(advent) Monday, December 2

Sorry it’s late, guys.  I have a snot-squid in my head, and it’s not being very cooperative.  That being said, it’s still Monday!  So here it is….

 

Schrodinger! Come on, it’s almost time for the bell to ring!

 

I’m coming! Schrodinger stretched his legs, straining a bit to keep up with Jack. Remember, my legs are shorter than yours!

 

Sorry! The big hound slowed down. I’m just excited!

 

Me too!

 

They had spent the morning at the bookstore with Molly – Corrine had gone back to work this year, with Lily in second grade, and so Jack spent Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Schrodinger and Molly at the bookstore, and then went to work with Nathan on the other two days. It was preferable to leaving him home alone, and he loved hanging out with the CrossCat. Now, they were rushing to get to the elementary school to meet Lily and Zoey and escort them back to the bookstore to open the next box on the Advent calendar.

 

They skidded into the school yard just as the final bell rang, and they waited on the side for Lily and Zoey to come out. Most of the students recognized them and shouted greetings as they ran by to hop on the busses.

 

Lily saw them first, and snagged Zoey’s hand to drag her against the tide of children to where Schrodinger and Jack were waiting in the snow. It was another cold day, but not nearly as cold as it had been the day before. Grey clouds hung over the school, and Schrodinger could smell snow in the air.

 

“Did you open it yet?” Lily demanded, when they made it over to the two.

 

Of course not, Jack told her, punctuating his statement with a deep bark. That would have been rude. We waited!

 

“Oh good!” Lily said, and quickly told Zoey what he’d said.

 

“I wish I could hear all the animals,” Zoey lamented.

 

You can hear me! Schrodinger snuggled up against her.

 

“Yes, and it’s wonderful,” she assured him, stroking him with a gentle hand. “But I’d like to hear Jack.”

 

Maybe that’s what you should ask Santa for, Schrodinger said. I’ll bet he could give it to you.

 

“Oooh, yeah!” Lily said. “You should!”

 

“Maybe I will!” Zoey said, grinning, and Schrodinger realized that she was serious. “Come on, let’s see what the Advent calendar has today!”

 

We should take it a bit slower than we did yesterday, Schrodinger said, looking at the girls. It’s a bit more slick today. He sniffed the air. And it’s going to snow again soon.

 

“Really?” Lily sniffed too. “Yes, I can smell it.”

 

“What does snow smell like?” Zoey asked. “I just smell the sea.”

 

That’s because you’re not used to it, Schrodinger told her. Once you get used to it, you’ll smell the snow again. It’s a dry, dusty kind of smell, with a sharp undertone.

 

It smells like cold, too, Jack added. But not as cold as last winter.

 

That’s because Old Man Winter was here a lot last winter, Schrodinger reminded him. He caused a lot of cold air to come in.

 

“Who’s Old Man Winter?” Zoey asked. “You guys mentioned him yesterday too.”

 

“He’s really neat,” Lily told her. “He’s a spirit of Winter, my mom said, and he’s got a sleigh, like a huge version of Santa’s, except it’s not red. It’s kind of like an oversized sled.”

 

“But why was he here?” Zoey asked.

 

Schrodinger kept his mouth shut. No need to tell Lily, who adored Old Man Winter, that the spirit had been responsible for kidnapping Drew last Christmas, and had been about to destroy the Gate that connected Carter’s Cove to the Roads and the realms around it. Molly and Drew, with Schrodinger’s help, had turned him around and shown him the Cove had plenty to offer the realms around it.

 

“He wanted to know more about Christmas,” Lily was saying, and Schrodinger dragged his attention back. “He even came to my dance recital!”

 

“Wow, cool.” Zoey’s eyes were bright with excitement. “Do you think I’ll get to meet him?”

 

We don’t know if he’ll be back this year, Schrodinger said. He’s not sure that he can safely come back to the Cove yet. She looked so disappointed that he hastened to add, But you never know.

 

 

“I hope he comes back,” Lily said. “He promised me another ride in his sled.”

