#grace-facing

After Terri was nominated for a nurse service award and conference in New York. All three agreed to take a trip. Luckily, the expenses came with two tickets, and a round trip flight, which Jack had to put up with, but little else. They had to find their place to stay.

They tried to find a cheap hotel that wasn’t too nasty. One hotel didn’t look too bad, but the lodging fee was out of their budget. Another hotel was cheap enough, but as soon as they saw a cockroach crawl across the floor, the fact that Jack and Janet ran out of the hotel was a decision enough. There seemed to be a cycle of expensive hotels and gross hotels. Pile that in with the fact that they had no car, and going by taxis to their destinations, they were running out of time and money. They got to New York at 4 o’clock, and the awards ceremony was at 8 o’clock.

They were at their 6th hotel, about an hour and a half in, when one of the owners suggested a cabin near the woods they usually rented out. The cabin was semi-private, but anyone could access the woods. Jack didn’t like that idea but was reassured there would be nothing to get him or his roommates. As soon as they heard the price, they decided to check it out. They got the keys, and then inspected the cabin. There were no bugs, from what they found. The only drawback to the cabin was that there was no firewood to be found, and the owner didn’t have any to spare. They volunteered to go out to the woods and collect some, saving money. Jack protested but was outnumbered by Janet and Terri. They were excited to get firewood and were somewhat nostalgic for it. “Northerners…” Jack muttered under his breath.

They quickly got to work. What was not too hard for Janet or Terri, was whine-worthy for Jack.

“It’s too cold for this,” Jack said.

“C’mon Jack,” Janet said, “We spent too much time looking for a place to stay, and we need to get ready for Terri’s awards tonight.

“I’m sorry; I’m a Californian male. I’m not used to this,” Jack whined. When he wasn’t collecting wood, he shivered and tried to warm himself up.

“Well, get with it, Jack! This is no different from what we had to do!” Terri defended.

“Okay, okay!” Jack conceded.

Janet looked down at her watch. She widened her eyes looking at the time. “Terri, you might want to leave now and get that, what, a new purse you said? The one you said that would match your dress better than the one you have now?”

“Oh shoot, you’re right!” Terri exclaimed, running over to Janet and looking at her watch. “I’ll be back in a few.”

After Jack and Janet said their goodbyes, they resumed collecting firewood. Each roommate had a pile of firewood, unintentionally competing against each other. Janet had the biggest pile, followed by Terri’s, which then followed by Jack’s. His pile was a third of the height compared to the girls’. As soon as Janet glanced at Jack’s pile, she immediately laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Jack asked.

“It’s nothing,” Janet reassured.

“Oh, it’s something!” Jack said playfully, as he scooped up some snow to make a snowball.

“Jack, don’t do that!” she pleaded, but the snow had already hit her torso. She made a snowball to retaliate. For a few minutes, they went back and forth, running around the woods near the backyard of the cabin. They were then interrupted by a snowball to Janet’s face. She started to yell at Jack, who immediately pointed in front of him. When she looked, it was a couple of kids, who looked no older than 13. “What are you doing, weirdos?”

Jack picked up some snow from the ground to throw a snowball back at them, but Janet caught his arm. “Just let it go, Jack.”

“Haha, your mommy stopped you!” The kids spouted.

Janet then scooped some snow to make a snowball but was stopped by Jack. “C'mon, Janet.”

“Losers!” The kids shouted as they ran away. They took a moment to realize that they still had the remains of their snowballs in their hands. They started to laugh. Hard.

“Jack, how silly did we look?”

“I didn’t think it was too silly. Besides, they were hitting my best friend with snowballs to the face. That’s just not good sportsmanship either way.” Jack said as he tossed the snowball up and down with his hand.“I will always be there to protect you. You know that, right?” He then smiled at her.

She couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, but she could feel her cheeks getting red. Please let it be from the cold, she hoped. Trying to get over her feelings, she tried to say something. “Really, Jack? Over a snowball fight? With kids?”

“What? It’s the thought that counts!” he whined.

“Jack, that’s not the point!” she laughed. Jack then started to make a snowball to reinforce his point, until Terri came up to them.

“What’s going on?” she asked. She knew what, but she wanted to see what excuse they would come up with.

“I-uh,” Jack stammered. “I tried to get some more firewood for the pile, but Janet just wanted to play in the snow, so I gave in.

“I did not! He started it!” Janet said as she tried to defend herself.

“Guys,” Terri started, “It doesn’t matter who started it. Let’s just get ready and go.”

“Okay,” Jack and Janet said as Terri went ahead.

Jack silently picked up a snowball. Janet nodded and followed suit. On a silent count to three, they both hurled their snowballs at Terri.