Touch of Grass

About Touch of Grass

By February the grass is only a rumor under six inches, and Touch of Grass works the months when nobody in Altoona can find theirs. Snow slides off the mountain overnight; the truck goes out while the freight is still working its way up the grade west of town and the streetlights are the one thing shining on all that white. The job is plowing drives, opening walks and steps, and breaking up ice so a person can back out at six without a second thought about it. By the time the sky goes gray over Brush Mountain, the driveways are black pavement again and the banks are stacked where they will not be in the way come thaw. The grass will keep; the morning will not.