Deep Winter (22 page)

The snow was coming down pretty good. The radio said the storm was going to be around for a few days. Maybe even a week. They said to expect up to fifteen inches. Danny had shoveled away the snow in front of the Wash 'N Dry just like Mr. Bennett had taught him to do. He kept a bag of salt in the closet with the mop and brooms. Before heading to breakfast, he had sprinkled a few handfuls in front of the door so that no one would slip and fall on the way in.

Danny brushed off the powder from his shoulders and stamped his feet on the mat before stepping inside the Friedenshutten. This was the first time he'd been in since all that had happened. He hoped that his jaw wouldn't hurt too much for him to eat his breakfast.

The bell jingled above the door, and all the regulars looked up from their breakfast plates as Danny stepped inside. It got real quiet, and everyone stared at him. Everybody in town knew what had happened, of course, but not many had seen Danny out and about.
Danny felt the stares but didn't look down like he usually did. He nodded at the table of farmers, and they nodded back at him.

“Morning, Danny,” one of them said.

“Morning,” Danny answered back.

His usual stool at the end of the breakfast counter was empty. Danny made his way toward it when the big man that ran the meat counter at EB's Market patted the empty stool next to him. Danny couldn't remember his name. He didn't buy much fresh meat—it cost too much.

“Why don't you grab yourself a seat? Like to buy you breakfast,” said the big man.

Danny nodded his thanks and sat down next to him.

“I'll tell you what. I'll be glad when it's springtime. Had about as much snow as I can take,” the big man said, and sipped his coffee.

“Yeah. Springtime sounds nice,” Danny answered.

The big man buttered his toast as Dotty walked up to Danny from behind the counter. Dotty had worked at the Friedenshutten for as long as he could remember, but she had never waited on him before. She smiled at Danny and took out her order pad. He figured she wouldn't know what he usually ordered.

“What's it gonna be, Danny? Want a stack of flapjacks?”

Danny thought about it for a second. He always got scrambled eggs with bacon and hash browns. He'd never tried the flapjacks before. “Flapjacks sound fine.”

Dotty wrote it down, then took a mug from under the counter. She set it in front of him and gave him a wink.

“If I remember right, you like hot chocolate.” She emptied a package of hot chocolate into his mug and filled it with hot water. “The hot chocolate is on me, hon.”

“Thanks, Dotty. That's real good of you.” Danny mixed the hot
chocolate with his spoon and took a small sip. He noticed that Dotty had a daisy flower clipped to the lapel of her uniform. Danny liked daisies.

“That's a pretty flower, Dotty. Looks real nice.”

Dotty flashed him a smile. “Watch it, now. I'm a married woman.” She moved down the counter, refilling coffee mugs and clearing away plates.

Folks around him slowly went back to their own business. They talked over their breakfast, drank coffee, and exchanged stories about this and that. Everyone seemed to be chatting with a friend or a neighbor or Dotty as she delivered their eggs. Even the big man from the meat counter didn't say anything else to Danny. He was busy talking to a farmer sitting next to him about fly-fishing rods.

Danny listened to all the conversations around the diner that didn't include him. It was all the same folks that usually ate their breakfast first thing in the morning at the Friedenshutten. He knew all the faces and most of their names. Pat worked behind the grill, flipping eggs and making toast. Dotty hustled around doing everything now that Mindy was gone. Things seemed different, but kinda the same. Danny didn't sense all the stares and feel like someone who didn't belong there. He didn't feel like all the folks around him wanted him to go away and leave them alone. Didn't feel like they were talking about him and saying mean things. Danny watched all the folks he grew up around, and for the first time since the accident out on the pond he didn't think of himself as dumb and slow but just a little different from everybody else, and that was okay.

A dull ache started up in his jaw as he sipped his hot chocolate and waited for his flapjacks to arrive. He wished that Mindy would be the one delivering them but thought that something different for breakfast sure would be nice.

Getting one's first book published can be a long and arduous journey. The following people made it less so.

Amy Schiffman, with Intellectual Property Group, was there from the beginning and saw something in my book that she insisted had to be shared—her persistence is to be admired and I thank her for that. I am extremely grateful to my agent, Natasha Alexis, and the Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary & Entertainment Agency for giving me a shot. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my editor, Vanessa Kehren, and publisher, David Rosenthal, of Blue Rider Press for allowing a kid raised in the sticks the chance to tell a story.

Special thanks to fellow writers Brian Price and Jennifer Robinson-Arellano for giving candid feedback on an early version of this book, which helped shape and transform the story into something worth reading. Thank you to Corporal Scott Bennett, Field
Operations Bureau of the Maryland State Police, for his insight into state law enforcement.

I owe so much to my own personal team. To Ayn Carrillo Gailey, my wife, best friend, and confidante, who supports me in more ways than one. She inspires and edits every story I write before anyone else lays eyes on it. And, last, to my daughter, Gray. Though she be but little, she is fierce, and I draw strength from her every day.

Samuel W. Gailey has written for 20th Century Fox, Showtime, and
Documentary
magazine. He lives in Southern California with his wife, author Ayn Carrillo Gailey, and their daughter.

To read more about
Deep Winter
and the author's work in progress, visit his Facebook page or www.samuelgailey.com.