_{The snow was dumping mercilessly in massive white gobs.  Like a colossal slush maker in the cryosphere had overturned ass over elbows, emptying an industrial strength ration of icy freight in a viciously direct hit.} 

_{Josh was scarcely able to see any farther than a few yards in front of the Polaris 800 Pro-RMK.  Battling to navigate his snowmobile through the thick brush and towering trees of the Idaho panhandle wilderness, he was beginning to think this clandestine extraction from his frat's "Winter Wilderness Weekend gone Wicked Wild" camping retreat wasn't nearly the "so tight" plan he'd imagined.}

_{Wut up with that "accu-weather" report?  Clear and mild, high of forty-five they said.  I've  heard of freak snow storms before.  But this shit is freakin' ridiculous!  The temp's  sinkin' like a mother!  And it's  getting so damn dark?}

_{Josh knew that typically there should be at least two hours of daylight before pitch blackness consumed these frigid winter nights in the Kaniksu National Forest.} 

_{And what's with these trees, man?  They're mega taller and thicker than Josh had ever recalled seeing, appearing to bunch together, forming imposing timber barricades.}   

_{The abruptly approaching night, combined with the unnervingly strange environs, were shoving Josh's emotional state from ordinary anxiety straight into utter panic.}

_{A stone shot up at his face, cracking his visor.  Josh jerked his handlebars to the right, narrowly missing a tree stump protruding from the rapidly amassing whiteness, all but breaking his wrists with the ferocity of the severe swerve.}

_{"Damn!!  I'm gonna get fuckin' destroyed out here in this crap!!"}

_{The carefree afternoon of peaceful communion with nature had swiftly dissolved into an increasingly threatening twilight.  Alarmingly low on gas, painfully hungry and practically limp from fatigue, Josh felt as if he would cry.}

_{Surely there has to be some sign of civilization around here.  I'm positive I'm at least relatively close to the lake.  And there's a whole ton of cottages lining the shore.  I'm bound to run into one.} 

_{Suddenly the engine convulsed into jolting spasms, violently choking on little more than fumes.  Struck with sheer terror, Josh's mind drifted to the morbid, to images of the ill-fated Donner Party he wrote about for a high school history report, and then to that scene with a grotesquely frozen Jack Nicholson at the end of "The Shining".} 

_{Oh, man.  Get your shit right here, Joshie.  That is real messed up.}

_{Precisely at the moment of desperation when he'd decided to ditch his dying machine and resort to risking it on foot, Josh saw it.}

_{A light!  Son of a bitch.  It's a light!  Yes!!}

_{"Yeah!!  Thank you God!!", Josh hollered into his fog-blurred, shattered plexiglas visor.}

_{The snowmobile lurched to a metal rattling, bone-jarring halt.  Josh could make out the faint silhouette of a cabin, the light he'd spied shining from one of the facing windows.  A column of white smoke rose from a rock and mortar chimney at the apex of a steep corrugated metal roof.   The house stood as a beautiful beacon, glimmering amidst a sea of obsidian.  Refuge.} 

_{That's weird.  No car or truck parked outside.  And with the lake totally iced-over there's no access by boat.  But surely there's gotta  be somebody inside.}

_{Stumbling through the snow, struggling against the onslaught of angry flurries, at last Josh reached the entrance to the cabin.  He pounded his gloved fist emphatically on the lacquered wood planks.  After a few moments, the door gradually opened.  A diminutive figure emerged from the shadows.  The porch lamp flashed on, and there in the dim glow stood an elderly woman.} 

_{"Come in.  Come inside, boy.", the woman beckoned, waving her right hand toward her, inviting Josh to enter.  "Land sakes.  Let's get you out of that ugly blizzard this instant."}

_{Josh stepped into the narrow front hallway.  A candle burning inside an ornate china teacup perched atop a small white plastic table provided the only illumination.  Are those haloed flying angels around the rim?  Or gold-horned dancing demons?  Josh couldn't tell.  However, there was definitely no mistaking a potent fragrance from the scented wax pervading the tight quarters.  Is that hazelnut?  Ginger?  No, it's stronger than that.  Again, he couldn't determine.} 

_{The woman helped Josh remove his wringing wet outerwear and boots.  "Follow me, boy", she said, and they headed into the adjacent kitchen.} 

_{The cabin was tiny, spare in both furnishings and decor, but noticeably clean and orderly.  Aside from an old model icebox that stood in the far corner of the kitchen, it looked to Josh to be devoid of any apparent modern conveniences.  Where's  the microwave?  The phone?  The computer?  She's gotta have a flippin' computer!  Hell, my technologyphobe grampuh has a "gosh durn" computer for crissakes!  The setting struck Josh as being from a bygone era-a place somehow suspended in time.} 

_{Josh looked closely at his hostess.  She was quite old, yet strikingly statuesque.  And very pretty.  Her long gray hair was thick, gathered expertly into a precision braided ponytail secured with a creamy satin ribbon, neatly tied at a slender waist wrapped by the sequined black leather belt passing through the loopholes of her faded Levi's.  Her eyes were blue.  A stunningly clear sky blue.  They harmonized charmingly with the rose pink and aqua plaid logger's shirt tucked neatly into her jeans.} 

_{The woman smiled at Josh, a comforting smile, the sort of smile that radiates from deep within a soul.  Her skin was so extraordinarily fair that it verged upon translucent.  Josh had never seen anyone with such unusual skin.}

