January 16

tell the situation looked perilous.  The entire northeast was about to be socked in by a dangerous winter storm.

Ross McNeal rubbed his graying mustache with a long forefinger, considering his son’s excitement.  He realized this was a fantastic opportunity for any student of the weather, but before he could comment, his daughter entered the room carrying a cup of hot tea.

 “Hey,” she said, “the TV in the kitchen says there’s a big storm coming.”

“Hey!” Mitch echoed, “I just told you my meteorological program predicted it.”

Jude gave him a withering look, and took a long sip from the rosette stoneware that had belonged to her mother.  Mr. MacNeal firmly stepped on any further brother-sister beefing.  “Mitch, how long before this storm gets to Shenango?”  

Mitchell sat back down at the computer and hit several keys.  The screen now showed an enhanced image of western Pennsylvania.  Running a hand through his brown hair, Mitch squinted at the data.  “We should begin seeing snow in two to three hours.”

The phone rang; Jude set down her cup and answered to hear Jake Cullins’ worried voice.

“Listen, Jude, do you think you could come over here and help me look for Beamer?  I haven’t seen him since early this morning, and I gotta say I’m getting concerned, with this storm coming and all.”

“Of course I’ll come.  I’ll bring Mitch too, if I can pry him away from his Weatherwatch software.”  Judellen was often indignant at what she perceived as Mitch’s superior attitude, and in his view, Mitch thought his sister was way too opinionated.  “Mitch the Magnificent” and “Judge Judy” were their callout names for each other. “At least this snow should keep the Wrightleys from breaking ground up on Long View,” Jude added.

Ross dropped both teenagers at the high school where Jake was pacing the school yard.  Concerned about the storm’s consequences for the town, MacNeal headed for his Sentinel newspaper office to prepare for emergency news bulletins and reported closings.

While the freezing trio searched the school grounds yelling Beamer’s name, Dane Spangler was cursing his stalled tow truck and ignoring Dirty Burt’s attempts to gain shelter inside the house. The Mooner Dairy cats burrowed together under bales of hay.  From their respective windows, Hayes and Zoe watched as an ominous mass darkened the sky.  T.T., Cor and Krebs had completed their Community alerts and were headed for sanctuary (Cor holing up at Elsy’s).  Pansy cozed with Patrick while he checked the furnace at Nerd Hall; Edward Tedward Boovington prepared to doze through the crisis; Quim the Raccoon couldn’t sleep at all; and Beamer was settled with “Littles” on the back seat of Anne Dunney’s old Honda, telling the kitten a catnap tale.