“Come on, Henry, we need to get going,” Nell Castle said to her husband. “They’ll all be waiting for us.”
Henry reached for his black hat resting on the top shelf of the closet. “Mother, I would rather just stay home, it you don’t mind.” He waited, hoping he’d get a reprieve.
“Henry Castle, don’t even think about it. Being half a hermit is fine most of the time, but not today for heaven’s sake.”
Shaking his head and muttering to himself, Henry headed for the front door. Nell was just buttoning up her good black coat with the fur collar.
“All right, Mother,” Henry said, “but I can’t guarantee the roads will be clear. The snowfall last night probably blocked the creek road. We’ll have to take our chances going up over the hill.”
Nell tied her scarf under her chin. “Well, let’s get a move on then. The last thing I want is for us to be late.”
Henry sighed. Rushing with the roads as they were was a bad idea. Still, he knew when his wife’s mind was set on something there was no getting around it. “Okay, but if we’re late, we’re late. Don’t nag at me.”
He opened the door of their ’49 Ford. “This ole gal’s not gonna be happy we’re making her face those slick roads.”
Nell Castle settled into her seat and stared straight ahead
“All right, Mother,” he said as he cranked the engine, “Me and ole Betsy here will do our best to get us to the church on time.” As if to show her agreement, the old car’s engine fired right up and purred like a kitten despite the cold.
The old couple started off on the five-mile trek to the town they’d both been born in, listening to the Jubilee Gospel Hour on the radio. “And He walks with me, and He talks with me…” the Gospel singers sang. Nell hummed along with it.
Up the steep hill the old car crawled, her tires crunching through the snow. The sun was out and the countryside was blanketed in white. The air was cold and crisp – Henry saw a single red bird sitting in a bare-leafed tree.
“We’re making good time,” Nell said, after the song was over. “At this rate, we’ll surprise them all and be early.”
Henry was just about to agree when he glanced down at the water gauge. The arrow was clear over in the red danger zone. At that same time, he saw the steam coming from underneath the hood. He pulled the car slightly off the road, then said, “Betsy seems to have sprung a leak, Mother. I’m afraid we may not make it at all.”
He got out of the car and walked through the snow to the hood. Undoing the latch, he saw the radiator spewing. He looked up in the sky and shook his head. “She’s never going to forgive me for this. Not this time.”
Henry took out his handkerchief and with it, took the cap off the radiator, then going for the trunk, he retrieved a full water bottle he kept there for emergencies. Unfortunately, the water in the bottle was frozen solid. “Oh, dear Lord,” he muttered, “now we’re really sunk.”
He looked up to see Nell getting out of the car.
“Mother, now get back in. You’ll catch your death.”
Nell, ignoring her husband’s words, came up and saw the spewing radiator and the frozen water bottle.
“Oh, Henry, not today of all days. What in the world can we do?”
Henry looked into his aging wife’s brown eyes. He saw the disappointment there and his heart beat a little faster. “Mother, give me just a minute. I have an idea.” He bent down and scooped up a handful of snow. He formed it into a snowball then gave his wife a sly grin.
Nell’s eyes grew wide. “Henry Castle, this is NOT the time for fun and games!”
Henry chuckled, then turned and dropped the snowball down into the radiator. He leaned back over and made another snowball, then another, dropping them one after the other into the black spout. The radiator began to sputter and hiss as the snow melted, providing the much-needed water.
Nell smiled, “Oh, Henry, you’re a genius!”
Thirty minutes later, the old couple walked into the Pine Valley Baptist Church. There were gold streamers crisscrossing the rafters of the church and the entire congregation stood up and began clapping at their arrival.
“Thank you, Henry,” Nell said as the two headed for their pew.
“It was nothing, Mother,” he said and smiled when he saw the sign that two of the children in the front suddenly held up. It read “Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary.” He squeezed his wife’s hand. “It was the least that I could do.”
Comments