It’s 2 degrees outside. It’s 2 am. I left a motel room at noon, and I’ve been driving since then. I’m driving drowsy now and it just ain’t safe, but I been gone far too long and there just ain’t no way that I’m gonna spend another night away, waste another day, been gone too long now, feels like 40 days. I’ll relax whenever I can, let my nerves just shake, but at least I’ll do it at home. Trust me, I ain’t gonna die, without seeing your face. You sent me a text message, said ‘Baby, drive real safe, ’cause the mother of all blizzards has just come up from the states. We’ve only got summer tires on, ’cause it’s only Hallowe’en, but I’m sitting here with the weather man, and this is like nothing he’s seen.’ So I drove from Guelph to Kingston and everything was OK, but by the time I got to Brockville, I was calling it a day. Called you up from a motel room to say everything’s OK. The power’s all gone, but the generator’s on. I ain’t gonna die without seeing your face. So I left at noon, just to see if I might make Montreal. The road was pretty dry, for having just had a snowstorm in the fall. So I’ll keep this old train going, try to make New Brunswick by 8. And these single-lane roads and double-lane trucks (tabarnac) just fill me with hate. Then it’s 3 more hours to Fredericton and I am not tired yet, ‘cuase if I’ve come this far, me and this little car’ll make Moncton yet. then just a couple hours home. Now it’s 3am and my only fear, on a divided highway with eyes half shut, is that I might hit a deer. So I keep my mind and my eyes awake with the high-beam game. If I flash someone by accident, well, he’s probably done the same. I’ll keep them coffees coming and windows down. Got a gospel choir on 10 and I’m just howling with the sound and we’re all singing: lord, you’ve brought me a mighty long way. Hallelujah, let’s go home and see my baby’s face. I pause outside my bedroom at the top of the stairs, and say a quick thanks to whoever it was that got me here. It guess Grandma was looking out for me. This is our time and place. Hallelujah. See, I didn’t die. Now, let’s go look at your face.