Stormwatch - A Date Which Will Live

At the base of the run is a huge stone structure known as the casino which had a concession stand and a large crackling fire. They went to casino to warm up by the fire and drink some hot chocolate as they unwound. As they blew on their steaming cocoa Veronica said softly, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He didn't have to ask, she wasn't stupid, she had to have seen the terror in his eyes on that second run. "No," he said firmly, but then he thought. That isn't going to work, he's going to have to let her know sometime, might as well start now. "Ok, yeah. I'm not going to go into details, but I have a fear of falling." He couldn't tell her or anyone the terror he felt as he was nearly sucked out into the night on that last mission, how he fought and clawed his way back into the fuselage of his shattered aircraft, and to take his mind off of it once he pulled himself back in he spent every moment caring for his wounded crew members to the point that he didn't get secured by the time they hit the runway and was bounced around the ship like a rubber ball.

"Was it when you got your callsign?" she asked. He had told her about his callsign, Bounce Two Seven and she's not stupid by any margin, she could put two and two together without having to ask for two of what.

"Yeah, it was a pretty rotten evening."

"Oh." She paused for a long time then said, "We don't have to go back up there."

"No, you know what? I really think this last run helped, I want to be up front next time... and if you find yourself flying solo, you'll know it didn't work."

She gently bumped her forehead to his, their knit hats pressing together. "You are such a nut." Her kiss was sweet and caring and when their lips parted, she asked, "You think it did some good?"

"I really do. Maybe I've been avoiding it so long that finally doing something helped."

"Ok then," she said. "After this one, you owe me some tubing."

"Roger dat," he grinned, and they kissed again. He wanted to say it... that secret he's been dying to admit, no he wanted to scream it... but he didn't, and little did he know that Veronica was wrestling with the same quandary.

They spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon tobogganing and sledding down the hills on innertubes. Neither could remember when they laughed so much and had so much fun. Finally, they were told by a park ranger that the park would be closing soon. "Ready for your fish fry?" he asked.

"Oh hell yea I'm starving!" Veronica suddenly realized that since breakfast they had only had hot chocolate and a muffin. They returned their rental equipment and climbed into Josh's Jeep Gladiator pickup. As Veronica buckled in, she began to inspect the roof then finally asked, "How does it come off?"

"The roof? It doesn't."

"Terri mentioned driving with you and having the roof off." Veronica didn't mention Terri's desire to ride topless.

"Oh, that's my other jeep, it's a classic. It's a 1949 Willy's and it's parked up at my cabin."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure, we can fire it up if you want, but it doesn't have a heater." The drive to their dinner destination was a bit of a long ride and it was well past dark when they arrived. "We made it!" said Josh as they parked from what was a residential home that was converted to a neighborhood bar decades ago. "They only serve for another hour."

"It's barely seven, they shut down that early?" Veronica was a bit shocked to see a restaurant stop service that early.

"This is sort of..." Josh searched for the words and failing anything that adequately describes the Ellicott Manor, so he said, "think of it as a rec center. Several ball teams are sponsored here, and they practice in the field out back, there's a picnic grove out back too and an ungroomed cross country ski trail, even a train watching park. Inside they do weddings and other gatherings, several groups meet here because of the facilities," he said as he opened the door for Veronica.

She stepped in to find a typical neighborhood bar gayly decorated for Christmas occupying the front room, and behind the bar was a big gruff looking bar tender who nodded to Josh. "I love this place!" gasped Veronica, "It reminds me of the pubs back home." Home for Veronica is only seventy-five miles away in Erie Pennsylvania.

"What would you like?" Josh asked. He wasn't sure if this place offered wine, but if it did, it came in a screw top bottle. He knows she likes red wines and just about anything with vodka.

Veronica's pretty eyes roved across the bar and finally said, "Just a ginger ale for now." Josh got her a ginger ale, and a draft beer for himself, both drinks came served in the same style glass and the only way to tell them apart was the ice cubes. Drinks in hand they headed into the back for dinner and a waitress waved to Josh.

"Sit anywhere you want," she called.

