Chapter 236: No Heat
*How much of a culture shock was the weather? – Joanna*
For most of her life, or at least what she could remember, Rye had lived in the South. The winters were mild. Summers were long. Snow was scarce.
In the month that she had been in Ridgeview, she had seen more snow than ever before. The first few days that the daycare was open, there was a terrible storm. The natives all called it a nor’easter.
But even the natives all said that it was worse than usual.
After her first week, Rye had splurged and bought a secondhand quilt at the local thrift store. She should get herself a better coat. The old thin jacket that she had was not even worth putting on most days.
But she was saving every penny she could for a new car. Her biggest fear was that her old Volvo would die on the side of the road. If that happened, who would she call? What would happen if she had Michael with her?
Sleep had finally pulled her under as she thought about these and caused her to have fitful dreams. She dreamed that she was struggling out in the snow and calling out for help. The wind and snow kept her cries from being heard.
Rye woke up freezing. She could not remember ever being this cold before. Not even when they lived in Germany for a year. Shivering, she pulled the cold quilt tighter around her thinking it was an after effect of her dream.
But as she sighed, she saw her breath in the pale light from the window.
She got out of the fold out couch bed and padded over to the thermostat. Rye flipped on the overhead lights and gasped. Sixty-two degrees was way too cold. Even for someone who kept their place at sixty-eight.
She pushed the switch upwards on the old analog control panel. There was no click indicating that the heater engaged. Checking the other switch, she confirmed it was on heat.
“This is not good.” Rye muttered to herself.
Hoping against hope, she went and turned on the kitchen sink full blast on hot. There was a cold trickle of water, the pipes shuttered and coughed before spitting the last bit of water. Then there was nothing.
“Definitely, not good.”
Rye walked over to the pink secondhand dresser. Her backpack that always had her emergency supplies sat next to it. Inside was a full outfit, extra socks and toiletries. Also in it was a bag with tampons and wet wipes. Stashed inside a pad package was a hundred dollars. A second small bag held three bottles of water and two granola bars.
Too many sudden moves in the middle of the night had taught her to always be prepared.
Rye pulled on a pair of cold jeans and her shoes and socks. She shoved her work shirt into her backpack before pulling on her thin coat. Grabbing her keys, she headed out of her apartment.
Stopping at the top of the stairs she turned back and returned to her door. Rye unlocked the apartment and walked over to grab her phone and flashlight off the kitchen counter chargers. That told her how frazzled she was.
She never left without either of them. But she nearly left without both. The wind outside was just as bad as what had been in her dream. Possibly worse since it was real.
Walking back out she glanced at the thermostat again.
59.
Rye drove the snow lined streets to the hospital. Her teeth were chattering by the time she pulled into the parking lot.
Using the nursery staff bathroom, Rye took a shower and then went to spend time with Michael. Rocking with the baby tucked inside her shirt as the nurses had shown her. It was only a few days ago that she was able to hold him. With the tiny baby snuggled up against her chest, she fell asleep.
“Rye. Rye, honey, you need to wake up.” Joanna, a fifty something plump woman shook Rye’s shoulder gently.
Blinking her eyes, Rye woke up to a smiling face and bright brown eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re fine. It’s five thirty, your alarm was going off.” Joanna said taking off the blanket she had placed over the younger woman a little over an hour before.
“Oh, crap. The heat went out at my apartment, I didn’t know where else to go.” She explained carefully removing Michael from her shirt.
“Here is just fine.” She smiled taking the infant and changing his diaper.
“Does it ever warm up here?”
“Around the end of April.” Joanna laughed putting Michael back in his incubator. “There’s coffee and a bagel at the desk for you.”
“Joanna, you’re a godsend.”
“I keep telling my coworkers that.” The older woman laughed as she put the baby back into his incubator. “Do you have a place to stay tonight?”
“I’m going to call the manager when the office opens.”
“What if they can’t get it taken care of today?”
The nurse worried about this young woman. She had never seen anyone else come with Rye. One of the aides came by a time or two to see how he was doing. Theresa said that Rye was her twins’ teacher.
Since her husband suffered from hypothermia while working for the utility company, she spent more time with him than with the little baby. Not that Joanna really blamed her.
Rye laughed. “If worse comes to worse, I’ll sleep in the family waiting room.”
“Worse comes to worse, you let me know and you can stay in my guest room.” Joanna corrected.
“I couldn’t-“
“You wouldn’t be imposing, putting me out or in the way.” She corrected before Rye could say anything else. She pulled her notepad out of her pocket and wrote her phone number on a page before tearing it out and handing it over. “No matter what, you let me know what’s going on. Okay?”
Rye nodded with a sad smile. “I will. Thank you, Joanna.”
“You’re welcome, honey.” She smiled at the younger woman. “I need to go check on my other babies. You eat your bagel, drink your coffee and go teach those little angels of yours.”
