Flashing Yellow

It took a moment for Perry to remember where he was. The snow had broken his fall from the roof twice—first, when he landed on the billowy softness up top; & second, when he broke through & hit the ground below. Looking up he could see the entrance he’d made & the heavy snow from outside still falling toward him.

Gathering from the lack of snow on top of him, he guessed he had not been out long, if at all. He didn’t think he’d broken anything, but both right knee & ankle were swelling badly. Laying there, he took a quick inventory to make sure he didn’t have other injuries. His neck & back were sore, & his left arm was numb, but nothing he couldn’t handle.

Having made the determination his wounds were not serious, he began taking in the surroundings into which he had fallen. The blizzard had created a room of snow across the front of Leah’s house, approximately seven feet wide & twenty feet across. He assumed that was most of the distance between the porch & the east end of the house.

He estimated the ceiling was roughly thirteen feet above him. From what he could see of the hole he’d made, the crust was something like two & a half feet thick. He was thankful so much snow had accompanied his descent. He was confident he’d feel much worse if it hadn’t.

Leah called down, clearly panicked, “Perry, are you okay?”

“I think so,” he replied, “though I think I banged up my right leg. I have to say, I stuck that landing. Even the Russian judge gave me high marks for it.”

“Oh, thank God!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t know what I’d do if…. I just didn’t know what I’d do!”

Perry thought that sounded encouraging. Maybe he still had a shot with her, despite her twelve-year infatuation with Corbin.

“I know what you should do now,” Perry prompted.

“What’s that?”

“Stay away from the hole I just made. Matter of fact, you should probably stay at least ten feet back from this side of the house. There’s a great big air pocket down here, almost the full width of your living room.”

“Okay…, so how are we going to get you out?”

“My thought is open a window. There can’t be more than a foot or so of snow covering them. Have you finished clearing the roof?”

“No, believe it or not, I came flying down here as soon as you fell. I don’t even remember where I left my shovel. I’m guessing it landed in the snow on the other side of the house since I don’t see it here. Yours is stuck right where you don’t want me to walk.”

“Leave it there. If you want to finish outside & put things away, I should have enough time to brush or scoop out the snow that’s covering the window. You open it. I come inside. We drink hot chocolate.”

“Where are we going to get hot chocolate? The electricity is out, remember?” That was the first time he’d heard her laugh since he’d fallen. Even if it was only a chuckle, it was nice.

“So, we’ll drink cold chocolate by candlelight.”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll meet you at the ‘bring-in-window’ in a few.”

A joke! He loved it, though he wasn’t sure how to respond. She was so relieved he was alive & okay that she didn’t notice he hadn’t.

It didn’t take Leah long to finish clearing the snow from the roof. By the time she’d stowed her gear & arrived in the living room, Ralph had cleared the window, removed the storm & was sitting with his back to her.

She flipped the latch, opened the bottom pane, stuck her head through & said, “Well howdy, stranger. What brings you to these parts?”

Perry continued staring forward, & said, “Look at it. Isn’t it amazing?”

She looked past to where he’d fallen & could see the pile of snow where he’d landed. The deep imprint he had made was still largely intact. She could tell by the odd angles where his right leg had been, he had to be hurting badly. And she didn’t have any strong pain killers in the house.

“C’mon, let’s get you inside so I can take a look at that leg.”

“No, not yet. First you need to look at this & take it all in. It’s probably the only time in your life you’ll get to see something like this. The artistry of this storm—you’re going to want to remember it.”

Leah thought there were a few things more pressing, but she did as he asked & looked around. He was right.

The little bit of daylight forcing its way through the clouds illuminated the room. It was magical, luminescent. Through the pale shaft of light, she could see the snow falling into the chamber which itself was like a vaulted cathedral. If you stared into the darkness long enough for your eyes to adjust, you began to see how that small amount of light reflected & refracted throughout the room, producing an iridescence of twinkling diamonds, rubies, emeralds & sapphires. It was breathtaking.

And spellbinding. They might never have left had the wind not shifted, whipping the snow into a frenzy once more. Even this far removed from the storm’s fury, they could feel its tendrils sneaking across their faces & necks. They opted to move inside.

Perry had thought climbing through the window would be simple. He never asked his right leg its opinion. Even with Leah’s help both the knee & ankle got bumped & jarred to the point he nearly passed out. Of course, he wasn’t going to admit that to Leah. When she asked, “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” he answered, “No, it’s fine.” She could tell by the look in his eyes he was lying. They had all but rolled back into his head. Gritting his teeth might also have been a giveaway.

