My brother takes mere seconds to open the door and usher me impatiently into his warm house. I glance over my shoulder at the snow fluttering to the ground. Then I follow my grunting sibling into his living room where his two sons stare out the window in wonder.
“Snow, snow, come and stay. We’ll go to school another day.” They chant happily.
“The magic still works.” I smirk.
“There is no such thing as magic,” he mumbles distractedly. “Just people beating the odds to make hard things happen.”
“What crawled up your butt?” I ask as he brushes past me.
He rolls his eyes but otherwise disregards my question. “Thanks for watching the kids. I’ll try to be home as soon as possible.”
“Yeah. Yeah. You have a top secret government job, so you can’t let me know when you’ll be home.”
He grins at me. “Thankfully you don’t have an important job. Otherwise, who would watch the kids?”
“Hey now,” I search for a defense, but he has already slipped out the door and slammed it in my face.
I shake my head and turn my attention back to my niece and nephew. After having a door slammed in my face, I think the children need to learn how to aggravate their father. I doubt my old tricks will work for them, but surely we can come up with something.
Unfortunately, his children aren’t as keen on diving him crazy as I am. I guess I will have to wait until they hit their teens. As they try to convince me to let them watch a show I know they shouldn’t, an unfamiliar ping breaks up the conversation.
John looks toward the sound anxiously, “Uh-oh!”
“Is that an alarm of some kind,” I leap from he couch and prepare to hustle the children out the door.
“It’s dad’s phone, and he is always on it for work…” Alan reassures me, reaching out to pull me back down onto the couch. “Don’t worry. He’ll realize and come back for it.”
One ring gives way to more demanding rings. I peer down at the phone where a red-faced man glowers under the name Boss.
“I better explain that Davey left his phone,” I whisper to the kids as I pick up the phone and use my most professional voice. “Davey’s phone.”
“Jones, stop trying to sound like a woman and get yourself over here.” He includes a few choice swear words, but my brain edits them out.
“Jones?” I ask. “I’m sorry. You must have the wrong number.”
More curses greet me. “…serious business…people are in danger and he is playing…games. I never dial the wrong number. Who is this?”
“I am not sure I should answer that,” I walk away from the curious eyes of my two nephews, lowering my voice as I step out onto the screened in back porch. “My brother has you listed as boss on his phone, but his name isn’t Jones.”
His gruff voice softens, “Ah. You must be Matilda. Where is Davey…Davey Jones, get it?”
“Um. No.”
“You really are young aren’t you?” He coughs. “Stop screwing around and tell your brother to take the phone.”
I clear my throat. “He forgot it at home.”
“Then where the h…” he edits himself this time, “is he?”
I shrug then remember he can’t see me and squeak, “Hopefully coming back to get it.”
He offers more curses to the air and then hangs up on me abruptly. I put the phone in my pocket and hurry back inside to thaw out. My nephews watch me anxiously.
“Is Daddy getting fired?” Alan asks.
“Not as far as I know,” I pat my pocket.
“But he left his phone and he can’t get updates from his boss if he leaves his phone,” his dark eyes widen with concern.
“Yeah. That does seem odd.” I pull my own phone out of my other pocket and click to call him.
After a couple rings, his voice greets me as if from a tunnel. “Can’t really talk, sis. Driving in a snow storm. Are the boys alright?”
“You just said an awful lot for someone who can’t talk,” I can’t help myself.
“Sis?” He asks anxiously.
“Yeah. The boys are fine, but your boss called on your other phone.”
“What?” My ears ache from his scream and the ensuing tire screeching. “Please tell me you didn’t answer it.”
“Well…” As I search for the right words, it rings again from in my pocket.
“Do not answer it.” He mumbles something I can’t understand and then continues. “I’m headed back to the house.”
He begins yelling at another driver as he ends the call. I sit down on the couch next to John who gives me a hug. The phone rings three more times before Davey gets back. I have just handed him his phone when loud banging on the door makes everyone jump. Both nephews jump into my arms, pulling me down onto the couch.
“Jones, you better open this door or your neighbors are going to hear some things you’ll be ashamed of,” his boss’s now familiar voice booms.
“Thank so much for answering my phone, sis,” Davey glares at me as he opens the door.
The red-faced man fills the doorway, nodding at me curtly before reaching out a huge hand to pull Davey out onto the porch. The boys cuddle into me, terrified as the door slams closed. Despite the door between us and what I assume are his version of hushed tones, the boss’s voice carries through.
“I told you not to go out on your own.”
We can’t hear Davey’s reply but his boss clearly doesn’t approve of it.
“We can do more than fire you, Jones. This is treason.”
I gasp. The boys cuddle closer to me, turning their little faces upward to silently plead for me to make it better. I hold them tighter and try to guide them from the door. Both voices have hushed since the word treason hit our ears. I’ve never been so transfixed on a closed door in my life as I am right now. When it finally opens, I jump. My nephews jump with me.
The red-faced man steps through the doorway and extends his hand to me. “Sorry to be meeting under these circumstances, Matilda.”
I take his hand but don’t even search for words because his intense expression speaks of more words to come and intolerance of interruptions.
“Your bother tells me you love spy novels?”
I glance at my brother trying not to glare at his him as I gage his response. He shrugs his shoulders and puts his hands in his pockets. Alan and John rush over to him as the boss turns his attention back to me.
“Would you mind stepping outside?”
I look at Davey, hoping he will save me, but he offers nothing but a pleading look, so I turn back toward that angry red face and nod in agreement. This time, I grab my coat and slip my feet into my boots before stepping out onto the front stoop.
After furtive glances up and down the street, the man takes my hands with unexpected gentleness. “Your brother is in a lot of trouble. From what he has told me about you in the past, you just might be able to help us…”
I open my mouth to speak, but he shushes me. “It could be dangerous, so before I say anything else, you decide if you are willing to take the risk.”
“Without knowing what you expect me to do?”
“Sorry. That is often the way things work in this business.”
“What business is that?”
“Are you interrogating me?” His lips quirk upward, but his smile looks like a snarl.
I shudder but straighten my shoulders. “I have a feeling more is at stake here than my brother’s job…”
He eyes me warily for a moment as he chooses words. “Let’s just say you’d be keeping a lot of people safe.”
I sigh. “Like many reluctant heroes before me, I accept.”
He reaches out his hand to shake mine. “Come on then, girl. Tell your brother you’re fixing the problems he’s made and let’s get you ready to save the world.”
~~~
The real world warmed up so much that I almost thought it was spring this week, but who doesn’t love a story about snow, right? At some point, I might need to clear up my “to do” list and try to expand some of these stories. Should this one be one of them?
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