and a small pension for 45 years of service. He wished they had given him a self propelled snow blower instead as he gripped the handle of an old aluminum shovel. He’d managed to push several inches of snow off the porch walkway before the familiar, sharp sting in his lumbar forced him back inside to the sanctuary of his recliner and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

He watched a Netflix movie on the RCA ColorTrak wood console TV that his late wife gave him twenty years ago. Far as he was concerned, it streamed just as well as the new flat TV’s most had now. Arthur took a swig of the Tennessee Whiskey. The burn going down was no comparison to the sting of his limitations. He put the bottle down after one last drink. Arthur reached for his second generation iPad.

He looked at photos of his grand kids on Face Book, then laughed at a Tighty-Whitie TikTok challenge. Now that he had liquid courage, he felt a need to vent. Arthur posted a message to ‘Love In The Circle,’ the local town community group.

“My fellow circular’s, another 12 inches this season. I remember when I could shovel that mess in twenty minutes with a hand trowel. Now, I’m trapped in my own house because I can’t move the white stuff and professional services want a fortune. I’m getting too old for this ‘stick,’ ha-ha. Stay warm neighbors.”

He clicked ‘Post’ and went to bed after shutting down the iPad. He wasn’t in the mood to read all the usual replies of ‘thoughts and prayers’ or worse, no likes and no replies.

At sun rise, a low rumble vibrated through Arthur’s floorboards. It didn’t sound like the heavy, municipal plow that he expected to bury his mailbox with snow and ice. This sounded like… a construction crew.

Arthur peered out the window and gasped.

He saw local High school kids – boys from the varsity wrestling team shoveling his driveway with a synchronized intensity that made his back ache just looking.

He observed Brenda, a neighbor from three doors down. The same woman Arthur once lectured about her Wi-Fi skills was supervising a teen girl wielding a battery-powered snow blower like a soldier.

By the time Arthur got his coat on and shuffled to the door, the front porch and driveway was cleared of snow. The group started clearing the backyard when Brenda looked up. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold but she managed a smile as she waved her phone at Arthur.

“Saw your post last night, Arthur! The kids were done digging out their own driveways, so I figured Id put the word out to the circle community to lend a hand to anyone who needed assistance. Your post was the ‘Bat-Signal’ we needed to call to action,” she explained.

One of the wrestlers leaned on his shovel and grinned.

“Don’t worry about the ‘professional service fees’, Mr. Henderson. We’re training for regional’s. We consider this a warm-up,” he joked.

Arthur stood on his porch. As the cold air passed through his PJ’s and coat, he felt warm inside. Gone was frustration, replaced with contentment. He realized that while his muscles might be fading, his connection to people hadn’t. He felt young again.

“Thank you all, very much,” he proclaimed with a tear in his eye.

 He went back inside, picked up his tablet, and started a new post.

“Driveway is clear. Turns out, the ‘white stuff’ is a lot easier to handle when you’ve got  community circler’s moving faster than a snowstorm. Thanks, everyone. Hot chocolate is on me next time you pass by.”