Josh waved and said "Hi," then held up two fingers. The waitress nodded and wrote something on her pad and went back to clearing a table. The back area was a huge, wide-open room with many tables set up haphazardly, from tiny two-seat tables to long tables that could easily seat sixteen people. They chose a seat and sat down and holding hands across the table they reviewed the fun they've had, and Josh was aching again to say what was foremost on his mind, but he just couldn't.

"Is there a menu?" Veronica asked.

"Nope, you only have two choices," Josh said, "fish fry, or no fish fry."

"What if I want something else?"

"There's pretzels at the bar or a McDonalds about a mile up Walden Avenue." When Veronica looked a bit shocked, Josh explained, "The only thing they serve on Friday is fish fry. Every other day of the week it's pizza or wings. This is a bar; they only serve food because the law requires it."

Before she could react the sound of four-part harmony filled the restaurant and Veronica smiled, "A barbershop quartet!" and sure enough, there were four men that were walking around the restaurant with a large coin bank that looked like a barber pole and for a donation to their charity they would serenade the table with a song. "I love good harmony," she sighed as she leaned back and listened to the men sing. "You don't get vocals very often when you're dancing in competition, and I love accapella harmony... why are you grinning?"

"I just came up with a solution to a conundrum," he said as he gestured the quartet over.

"Hey stranger that I never met before," grinned one of the singers. He had a handlebar mustache and an actual straw hat.

"I'd say he's a perfect stranger," said another.

"But no one's perfect," chimed in the whole quartet.

"You've never met these fellows before?" smiled Veronica.

"No, not me," said Josh doing a very bad job of acting innocent.

"How can we help you young man?" asked the lead singer, the guy with the amazing mustache who was clearly younger than Josh.

"I've got something I need to say and I... uh..." Josh couldn't finish.

"Maybe we can help," said the bass in his very deep voice.

"I'd appreciate it," sighed Josh.

The bass singer cleared his throat and rattled the bank. "Maybe we can help," said the bass in his very deep voice.

Josh folded up a ten-dollar bill and put it in the bank as Veronica said, "It cost ten dollars a song?"

"No," said Josh, "It costs three dollars a song, it costs seven dollars for them to leave when they're done."

The lead singer took a device out of his pocket, put it to his lips and blew a single note. The four men took a deep breath and Josh took Veronica's hands in his. The quartet began to sing. "Le..." they didn't get the first word out when the fellow who sang lead started coughing and walked away.

The baritone put his hand of Josh's shoulder and said, "sorry fella, but can you sing lead?"

Josh shook his head slowly; he knew these guys would pull this. He smiled nervously at Veronica who was surprised when he stood up next to her and the three remaining men took up position around him. In perfect four-part harmony they began to sing:

Let me call you Sweetheart

I'm in love with you

Let me hear you whisper

That you love me too

Keep the love light glowing

In your eyes so true

Let me call you Sweetheart

I'm in love with you

Veronica was in shock, she was being serenaded? She's been romanced by so many rich and powerful men, she's been on dates that have taken her all over the world, but they never did anything to show her their feelings, they spent money and hired other people to do things. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she'd be moved to tears of joy being serenaded by her lover with a barbershop quartet in a working-class bar in Lancaster, New York.

When the quartet hit the last note that rang through the building, Veronica jumped up and threw her arms around Josh. He looked her in the eye and said, "I love you Nica."

"I love you too Effy," she said, still in shock but completely unembarrassed as she became the recipient of the most passionate kiss in her life. All eyes were on them, and the patrons of the restaurant applauded the lovers sat down, their eyes drinking in each other's eyes.

"I've been trying to say that since the snowplows came," said Josh, his eyes soft and vulnerable. "When they arrived, I was terrified that this was the end of a wonderful dream. I was so afraid that when the road was open, you'd say goodbye."

"That was my fear too," said Veronica. "In the past I would meet a man and he would tell me I was his one and only, until he went back home to a wife he never mentioned." As Josh gently kissed away her tears she said, "I was so tired of being a 'side piece'... but you..."

"Shhh," he hushed her with a finger to her lips.

The rest of the evening was a swirl of utter joy in Veronica's mind. She remembers being served her dinner, but she doesn't remember eating, all she remembers is the love in Josh's eyes when he sang to her. "I didn't know you sang," she finally said.

