Georgia

From the edge of the road, Georgia watched Felix descend into the ditch, wading through the snow to reach her car. Fortunately, in the clear light of day, the ditch didn't look as deep as it had the night before. Felix had said that it should be a simple enough job and that she should be on the road in no time. Georgia sure hoped so.

She offered to help, but Felix had refused—he was a lot like his mom in that way. Georgia didn't feel that bad about this one, though. She wasn't exactly dressed for it; she was wearing her freshly-cleaned clothes from yesterday and didn't want to get them all wet and cold again. And the only 'labor' her boots were suitable for was walking a few blocks in the city to get coffee.

But up here, on the roadside with no break from the wind that skirted along the road and pushed waves of snow across the blacktop, it was very cold. She began to pace to keep herself warm...

In her pocket, her phone began to buzz frantically. Surprised, she paused and pulled it out; she didn't think she'd have reception all the way out here—she hadn't last night, after all. Even at the farm, the reception was spotty. Georgia had managed to send one text to her sister the night before to at least let her know that she was okay before the reception conked out completely. But now, somehow, despite being out on a remote mountain road, she had it again.

And it appeared her sister had indeed gotten the text she had sent last night, as Lena's multiple replies were now arriving all at once.

I knew you couldn't outrun that blizzard! came the first one, But I'm glad you're safe. Can you call?

The second one followed almost immediately after. Call me! I'm still up, it read. Do you think you'll be able to travel tomorrow?

As the next ones came in, each one arriving with a buzz in Georgia's hand, they got shorter and more demanding.

BTW, What's the name of the farm you're staying at?

Dangit, Georgia, call me!

Where are you?!

CALL. ME.

Please don't get murdered right before Christmas.

And then, finally, CALL ME AS SOON AS YOU GET THIS.

Georgia did just that before her sister could worry herself into early labour.

Lena picked up on the first ring. "Georgia! Where have you been? Are you okay? Are you being murdered?"

"Hi sis," Georgia replied with a laugh. "I couldn't call you if I was being murdered, could I?"

"Sure you could," Lena shot back. "Haven't you ever watched a true crime documentary before?"

"You know those are not my thing," Georgia reminded her. All the forensic stuff made her squeamish; even just thinking about it sent shivers up her neck that had nothing to do with the cold.

"Whatever," Lena said with a little laugh. "You are okay, though, right? Are you on your way here?"

"Yes, I'm okay, and no, I'm not on my way yet. It's a long story but the short version is my car got stuck in a ditch during the storm. That's why I ended up staying at the farm."

"Oh geez!" Lena said. Georgia could hear her suck air in through her teeth. "Is your car gonna be alright?"

Georgia looked over the edge of the road, into the ditch, to check. Felix was sweeping away snow from around her car to get a better look at it. From up here, it didn't look like it had sustained any real damage. "I think so, but I'll know more once it's out of the ditch, which should be soon."

"You've already got a tow? It usually takes forever to get a tow truck around here," Lena said. "You're lucky."

Georgia rolled her eyes. First Sue, then Felix, and now her sister. What is with everyone and so-called 'luck'? "It's not actually a tow company. It's a guy from the farm—they own a tow truck."

"Oh, that is lucky," Lena said.

"How is it lucky?" Georgia muttered. "I crashed my car!"

"Well, maybe not that you crashed your car," Lena replied. "But it is lucky that you were okay, and had someone there to help, and that you had somewhere to stay."

"I guess," Georgia huffed.

Lena ignored her sister's moodiness. "Whose farm are you staying at, by the way?"

Georgia took a deep breath in to settle her temper before answering her sister's question. "Nissen Christmas Tree Farm," she said.

"Nissen... Nissen... Oh, is that the one out by the village of Laurel?"

"I don't know? I arrived in a blizzard."

"I think it is. Me and Joe went to go pick a tree out there once, a few years back. Cute place. I think Mom and Dad took us there, too, way back when," Lena said, her voice going dreamy like she was walking down memory lane. "Do you remember?"

"They did?" Georgia said. Then it came to her, a faint memory that she had shoved deep down—and for good reason. All she could picture was her parents fighting in a big field of trees. "Oh. Wait. I think I remember something...."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't remember much, you would've been pretty young," Lena said. "This was before the divorce, right?"

"Right," Georgia said with a sigh. She didn't want to bog her sister down with what she did remember, so she left it.

"Nissen, though, huh? I think we went to school with their son. What was his name... Ferdinand?"

"Felix?"

"Yeah, that's the one!"

"We went to school together?" Georgia said, once again glancing down at where Felix was working on her car. With his height, auburn hair, and ice-blue eyes, she thought she would've remembered someone who looked like him. "I don't remember him..."

"Well, he would've been in my grade when you were in school."

"Ah, that must be why," Georgia said. Lena was three years older than her, so they had only truly shared one year of high school; Georgia would've been a freshman when her sister was a senior. And back then, when every year between them mattered, seniors did not hang out with lowly freshmen.

"He kept to himself, mostly, too," Lena continued. "Didn't really go to parties or anything. Y'know, typical quiet farm kid. But you might remember that big scandal..."

Georgia's eyes went wide. "Scandal?" she said, dropping her voice like Felix might be able to hear her. She felt bad gossiping about him when he was down there, digging through the snow to help get her car out.