 

They stopped at the crossing before the bookstore, and Zoey gaped at the man crossing the street. “What is that?” she asked, pointing.

 

“Oh, that’s Mr. Grey and his puppy, Spot! Hi, Mr. Grey!” Lily dragged Zoey over.

 

Mr. Grey was an older gentleman who lived on the outskirts of the Cove. He was a writer, and together with Spot, he walked around the Cove looking for more things to add into his collections of humorous writing. Schrodinger was quite proud to have made it into no fewer than four of his stories.

 

While Mr. Grey was fairly average-looking, his dog Spot was not. Spot was over four feet tall at the shoulder, and despite his name, he was solid black, with shaggy fur not unlike a bear’s. Grey refused to tell anyone where he’d gotten Spot, or how Spot had gotten his name, but Schrodinger had his suspicions. Especially with the gleam of Spot’s scarlet eyes. Despite that, the giant hell hound was one of the gentlest animals the CrossCat had ever met.

 

Now, he leaned down to snuffle gently at the top of Zoey’s head. You are not from the Cove, he rumbled in a deep voice, and her eyes widened. How are you enjoying your new environs?

 

“Very well, thank you,” she replied, gulping a little.

 

Where are you from, little one?

 

“Evansville, Pennsylvania,” she said. “And my name’s Zoey.” She smiled tremulously up at him. “Where are you from?”

 

He won’t answer that, Schrodinger told her.

 

Spot chuckled. I’m from far away, he said. Farther than Pennsylvania.

 

“Where are you heading, children?” Mr. Grey asked them. “Off to the bookstore?”

 

Lily nodded. “Santa sent us an Advent calendar, Mr. Grey! A magic one!”

 

Mr. Grey and Spot exchanged looks. “That is a very special gift,” the writer said, smiling. “I hope it brings you much joy.”

 

And much fun, Spot added. We shall not keep you from it. Merry Christmas! And with that, the two walked off.

 

Zoey shook her head. “This town is way too cool. We never had anything like that at my old home town.” Then she looked at Lily and Schrodinger and Jack. “How come the rest of the world doesn’t know about it?”

 

“About what?” Lily asked.

 

“About the magic.” Zoey waved her hands in the air. “I mean, I never heard anything about this. My mom said time and again that magic was real. But it has to be – how else could I hear Schrodinger? Or Spot – is that really his name?”

 

Lily shrugged. “It’s what Mr. Grey says his name is.”

 

“But where did he come from?” Zoey asked. “How come no one else knows about this?”

 

It’s not that they don’t know, Schrodinger said, after a few moments. It’s that they don’t see it, so it kind of passes them by. They know it’s there, but they forget to remark on it.

 

“I don’t get it,” Zoey said, as they went in the back door of the bookstore.

 

“Don’t get what?” Molly asked, turning around to greet them. The entire room smelled of oranges, cranberries and sugar, which told Schrodinger she was busy making his favorite tea cakes, and his mouth started to water.

 

“Why the rest of the world doesn’t know about the magic here,” Zoey said. “I mean, if they did, they’d come here!” She told Molly about meeting Spot and Mr. Grey on the road as the girls hung their coats up on the rack.

 

“Some do,” Molly said. “Some prefer to forget they know.” She put mugs out on the island and spooned her special hot chocolate mix in for Lily and Zoey. “Some people aren’t comfortable knowing there’s magic in the world. I mean, if you didn’t have Lily, Schrodinger and Jack with you, and you met Spot in the dark, would you be as comfortable as you were meeting him during the day, walking on a leash?”

 

Zoey considered this as she watched Molly pour water into the mugs, then add some fluffy homemade marshmallows. Her braids had dark blue bows attached to the ends, trailing ribbons, and she played with one of them now.

 

“I don’t know,” she said finally. “He’s big, and his eyes are kind of creepy, but he seemed nice.”

