Snow Blind

“That is quite the wind today,” Tom shouted above the onslaught of torrid white pelting against him.

“Yeah, I didn't think it would be this bad today, but we will still be okay,” Darren yelled over the white wall forming between the walkers.

Twice a week at 9:30 am a group would get together at various locations throughout the city to have a leisurely hour walk and then move to a coffee shop for about an hour of friendly banter. They prided themselves on coming out no matter what the weather. Being in a prairie city in the middle of winter tests that resolve quite often, like today. It was minus thirty-five with a forty-kilometer wind blasting through the area. In retaliation to the forces of nature, the walking group strutted defiantly, looking like colorful balls of wool stretched out along an unseen, but well remembered, trail layered in about three feet of powdered snow.

Tom’s eyelashes had large ice droplets crusting his eyelids almost shut, but he trudged on behind the red moving bauble in front of him. The red-jacketed Darren had moved ahead since the path started to become laden with trees on either side narrowing it to a single file instead of two abreast. Talking was no longer possible. Tom thanked himself for bringing that scarf that he had wrapped around his face and for putting on his long johns, extra socks, and an extra mitt liner. Growing up in Western Canada earned you the badge of winter survival, if you survived, of course. People were found every year after the spring thaw, lifeless. In the cold many just walked until they got tired and then took a permanent rest.

Must be falling behind I can’t see Darren’s jacket

Tom picked up the pace a little, but the snow seemed to be getting worse, heavier and more solid, close to small pellets that were stinging the little bit of flesh that was poking around the edges of his scarf. One foot in front of the other, he plodded on but still could not see any red in front of him. He stopped. There should be someone behind him also, but after waiting for a few minutes for that person to bump into him and when they didn’t he started to feel a small bubble of panic rise. The walk they were on was in a rather large forest at the edge of the city.

Tom wasn’t one to panic easily, but he knew how trouble could happen on a stormy day and lead to disaster. He was told that his parents were never found after they went into the woods one night into a snowstorm and never returned. Tom was only five at the time and had been fast asleep in his bed when his parents left. The next morning he woke up as usual, went downstairs, climbed up on a stool to get his cereal bowl, then his Co-Co Puffs, and after splashing a little milk on them, he munched through breakfast. It was a little while before he realized that his mother hadn’t come into the kitchen to make breakfast before he went up to his parent's room looking for them. No one was there. He looked through the house yelling for his mother, then his father to no avail. There was no one in the house, not even a mouse. Tom’s parents had taught him to dial 9-1-1 if there was trouble. He was alone. All alone. That’s trouble. It wasn’t long before police arrived, surveyed the situation, questioned Tom, and then called child services.

Things went downhill from there. He ended up with pretty good foster parents and went to college for a couple of years before dropping out to start his own online business. Tom liked being alone, he had always felt out of place with the other children, often called ‘odd’ or ‘strange’. Being alone never bothered him, he was always able to entertain himself having a very active imagination. Tom often would imagine his parents walking around in snow storms waiting to be found and that he could just walk into one of those storms to find them. Many times in the winter Tom had walked off, only to be tracked down and hauled back home by his worried and upset replacement mother and father. The Hanson's, Mary and Joe, had come to care about him and he for them, but thoughts about his real parents continued to swirl in his mind daily. He had no closure; they had just disappeared without explanation. After a long time, the authorities just walked away from the case, labeling it as missing persons.

Where is everyone?

Tom could no longer see even his hand in front of his face. Howling noises, long and low, called to him. He knew that he couldn’t just keep standing there, and had to get out of the forest. Tom took several steps forward only to hear growls, deep throaty voices speaking something he couldn’t understand. After a few more steps, he was bumped by some solid object, and then he started seeing flashes of black fur and red eyes peering at him in the distance. He still couldn’t see in front of him, so he knew that these visions must be in his head, but he started to get knocked around by unknown objects. Tom could hear the crunching of snow, a silver black streak bolting towards him, and then he felt brushing against his leg, but gone before he could get his hand down to check it. Tom was beyond panic at this point, but there was also a strange sense of familiarity coursing through his body. Confused and scared Tom started screaming and running to finally fall into the snow. When he raised his head a little he saw several paws.

Oh just great! Eaten! That’ll be the headlines.

But the paws just remained fixed there, so he raised his head some more to stare straight into the golden, piercing eyes of a large gray wolf. Next to the Gray was a snow-white wolf with deep blue eyes. Tom remembered something from his college days, these were not just any wolves, these were dire wolves that should have vanished from the earth in prehistoric times. The Gray wolf cocked its head, then moved forward and nudged Tom on the arm. The White also moved towards Tom and started to lick his face.

