Snowflakes On Our Tongues

Chapter 1

Autumn hues blanketed the earth's floor in early November. I had always thought the falling leaves were pretty but also kind of sad. The green life now drained, the leaves had nothing else to do but fall and embrace the bitter cold that was yet to come.

Picking up my pace, I made my way towards my old minivan. It was an ugly rust bucket of a car that I'd inherited from my mom. By some miracle the thing was still drivable. Turning the key I waited for the sound of ignition anxiously. All I received was angry spluttering from the vehicle's engine. Damn. Frustrated, I continued my futile attempts to get the car to start.

On the seventeenth try the car let out a groan of resignation and I knew I'd won. I'd left school in a hurry today but unfortunately my struggle with the car had taken up some time. I'd recently turned sixteen, which meant I was finally old enough to apply for most jobs. And today was my first day working a part time job at the local movie theater.

Upon entering the cinema I was immediately flooded with the smell of buttered popcorn and carpets that had definitely been spilled on more than a few times.

I was quickly greeted by my new boss at the attendant booth.

"Hi Amelia! We're so pleased to have you joining our staff. If you'll follow me, I'll get you your uniform and show you where you'll be working." Mr. Tetherman was a wiry man with high energy. You could tell how much he loved this movie theater just by the look in his eyes.

"Thank you so much." I gave a nervous smile and then proceeded to follow Mr. Tetherman down the hall. After I had been given the full tour he handed me a folded stack of clothes. I quickly changed and went to work my new post. It seemed I would be running the popcorn machine.

My shift went by rather slowly. Monday evidently wasn't the prime day to go see a movie. Sighing, I played with my hair. It went just past my shoulders and was a shade of dark brown. Just as I was about to reach ultimate boredom, there was a loud crash. Whirling around I was met with a catastrophe like no other.

The door to the popcorn machine had somehow broken off and lay shattered on the tiled floor. Meanwhile the popcorn was still popping, only adding to the mess further. The boy running it was desperately attempting to fix the mess. I briefly took in his appearance. He looked about my age and had soft brown eyes. His hair was slightly darker than mine and he looked about four inches taller than me.

Snapping out of my transfixed state, I ran over to help him. We finally got the machine turned off after quite a few fails. He quickly went off to get a broom to sweep up the broken glass and popcorn. I attempted to push it all into piles with my foot while I waited.

Looking at the whole thing I suddenly realized how hysterical it was and burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

The boy gave me an incredulous look at first, but then he too, started laughing. Once I had finally calmed down enough I introduced myself.

"I'm Amelia." Grinning, he replied,

"I'm Jamie."