Josh shrugged, "It's fun. We had to take music in my school, and we couldn't afford an instrument, so I learned to sing. I was the only redneck in my class that didn't have a guitar. In my junior year we did The Music Man and that's where I learned to sing Barbershop Harmony."

"I love that movie," sighed Veronica thinking back to the many times she's watched it with her dad.

"The quartet in that movie is from here in Buffalo," said Josh softly as he fed Veronica a bite of fish. "Anyhow, I don't do it too often, but it settles my nerves."

"Your nerves?"

"It's nice to be able to make a sound that makes people feel good." He didn't add that many of the sounds he's made in the past did the opposite to people if they lived. "We can talk about that later. What do you think about the guys?"

"They're funny, do you know them?"

"Yeah, I come here once a month or so, the chorus will be showing up eventually." Josh waved the quartet over. "Guys, this is my girl Veronica, Ronnie this is the Gentlemen's Disagreement, Johnny is the tenor, the guy with the frog in his throat is the lead Dick, our baritone is Eddie, and Sam is the bass."

"That's so sweet, you guys singing to raise money for charity," smiled Veronica.

"Not quite," said Sam, "we sing because we like to sing, they're giving us money to go away and bother someone else."

"They're a comedy quartet," said Josh as he held up a ten-dollar bill. "Here, go bother someone else."

Eddie snagged the ten and said, "the sentiment is right, but our rates have gone up."

Dick leaned toward Veronica and with his perfectly waxed handlebar mustache wagging asked "tell me miss, do you have any interests? Any special talents?"

"I... I like to dance..."

"She likes to dance! Did you hear that fellows?" Dick took evil pleasure in twisting his mustache.

"Oh no..." said Josh in a tiny voice as other members of the chorus who just arrived and started assembling. On cue the men started singing sweetly.

I met a girl who told me she's a dancer

A prettier girl I've never seen before

I went to the theater to see her

What a SHOCK when I opened up the dooooooorrrr

They took a deep breath and let it fly in perfect four-part harmony

She was dancing the Bump. Bump. Bumpity Bump

The audience was going wild!

She looked at me and threw me a kiss

As I came stumblin' down the asiiiiile.

With every Bump. Bump. Bumpity Bump

My heart started bumpin tooooooo

Now every night you'll see me in a front row seat

I'll be cheering with the rest of them and stompin' my feet

I knew I met a gal who made my life complete

With her Bump. Bump. Bumpity, Bumpity. Bump

Veronica began laughing at the very first "Bump." And when Johnny began doing the worst imitation of a bump and grind in the history of dance, Veronica got up and began to dance with him as the quartet became an octet, and then a chorus. Soon everyone including the restaurant patrons was clapping their hands in time with the music and singing along

Now when I get home each night about five, she's got that radio on

She starts dancin' all around the kitchen floor

The neighbors peeking shouting "More, more more!"

They asked if I'd sell tickets at my front door

To watch her dance, dance, dance, the bumpity Bump!

After shaking hands and thanking the Gentlemen's Disagreement for the serenade and the dancing lesson Josh and Veronica took their leave. Loaded down with foam containers brimming with leftovers they climbed into Josh's Jeep and headed south.

Here in Lancaster, they barely got an inch of snow in the storm that trapped Josh and Veronica in their building for four days, and most of that was gone by now. He turned on a station that was playing classical Christmas music and they headed back to Springville going slowly through the neighborhoods to look at the Christmas lights. Eventually he got on the expressway, but as they got to Orchard Park, the halfway point, he got off the expressway at US 391, the Boston-State Road.

"Where are we going?" Veronica asked. She was hoping to hurry home and celebrate their mutual confession of love.

"One more surprise," he said as he took her hand. "I couldn't pass up taking the grand tour." It turned out that the grand tour followed US 391 through a long glacier carved valley south through the hamlets of North Boston and Boston New York, both were decorated gayly in their holiday best. By now they were in snow country and the snow made the scenery even more festive. "My folks would have loved seeing this so much," he said softly. "Ma was such a nut about Christmas, and snow! Every level surface in our house was covered with white cotton with glitter to look like snow." He shook his head sadly. "She's never seen real snow in her entire life."

