Chalet Holiday

Snowflakes sprinkled down from the clouded cool blue sky, each coating the inches of snow. The snow hummocks enlarged every time another cascaded. Theodore dredged his chocolate-filled croissant with powdered sugar while his eyes repeatedly fell on the window one room away. There were no curtains or blinds on it, so the view of snow and trees was visible outside. It was kept uncovered when Theodore couldn’t bother draping anything over it, which was most of the time. Astrid, his cousin staying in the chalet with him, had somehow blocked the view with a towel 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 the counters separating it from the open living room ahead of them.

“I don’t think so, 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 answer, 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. 

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

Theodore lied back on the couch and thought about some of the more dull ones he catalogued, one of them beingbirdwatching. He had discovered that people enjoyed sitting outside for long periods of time just to spot birds. Theodore tried it, but with not many resources or patience, he didn’t like it very much and dropped it. 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 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, thinking possibly that it might’ve been taking too much at once that made it unenjoyable, but he crossed it off the list as a failure.

‘Try painting’ his aunt said, and he tried it. The day he did, Theodore left his studio having smudged colors on his canvas, hands, and his clothes having splatters from flicking the brushes.

“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, classics and 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. Collecting items felt like it would’ve taken t0o long, and Theodore didn’t think he had anything interesting to pile up.

“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, Theodore flinching.

He snapped out of thought and shrugged. “Do we have the supplies for that?”

“I think so,” Astrid tapped her fingers on her mug. “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 had bought waterproof jackets, waterproof pants, fleeces, and everything they’d need for skiing. But when they went to the resort near the cabin, Astrid had sprained her ankle on the first try coming down the mountain, and Theodore didn't want to go on again without her. So they wound up sitting in the dim-lighted living room, comfortable with blankets next to them, both sitting 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. 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 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 it for passing time 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.

He took it from her outraised arm. “1000 pieces? We don’t have time for that.”

Astrid scoffed. “We also didn’t have time to stay at the bakery for 30 minutes, but we did.” She didn’t speak more, but it was implied.

This could be your new hobby.

She felt that she had said it too many times, so now the words only hung in the air. Theodore nodded and opened it up, taking a handful of pieces before dropping them back in. He leveled his gaze at her, already looking like he’d give up, but Astrid kept her expression demanding.

Theodore huffed and cleared out the table, letting all the pieces drop from the box.

“Don’t let any of them fall.” Astrid said, tilting her head 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 on its sides, mountains and some birds behind. Astrid only caught a glimpse of it, but she could tell that it would be a long evening.

“I think I’ll be in my room,” she muttered, but Theodore glared at her.

“No, we are solving this together.”

Astrid sighed. “But you want a new hobby…” She objected.

“Sure I do. I won’t be doing this one alone though.”

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