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Snow Angel
Sarah was standing at the sink with her
hands in hot soapy dishwater when her son came in the sliding glass
door in a small swirl of frosty air and rapidly melting snow. She
turned around to see him bouncing up and down on the mat. He knew he
wasn't allowed to bring his wet boots any further inside.
“Mama,
Mama!”
Sarah felt the smile starting. Josh
always made her happy, no matter how the day had been going. “What,
Little Man?”
She walked over to him, drying her
hands on the dishtowel that had been hanging over her shoulder.
“There's a snow angel in the
backyard!” he announced.
“Do you want me to come see?” She
knew he did, that's why he had come inside. He nodded vigorously,
pulling open the door and plunging back out into the snowy yard.
There had been close to a foot of snow the night before, and it was
still coming down, although lightly, now.
Sarah put her feet into her husband's
boots. Oversized on her, they were easy to just pull on and go. He
teased her that she wore them more than he, some winters. She
stepped out the door without a jacket. It wasn't that cold, and she
would only be out for a moment. Josh's little foot prints disappeared
beneath hers as she followed them around the corner and into the
backyard.
She was puzzled as they led down
toward the pasture. Their backyard wasn't well defined, as it merged
into the forty-acre hayfield that gently rolled away toward the creek
a quarter of a mile from the house. Josh usually played close to
home, though. He was out of sight, his little woodland camo jacket
helping as his footsteps led her toward a patch of hedgerow that she
kept for the blackberries. Rounding that, she found him standing
still and looking at the ground. The snow was lumpy, but unmarred.
“Did you make a snow angel?” Sarah
prompted.
He looked up at her, his face angelic,
a snowflake clinging to one of his lashes for a second. “No, Mama,
I found her here.” He pointed, and Sarah stepped closer to see what
he was looking at.
