Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Sons

The sky was bright on the cold, white morning as the dreaded winter settled over the state with a notable presence. A pure white layer of thick clouds had been overshadowed by rogue gray snow clouds all throughout the horizon that smothered out the blue expanse of the sky beyond it. Massive white snowflakes gracefully fell from the sky in dense ivory sheets and easily covered everything they touched under a pristine layer of flawless white ice. The trees, roads, buildings and even powerlines were all sheathed in a thick layer of ice that glistened in the natural sunlight that struggled to pierce through the building cloud cover overhead.

Already sick of the cold air, Hank let out an annoyed sigh as he drove through the snowy streets of Ann Arbor with Connor at his side as his only passenger. The early fall snowstorm had rocked the lower half of the state in the middle of the night, which in turn had caused the city to enter a level one snow emergency as schools and small business were closed for the day. Unfortunately the mandatory meeting that Hank and Connor had been so graciously assigned had gone on as scheduled, which of course meant after the meeting was over the duo had the chore of returning to Detroit by traversing the snow and ice slicked roads leading back to their home forty-eight minutes away to assist in taking care of their city during the snow emergency.

As the car idled at a red light Connor glanced out his side window and watched as a group of school children gathered in a large park and began building snow forts, snowmen, pulled around their sleds and began picking sides for a snowball fight. As the playful fight began between the two teams Connor's L.E.D. flashed from blue to yellow with curiosity. The unusual display taking place elicited a chorus of laughter and shouting from the participants which contrasted against the seemingly violent nature of the game.

"Those children are fighting with one another, but they seem to be enjoying it." Connor observed with a tangible confusion in his voice as his yellow L.E.D shifted back to blue. "I don't understand this custom. Is it normal?"

Hank turned his head to look out Connor's window for a moment before he stared back through the front windshield waiting for the red light to turn green. "It's called a 'snowball fight'. Kids have them all the time."

"Why? It seems violent, unpleasant and unnecessary to be willingly struck with spherical projectiles of ice and snow."

"It's just what kids do. I can't explain it." The light finally turned green and Hank pulled through the intersection as he followed the directions on his G.P.S. back to Detroit along the snowy and somewhat slick streets. "Kids find the weirdest shit to be fun."

"Did you participate in snowball fights as a kid?"

"Yeah, I did. Everyone did."

"Did you knowingly-"

"Connor, stop!" Hank sounded annoyed and ready to snap at any moment. The outburst had caused Connor's L.E.D. to flash from blue to yellow in surprise as he turned to look at Hank with thick guilt in his soulful brown eyes. "I can't explain every little damn thing humans do, all right? Humans are just fuckin' weird, we do stupid shit and there's nothing more to it! End of story!"

"...I'm sorry, Hank. I'll stop asking questions." Connor's L.E.D. transitioned back to blue after he apologized and he silently resumed staring out his window as he took in the sight of the new city that he had only seen for a few hours that day. "I didn't mean to irritate you."

The wounded offense in Connor's voice struck a nerve with the senior detective and he immediately felt like an ass for barking at the curious deviant. "...No, Connor. I'm sorry." Keeping his left hand on the steering wheel Hank ran his right hand through his gray hair in building distress. "I didn't mean to yell at you. You didn't say anything wrong."