After passing through Boston, he turned onto Trevette road and followed that up out of the valley and through the countryside. "I know where we are... I think," said Veronica, "At the other end of Trevette Road is the Zoar Valley. It's where I go fly fishing!" she said brightly.

"We're not going quite that far," he said as they looked at the little farmsteads decked out in Christmas lights. As they traveled southward it started to snow gently, and as they crossed US39 he began to show off his favorite part of the earth. "Ok, this first farm here is Gerry and Irma Hirsh's dairy farm," said Josh as he pointed to a big, beautiful farmhouse and dairy barn on their right.

"We got cows," said Veronica as she looked out the window at the Hirsh's modest dairy herd illuminated by their yard light.

"If you like whole milk, we'll swing by and pick up a gallon of fresh in the morning if you'd like."

"That sounds wonderful."

Josh continued to play tour guide as they drove along the narrow road. The snowbanks built up by plows were over five feet high in some areas. "This plot is owned by a couple of cousins; it was left to them by their grandpa... this plot here is where my buddy Paul holes up when he's not counting his money... here's Brad and Dianna Clemmon's hog farm... and here's my Girl Scout Camp. Looks like Paul dug out my driveway for me." He turned left off the road into a driveway that stretched back about 100 yards. A double line of pine trees blocked the view of Josh's land from the road, as they passed the trees Veronica saw the main cabin, a large garage, and down by what must be a lake a smaller building, then out by the edge of the woods another log cabin.

"Girl scout camp? I thought you said you had a cabin," Veronica asked.

"I do, this land used to be a Girl Scout Camp back in the 40's, my cabin is that building there, it used to be the camp office and leadership cabin. Back in the trees are three cabins still standing of the original twelve, the lake is that flat area over there if you can see it, and the small building is a boat house and changing house."

"It's beautiful!" gasped Veronica as the moon shone through a break in the clouds and illuminated the scenery. Tall pine trees in a stately forest beckoned, a huge weeping willow hanging over the edge of the lake with a rope swing waited patiently for summer, "We need to get cross country skis! I want to explore every inch of the land. And this cabin! It's yours?" Veronica gushed at the sight of the large single story log cabin with a bright blue steel roof. It was perfectly rectangular in shape, the long side facing the pond to the northeast was shaded by a full width patio roof that was lined by Christmas lights which were glowing faintly in the night.

"Yes ma'am, nothing special or splashy, probably made from untreated telephone poles and chinked with actual mud, but it's holding up, no signs of rot or decay."

"Can we do that?" asked Veronica. "Can we get skis or snowshoes and explore the forest?"

"Sure, and I have several sets of snowshoes. I've walked the perimeter once, right after I bought it, I have fifty acres, it would be interesting to do it on snowshoes," he said as scooped Veronica up in his arms ignoring her warnings about his back and carried her across the threshold. "Welcome home my dear," he said as he lowered her feet to the ground.

As they broke their kiss Veronica rubbed her snow-covered mittens on Josh's face playfully. "The next time you do that it better be for real mister!" He released her and she looked around at the cabin. "It's beautiful!" she gasped. The cabin was dominated by a large common room with a huge stone fireplace where a fire crackled merrily and had the cabin warmed up nicely. "When did you start this fire?" she asked.

"I asked a neighbor to light it for me. I texted him when we left Tim Hortons," said Josh as he led Veronica around the cabin. "To the right is the kitchen area, it's where I will prepare your breakfast," he said as he placed the package of muffins that they bought that morning at Sally Ann's on the counter and the leftovers from dinner in the small refrigerator. The kitchen area had a few assorted cabinets scrounged from random rebuilds, a three-burner electric stove and oven, sink, and microwave.

"Mmmmm, I can't wait to eat," she said licking her lips. She wasn't talking about leftovers or muffins.

"Here is where I prefer to cook," he said as he showed her the huge fireplace with a heat exchanger that gets heated by the fire, it pulls in cold air from the cabin and blows it through the exchanger which heats the air and returns it to the cabin. "When you close the glass doors like this... it makes magic." The accordion fold doors closed and soon the flames changed from a merry crackle to a slow, magical dance, waving like seaweed in the ocean currents.