Snow Day

Mary sighed as she stared out the window of her kitchen. At this time of day, at this time of year, the sun should have been peeking over the horizon, its brilliant rays shining between the skyscrapers like long narrow fingers. But not even the sun could penetrate the grey clouds that had descended upon the city. It had spent the entire night dumping nearly two feet of snow on the ground and was now hanging around like a lingering party guest who couldn’t take a hint. Mary glanced down at the car-shaped mound of snow and sighed. Time to get ready for work. 

Tommy squealed with delight as he stared out the window of his bedroom. The entire city was covered in a thick blanket of snow. No way there was school today. He rushed downstairs to the kitchen, where mom was normally packing his lunch and yelling upstairs for him to hurry up. Dad would already be on his way to work. But today he was surprised to find them both sitting at the kitchen table. “What are you doing here, dad?” Tommy asked.

“I’m working from home today,” Dad replied. “Why are you still in your pajamas? Go get ready for school.”

Tommy’s jaw dropped. “There’s school today? But there’s a ton of snow outside!”

“When I was your age we walked to school in ten feet up snow, uphill both ways in a blizzard,” Dad said. “Builds character.”

“But you get to stay home!”

“I’m not a kid and I’ve got lots of character,” Dad grinned.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Mom laughed. “Tommy, your father is just teasing you. There’s no school today.”

“I saw a chance at a classic ‘dad joke’ and I don’t apologize for it,” Dad replied.

Tommy didn’t care. He was too busy jumping for joy. “Can I go to the park? Please?” He asked.

“Sure,” Dad said. “Maybe I’ll join you later and we can build a snowman. How’s that sound?”

“Great!” Tommy yelled as he ran upstairs to change. Today was going to be the best day ever.

Today was going to be the worst day ever. The snow looked light and fluffy but it weighed a ton, and by the time Mary shoveled out her car she felt like her arms were about to fall off. Normally the streets were filled with the sounds of people rushing around, cup of coffee in hand, and a symphony of honking horns and car engines, but today it was as still as a graveyard. The only sound aside from her shovel scraping the asphalt was from the snowplows, one of which sprayed her with a sheet of dirty slush as it barreled down the street. Mary’s little hatchback, lacking the advantage of snow tires and a massive metal scoop attached to the bumper, tried valiantly to overcome the slippery street to no avail. Mary tried several times to dislodge from the parking spot, her sense of dread growing with every failed attempt. Finally, she realized driving to work wasn’t going to happen, and that there was only one terrible option left.

The park was only a few blocks from his house, and even with sled in hand Tommy ran the whole way, determined not to waste one precious second of the day. He arrived at the west entrance and stopped to wait for his friends. Normally the streets would be so busy he wouldn’t be able to see them until they were practically in front of him, but today the streets were eerily quiet except for the snowplows and a few unhappy-looking adults trudging to some unhappy place. Tommy had only been waiting a few minutes before Kevin and Todd came running down the block with their sleds. “Hi guys!” He shouted.

“Hi!” The two chorused almost in unison. The boys immediately headed for the hills, the snow giving way to their heavy boots with a satisfying crunch. They walked in silence and with purpose, focusing entirely on their destination. Nothing would distract them from their goal unless it was ten times more fun than sledding, and what could possibly be more fun than-

“Guys look!” Todd exclaimed as he pointed towards an empty parking lot. The others looked over and gasped. Snow that had been pushed to the edges of the lot had formed a big, beautiful mound about six feet high and ten feet long. Within that giant pile was the most awesome snow fort in history. All they had to do was dig it out.

To get to the ancient subway station with the perpetual smell of urine and human misery, Mary had to brave a gauntlet of icy sidewalks ten blocks down and six blocks long. For added fun she had to dodge kids that ran past her to enjoy some winter frolicking, clearly unconcerned about slipping and breaking an arm. Part of her envied their fearlessness. It beat worrying that every bad cough was a serious medical problem.

The average subway car contained ninety percent normal people, ten percent weirdos. Today eighty-nine percent of the normal people stayed home, while the weirdos were out in full force. Mumbling to Himself was present, as was Crazy Eyes and Fifty Layers of Dirty Clothes Guy. Mary played on her phone until No Boundaries Guy got on the train and, despite the abundance of seats, sat down next to her. Mary got up and spent the rest of the ride standing in front of the door.

She arrived at the office thirty minutes late, but there was very little sign of life other than the light coming from Debbie’s office. The office manager looked up from her computer when Mary walked in and smiled. “You made it! Pretty brutal out there, huh?”

“Not too bad,” Mary lied. “So, who else is here?”

“Just Evan and Steve,” Debbie replied. “Everyone else is working from home or on vacation. If I didn’t live five minutes from here, I would’ve taken the day off.”

Mary’s smile thinned. As an hourly wage office administrator, her only options were go to work or don’t get paid. “Well, I’d better get started. See you later!” She said, and hurried to her desk. She turned on her computer and groaned at all the messages waiting in her inbox. And as if on cue, her company cell phone began to ping like crazy.

The snow drift already had a few shallow holes from other attempts at digging tunnels, and the boys chose the biggest one as a starting point. The sleds lay forgotten as they pawed furiously at the snow like eager puppies, and slowly a tunnel began to form. When it was big enough to sit down in Tommy rested a moment, daydreaming about all the fun they were going to have when it was done.

“COME OUT OF THERE!” A voice outside yelled with such authority that Tommy scrambled to comply. He emerged to find a policeman standing in front, a cowed Kevin and Todd huddled to his left. “What you’re doing is very dangerous. The snow could collapse and trap you inside. Run along and don’t let me catch you here again, understand?”

