Two weeks passed and the ticket sales were progressing well. As a matter of fact, two thirds of the tickets had sold and everyone was looking forward to the end of the raffle.
However, as sometimes happens in life, events overtake plans.
That Monday morning, the raffle volunteers at the Oak Crest retirement residence gathered in the lounge after breakfast.
All had heard the meteorologists’ weather warnings about a heavy snowstorm that was expected to move into the area sometime in the late afternoon and the volunteers expected that purchasing a raffle ticket would be the last thing on any shopper’s mind.
“D’you think we should cancel?” asked one anxious volunteer.
“Well, the storm isn’t supposed to hit our area until late afternoon,” stated Frank Zimmerman. “Besides, “I’d like to take a second look at those binoculars.”
“Well, Frank I think I’ll stay put,” said Freda. “You never know if the storm might arrive earlier, then we’d all be stuck in town.”
And so it was decided that the residents would cancel selling raffle tickets until the following day.
That afternoon, just as the weather forecasters had predicted, the storm swept into Four Corners County. Heavy wet snow, fell rapidly and before nightfall, everything in the town of Somewhere, as well as the surrounding towns in Four Corners County had shut down. The radio and TV stations warned everyone to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.
Meanwhile at Oak Crest Retirement Community, folks remained in the clubhouse lounge after dinner hoping that the snow would let up enough for them to return to their villas. Fortunately, that was the case and the residents were able to head back to their bungalows. Those who needed assistance were aided either by staff or other residents.
By morning, the snowstorm had blown over and residents awakened to brilliant sunshine and sparkling snow.
Overnight road and sidewalk crews had been busy and the residents were looking forward to returning to town to continue with the raffle ticket sale.
As the volunteers arrived at their raffle sites, there was lots of excited comment about last night’s storm.
One garrulous patron at The Meets N’ Treats insisted that it was definitely the St. Patrick’s Day storm.
When questioned, he stated definitively, “ It’s because there’s always a storm close to, or on, St. Patrick’s Day.”
“Well, then, how come there wasn’t one last year?” asked a second.
“Nor the year before that,” challenged a third.
“Well, it’s always been once every March in the Maritimes,” spoke the now truculent patron.
Seeing that the conversation was getting out of hand, the owner quickly came around with more coffee. Not only that, but she also brought a tray of freshly baked blueberry scones and told everyone the treat was “on the house” as everyone had survived the March storm.
