Snow (500Words, Week 3, Day 4, 1/4/18)
He tiptoed out of his room with one hand gripping his blanket and the other hand twirling a strand of hair. It was that in between time that is too late to be night and too early to be morning, and he certainly should have been soundly asleep in his bed. The silence of the snow had woken him and he wanted to see it with his own eyes.
The house was darker than he’d ever seen it and he had to wait at the top of the stairs for them to show themselves to him. He was cautious enough to know to be careful during this expedition. He had to let go of his hair to make it safely down the stairs. One step at a time was the slow way to go. He did it, and made it all the way to the bottom without falling or making enough noise to wake his parents. His reward for his time and care was getting the big window over the couch all to himself and he almost forgot to stay silent out of excitement.
The snow glistened on everything outside. The trees, the ground, the cars – everything had a blanket of snow on top. He hugged his blanket close, thankful for its warmth.
He’d never touched snow, of course. They’d only lived in this house for a month, and before that they lived in the dessert. Snow was one of the things his parents had promised him as a part of the move. He knew all about winter and snow. In his books, they made it clear that it was very cold and wet. In the movies people seemed to like to throw it at each other or slide around on it in sleds or on skis. Touching it wasn’t his goal – seeing it was perfection. It looked better in person than what he’d imagined.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small creature bouncing across the snow. It wasn’t something they had in the dessert, so he didn’t have a name for it. The Bouncer was leaving tracks in the snow as it moved quickly across his lawn. The little boy frowned at the marks. The Bouncer was messing up his snow. Hoping to scare the Bouncer away, he started waving his short arms around, still trying to be silent.
Two things happened at once: The bouncer turned towards the window, stuck both front paws in its ears, and blew a raspberry with its tongue right at the little boy, AND, a bedroom door opened upstairs followed by heavy footsteps. The little boy didn’t know which thing to give his attention to in the moment, so he flung his blanket over his head and crouched down into a ball on the couch.The Bouncer scampered off after doing a little victory dance once the boy dropped out of sight.
The boy’s mother came down the stairs, much faster than he’d done, and came up behind the un-subtle lump on the couch.
* All 500Words are fiction. Any resemblance to people or events is strictly coincidental. *