"Oh, come on, you don't remember any of this?" Lena cried, incredulous. Lena always had an encyclopedic knowledge of other people's business. "He dropped out and ran off in the last semester of senior year."

That did ring a bell. She did remember something like that, sort of. Everyone was all in a tizzy about a missing kid, but then it all kind of died down without any real resolution, or none that she had heard of, anyway. At the time, she hadn't known the guy and quickly forgot about it. It was only now that she connected that memory with Felix. "That was him?"

All sorts of ridiculous rumours about why he left flew around town during that time, some certainly more ridiculous than others. Some said he'd eloped with a girl he'd gotten pregnant; others said he'd run off to join some sort of gang; and then there were those who'd said he'd simply dropped out because he'd been failing—just another dumb hick. Now that she'd actually met him, those rumours only seemed even more ridiculous.

But she wondered what had made him leave all those years ago...

"Yeah," Lena said. "I always wondered what happened to him. What's he doing now?"

"He's currently digging my car out of a ditch," Georgia said, glancing over again.

But Felix appeared to be done now. He was climbing up the side of the ditch again as if he had been summoned by all their talk about him.

"No, I mean with his life," Lena said, and Georgia could almost hear her roll her eyes. "What does he do? Where's he been? What made him come back?"

"His mom is selling the farm," Georgia said, answering just one of the questions as she watched Felix as he made his way over to the truck.

"Oh? That's too bad, it's such a cute place. I was kind of hoping I could take my kid there when they were old enough. I wonder why he's not just taking it over."

But Felix was motioning to her now like he wanted her to follow him to the truck.

"I gotta go," Georgia quickly told her sister.

"Alright, alright," Lena said, sounding disappointed to have her gossip session interrupted, "but call me back when you have more info."

"Info? I-Info about what?" Georgia sputtered.

"About the car, silly,"

"Right," Georgia said, shaking her head, "the car."

"But I'll happily take a gossip update, too," Lena replied in a teasing sing-song. Georgia could almost hear her smirking on the other side of the phone. "If you want to dig around a little."

"I don't know about that," Georgia said. She wasn't going to go around digging up dirt for her sister.

"Okay, okay, fine," Lena said. "Well, be safe. Let me know when you get back to the farm. Love you!"

"Love you, too!" Georgia said and hung up.

She turned and headed over to where Felix was now standing at the back of the truck, where he was busy unspooling a length of the cable. As she reached his side, he looked up. "You really are lucky, you know. Your car looks like it's in pretty good condition."

Again with the so-called luck! She frowned. "Lucky would not be ending up in the ditch in the first place," she replied.

"Take any luck you can get," he said, shaking his head with a smile. "I'm going to hook it up and pull it out. It should be a pretty easy job, but you should probably get in the truck to stay out of the way."

"Sure," Georgia said. Without the distraction of her sister's conversation, she was really starting to feel the cold. At least in the truck cab, it was warm.

🎄

Once the car was all hooked up, it didn't take long for Felix to winch it out. Soon enough, her little red compact was back on the road, looking no worse for wear aside from a little snow clinging to it.

Seeing her little car free made Georgia's heart swell—she was free now, too.

As soon as the winch stopped, Felix gave her the all-clear with a thumbs up. Georgia hopped out of the truck cab, ran to the back and threw herself down on the hood of her car, her arms outstretched, like she was giving it a hug.

"Baby!" she cried.

"Nice to see a happy reunion," Felix said with a chuckle. "Everything looks pretty good. I'd like to take a look at it at the farm before I let you drive in it, but we can test it out. Got your key on you? I bet if you try, she'll start just fine."

Georgia pulled herself off the car and dug into her pockets for her keys. Felix stepped aside as she ran over to the driver's side and opened the door—she hadn't thought to lock it in her hasty exit, but it wasn't like anyone was going to steal from a ditch during a blizzard—and threw herself in. The seats were still a little damp from where the snow had gotten in after Sue had dug her out, but otherwise, her car looked just fine, just like Felix had said.

Felix came over to lean on the top of the open door as she inserted her key into the ignition. With a deep breath, she gave it a turn. The car made a series of eager whines, like it was attempting to start, before just giving out.

No! Georgia's newly-full heart sank. What now?

Felix clucked his tongue. "Sounds like your battery is dead. Did you turn your lights off before you left it?"

"I-I don't know." Georgia tried to remember what she had done after she and Sue had pulled out her belongings, but it was all a blur, and that damned reindeer dominated her memory. "I don't remember. I was flustered." Her eyes stung as tears began to form. She swiped at her face, embarrassed.

"It's okay, don't worry," Felix said, his voice softening. "It's an easy fix. We need to get you back to the farm anyway. I can boost it when we get it back and then we'll get you on the road in no time."

Georgia wanted to kick herself. First the crash, now the battery being dead... What else could possibly go wrong? She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Maybe she was looking at it all wrong. Despite the reindeer and the crash, she had been saved by a kindly woman who owned a tow truck—that was lucky in its own way. She thought of what Felix had said earlier and realized that he had the right idea.

Take any luck you can get.

🎄

What was the most ridiculous rumour at your school?