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KATRINA SCOOTED CLOSER to her husband for warmth. “This is officially the longest I’ve ever stayed out in the cold.”
Greg leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “We’ll make a real snow baby out of you yet, my little California girl.”
She leaned her head against his chest as they walked along the dried up riverbed. The snow was falling. Greg was at least an hour late from when he should have started the shoveling back home, but she was happy.
They were happy.
“Remember that park near your mom’s where we used to have picnics?” Greg asked. “Remember that trail? It sort of reminds me of this.”
“Yeah, except right now it’s about forty degrees colder than it ever was there.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean this. You and me, just walking together. No particular place to go, no real hurry to get there. I miss times like that.”
“I do too.” She spoke the words so quietly, she wasn’t sure if he heard.
“Maybe we can make this a Sunday afternoon tradition. Coming out here to the trail, walking along the riverbed.”
For the first time, Katrina thought she might one day get used to winter weather after all. “I’d like that.”
They meandered slowly, the snow crunching beneath their boots. While huddling so closely together was efficient to save body heat, it certainly impaired their speed. She wondered if Greg had forgotten about the shoveling but didn’t have the heart to bring it up.
“You know what I love about Orchard Grove?” Greg asked. It was a question Katrina had never considered before. She’d assumed everyone who lived here was out of other options or simply didn’t know any better. Was it possible that some folks would voluntarily choose to live in a place like this?
“I love how peaceful it is,” he answered. “Back in Long Beach, life was so fast-paced. Everybody racing around, trying to outdo each other in every possible way. Here, it’s just people. People content to lead simple, quiet lives, just like Paul talks about in Thessalonians.”
Katrina didn’t know how to respond. Maybe what she saw as an existence stripped of nearly all chance for creative expression, artistic beauty, or sophisticated culture to others might be a welcome reprieve from the hustle of city life. But she didn’t want to ruin the optimistic mood by her pessimism and didn’t say anything.
“What about you?” How had she known that question was coming?
“Me what?”
“What do you like most about Orchard Grove?”
Katrina stared around her, at the snow covered rocks lining the old riverbed, the footprints ahead of them of another couple who must have recently walked this trail, at the snow that was even now falling and covering their tracks.
“I like the days when we have time to spend together. Like this.”
“Yeah, it’s been pretty busy, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah. It has.”
Silence settled around them like the peaceful blanket of snow that covered over all the trash in the riverbed. It didn’t clear up the litter, just removed it from sight long enough to give the illusion of true pristine beauty.
Beauty so poignant that if you focused on it one certain way, you could almost make yourself forget the garbage that was buried beneath the surface.