Snow and Shadow
Chapter 1




*****


“I’ll take good care of him.”

“You fucking better.”

“I just said that I would,” Brian pointed trying not to add, “You bitch.”

Melanie glared at her old nemesis.  “Like we can trust you.”

“He’s my son.  Of course I’ll look after him.”

“And I’ll be there to help,” Justin added.

“Great!” Melanie said sarcastically.

“It will be fine, Mel,” Lindsay said trying to restore harmony.

“I don’t know why the fuck I ever agreed to this,” Melanie griped.

“Mel, it’s decided.  Brian and Justin have flown up here to take Gus snowboarding.  He’s going.”  That earned Lindsay a big glare from Melanie.

“I’m ready, Daddy,” Gus said coming out of his bedroom.  He was dragging his backpack which looked very heavy.

“What have you got in there, Sonny Boy?” Brian asked as he picked it up and handed it to Justin.

“My books,” Gus said.  “I need them.”

“You need them?” Brian asked with a raised brow.

“He loves his books,” Lindsay said with a gentle smile.  “He can read most of them himself, even though he’s only in first grade.  Did you bring some of the thicker ones for your father to read to you?”

“Yep,” Gus replied nodding his head.

“You like reading?” Brian asked.

“Yep,” Gus said.

“You’re a man of few words, I see,” Brian chuckled.

“Yep,” Gus agreed.

“Make sure you read to him before bed.  It helps him sleep,” Melanie advised sternly.

“Wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise,” Brian said sarcastically, as he headed for the door where Gus’ suitcase was already placed.

“And call us when you get there,” Melanie demanded.  “I want to know that Gus made it safely.”

“While Justin and I are lying in a pile of wreckage somewhere,” Brian retorted.

“Brian!” Lindsay admonished.  “Just look after Gus and we’ll be happy.  You have a good time, lambskin,” Lindsay said as she squatted down to hug Gus and kiss his cheek.  “You be a big boy for your daddy.”

“I am a big boy,” Gus declared.  “I’m six.”

“Let’s go,” Justin said when Brian picked up Gus’ suitcase.  “We’ll call when we get there.”

“You better,” Melanie felt compelled to add.  “Bye, Gus, have fun.”  She hugged her son.

“Bye, Mama, Mommy.”

And with that they made their escape to the SUV that Brian had rented to take them to Vermont.  He and Justin had flown up to Toronto from Pittsburgh, but they were going to Vermont for snowboarding.  Justin had rented them a chalet near one of the main ski areas in Vermont.  The trip there would take several hours, but the roads were clear and the weather was good.

When they reached the border to cross into the United States a few hours later, snowflakes had started to fall.  Thank goodness Melanie had arranged all the required paperwork so that Gus could travel with his father.  Otherwise there might have been trouble.  The taciturn border guard checked the papers carefully, but finally let them through.  It was snowing harder as they passed into Vermont.

Brian estimated they had about another hour before they would arrive at their destination.  He hoped the snow wouldn’t get too thick, since he didn’t know the roads at all.  He concentrated on his driving as Justin and Gus babbled.

“Nice snow, Daddy,” Gus said.

“Yeah,” was Brian’s curt reply.

“Good for snowboarding.”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Is something wrong, Daddy?”

Justin gave Brian a squeeze on the thigh to tell him not to let on that anything was out of order.

“I just need to concentrate on my driving, Gus,” Brian replied.  Justin gave him a gentle smile of approval.

“’Kay, Daddy,” Gus said and then proceeded to be very quiet.

“This is the closest town to where we’re staying,” Justin said after a long while.  “We should stop and get food and anything else we might need.”

“I just want to get out of this weather,” Brian snapped.  The snow was coming down thicker than ever.

“There’s a supermarket.  Pull in,” Justin ordered pointing to a store on his side of the road.

Brian pulled the SUV into the parking lot.  When he got out, he looked at the wet snow caked in the wheel wells.  He kicked it out with his boot while Justin helped Gus out of his booster seat.  Thank the gods, the SUV seemed to have a good set of tires, Brian thought as he followed Justin and Gus into the store.

They spent about fifteen minutes power shopping in the supermarket.  They stocked up on every food they thought they might like, knowing that they could be snowed in if the storm continued.  When they left, they had more than enough food and supplies for the three days they would be there, and Brian’s wallet was a couple hundred dollars lighter.

Back on the road, Justin got out his instructions to find the chalet.  The snow seemed to be even heavier and reading street signs was more and more difficult as darkness was falling.  On the outskirts of the town they found the road they wanted and headed into almost total darkness.  There were no street lights anymore.

“Fuck!  This is getting impossible,” Brian griped as the wiper blades were caking with ice and he could barely see where he was going.  “How much farther?”

“Turn here,” Justin ordered as he saw the sign he had been looking for.

Brian managed to get the car turned onto the road Justin indicated, and he did it without sliding into the ditch.

“First driveway on your left,” Justin stated.

