Journée du blanc.
- B K
- Feb 10, 2019
- 5 min read
One day I woke up and it was a dark cold morning. The thought of getting out of bed seemed to be too painful and my body was refusing to move an inch. I laid flat on my frontside with my arms tucked in front of the chest. Trying to keep the heat within. Wide-eyed, watching the bright flashing red digits. Number Five Two Zero flicking on and off repeatedly. The alarm was still projecting its high pitch tone "Beep beep. Beep beep". Confident to say that everyone on my block was able hear the world's most annoying sound echoing through the walls of my apartment in Toronto. Whenever a neighbour saw me walking by, either in the mornings or during evenings, they would glance at me and give me a dirty snarl look. "Hell with them, they are not deaf" I would say to myself and looked back at them with a smile and just said "Hello". When the weather is cold and minus ten degrees outside at five o'clock in the morning, your body sounds like cracking ice with every movement.
Staying snuggled under a warm duvet was much more inviting compared to having to put my mind together and forced my shivering body out of the bed and suit up into the construction trend, slip my feet into the frozen boots and pick up my tool bag on the way out by the front door. Unfortunately, in life, no matter if the weather is warm or miserable, there are bills to be paid and a man needs to eat a warm meal after a hard day's work.
When I tried to open the door, I felt something blocking it, so I gave it some force and pushed harder. After three attempts, I had finally broken through the blockage and I could not believe what I had saw; The entire street had been covered with a big white blanket. I touched it, I tried to smell it and I even had a little taste of it; Believing that the snow would have its own unique snow cone flavour without syrup. It looked like white sugar but the snow was much more lively and charming. Surprising how gentle and delicate the snow felt. It was a feeling of love at first sight and there was nothing to fear, until the tips of my toes and fingers started to tingle and I began to make my way to the job site, watching every step under the smoggy clouds from my breath and avoiding the ice patches.
The snow on Trinity Bellwood's park bench rest upon as if it was a soft cushion. My feet sunk into the fresh layer of snow at every step I took and every step gradually became heavier and heavier. It was so cold that water was running from my nostrils was freezing before it reached the tip of my lips which had started to change colour. Squeezing my elbows into my body and holding onto the shoulder strap of my backpack with my tools inside; I once learned in school that if you keep the head covered, feet wrapped up, rest the hands in between the armpits and the package between the legs warm, the human body should be able to generate heat within itself. In Canada, sorry to say it is a different story. That theory will not work. After I had managed to get across the long white field, my feet were absolutely numb under the steal cap boots and thinking that I should have warn three pairs of socks, a heat pack in my underwear and two layers of long johns. I was ready to turn around and text the foreman at the job site and call it quits. But I needed money and kept soldiering on.
On the corner of Queen and Bathurst Street there was a coffee shop and I didn't hesitate to go in, even though I was running late. The nickname of the intersection was known as Queen and Crack, because of its dope hustling location, similar to Hastings St, Vancouver. As I entered into the shop and stood still for a moment, observing the steam escaping from my body and vanishing into the thin air. Walked up to the counter and a beautiful young Asian girl had served me and the first thought that came to my mind was to be in bed with her, under the sheets, spooning against her naked body. Build some heat between the two of us. How dirty can a man think? To hell with paradise and the warm relief of sunshine, give me a waitress in a bed! No room in the head to be thinking to be about anything else. It must be the effect of the vibe craving around Queen and Crack to give me such ideas. I opened my mouth and said, "One large Mocha please" . My lips were so stiff and every muscle in my lips cracked and struggled to make a clear word. She had understood every word I said. My two hands hold the holy cup of coffee with hope and warmth. I looked outside and it was snowing. The flakes were thick and solid. I looked at my coffee, checked my phone for the time. I figured to stay inside another ten more minutes. I was going to be late anyway and the foreman hates it when I rock up five minutes late to a job site. It was so fucking damn cold, at that point I hadn't care in the world for his complaints of my tardiness.
Snowflakes were falling in perfect synchronisation, thudding against the grounds and architectures on Bathurst St and the roaring wind pushing me back as I struggled against the natural force with my back hunched over and my right hand pulling the hoodie over my head, watching my feet making slow movements, inch by inch, navigating my way. When I finally arrived to the job site, there was not a soul present and the foreman was nowhere to be found. All the chains were locked up. Everything at the site was the way it was from the day before. Freezing my ass to death out on the street and my butt checks began to quiver, then my whole body began to shake. I found some shelter and made a call to the foreman. He had picked up the phone after I had tried three times and I began cursing at him without greeting and told him that I was about to die. I had demanded where the hell he was. He had claimed that he sent a memo text to everyone to take the day off due to the weather. I screamed at him even more as I had never received any information of "No show" and hung up on him. I continued cursing out in the open air like a lunatic and lit up a cigarette to calm my nerves down. I stared at my foot sprints on the snow as I inhaled the warm smoke. Witnessed the snow falling into the shoe shaped holes and watched them disappearing layer after layer.