After a long, tiring day of school in January, two teachers decide to work late. Ms. O’Donnell, a moody history teacher. Mr. Martin, a kind and thoughtful math teacher. But they had one similarity- they were both opinionated. They work in two different parts of the school so they never got to know each other. As they worked late, they thought they were the only ones in the school. Both thought they were going to their warm houses soon, but they were wrong.
Eventually, Mr. Martin and Ms. O’Donnell were getting tired and decided to go home. They walked towards the door to leave the building, looking separate ways, trying their very best to avoid each other. When suddenly all that they saw was snow. They could barely see out the door; it was all white. There was no way that either of them were getting out of there anytime soon.
“Oh no, how am I going to get home,” Ms. O’Donnell said dramatically.
“I’ll try calling someone to help us,” said Mr. Martin.
“Okay, hurry up! I’m starving,” she said.
“No answer, I tried calling everyone. There’s nothing anyone can do. I guess we’re snowed in for a little while,” said Mr. Martin.
“You’re kidding! This has to be a joke!” said Ms. O’Donnell.
“It’s going to be a long night,” Mr. Martin sighed, as he looked out the window only seeing snow for miles.
“Since we’re going to be here for a while, I’m going to steal a snack from the cafeteria,” said Ms. O’Donnell.
She dropped her bags and walked into the cafeteria, and Mr. Martin followed. They looked in the cabinets and grabbed some chips. Mr. Martin said, “So, what do you teach here?”
“I teach history,” Ms. O’Donnell said.
“Really! I could never teach history. These kids are disrespectful and uninterested in learning anything these days,” said Mr. Martin.
“I love my students! I could never teach math, it’s my least favorite subject,” Ms. O’Donnell exclaimed.
There was an immense silence in the cafeteria. Mr. Martin glanced out the window looking at the cold and icy weather outside.
Ms. O’Donnell said, “Ugh, I just hate the snow. I would much rather be spending my days on the warm and sunny beach, getting tan.”
Mr. Martin sighed,
“I actually like the winter. Building snowmen, drinking steaming hot chocolate, ice skating, and snowball fights.”
“Great! Another thing we disagree on. How much longer do we have to be here?” said Ms. O’Donnell.
It would be a few hours before anyone could get through the snow. They walked into each classroom. They looked for coats or blankets, or anything that could keep them warm.
“I think I found something!” yelled Mr. Martin.
Ms. O’Donnell came running in with a big smile. Mr. Martin had found three blankets in a closet and decided to give Ms. O’Donnell two so she could get warm. As they started to get along, the frosty snow started to clear up and melt away.
But their sweet moment only lasted for a short time. Ms. O’Donnell was getting bored again and decided to walk around the school. Mr. Martin decided to do some more work for the next school day, if it wasn’t canceled. Ms. O’Donnell roamed the halls of the school. She shivered, as she looked out the window and saw a lot more snow coming down then there was before. She was afraid that she would have to stay there for longer than she expected. Ms. O’Donnell quickly walked to Mr. Martin’s room to tell him about what she saw. He had a worried look on his face and said,
“We might be stuck here until morning. We can’t leave until the roads clear up.”
Ms. O’Donnell looked upset and angry.
“So we have to work out our differences for the time being,” said Mr. Martin.
“No! I just want to get out of this place and head home. I’m not trying to get to know you or become friends. I hate this weather!” yelled Ms. O’Donnell.
A loud noise rang through the whole school. Bang! They both freezed and looked at the window. It was a large tree branch that hit the window.
“Mr. Martin, I am so sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”
“It’s alright. Should we play a game?” said Ms. O’Donnell.
“I’ve got a deck of cards on my desk,” Mr. Martin said.
They played Go-Fish, War, and Crazy Eight. They played cards for hours, until they started getting bored.
“Hey, I never asked where you grew up or anything about your childhood,” Ms. O’Donnell said.
“I actually went to a school in a small town called Bakersville,” said Mr. Martin.
“No way! I grew up in Bakersville, no one at this school has ever even heard of Bakersville,” said Ms. O’Donnell.
“I guess we have more in common than we thought,” Mr. Martin said. Then, he rushed to the window and said, “Look!” He pointed at the window. The snow has almost cleared up.
“It’s not totally gone but it should be good enough to drive home,” said Mr. Martin. Ms. O’Donnell’s face lit up and saw the beauty of the snow. She saw the sun glistening on the white, snowy trees that stood tall.
“I never knew that this bitter weather could look so pretty.”
They headed back to their classrooms to get their coats and hats. They slowly walked out of the building and to their cars.
The next day there was no snow to be seen. It was back to the regular school day. But something was different, for Ms. O’Donnell and Mr. Martin it wasn’t like any other day at all. A face they used to just pass in the hallways and parking lots, now started conversations and asked about their days. They knew each other’s likes and dislikes, and their similarities and differences. Instead of putting their heads down, they now walked past each other with a smile and a wave.