Looking for a hobby

Snowflakes sprinkled down from the clouded, blue sky, each coating the inches of snow that had piled up from before. They made the snow hummocks larger every time another cascaded.

In the chalet, Theodore dredged his chocolate-filled croissant with powdered sugar. His eyes repeatedly fell on the window one room away. There were no curtains or blinds on it, so it was kept that way when he couldn't bother draping anything over it. Astrid, his cousin staying with him, had somehow hung a towel over it last night but had to retrieve it later to clean some tea she spilled.

"Are we expecting someone?" Astrid entered the open kitchen, only an entryway between counters separating it from the living room beside them.

"No, why?" Theodore asked, dropping mini marshmallows into his hot chocolate and mixing it.

"You keep looking at the door."

"I'm not," now he looked away from her, his eyes nearly falling on the frosty window again. Astrid took a last sip from her mug and set it down on the counter with a clink.

"Then, do you want to go out?" When he didn't reply, she snapped her fingers to get Theodore's attention.

He shook his head. He took a bite of his croissant, mentally deeming it one of his better creations. Baking was a new hobby he was trying. Theodore had again searched up hobbies he could spend his time with last week, and baking was one that had been on his list for very long. He decided to finally give it a try—and cooking too. He prepared dishes and simple meals everyday, but decided that maybe attempting newer and more complex recipes could be a good use of his time.

He had made a list of every hobby people recommended, checking each off while working his way down. So far, ten were done.

Theodore—now on the couch—lied back and thought about some of the duller hobbies he catalogued, one of which was birdwatching. He had discovered that people enjoyed sitting outside for long periods of time just to find birds. With not many resources or patience, Theodore didn't like it very much. He had been recommended archery as a joke, but all it took was an evening for him to drive to a far away shed that sold hunting tools, including simple archery bow and arrows. 

Theodore did his best for two weeks before giving up. He noticed that he could never hit the target, and it felt defeating and tedious. He endeavored playing instruments and took it to himself to join piano and violin classes at once. He had two classes of both instruments daily. Theodore found it too stressful and quit them together, thinking possibly that it might've been taking too much at once that made it unenjoyable, but he still crossed it off the list as a failure.

"Try painting," his friends recommended. But when he attempted it, Theodore left his studio having smudged colors on his canvas, brushes, hands, and his clothes all splattered in vibrant acrylic colors from flicking brushes with the strokes of an amateur.

"Read, journal, or start a collection" the man in the video said, and Theodore did them all. Astrid had helped by lending him some of her books—some classics, fiction, and fantasy—she gifted him a journal for his birthday and she and his friends encouraged him to start collections for many things. It was all boring for him; reading made him fall asleep, and journaling made his fingers calloused and tired from writing, cutting, and pasting items.

"It takes you a lot to keep one hobby." Astrid had said to him two years ago, and she had been right all along.

Whenever Theodore thought about it, he couldn't believe that two years had flown by and all that time ago he was still trying new leisure activities he could enjoy. He was busier then, so not always was spent looking up 'hobby ideas'.

"We could try skiing outside," Astrid suddenly spoke, making Theodore flinch.

He snapped out of thought and shrugged. "Do we have any supplies for that?"

"I think so," Astrid tapped her fingers on the couch arm. "There's a cabin about 10 minutes away, we could go there and see if they have what we need."

"Good idea. They'll probably know what we need too."

—

Astrid and Theodore bought waterproof jackets, waterproof pants, fleeces, and everything they'd need for skiing, but when they went to the resort near the cabin, Astrid sprained her ankle on the first try descending the mountain, and Theodore didn't want to go on again without her. So they wound up sitting in the dim-lighted living room in the evening, comfortable with blankets as they sat opposite to each other. The only source of light and sound beside their talking was the crackling of the huge flames in the fireplace. They talked about what they would do after leaving the chalet, since they had another week of holidays. Astrid said that she planned on going to visit her grandparents and staying there for a few days, while Theodore had his usual response: stay home.

Astrid had finished her hot drink and limped to the room, refusing when Theodore offered to help. She was careful not to apply much pressure on her left foot, and went to her room. In that small hallway, there were two bedrooms on each side of the wall, and Astrid made it to hers. She had packed a jigsaw puzzle, two books, and a small sketchbook with some colors in a separate bag, all of them for occupying herself when she was bored. She hobbled out with the jigsaw in one hand, the other on the wall.

"Theo, I bought a puzzle before the trip. Do you want to try it?" She sat on the couch, cautiously resting her foot on the arm.

Theodore glimpsed at the box she was holding. "1000 pieces? We don't have time for that."

Astrid scoffed. "We also didn't have time to pester the busy baker at the shop for 20 minutes, but we did. So, we are solving this puzzle."

Theodore nodded and opened it up, taking a handful of pieces before dropping them back in. He leveled a discouraged gaze at her, already looking like he'd give up, but Astrid kept her expression demanding.

Theodore huffed and cleared out the table, making space to drop all the pieces out of the box.

"Don't let any of them fall." Astrid said, her head tilting to the cushion behind her.

"I'll need some help. It's quite huge if you didn't already know," he flipped the cover of the box, examining the scenery. It was of a flowing river, trees and grass beside it with mountains behind and some distant birds. Astrid only caught a glimpse of it, but she could tell that it would be tedious.

"I think I'll be in my room," she muttered, but Theodore glared at her.

"No, we are solving this together."

Astrid sighed. "You want a new hobby, not me..." She objected.

"Sure, I do. But I won't be doing this one alone."

Astrid wanted to say more, but stopped and repositioned to make herself more comfortable. It was going to be a long night.