The Warm Side of Winter

Part 1

Part 1

Scoop, Suck, Slosh

Scoop, Suck, Slosh

I sunk the shovel into the pile of snow for what seemed like the umpteenth time. The frosty air bit at my face, deepening the scowl that was already plastered onto it. Stupid snow. Stupid shovel. And especially stupid October.

Scoop, Suck, Slosh

I thought October was autumn! It’s not supposed to snow in autumn! How dare winter come early!

Scoop, Suck, Slosh

And stupid parents too. Making me do all this stupid work when they know I hate cold weather.

Scoop, Suck, Slosh

Oh, and I can’t forget Herman. He’s stupid too. Stupid Herman. Isn’t it part of his job as gardener to take care of this kind of stupid stuff!

Scoop, Su-

The shovel stopped moving. Trapped in place by some invisible threat (probably just ice) underneath the snow. I squared myself up and wrenched the end, almost managing to free it when it yanked itself, and me, right back. With a yelp, I toppled down onto a slushy pile of melted snow.

“Ooh, so that’s how you wanna play huh? Well fine. I’ll play.”

I glared at the shovel that seemed to taunt me, then slowly began to lift myself up, careful so as not to slip. My boots sunk uncomfortably into the mush with every step I took towards the shovel. My anger and frustration slowly rising.

“You wanna dance? Lets dance. But I gotta warn you. I gots me some pretty good tango skills.”

With that, I let out a chortling battle cry and flung myself onto the shovel, wrapping my arms and legs around the hilt, and pushed all my weight onto it. Then, time itself seemed to slow down as the shovel once again bent forward. Slowly, falling to the ground. But before I could rejoice, it jerked back up and hurled me backwards with the same ferocity I had just unleashed upon it. Before I could even think of screaming, I slammed into the trunk of a tree and dropped to the floor beside it.

“Stupid-”

But my insult was cut short by the tree’s sudden decision to add to my abuse, torture and miser ability. Or, in simpler terms, it dumped and avalanche of wet snow onto my already damp body.

That moment was probably what caused this whole ordeal to happen. Without it, I probably wouldn’t have reacted the way I did. But then again, the rest of this story probably wouldn’t have gone the way it did either. Nevertheless, it happened. And after sitting there in a daze, my clothing slowly soaking in the cold water, something inside me snapped. All the anger I had pent up came bursting out in one hell of a tantrum. I screamed out and began to attack the air and the tiny drops of snow that were gently falling around me. Their oblivion to my tantrum simply made me more agitated and I screamed even louder and began kicking out at the tree, the ground, anything that was covered in the disgusting white substance. With my eyes closed, I lashed out at yet another snow covered victim. But instead slammed my toes into the hard, brick exterior of our garage.

“AAARGH!”

I screamed before falling to the floor. Clutching my foot in agony.

“Whoa there. You okay? It looks like you really hurt your toe.”

I looked up at the voice before immediately ducking my head down as my face began to flush pink. It was him.

He knelt down beside me and looked up. His ivy green eyes piercing into my dull brown ones.