Tommy, Kevin and Todd nodded and mumbled ‘yes’ before grabbing their sleds and leaving, complaining about how unfair it was as soon as the cop was out of earshot. But their disappointment quickly evaporated when they reached the hills. There were about a dozen kids there, but instead of sledding they were having an epic snowball fight. Tommy recognized a few kids from school, including Sara, a girl he really liked. The looks on Kevin and Todd’s faces said what Tommy was thinking. They dropped their sleds and scooped up big handfuls of snow.

Mary couldn’t believe the day she was having. By mid-morning all incoming messages from the phone and inbox had been handled, leaving her free to focus on her own work. A sense of serenity settled over her as her productivity soared. Eventually Debbie stopped by, not to dump some menial distraction onto her desk, but to take her lunch order. “I talked to Ken and he gave me the green light to order lunch from Anthony’s and charge it to the company. What would you like?”

“Personal pepperoni pizza and a garden salad,” Mary answered, then thought for a moment. “And garlic knots, large Pepsi and a black and white cookie.

Debbie typed it into the app on her phone. “Should be here at one,” she said, and walked away. Mary smiled and took another sip of her chamomile tea. 

The snowballs had stopped flying, but two boys were still engaged in a heated battle.

“You did so put ice in that snowball!” Tommy cried angrily.

“I did not! You’re a liar!” The other boy, Derrick, snapped.

“You’re the liar!” Tommy shot back. His chin was still throbbing where the snowball had hit him.

“You’re just a big baby!” Derrick said. “We all got hit but you’re the only one crying about it!”

“I am not!” Tommy yelled, though he could still feel the frozen trails on his cheeks the tears had left behind.

“Guys, stop!” Sara suddenly interrupted. “Let’s just go sledding.” The other kids murmured in agreement.

“As long as Tommy quits being a baby,” Derrick taunted.

“Would a baby sled down Kill Hill?” Tommy blurted out.

A few kids gasped. Derrick’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare,” he sneered.

“Watch me!” Tommy said, retrieving his sled.

Mary usually ate lunch alone. Everybody in the office was on their own schedule. Mary was used to accepting deliveries from a string of harried deliverymen, but today she took delivery from only one harried deliveryman with a windburned face. His eyes lit up when Mary added a very generous tip to the receipt. She sat in the kitchen with Debbie, Evan, and Steve, learning more about them over one lunch than she had in the eighteen months she’d been working there.

“You’ve been to England? Me too!”

“Your daughter is so cute! How old is she?”

“My mom says the same thing to me!”

“If you could have any animal as a pet what would you choose?”

Her lunch hour winding down, Mary was about to get back to work when Debbie plunked a six pack of beer on the table. “Leftovers from the Christmas party,” she said. “The Brits enjoy a drink with lunch and they’ve been around a thousand years. What do you say?” 

Mary popped a beer and raised it in the air. “Cheers,” she smiled.

Kill Hill was the tallest, steepest hill in the park, and Tommy was sitting at the top, legs folded into a circle of plastic, wondering how he got into this mess. From this height the kids below looked like blobs. He shook his head and tried to focus. All he had to do was make it to the bottom while avoiding all the trees and exposed rocks. One of the blobs yelled something Tommy couldn’t make out, but he thought it sounded like Derrick making fun of him again. He angrily pushed himself forward, and suddenly he was rocketing down the hill. 

He hadn’t even made it halfway when his panicked brain launched him out of the sled. He continued to slide down the hill, frantically flailing his arms trying to stop his descent, before finally coming to a stop at the base of a tree. He looked at the bottom of the hill and saw all the kids looking up at him. He wished he could bury himself in the snow forever. The last thing he wanted to do was face them, especially Derrick. Not because he’d taunt him again, but because he’d do it in front of Sara. 

Tommy’s phone vibrated. It was a text from his father.

DAD: Do u want to build a snowman?

Tommy didn’t want to talk to anyone, but if he wanted to keep his phone he had to answer his parents’ texts right away.

TOMMY: no

DAD: What r u doing

TOMMY: nothing

DAD: who r u with

TOMMY: no one

MOM: whats wrong

TOMMY: NOTHING IM FINE!!!

Tommy hadn’t meant to yell, especially at his mother, but in his frustration he pressed ‘send’ before he realized what he’d done. The phone rang and he nervously answered. “Hello?” he asked innocently.

“Tommy, it’s time for you to come home,” his mother said.

“But mom…”

“NOW,” she said. 

Tommy knew better than to argue. “Okay,” he sighed.

Mary shut off her computer and got ready to leave. The one beer she’d drunk had worn off, but she was still feeling a nice buzz. She stopped by Debbie’s office to say goodbye.

“Thanks for coming in today Mary,” Debbie said. “I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, just doing my job,” Mary replied. 

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Janet is leaving the company,” Debbie continued. “Would you be interested in applying for her position?”

“Yes, of course!” Mary exclaimed. Janet was Ken’s assistant. It was a salaried position that paid well, and by all accounts Ken was a great guy to work for.  

“Great! I’ll talk to Ken and we’ll set up an interview for next week,” Debbie said. “See you tomorrow.” 

Tommy trudged down the street, his sled weighing heavily in his hands. Just as he reached his apartment building, a snowplow splashed him with filthy slush. Tommy didn’t even care anymore. He just wanted to get inside, get yelled at, and go to his room until the worst day ever was over. 

The city looked much different than it had this morning. Cars filled the plowed rows and people walked the salted streets without fear. Just as Mary arrived at her building she saw a snowplow splash a kid. She couldn’t help but chuckle a little. It was funny when it happened to someone else. She walked up the stairs to enjoy her leftovers and the last hours of the best day ever.