 

Seemed being the operative word, Schrodinger said, watching Molly put tea bags in the other two mugs of hot water. He enjoyed hot chocolate, but he knew that Jack couldn’t have it, so he accepted the tea Molly put down for him. He could always have hot chocolate later.

 

“What do you mean?” Zoey asked him.

 

“Spot is a very special kind of dog,” Molly told her. “They’re generally not as friendly as he is.” When Zoey looked dubious, Molly laughed. “Trust me. When you’re older, I’ll give you some of the stories about Spot’s species. You’re too young now.”

 

“We’re always too young,” Lily groused, accepting the mug from Molly. “When won’t we be too young?”

 

“When you’re not,” Molly told her, chuckling. “Trust me, kiddo, enjoy this now.” Something shifted in her face – Schrodinger saw it, although he doubted either Lily or Zoey did. And he knew why. But it was gone so fast that he was sure only he noticed. “You’ll be sorry when it’s gone.”

 

“The cocoa?” Lily asked.

 

Molly chuckled again. “Yes, the cocoa.” She put a plate of the tea cakes in front of them, and put another plate on the floor for Jack and Schrodinger. For the next ten minutes, the only sounds in the tea room were the sounds of eating.

 

When they were done, Molly cleared the table and the four hurried to the calendar. They looked at each other.

 

“Your turn,” Zoey told Lily, and both Schrodinger and Jack nodded. Lily looked intently at the picture, trying to find the number 2.

 

She finally located it, almost hidden in the bells on the lead reindeer, and touched it gently. The area shimmered, and vanished beneath her fingertip, and she stepped back as the snowflake floated out in front of them. “What are we going to do?” she asked it.

 

“Why are you talking to it?” Zoey said, giggling. “It’s just a snowflake.”

 

“It’s a magic snowflake!” Lily retorted. “It might actually talk back!”

 

The snowflake did not talk back, but it did sparkle through a rainbow of colors, as if it were laughing at them.

 

“Are you sure there’s nothing else?” Molly said, and they looked past the snowflake to the box that still lay open in the painting.

 

“Ooh, there’s a note!” Lily said, and pulled it out. She squinted at the elaborate writing as the other three crowded around her.

 

“What does it say?” Molly said, after a few minutes of silence.

 

“I…don’t know,” Lily confessed. “It’s very pretty, though.”

 

Tilt it down a bit, Schrodinger asked her, cocking his head. I think I can read it.

 

She did so, and he studied it. It says, “You’ve warmed up your outsides, not it’s time to warm up your inside. To do that, you need to wear warm clothes, because it’s cold outside.” He looked over at Molly. I don’t understand.

 

The snowflake swirled around them, still sparkling, and then whirled over to where the coats were hung, where it waiting for them.

 

“I think you’re going outside,” Molly observed, and laughed as they nearly fell over each other getting their coats and scarves back on. “Don’t forget Jack and Schrodinger!”

 

Once they were all dressed, the snowflake dipped and zipped out of the kitchen through the tea room, with all four following eagerly.

 

Schrodinger and Jack were the first out the front door (narrowly missing knocking DC over as she opened the door for them), but Lily and Zoey were hot on their heels.

 

The snowflake led them down the street, not back towards the school, but down towards the harbor. Schrodinger experienced a bit of a tinge of doubt when he realized that. The snowflake didn’t want them down at the docks, did it? What could be down there?

 

However, the snowflake veered off at the end of the road, and zipped up another street, and he breathed a sigh of relief. It continued up to Three Sisters Park, where it darted among the trees.

 

“The park?” Lily panted. “Why are we going to the park?”

 

Maybe because there’s something magical here! Jack bayed, excitement frissioning through the deep belling of his bark. Schrodinger loved to hear Jack bay – it was a wild, happy sound that thrilled through his bones.

 

They plowed through the fresh snow (the park had trails, which were sort of cleared off, but not really) from the night before. The magical snowflake kept just ahead of them, flickering in various colors so they could see it against the white snow and dark green trunks of the trees.

 

“The snow’s so white here!” Zoey shouted. “I love it!”