_{Her voice, though soft, seemed to fill the cabin.  "How does a cup of hot cocoa sound, young man?  I've got marshmallows, too, if you'd like me to add 'em."}

_{Hell, lady, I'd drink my own piss right now if it was hot.  "That sounds awesome, ma'm.  I haven't eaten since an apple and a bottled water for lunch.  Can't believe I stumbled upon your cabin here.  It sorta materialized right outta thin air.  Errr, check that, 'snow saturated' air, right?"}

_{The woman laughed.  "It's kind of out here in the nether regions, isn't it?  I must say that's what I'm most partial to about it.  Getting away from all that hustle and bustle of 'The Real World', I mean.  Suits me right fine."}

_{The woman selected two cups from a display style shelf on the wall, then grabbed a kettle from underneath the slate counter top and placed it on the stove.  Stopping mid-preparation, she glanced over at Josh as he prepared to take a seat on the pine knot bench straddling the solid oak kitchen table, crisply draped with a red and white checked linen cover.  Their eyes locked.  Something expressly poignant was shared between the two in this moment, but damned if he could define exactly what.}

_{Later, Josh sipped his steaming chocolate, replenishing his body heat before the crackling flames of the fireplace.  The woman introduced herself as Vedia.  He listened with rapt attention as she talked about her life, the cabin and anything else her clearly fertile mind cared to introduce into conversation.} 

_{"My parents were German immigrants.  I was raised on a farm in the Midwest.  We were dirt poor, livin' at the mercy of the land.  Shortly after graduating high school I met my Silas.  Silas Jurgenson.  An Air Force mechanic."}

_{"Oh, cool", Josh interjected.  "My dad was a flight engineer in the Air Force.  He was always, like, 'Aim High'."} 

_{"'Aim High', indeed, Josh.  Anyhow, two months of dating and then we got married.  We traveled to military bases all over the globe.  But it's right here, in this cabin that we bought while on vacation one sweltering summer, where I have always felt truly at home.  I've collected a treasure trove of precious memories through these years.  First with our children, and then with our beautiful grandkids."}

_{Vedia paused, looking warily out the set of windows spanning the upper half of the cabin's front wall.  "Well, it's getting to be bedtime and this snow shows no sign of letting up.  I've got a spare bedroom.  It ain't much.  But it's clean.  And the cot has fresh sheets.  Washed 'em today and made the bed."}

_{With an expression of sincere concern, her eyes again met his.}

_{"Why don't you stay the night, Josh?  You said you're snowmobile is bone dry of gas, didn't you?"}

_{"Yeah.  It sure is, m'am." Josh replied, unleashing an extended yawn as he exercised his barking joints.  "I was super lucky to hobble up to your place at all, actually."}

_{Vedia nodded in acknowledgment.  "Well, I've got plenty of fuel in a can out in the shed, and a map to help you get where you want to be.  I'll bet we have you off and runnin' all fine and dandy in the morning.  Meantime, you've got to be starving, son.  I've made some sandwiches.  Got 'em in the refrigerator.  Turkey, lettuce and real mayonnaise.  With my own little twist.  A hearty sprinkle of cinnamon."}

_{She snuck a peek ever so briefly in Josh's direction.  Was that a wink?}

_{Rising from her wooden rocking chair, she added, "Gives it a little extra unexpected kick, doncha know?"}

_{He chuckled.  "Sounds great to me, Vedia.  That Red Delicious I scarfed didn't exactly stick to the ol' ribs.".}

_{Josh demolished the first sandwich in seconds.  The woman served him another.  Then another.  The food was delicious.  And the special touch of cinnamon really did make the meal that much better.} 

_{About to collapse from exhaustion, Josh thanked Vedia for the dinner, bid her goodnight and shuffled off to bed.  He was out cold before his head fully nestled into the gentle comfort of the feather down pillow.}

_{The next morning the snow had halted.  The sun was up and shining.  Having risen at the crack of dawn as was her custom, Vedia had dried Josh's clothes by the fire before preparing another mouth-watering repast of sausage, eggs, fresh fruit and coffee.  She packed a brown paper bag with several of her signature turkey sandwiches, topped off the battered but nevertheless operable power sled's fuel tank with gas and dispatched her overnight guest with map in hand.}

_{Shifting into gear, Josh turned around to bid farewell, and to express his gratitude one final time for Vedia's crazy kind hospitality.  But she was nowhere to be seen.} 

_{Huh? Well, she probably booked backed it into the cabin. Don't blame her.  Sun's out, but it's cold as a witches tit, yo!  That Vedia's an Earth Angel.  Seriously.  What if I'd never found her crib last night?   Man, I don't even wanna think about that.}

_{Although he had polished off a huge breakfast, Josh craved further nourishment, his energy having been completely depleted mere hours before.  He put on the brakes, reached into the sack for one of Vedia's killer sandwiches, then cast his gaze at the cabin.}

_{What the......?  Must be the brutal glare from this direct sunlight.} 

_{Josh squinted, his eyes straining to pierce the kaleidoscopic strobes of white, yellow, green and purple refraction.}

_{Can't be.  No fuckin' way.}

_{The cabin was gone.}

_{Josh froze.  As if by instinct, he slowly separated the two slices of bread.} 

_{Turkey.  Lettuce.  Mayo.  That was all.} 

_{He took a bite.} 

_{Faint at first, in an instant it was prominent.  Inimitable.}

_Eternal.

_{It was the taste of cinnamon.}