Annabelle watched for only a minute or two before she became too cold.  She went back inside, pulled a heavy sheep’s wool lined leather coat out of her closet and pulled on a pair of old, black rubber wading boots.  The boots were lined with acrylic and almost instantly her feet began to sweat inside of them.  Walking back toward the front door, she grabbed a scarf and a pair of gloves of the phone table and walked out into the frigid night.

She shivered and looked at the almost foot high snow with dismay.  I’ve really got to that boy over here to shovel this snow, she thought.  Raising her feet as high as she possibly could, Annabelle gingerly made her way to the street.  There she stopped and looked both north and south.  There were police cars, ambulances and fire rescue units at every house, east and west of the street.  Every house that is, except hers and the new neighbors on the corner.  Something about this fact seemed odd to her, of course, but she couldn’t pin anything down.  She walked out into the street where she had easier footing and strolled toward the nearest police car.

Annabelle brightened when she noticed that the deputy sheriff, standing in the open door, talking on his radio-phone was the grandson of an old friend of hers.  She recognized him but she couldn’t remember his name.  She altered her course so that she stopped behind him while he finished his phone call.  She couldn’t help but over hear his part of the conversation.

“Yeah, that’s right, Chief.  I don’t have a final count, yet.  I don’t know but, so far, all of the victims have died from unknown causes.  We’re being told, from the family members that they simply keeled over.  Some of them moaned about a stomach pain, but that was it.  Most didn’t say anything or otherwise indicate that something was wrong.  Yeah.  Yeah, okay.  Roger.  Out.”

Deputy sheriff Mark Walton was a little startled when he turned to see Annabelle standing behind him. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, officer.  I certainly didn’t mean to startle you,” she said.

“No problem, ma’am.  I didn’t hear you walk up.  Can I help you?”

No, you can’t help me, young man but you can give me some information, she thought.

Instead she said, “You look very familiar, officer.  May I ask your name?”

„Oh, yes, now I remember.  I thought I recognized you.  You’re Maria Walton’s son, right?”

Mark was surprised and replied, “Yes, ma’am, I am.  Do you know my mother?”

“Oh, my, yes.  I knew your mother since she was a young girl.   I haven’t seen her now for about ten years, I guess.  No, I was a close friend of your grandmother, Faye.  God rest her soul.”  Annabelle’s eyes misted for a second as she recalled her friend’s funeral, ten years ago, and the last time she had seen Maria, too.

“Well, ma’am, obviously you live around here, but it’s awfully cold for you to be out, don’t you think?”

“Oh, I’m fine, Mark.  I fell asleep watching television and went I awoke and started up for bed I saw all these police cars and ambulances and, well, I simply had to find out what was going on.  Can you tell me, perhaps?”

“Well, Ms….?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.  It’s Raines, Annabelle Raines.  Please call me Annabelle.”

“Sure.  Okay, thanks.  Uh, Annabelle it seems that a large majority of your neighbors have suffered an – an illness of some kind and many of them died before help could get here.  Do you have any idea what might have happened?  Did you see anything?  Hear anything?”

Annabelle considered the question for almost a minute before responding.  “No.  No, I didn’t hear or see anything.  Like I said, I was asleep in front of the television for the past couple of hours, I guess.  I….  No, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t help in that regard.”

“Well, that’s fine, Annabelle.  You probably should be getting back into the house.  It’s much too cold for you to be out here.  We’ll likely be here most of the rest of the night, but you should try to get some sleep.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”  Annabelle turned to walk back to her house when a thought struck her and she turned back toward Mark.  “Mark, how many died?”

“Uh…well, we don’t have a good count at the moment.  Some of the victims are still alive and being treated in the ambulances or local hospitals.  But, every house on this block, except yours and the folks up there on the corner, has at least one victim.  Several of the families have been…well, I’m sorry to say – wiped out.”  Mark touched the brim of his hat with his fingertips and nodded to Annabelle.  “Please look out for yourself, Annabelle, and call us if you see or hear anything unusual or if you remember something, would you?”

Annabelle was lost in thought but managed to answer, “Yes, yes, of course, Mark.  I’ll do that.  Certainly.”

Trudging through the still falling snow back towards her house, Annabelle was thinking.  Every house on the block?  What could have caused something like that.  Only me and the folks on the corner.  What was their name?  Chris and Rex?  No, Chris and…oh, drat, what was his or her name?  She couldn’t remember so she simply stopped trying.  It would come to her, she knew.  Probably too late for any purpose, but it would come to her.  It always did.

She stopped and turned to go back to Mark.  She’d already started to call to him, “Oh, Mark…..” her hand lifted in a wave.  She immediately dropped her arm and swallowed her tongue.

What’s his/her name and Chris were standing right next to Mark.