“Eww”

If wolves could smile, then the white seemed to be laughing, while the Gray was grinning. Tom was not being eaten, so he went along with the joke and smiled back. The wolves stepped back and then the air around them started to shimmer and the next thing he saw were two totally naked people in front of him. The Gray was a man and the White a woman. They seemed oddly familiar. The woman quickly ducked behind a tree and Tom could hear a bag being opened and then a pair of pants and a shirt were thrown out to the man. As the male was getting dressed he said, “Hello son.”

“Son,” Tom’s eyes unfocused and he started to feel faint.

The woman came out from behind the tree clothed and ran towards Tom, dropped to her knees, and hugged him fiercely, “Oh my poor boy, what you must think of us abandoning you.”

Tom was too startled to even utter a sound, he just kept staring at the familiar faces that had haunted his dreams for years, the faces that, over the years, started to vanish slowly, now they were vividly clear and in front of him.

“You must have many questions son, but we need to move, we don’t have much time and yes, we are your parents, and yes, you are also a wolf.”

At that Tom just sighed, hung his head low, and dropped with a thud back into the snow.

Several minutes later, Tom was on his feet being led by his father and trailed by his mother. After several tense minutes, they arrived at an area ringed with rocks. It was several feet in diameter. His father went right into the ring, but Tom stopped before entering the circle.

“Explain what is going on. Now!” his voice full of bitter resentment for all the years of abandonment.

“We don’t have the time,” his father said.

“Well make some or I leave.”

Tom’s mother moved beside him and took both of his hands in hers, “the short version is that we were brought to this world from the past to save us from extinction.”

Tom wasn’t going to give in to his emotions until his curiosity was satisfied, “By who? Why didn’t you tell me before you ran off? Why did you run off and leave me?” The last question is at the heart of Tom’s queries.

With a frown, Tom’s father took a step toward Tom, but his mother held up her hand to stop him, “He deserves answers, Johnathan.”

“Make it quick then, Catherine.”

“Son, we were brought here by the caretakers of life. They preserve all life in one way or another, but still let the natural course of events play out, what everyone here calls evolution.”

“Caretakers, do you mean angels?”

“That longer story is for another time. We didn’t tell you before because we didn’t know. We were dropped onto earth in 1999 with our memories buried away to be awakened at another time and we were given false identities. The caretakers took care of all the details, everything. We never knew anything, until one night we were called out. That night you lost us. We didn’t have a choice. The caretakers called us to this place and took us to a new place to live in peace as we were meant to be as dire wolves. This world has become too hostile. ”

“Why didn’t you take me with you or come back for me sooner.”

“We couldn’t son, not until now, but you must trust that every day we thought of you and for the day that we could be reunited.”

Tom felt the words ring true, for the first time in a long time he felt a comfort in his bones instead of a space in his heart.

“Will you be with us now as a family son?” his father held out his hand.

“But I have a family here now and friends.”

His mother’s face took on a sad look, “You will have to leave them if you want to be true to your nature.”

“Where will we be going?” Tom knew whatever he decided there would be loss and heartache.

“We have been given a planet that is only a few million years old and its future will not include the carnage that people have wrought on Earth. It is in a different dimension. There we can live in peace amongst our kind and in harmony with nature. But we have to go now. The portal is only open for another few minutes.”

“Can’t I come later,” Tom implored.

Catherine looked at Johnathan, lowered her head, and then looked away.

“There is more, isn’t there.”

“Yes, this world has been destroyed so much by the people living off of it that it is going to start healing itself,” Tom’s father quietly and sorrowfully told Tom.

“What! What about my family and friends?!”

“Son, they are of this world and cannot leave it, but you can since you’re our son.”

“Can’t these caretakers do something about it?!”

Johnathan’s face grew stern.

“They are the ones that have decided that the human race needs to become extinct,” Johnathan replied.

“Who are they to judge?”

“They seeded this planet in the first place and maintain an equilibrium throughout the universe.”

“So they are gods, then?” Tom claimed.

Tom’s mother moved closer to Tom and brushed his hair out of his eyes, “the extinction will happen over several thousands of years, no one you know will be hurt. A blink in the caretaker's eyes. Your friends and family will live out their lives.”

“But if I leave they won’t know what happened to me, just like when you left me.”

“I’m sorry for that. If we could, we would come back, but we were granted this portal by the caretakers because of their compassion. They found out that we left you behind. They made an exception for us to get you. I’m sorry for the years you lost with us, but it has only been minutes for us, not years. Time is funny like that when you play around with it. ”

Tom knew he needed to go with his real parents, to be true to himself. He took off his coat, dropped it outside of the circle and pulled a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket and quickly scribbled a note, then he took his father’s outstretched hand and walked forward with his mother following. All that remained was the blowing wind rustling Tom’s jacket with a note left inside.

The walking group called the police when they could not find Tom. The next day Tom’s jacket was found after the storm had let up. It was returned to the Hanson's. Mary held the note to her chest and looked at her husband, “Our boy has finally gone home.”