Chapter 3

Chapter 3  (Mili)

 

By morning everything was covered in white. Even the picket fence leading up the brick walk held dollops of snow on their points. Sue was grinding beans for the coffee maker. The kitchen, unlike the rest of the house, was warm and bright. The smell of fresh ground coffee beans tempted Ben from the cool bedroom into his chair at the head of the table. The bread baking in the oven had warmed the kitchen and the early morning light bouncing off the snow outside lit the windows like floodlights filling the room with sparkling beams from the bay window kitchenette to the windows overlooking the fields. "Good Morning, Sleepy head" she said, "Breakfast in a half hour. You want eggs poached or scrambled? When are you getting rid of that ratty bathrobe?" "Over easy and never." The telephone punctuated his statement. I'll get that he said as she poured the bean powder into Mr. Coffee. "Yeah, Hi Rich, I was hoping you'd call this morning. Two things to tell you other than we missed you at the meeting." He waited a minute then began again. "I hope you're feeling better soon, this Flu had both Sue and I down for a couple of weeks. Yes, thank you, the meeting went well. Some were quite impressed with your new computer. I wasn't too familiar with all the nicks and tricks but was able to give a decent presentation of its features. John was surprised at its memory capabilities as was I. I 'll be bringing it down to you today in the afternoon when the roads are clean. We haven't seen the plow yet out here in Woodland. Hold on a minute, I have another call coming in. Oh, It's just a Vestal number. Hello, Hello. They hung up. Looks familiar but I don't recollect it right now. I'll call them back . Maybe it's the Library. What did we do now? Rick, the other thing I wanted to speak to you about was the Holiday Party . We should get together some ideas for raffling and auctioning to raise more monies for the items we'll need for future presentations. The new products coming out are spectacular as are their prices. Wayne was hinting at new products and larger price tags in future at last nights preview of Things to Come. I wanted to talk to him after the meeting but he got a cell call and had a concerned look as he rushed out the door. I wondered what that was about." Ben motioned for Sue to pour him some coffee. "Tes, Chuck, Chris, Joan and Jerry asked the same question. I'll check it out later. Ben listened for a while nodding his head in agreement. They concluded the call with a tentative plan to bring new topics to next Tuesday's Board Meeting. Sue put the eggs with toast, coffee and Sunny Dee in front of Ben. The Snow's Plows engine began the climb up the road where Ben and Sue were eating breakfast. The purr gradually grew to a roar as tons of snow were shoved off the road into the gully and onto the drive engulfing the rear of the BMW. Sue watched the parade of two plows and a sander come and go following the roads creating a waterfall of slushy snow banks on the edge. Even the Police are out behind the Town trucks. The White Vestal Police car with it's green and gold logo stops at the edge of the road. A Policeman and a heavy set man in dark suit climbed out, took the path least snow, jumped the gully and headed up the walk. Sue knitted her eyebrows and said "What do they want?"