Snowed in Together Read Free Page A

eggs onto plates and poured each of us a glass of milk. We sat down to eat.
    Dad inhaled his omelet and swallowed the milk in practically one gulp. "Mmm, mmm." He smacked his lips, but really he'd mostly eaten supper for my benefit. He was like a kid who ate his vegetables just so he could get to dessert.
    What he wanted was his beer. But he knew I'd put up a fight if he didn't eat something first. I figured he might not drink himself to death so fast if he had some food in his stomach.
    It was a ritual for us. He'd eat supper. I'd clean up the kitchen and try to ignore the fact that he was going to drink himself blotto the rest of the night.
    After I finished the dishes, I left Dad softly crying in his rocking chair and went to my room. I flopped down on my bed and tried to think. I had to come up with something to make good use of our time at school tomorrow.
    Tony was right. We'd been nothing but horny long enough. I was tired of being socially inept. It was time to act.
    But what could I say to a girl like Ellyce? What would she think if she knew the whole truth about my mother? What would any girl think if she new that my Dad sat around drinking himself into a stupor every night? No girl in her right mind would want anything to do with me.
    I was getting that tight feeling in my stomach that I got so often since Mom took off. I tried not to think about her, or Dad. I tried not to think at all. I knew I had just decided it was time to act, but it was late and I was too tired. It was so much easier to relax and let my glands take over.
    I closed my eyes. The image of Ellyce drifted over me in a rosy mist. Surrounded by a soft glow, her green eyes sparkled, her brown curls floated in a gentle wind. She ran toward me, arms outstretched. All that she had to offer was mine, all mine.
    The next thing, I was sleeping, reveling in a fantastically dirty dream
     
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
    I unbuttoned Ellyce's blouse. My hand slid over her smooth skin. Her body arched toward me. "Oh, Wes," she said, soft at first, then louder. "OH, WES--"
    Bz-z-z-z-z-z!
    Damn! The alarm clock laughed in my ear. It was only a dream. It was only a dream. Ha, ha! It was only a dream.
    I smothered the clock with my hands. The alarm stopped, but the clock continued its snide message. It was only a dream.
    I scrunched my eyes shut and tried to go back to sleep. But it was no use. The clock went right on taunting me.
    I sat up, rested my feet on the cold floor, and ran my hand across what passed for stubble on my chin. What was I doing dreaming about wild, passionate love with Ellyce, anyway? I'd never even worked up the nerve to say more than Hi to her.
    Why did I say I'd go to the school with Tony and Jeff today? We'd be in the art room, the girls'd be in the gym and totally "never the twain shall meet," as noted by that Kipling guy whose stuff we read in Freshman Language Arts class. I couldn't think of a way to get the girls to notice us, short of stripping naked and streaking through the gym, and, somehow, I didn't think that'd have the desired effect. If they didn't faint from shock, they'd probably laugh.
    I figured not being noticed at all was better than being humiliated.
    But I'd said I'd show up at school, so I would. I figured we'd go, take inventory in the art room and go home. Then we'd sit around and fantasize about what we should've done to impress the girls. In other words, except for going to school, it would be an ordinary Saturday.
    But because there was a one-in-a-zillion chance that I might do something so bold-and-rash as saying more than Hi to Ellyce, I decided I'd better shower and shave. On my way to the bathroom, I checked on Dad. He was asleep in the rocking chair, snoring softly, a dozen or so empty beer bottles on the floor at his feet.
    At least the snoring meant he was still alive. One of my worst nightmares was that one morning I'd wake up and Dad would be dead. God, what would I do then? I'd probably have to tell