by Nancy Quinn

Created on: January 07, 2011

“Jason, hurry up!” Mittens flew by his nose, and soon a scarf wafted down onto her brother’s head as he tried unsuccessfully to dodge the necessary equipment that flew out of the hall closet by his enthusiastic sister.  Yes, Molly was the snowball champion on the block last winter and she was determined that she remain the reigning victor this winter as well.

As the siblings scrambled for mitten matches and warm scarves, mom called out “Come back inside when your dad comes home.”  Ah yes, the obvious sign of family dinner time and the anticipation of hearing the adventures of their dad’s day as a small animal veterinarian.  From parrots that knew how to swear, to a boa constrictor that wrapped itself around the secretary’s chair and got her to stand on her desk, their dad knew how to keep them entertained through dinner with fits of laughter.

Mom’s “shut the door” was lost on the pair as the leaped from the top step into the fresh fallen snow.  She smiled and sighed as she pushed the door firmly closed.  Wrapping her sweater tightly around her, she watched the children and reminisced about her own childhood seemingly forever in the past. Her own childhood adventures with toboggans, ice skates and impromptu snow ball fights on the way home from school made her smile.  With one last look at her children, she turned back to begin planning the dinner menu and mentally made a note that she need to check her hot chocolate and miniature marshmallow supplies.

Molly quickly began creating blocks of snow and a wall to their fort started to slowly form to protect their corner of the yard as other teams nearby were racing to complete theirs.  Good-natured teasing and a few snowballs flew over the partially constructed walls, calling a brief halt to the construction as they defended their territory. 

Jason briefly paused in the creation of his stockpile of ammunition to look across the street at the blue house.  The neighbor kids just referred to the boy peering out the window as the disabled kid in the blue house who just moved in.  Whispers flew around at school and teachers tried to introduce the new boy but since he couldn’t keep up with his classmates academically or physically, he seemingly faded into the background.

From a distance, Jason could see, or perhaps merely feel, the sadness in his classmate's

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