Eddy and the snowstorm

	© IStockPhoto.com / Robert Fullerton

Heavy snow fell that weekend, and while grumbling usually outweighs the excitement after a huge winter storm, the hustle and bustle in our small suburban neighborhood could only be described as inspirational. Due to some heart problems, my friend Janet isn’t able to shovel snow, so once the storm subsided, the neighbors on her street made sure to help dig her out. Dressed for warmth and equipped with shovels, three strong fellows quickly and cheerfully removed the deep drifts from Janet’s walks, driveway, and vehicles. One of them was Eddy.

Eddy and his family had moved in just a few houses down from Janet about 15 years earlier. Soon after, Eddy added his own special touch to the camaraderie shared among the neighbors. When visiting Janet, I often saw Eddy, arms akimbo, leaning against his car out in front of his house, chuckling and chatting amicably with a neighbor. When Janet’s husband was terminally ill, Eddy regularly visited him, sharing a funny incident or animatedly recounting the play-by-play from a high school sporting event.

As evidenced by their kindness during the snowstorm, Eddy and the others on Janet’s street looked after and supported one another — with one exception. The Rudy family had created friction and caused conflict with just about every neighbor within shouting distance. Children and adults alike tried to avoid them. The Rudys complained at the littlest infraction; they were always irritated about something.

Though nearly everyone in the neighborhood had run-ins with the Rudys, Eddy bore the brunt of their nastiness, probably because it was Eddy who lived closest to the Rudys. Whatever the reason, Mr. and Mrs. Rudy took every opportunity to be impolite and uncharitable toward him. Although they could park behind or in front of their own house, they purposely parked their cars in front of Eddy’s house, occupying his only available parking spaces. They spent hours peering out the window, watching to ensure no one touched their vehicles. When Eddy tried to entertain guests in his yard, the Rudys always seemed to choose that time to mow their lawn or run their noisy weed-trimmer.

True to form, the night before the aforementioned snowstorm, they shrewdly parked their cars in front of his house, knowing that the borough snowplows would then be able to clear the street in front of their own house. The storm came, and a few hours after the neighbors had shoveled Janet’s walkways, she looked

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.