Charles Bronson

The Bronson boy, Charlie Bronson, named by his mother after the actor, walked through the heavy snowfall of winter in Augustine. Charlie had left the house to search for his friends, all out of school due to Christmas break.

North Main Street's usual traffic had dwindled to but a few cars all passing Charlie by, driving frantically with half-frozen windshield wipers to through the frigid atmosphere of Augustine's fierce late December, and Charlie hiked through the snow so he could get to the house of John Benson, one of his best friends. Each time he stepped, his foot sunk into the slush of water and ice, the cold liquid seeping into his boots and absorbed by his woolen socks. His legs felt heavier and heavier with each movement as he called out for help in the whirl of the blizzard.

His eyelids closing, he stopped in front of Albert Knead's coffee shop and collapsed against the door. Only a few seconds later, the door pushed open and Albert dragged the boy into his shop, hurriedly pulling off all of the boy's wet clothes and throwing more wood in the fireplace to warm Charlie's cold body.

Albert sat in an antique rocking chair next to the fire and the cot he had made for the boy, watching the snow heaping up outside through the display window of his shop. The boy tussled with the blankets and kicked the wall he was lying against as he mumbled to himself about the cold.

"That was a stupid idea, you know," Albert said. "Going out into weather like this...."

Albert turned back and saw the boy's eyelids were shut. He let out a sharp sigh and stood up from his chair to pour another cup of coffee.