"Oh!" she cried, blushing slightly. "I'm sorry I thought you were someone
else. May I help you?"
She looked to be about 22, maybe 23, it was hard to tell by the light. Tommy
had to smile slightly at the way she was dressed. An well-worn nightgown
covered with pictures of cats fell to her calves, covered by an even rattier
light blue bathrobe. On her feet were a pair of huge, comfy looking puppy
dog slippers. Her midnight colored hair was pulled back into a loose
ponytail, and half of it was falling out. Although she made no moves like
she was embarrassed, clearly she had not been expecting company.
Realizing that Tommy wasn't going to speak, Howie made his presence known,
letting loose some of that 'Sweet D.' charm he prided himself on.
"Good evening Ma'am," she said politely. "I'm sorry to disturb you at this
late hour, but you see, my friends and I were driving, and we got stuck in
the snow you see…"
She cut him off. "Yes you can spend the night. What kind of a person would I
be to leave a bunch of nice boys like yourself out in the cold?"
"Oh," Howie said, "Thank you ma'…"
She cut him off again. "Call me ma'am once more and you are sleeping with
the snow bunnies," she said, a wide grin spreading across her face. "I bet
I'm younger than you are Mister….?"
"Howard," Howie said, holding out his hand, as his own smile widened. It
wasn't often those days that he ran across someone who didn't know who he
was. "Howard Dorough. Please, call me Howie. This is Tommy Smith."
"Pleasure to meet you," the woman said. "My name is Melinda Taylor. But call
me Mup, everyone does."
"Mup?" Howie asked, making sure he had heard correctly. She smiled, sending
an unnoticed glance at Tommy, and nodded. "Pleasure to meet you," Howie
said, bringing her hand up to kiss gently.
"Well, aren't you sweet," she laughed, then grimaced. "I sound like my
grandmother."
"You sound lovely," Howie assured her, and she blushed.
"Thank you." She said. "Well, I guess I'll get some beds and some hot tea
set up for you and your friends if you want to go back and get them." As he
took in her words Tommy groaned, remembering the long walk they still had to
do.
"Yeah," Howie said, not at all enthusiastic. "It might take us a while, the
bus is a long ways off."
Suddenly Mup slapped her forehead lightly. "Oh my goodness, I'm such a ditz.
I completely forgot. Reaching out she hit a button on the inside of her
door. Howie and Tommy turned around to see a garage door opening behind them
to reveal two powerful looking snowmobiles. Neither of the men could help
the grateful smiles that crossed their faces as they looked hopefully back
at Mup. For all appearances they looked like two six year olds waiting for
their mother to let them at their Christmas presents.
Mup laughed. "Well, go on," she chided them, stepping out of the doorway and
on to the porch. "They should be large enough to hold two people each, and
the seats lift up so you can fit two small suitcases underneath. The keys
are in the ignitions." She shrugged when Howie and Tommy looked at her
skeptically. "We don't have much of a crime problem this far upstate. Now
get going, or it'll be light before you return."
Tommy thanked her again, swearing up and down that she was an angel. Howie
couldn't help himself and he hugged her lightly while kissing her cheek in a
thank you. Then both men waded out through the snow to the garage and
familiarized themselves briefly with the machines before heading back
towards the bus.