 

“What color are you used to?” Lily giggled. “It’s always been white!”

 

“Not in Evansville,” Zoey told her, as they burst into a clearing. “It was dark and dingy from all the coal mines.”

 

“Ugh.” Lily screwed up her face. “That sounds gross.”

 

“It was.” Then Zoey squealed. “Oh, look! Look at the snowflake!”

 

They all stopped at the edge of the clearing, which had a fountain that was turned off for the winter in one corner but was otherwise empty. In the summer, Schrodinger knew, it was ablaze with color as the wildflowers bloomed, but now, it was a blank canvas for the snowflake, which had paused in the center, as if waiting for them.

 

Now that they had caught up, it strobed briefly through a rainbow of colors, some of which Schrodinger had never seen before. Then it began to spin at a ferocious rate. As they watched, it became a small snowstorm, as if someone had shaken a large snowglobe. Then, after a moment…

 

“A snowman!” Zoey shouted. “It’s a snowman!”

 

It was! Just like the cookies they’d helped Molly decorate yesterday – the snowman had a tall black top hat with a sprig of holly tucked into the gold band that went around it, and a long striped scarf. A long carrot nose quivered in the air as he settled onto the snow, and his coal eyes were bright with anticipation. He had a wide grin of more coal, and a long corncob pipe. Mittens that matched the scarf were tucked in close on his belly, and he leaned over to look at them kindly.

 

“A magic snowman,” Lily breathed. “This is AWESOME.”

 

“Indeed.” Zoey nodded. Then she gasped in delight as he stuck out one mittened hand.

 

Well, shake it! Schrodinger urged her, butting his head against her butt to move her forward. Don’t be rude!

 

Zoey moved forward, her own hand outstretched. “Hi!” she said, and giggled as the snowman bowed grandly over their joined hands. “You’re a very polite snowman!”

 

The snowman winked at her, then let go of her hand to doff his top hat at them.

 

“Can you come and play with us?” Lily asked, as he shook her hand as well. “Like Frosty could, in the movie?”

 

After he’d shaken Jack and Schrodinger’s paws, the snowman’s smile turned down at the edges, and he shook his head sorrowfully, indicating his lack of feet with one mitten. There would be no more moving for this snowman.

 

“Oh, how sad,” Lily said, without thinking. “Why did the magic snowflake bring you here, then?” Her face screwed up in a frown. “It should have left you in someone’s front yard. Then you wouldn’t be alone. Even in a pretty place like this.”

 

No one should be alone, Jack agreed, nudging the snowman with his nose, and the snowman nodded. Maybe we could move you, if we all tried together?

 

It seemed like a good idea, and they all pushed mightily, but the snowman didn’t budge. Panting, they looked at one another. What could they do?

 

“We can’t just leave him here,” Zoey said. “It’s not fair to leave him here alone. But what can we do?”

 

Wait a minute. Schrodinger looked around the clearing, with its pristine layer of snow. The only thing that marred the surface was their footprints. He nudged the snow with his nose, and rolled a little ball. It stuck perfectly together. He looked up at his companions. We can’t move him, but what if we make him some companions? I know Molly has carrots and stuff, and I don’t think Aunt Margie would mind if we took some of the hats and scarves from the lost and found. We could make a whole village if we wanted. There’s plenty of snow.

 

“Yes!” Lily and Zoey shouted together. The snowman’s mouth stretched into the widest smile Schrodinger had ever seen, and he clapped his hands together enthusiastically. Then he took his hat off and reached into it, bringing out more carrots, coal and other things they would need to create at least one more snowman.

 

They fell to the task with a will, rolling the balls around the clearing. As they did so, Lily and Zoey sang Christmas carols, with Jack baying along. It went quick, even though the balls were heavy and it took all four of them, plus the snowman, to lift the second ball onto the first (which they made sure was right next to the original snowman). Then they rolled the head.

