Ed ambled down the road toward his cottage. Oaks and maples were flaunting their colorful tresses as the day was dying softly ‘neath a crimson sky. “Mary, we must hurry home”, he said. “The old north wind is getting a bit chilly for me. We’ll need to toss another log on the fire.”

Ed stoked the fire until plumes of smoke were curling upward through the trees. He watched through the windowpane as the fitful gusts of wind twirled the leaves past in a frenzy. Before long, an autumn flower bed in colors of orange, yellow and red had covered the road to his cottage. The naked trees shivered in the cold.

Later, Ed heard the snowflakes whispering in the darkness. He arose from his recliner by the fireplace and hurried to the window. “It’s too early for snow”, he thought, but he was wrong. The ground was already dusted in white. “Mary”, he yelled excitedly, come and look, it’s snowing!”

He sat at the window and marveled at the snow dancing beneath the eve lights.
Like a thief in the night, the unexpected snowstorm had stripped the leaves from the trees, covered them and laid them to rest under a blanket of white. He watched until his eyelids became heavy. His head began to droop like the evergreens outside as the swirling snow threw a lace shawl over their branches. “I’ve never seen such an early autumn snow”, he muttered, as he headed to bed. “I hope it will still be here come dawn.”

When he awoke the next morning, he reached for Mary’s hand, but her side of the bed was empty. “Mary!” he yelled, “where are you?” There came no answer. “Oh well”, he thought, “she must have gone to look outside.”

He wandered into the family room, but Mary was nowhere in sight. “Mary!” he yelled again, this time trembling in fear.

Mary did not answer, for death had also taken her away in the night…over two years ago.

Copyright © 2007 Barbara Cagle Ray