Chapter 1408

• FIVE P.M. SOMEWHERE
• I heard the silence at dawn and knew we were trapped. Beyond the windows, an eerie, deadened calm smothered the world, and no birds sang. Ordinarily, the countryside’s quiet is expan- sive. You can hear the space, can sense sky and far-off hills in a landscape teeming with tiny life. The morning was echoless and flat. When I peeped through the frilly bedroom curtains, the village square had gone, reshaped by a thick padding of snow,
• heavy flakes falling fast in the muted silver light.