Catching a glimpse of a legendary all-white reindeer is supposed to bring good luck.
Not for Georgia Greene.
As Georgia makes her way home for Christmas, a white reindeer dashes across the road in front of her, causing her to crash her car into a...
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Georgia
The moment Georgia's eyes opened the next morning, she reached for her phone to check on the status of the road. But up here, in the small room Sue had loaned her, cell reception still barely reached one bar. She knew she needed to go downstairs to find a spot with better coverage, but first, she needed to shower, change, and do her skincare routine...
But she couldn't wait. Like a kid on Christmas morning, she slid out of bed and headed for a part of the house that she knew had decent enough reception—the living room.
In sock feet, she padded quietly down the stairs—she didn't want to get caught by Sue—or worse, Felix—still in her pajamas and with a classic case of bedhead. But as she peered around the door's edge into the living room, Felix was already there. He had his phone to his ear and was chatting away, his computer in his lap, obviously on an important call. Fortunately, he was too focused to notice her, so she snuck back the other way, towards the kitchen.
Though it smelled strongly of fresh coffee, there was no one there. Through the windows behind the table, Georgia could see Sue already outside, dragging the farm's festive signs down the driveway to put them out for the day.
Perfect, she thought. She had a little time to herself.
Usually, Felix was at the table to do his work, but since he was in the living room, she figured she'd sneak into his spot. She slid into his usual chair and pulled her phone out again. She had at least two bars now. That should be enough to check on the road conditions...
She pulled up the website and waited for it to load. Even with two whole bars, the website took its sweet time. Georgia impatiently tapped her fingers on the tabletop as she waited to navigate through each page to reach the right one.
"Up already?"
Georgia jumped, her phone slipping out of her hand and clattering to the table.
Sue was just stepping into the kitchen, rosy-cheeked from the cold. She headed over to the large french press of brewing coffee on the counter.
"I-I just wanted to check the road conditions, to see if the avalanche has been cleared," she said, picking up her phone again. The page was still loading...
"Here's hoping!" Sue said as she pressed down the French press' plunger. She let it sit for a moment and then went to grab mugs from the shelves.
Finally, the page on Georgia's phone loaded. As she scanned the update, her heart sank. She folded her arms across the table and dropped her head into them, burying her face, and let out a defeated groan.
The road was still out, and there was no timeline for when it might finally get cleared.
"Bad news, huh?" Sue said, placing a mug of fresh coffee beside Georga's lowered head.
