out the window to check her birdfeeder. She saw Eddy digging out a car that had been completely buried by a wall of snow from the borough’s huge plows.

The already chilly temperature had dropped quite a bit as the sun dipped lower in the sky, making snow removal more difficult. With his breath forming little clouds of vapor, Eddy worked vigorously, despite having already spent hours shoveling. Several times he stopped to pull his handkerchief from his pants pocket and wipe his frozen nose. With no joking companions to help him, the job took a while. As Janet watched, layer after layer of snow was gradually removed until the color, make, and model of the vehicle was revealed. Astounded, she realized it wasn’t either of Eddy’s vehicles, but one of the Rudys’ cars! Janet stared in open-mouthed amazement as Eddy then crossed the road and shoveled the Rudys’ sidewalk, too.

Phone lines hummed as neighbor shared with neighbor Eddy’s selfless act of goodwill...

Deeply moved, Janet called her friend down the street and relayed to her what she had witnessed. Phone lines hummed as neighbor shared with neighbor Eddy’s selfless act of goodwill. When Janet and I talked on the phone that evening, she readily recounted what she had seen, pensively adding, “The Rudys have been impolite to all of us at one time or another, but they have treated Eddy the worst. And there he was, out in that awful cold, shoveling their cars and walks, while the rest of us figured, ‘The heck with them!’ It really made me think.”

Janet wasn’t the only one who spent some time reflecting on Eddy’s kindhearted gesture. Over the following year, the neighbors witnessed gradual, pleasant changes in the Rudys. Greetings and waves were returned. Janet noted that the Rudys actually stood in the yard and talked on occasion, something they had never done before. And Eddy found that they stopped keeping watch over their parked cars.

On a recent afternoon, I again spoke with Janet over the phone. Another big snowstorm had pummeled our area overnight. Her neighbors headed outside to dig their homes out of the snow. As Janet walked out on her porch to pick up her newspaper, she heard the scraping of shovels nearby. Taking a quick glance down the street, she saw three people shoveling out a car. I could almost hear a huge smile spreading across Janet’s face as she relayed the story to me. “You’ll never guess who I saw shoveling snow together! Eddy and the Rudys!” Once again the phone lines hummed up and down the street. Neighbors eagerly recounted the scene Janet had witnessed.

Eddy’s kindness couldn’t stop the snow, but it had certainly helped to warm a few hearts in our little neighborhood. CD

P. D. Williams is a freelance writer and active church member living in central Pennsylvania.