Brian peered ahead praying he would be able to see the driveway in the dark and snow.  Suddenly he saw what he thought was the desired driveway.  He yanked the steering wheel to the left and felt the big SUV slide out of control.  Remembering what he knew about skids, he took his foot off the gas and turned the steering wheel in the direction they were sliding.  He felt those good tires grip, and with a sigh of relief he straightened the vehicle and headed up the drive.

A light burned brightly above the front door, but otherwise the chalet was in darkness.  It looked rather foreboding in the thick snow.  Brian wished there were lights flooding from all the windows.

“How the fuck do we get into this place?” Brian asked as he brought the SUV to a stop near the front door.

“The key is in a lock box.  I have the combination.”

“You better,” Brian griped, as he got out.  “Come on, Gus, let’s get you inside.  I hope there’s heat.”

“Me too,” Justin said.

“There better be heat!” Brian exclaimed at Justin’s comment.  He wondered what the fuck they had gotten themselves into.  This was far from his idea of a vacation.  He helped Gus out of the vehicle while Justin went to find the key.

After turning up the heat inside the chalet, Justin and Brian made several trips to the SUV to get their luggage and the groceries they had purchased.  Lights now blazed from most of the windows as they brought in the last of the supplies.

“Christ, I’m frozen,” Brian said as he took off his jacket and rubbed his arms.  “Why aren’t we staying at a five star hotel where a bellboy would be looking after our luggage and a chef would be cooking our meals?”

“Because we’re going to have a nice family vacation together,” Justin explained patiently.

“We could have had a nice family vacation on a Caribbean beach.”

“Don’t you want to be here with me, Daddy?” Gus asked from his spot on the sofa where they had told him to stay.  He looked slightly forlorn.

“Of course I do, Sonny Boy,” Brian said, immediately sorry for his harsh words.  “We’re going to get snowed in together, and it will be a fucking blast.”

“That’s good,” Gus replied with a happy smile.

Justin stifled a laugh, and continued unpacking the food.  He had most of the perishable things in the refrigerator already, and was just finishing up the canned and boxed goods they had bought.

“Why don’t you make a fire, Brian?” Justin asked.  “That will seem … cozy.”

“Just what I wanted on my vacation.  Cozy!”

“You should call Mel and Lindz too.”

“Any other jobs?” Brian asked sarcastically.

“I’ll let you know.”

“I bet you will.”

Brian looked at the fireplace.  There were already some logs in it and what looked like kindling lying under them.  He realized he knew next to nothing about building a fire.  Then he saw a paper up on the mantel.  It was coated in plastic and entitled, “Using the Fireplace.”  It informed him that the fire was all laid and ready to go.  Matches were on the mantel, and the flue was set properly.  The paper strongly advised not playing with the flue.

Brian struck a match and soon the fire was blazing warmly.  Gus clapped his hands when he witnessed his father’s success.

“Thank you, Sonny Boy,” Brian said taking a bow.  “You know you have to stay well back from the fireplace?”

“Yes, Daddy.  Fire is hot.  It can burn you.”

“Have you been teaching him how to make your PSA’s?” Brian asked Justin.

Justin snorted.  “When have I seen Gus to teach him anything?”

Brian looked thoughtful at that.  Justin knew Brian was thinking about all the months that went by between the times he got to see his son.  It made both of them sad.

“I learned about fire in school, Daddy,” Gus explained.  “We went to the fire station.”

“Did you now?  And what did you learn at the fire station?”

“The firemen are nice.  I got to sit in the fire truck.  It was fun.  I want to be a fireman when I grow up,” Gus stated definitively.

“Is that a fact?” Brian asked with a gentle smile.  At one point in his childhood, Brian had wanted to be a fireman too.

“Yep.  I could show little kids all the right things to do if there’s a fire.”

“And do you know what to do if there’s a fire?” Justin asked as he was getting some dinner ready.

“Yep.”

“What?”

“You get down on the floor where the air’s good,” Gus explained.  “And then you crawl outside.”

“Very good, Sonny Boy,” Brian said proudly.  “Let’s hope we don’t have to practice that.”

“I could do it,” Gus stated.

“I know you could, but we don’t want to be caught in a fire in the middle of a blizzard.”  Brian walked to the sliding doors that opened onto a deck at the side of the chalet.  “It’s fucking snowing even harder,” he informed them.  “Oh, and I think there’s a hot tub out there,” Brian said, peering out the door.

“We won’t be using it tonight,” Justin laughed as he stuck dinner in the oven.

“I’m going to check it out,” Brian said as he clicked all the locks to open the sliding door.

Gus ran over to see what his father was doing.  “Can we go out there?” he asked.

Brian slid the door open a bit and got a blast of snow and cold air.  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” he said, quickly closing the door and locking it.  “Maybe tomorrow when the snow stops.”

“’Kay, Daddy,” Gus agreed.

Brian liked the sound of his son’s agreement.  Maybe this vacation would be what they all needed.  He missed seeing Gus except for a weekend here and there when he could get up to Toronto.  And that didn’t happen often enough – not by a long shot.  It was nice to have time alone with Gus and Justin, and no Lindsay hovering or Melanie griping.  Thank the gods, Vermont was nowhere near Toronto.