[RC] Fw: Riding out in the worst snowstorm since 1772 (was Pictures) - Part 4 - Flora Hillman
I felt a
strange emotion and reached for my camera, thinking that I wanted to take a
photo. But my hand stopped midway as my eyes continued to travel over
the vast expanse of pure white. How could I take a picture -- when there
was nothing to take a picture of? You couldn't see a thing except white.
The impression left by the tire tracks had disappeared, and not even the old
manor house of Welbourne could be seen in the distance. All that was left
of the world was the faint outline of the trees , lining up in the
horizontal snow as they grouped to my left and wound their way along the creek
bed below. Everything was utterly silent except for the wind howling
in my ears.
In an odd way
the silence was almost deafening. I found myself listening for a motor, a
drone of a plane, anything at all that spoke of humanity. But there was
nothing, nothing at all except for the faint, vaguely visible remains of the old
Delaney house that had been built in
1760.
I felt that
strange emotion again, and abruptly realized what it was.
All alone in this snowstorm,
sitting on a horse in the middle of a road that had never changed since
1772, I suddenly realized that this is what it would have looked
like when those other two Virginians -- men who would become the most notable
and famous in our history -- had both looked out upon the Virginia countryside
and then taken up their diaries to write about the great
blizzard.
For a split second it was as
if I'd been moved out of my own time, and into
another. But ....there was no way to record it. The camera
would show nothing. I was alone, on my horse, looking into another century
long, long past.
I felt a chill that had
nothing to do with the weather.
My pony stood patiently, awaiting instruction as I hesitated on top of that
rise at the edge of the trees, staring out over a countryside socked
in a blizzard, my eyes following the vague, almost obscured shape of the
road as it traveled through the open fields and over another rise, directly into
the worst conditions imaginable. I wanted to continue on, to make my way
toward Foxlease Farm, but... something stopped me. That weird feeling just
wouldn't go away, and I don't know why, but I felt that if I stepped out
into the open, I'd be stepping out of more than just the protection of
the trees.
I took a deep breath, and one more look across a countryside lost in
time. My pony and I were both still warm and dry, but... it was time to
head back. I gave him a small nudge, and turned his head towards
home.
And that's when the full force and fury of the blizzard winds and snow hit
us head on.