She helped him to the couch & got him situated. Then & only then did she go back to close the window. She helped him with his coat & retrieved the ice gripper from his right shoe. He handled his hat & gloves on his own while she removed his shoes & socks. Then came the bad news.

“We either have to cut the right leg of your pants or remove them. Which do you prefer? I know you don’t have another pair here so you may not want them ruined. But removing them is going to hurt.”

“Let’s at least try taking them off, first,” he replied.

He slipped off his belt, undid his trousers, stood up on his left leg & slid them down over his thighs, allowing himself to plop back down, something he quickly regretted.

“Yeah, quick moves, not a good idea,” she said.

“Yeah, I kinda got that,” he responded, wincing with pain & struggling to breathe.

“Hmm,” she said thoughtfully, hand to her chin, “boxers. Somehow I took you for a commando kinda guy.”

“I thought about it,” he responded. Then, looping his thumbs inside the elastic & pulling it out a bit for emphasis, he continued, “but I thought these guys so rarely get to go out, I should at least wear them once, let them see the sights, give ‘em a night on the town.”

Sometimes humor is all you have. At least he hadn’t passed out. Of course, the hardest part was yet to come.

She helped him remove his pants from his left leg, then slid them down as far as she could on the right, before saying, “I will try to be gentle. Let me know if it hurts.”

She began carefully, working the fabric back & forth over his knee. It was extremely tight, so she had to work slowly.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Don’t worry. If the pain gets to be too much for me, I’ll pass out. Then I won’t feel a thing & you can have your way with me.”

That didn’t come out quite the way he intended it. She pretended she hadn’t noticed the double entendre.

Once she had the pants down over his knee, she proceeded to work with the ankle. It was almost as tight & it had to go over the heel as well. Not easily done, but she finished it & the pants were saved.

“No hill for a stepper,” she said to herself.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“What? Oh, it’s just something my dad used to say when he finished a project.” She examined his knee & ankle more closely with her hands, trying to feel if there was anything floating around that would indicate something more than a sprain. Finding nothing, she said, “I don’t think anything’s broken. But they’re badly sprained. You’re going to be off your feet for a few days.”

“Awww, & I wanted to vacuum!”

“What some men won’t do to get out of chores,” she said, shaking her head. “Right now, we’re going to have to R.I.C.E. them.”

“Rice them?” Perry asked.

“Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation. It’s how you treat a sprain—or two, in this case. Wait there. I’ll be right back.”

“I won’t move a muscle,” which was pretty close to true.

She came back with several rolls of elastic bandages, a couple of pillows & a bag of ice. She helped him lie down on the couch, placing the pillows beneath his leg. She wrapped his ankle first, checking frequently to make sure it wasn’t too tight. Then she iced it.

As she moved to work on his knee, she said, “May I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. It’s not a big deal or anything.”

“Okay…, what’s your question?

“Earlier, when we were playing outside, after the wind died down & we were wrestling in the snow…”

“Yes…?”

“Oh, this is silly. I don’t know why it even bothers me.”

“Now you have me intrigued. What’s your question?”

“When you had me down…, why didn’t you kiss me? I was giving you the green light.”

Perry thought for a long while. He needed to choose his words carefully. “Partly, it’s because I have a long history of reading the signals incorrectly & trying to move too fast. You might say I’m colorblind where the light signals for intimacy are involved. Red looks like green looks like yellow…, I’m just never quite sure.”

“That wasn’t too much of a problem before. If I messed things up with one person, I simply moved on to the next. But with you, it’s different. I don’t want to mess things up with you. I don’t ever want to hurt you. I don't want to move on. I want to get it right. When we were wrestling out in the snow…, I was on top & had you pinned, it…, it just…, it just felt like I could be forcing you to do something you might not want to do. Especially after everything that happened with Corbin & your long-term crush & all. So, I chose to see flashing yellow. Proceed with caution.”

She continued wrapping his knee in thoughtful silence. When she had finished, she moved the ice pack from his ankle to his knee, then slid herself a little closer.

She held him by the shoulders & gazed deeply into his eyes. “Flashing yellow, huh? Proceed with caution? I can work with that.”

She began moving her lips closer to his, almost imperceptibly. She continued gazing into his eyes, only briefly glancing at his lips while licking hers. A couple of times she backed up just a little before resuming her agonizingly patient approach. The second time was just as their lips were about to touch. It seemed their lips would never meet.

But they did.