Let The Trash Keep Each Other Warm

Summary

The blizzard had sealed us in and cut the power for four days, and the indoor temperature had dropped below zero.

My five-year-old daughter, Maisie, was shivering in my arms, wearing only a thin sweater.

My husband, Gary Miller, was outside. He had taken the last of our emergency heating briquettes and arranged them in a giant heart shape in the snow.

He did it because the woman living next door had texted him, saying she wished she could see some fireworks.

He lit the briquettes. The firelight reflected, warm and satisfied, on his face.