Miss Mary

I called Miss Mary to wish her a happy new year, and see if she needed anything, since it was blizzarding outside....she was fine, but the weather reminded her of the blizzard her late husband had lost his toes in. (I didn't ask how many) She said it was just like this, wind, snow, below zero and the boss told her husband to go out and tend the cattle, so they all went, not sure why. He got the feed out, but on the way back the car got stuck and so he left her and the two little ones in the car and walked through the snow to a house, following the fence. He got back with a blanket and help to dig the car out, but he had no boots, only cheap shoes, so his toes were frozen and they didn't know it. She said it was 1953, and they had just come from Texas in 1949, so they didn't know about blizzards. When they got into bed, she said, his feet were so cold, "like blocks of ice", that she became alarmed and looked at them. They tried to warm his feet but it was too late.