The phone wakes Ralph early Christmas morning.

The Dispatcher tells him, “Ralph, there’s a bus load of some kind of monks down here at the station and their bus has broken down with engine troubles. You're needed here right away.”

Ralph chuckles and asks, “What happened to all the bright young mechanic kids that the Foreman thinks so much of?”

The Dispatcher sighs and says, “I think the guy who was assigned here for Christmas day got a case of the intentional flu. Look, the monks are foreigners and there’s some sort of Washington guy with then. I know that it's Christmas day, but if you’ll come in, it’ll look damn good on your record.”

Ralph thinks of the continuing hints from the Foreman that he may be a bit too old for a mechanics job. Of course, the Foreman can’t say it publicly, but he has been sniping away at Ralph for some time now. A good response to an emergency call will do a lot to stop the sniping.

Ralph says, “Okay, I’ll be in as soon as I can. However, it’s Christmas day and the city buses aren’t running. I’ll have to walk. It’ll take me a while to get there.”

The dispatcher says, “Okay, at least I can tell them that you’re coming in. It’ll get Washington boy off my butt.”

Ralph rolls out of bed, an exercise that seems to get more difficult every morning. He doesn’t bother to shave. He goes into the kitchen and pours a glass of orange juice. He makes a peanut butter sandwich, saving the sliced turkey for his Christmas supper.

Ralph dresses and eats, wandering back and forth between the bedroom and the kitchen. He puts on the heavy clothes one item at a time, walking back and forth the few steps to the kitchen to eat and to get him warmed up for the brutal walk to work in the cold outside.

Finally, he’s fully dressed and he finishes the last of the peanut butter sandwich and washes it down with the last of the orange juice. He puts the glass and the knife in the sink and then glances out the window.

Outside, it looks cold, with several inches of snow on the ground, but it’s not snowing right now and he may as well get started with the walk into work.

Ralph goes out the door and walks through a neighborhood of small houses. There are a few Christmas decorations out, but they seem to accent the cold dreary day, rather than lend any real cheer to the scene.

Ralph has to first wade through the slush on the sidewalk, but he soon gets to the main street. The awnings in front of the businesses shelter the sidewalk and it becomes less of a struggle for Ralph to make his way.

When Ralph gets to the side street of the bus depot, the sidewalks are all ice, with the splash of the buses, through the night. Ralph carefully walks in the street, watching for traffic, instead of risking a fall on the slippery sidewalk ice.

Ralph walks in to the depot, through the vehicle door, and he's pleased to note that the inside of the bus depot seems warmer than outside, because of the shelter from the wind.

Ralph makes his way to the Dispatcher’s window.

The Dispatcher brightens as he sees Ralph. “Glad to see that you made it. Washington boy has been on my butt all morning. If you can get the bus back on the road, you gonna be a real hero.”

Ralph says, “Hero I can use right now, what with the labor market and all. Which one is the sick bus?”