 

Before they lifted it in place, Zoey held the head, while Lily carefully placed the carrot nose, the bright coal for the eyes and mouth, and the brightly colored knitted cap that the snowman had gave her. “This is a snow lady,” she told him solemnly. “So you can have a wife.”

 

The snowman clapped his hands together in glee.

 

Zoey handed him the head. “You put it on,” she said. “Make sure she’s looking at you!”

 

He placed the head carefully, smoothing it into place. Then he took his hat off again and pulled out a set of mittens and a scarf, and the girls set them in place.

 

Did it work? Schrodinger cocked his head and looked at the snow lady, who was very pretty, but not moving. Why isn’t she moving too?

 

Lily cupped her chin in her mittened hand. “I don’t know,” she said. “We did everything the same.”

 

The snowman shook his head, and reached one more time into his hat. This time, he removed a small snowflake that shimmered in the light, just like the snowflake that had brought them to the clearing in the first place.

 

Of course! She needs a heart! Schrodinger said, jumping up. She can’t be magical without a heart!

 

The snowman nodded and leaned over to Lily, handing the magical snowflake to her gently. Then he touched his chest, where his own heart would be.

 

“I need to put this in her chest?” Lily asked, and he nodded.

 

She stood on her tiptoes and held the snowflake up to the snow lady’s chest. It glowed, and she pushed it gently in to the ball, then stepped back.

 

Nothing happened.

 

“Is there a reason you’re staring at a snowman?”

 

All four of them jumped, and the snowman’s hat fell over in amazement. Molly and Drew stood behind them, carrying a couple of picnic baskets, and Drew had a length of plaid wool over one shoulder.

 

Schrodinger picked up the snowman’s hat in his teeth gently, handing it to the snowman, who brushed it off and nodded his thanks. We’re trying to wake the snow lady up, the CrossCat then told Molly and Drew. So the snowman won’t be lonely here.

 

“But we can’t figure out how,” Lily said, and Zoey nodded. “We built her of the best snow, and the snowman gave us a magical snowflake for her heart! But she won’t wake up.”

 

“And we can’t leave him here alone,” Zoey added. “We have to figure it out.”

 

Molly looked at the snowman, who was looking at the snow lady, his mouth turned down again. “Well, have you tried a kiss?”

 

“A kiss?” Zoey said. “Really?”

 

“That’s what all the stories say,” Molly said, taking the second basket from Drew. “Drew, spread out the blanket?”

 

He took the plaid length of wool off his shoulder and spread it on the snow. “We brought some warm drinks,” he said.

Meanwhile, the snowman was looking over at the snow lady. He took his pipe out of his mouth and held it in one hand as he considered the situation.

 

“You should do it,” Lily urged him. “Molly’s right. The prince always wakes the princess with a kiss. That might be what you need.”

 

Zoey, who had been looking skeptical, nodded. “I agree. After all, it’s magic, right? So maybe you need to kiss her to wake her heart up.”

 

Yes. Schrodinger and Jack both nodded. Do it, snowman. Kiss her.

 

The snowman looked at them, and then back at the snow lady. He straightened his shoulders and then leaned in. They had put the snowmen very close, and his coal lips just reached hers.

 

They all held their breath, waiting.

 

It started as just a whisper at the edge of the clearing, barely noticeable. Jack and Schrodinger, with their sharper ears, heard it first: bells. Clear, sweet jingle bells, as if someone was approaching from a distance. The sound grew louder and louder, and a brisk breeze, sweet with the scent of peppermint and pine, washed over them.

 

The snowman leaned back and looked over at his lady. Slowly, very slowly, one of her mittened hands came up to her cheek, and a red blush appeared on her face.

 

“Yay!” Lily and Zoey clapped in glee, Jack bayed and Schrodinger jumped in triumph. “It worked!”

 

The snowman’s smile was enormous. He reached a hand out to the snow lady, who took it, still blushing prettily. Then he turned to the children and doffed his hat again.

 

“You’re welcome,” Zoey and Lily said together.

 

Originally published at The words of Valerie Griswold-Ford. You can comment here or there.