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Barbera asked,"Will four o'clock be okay?" I replied,"Well? Can we meet tomorrow?" "Okay. What time?" "Will nine AM be alright?" I wanted to meet Barbera after the main breakfast rush and before they got busy preparing for lunch.

"Fine," said Barbera. "I'll see you tomorrow morning at nine." It seemed she had completed the conversation and was ready to hang up the telephone. "Wait a minute," I said. "Where?" Barbera gave a surprised reaction, as though everyone knew where her McNormal's was located. "Oh! Stewart's Shopping Center. McNormal's is in the middle of the center, you can't miss it." Barbera made my day, I just said,"Good." She said,"Bye," and hung up her telephone.

Even though I was out of work, the prospect of meeting Barbera the next morning made me forget about going to the department store to fill out an application. I went outside to breath some fresh air. The afternoon sun was warm and I spent a relaxing hour picking up sticks around the yard. A late snow left the yard in a half grass, half mud state.

The past winter was an extra cold one. The woods behind the house provided heat when I had the energy to cut up a fallen tree. The nights were long and cold. I remember at least ten mornings when I awoke to see the freezy steam from my own breath billowing from beneath piles of thick blankets. I experienced hypo-thermia twice.

On one morning in particular, it was so cold in the bathroom, that a thin sheet of ice covered the water inside the toilet bowl. The futility of the short term inconvenience made me laugh. I thanked GOD for my good health and my absolute sense of humor. On that cold morning, I thought to myself, "I wonder what the poor folks are doing?", as though I wasn't poor.

Winter was over. The calendar record I was keeping read,'April 12 - McNormal's 9AM' (clue). Looking forward to meeting Barbera the next morning made sleep come easy on the night of April 11.