Two things in honor of the snow

[carvinkeeper12]

I don't understand it. Everyone here hates the snow. Well, not snow in general. Lingering snow. They say it's pretty when it falls, but gets disgusting when it sticks. It just turns brown or black and stays in cracks or makes the sidewalk slippery or whine, whine, whine. I disagree. Lingering snow in the city is beautiful, Maybe it's just the strange part of me that delights in the contrast between the natural and the urban. The part of me that always wants to take pictures of the tops of buildings against the sky. The part wanting to break onto a rooftop to see the different world of utilities atop buildings. In any case, the snow dotted with dark gravel that gathers at the edge of the sidewalks, the bit of frost clinging to the lines on the road or the edges of the stones on the cobblestone streets... It makes me smile. The way the only pure bits are gathered in planters or on parked cars that haven't moved in days. The way it has been compacted by cars or feet so that it's almost clear, and was slush but is now closer to a soft ice. Everyone else may hate the dirty snow, but damnit, I love it.


It was a Monday and it was snowing. Snowing a lot. But were my classes cancelled? Of course not. So I was in a sour mood as I left the first and headed across campus for the next. I was so busy grumbling to myself, in fact, that I didn't realize when I turned onto the path that would take me the long way 'round. By his class. The one I had a big ol' crush on. A silly, high school type crush. But like I said, today I was too busy grumbling about fun-sucking teachers and wanting to play in the snow to realize.

Next I know, I was on my back. There was something on top of me and my back was on the snow-covered lawn bordering the path. I let my eyes focus and found him staring at me. Oh. It would appear that I'd been tackled. I grinned. I hadn't wrestled with my "little" brother for years and not learned a few tricks. He was busy gloating about catching me off guard when I threw all my energy into a roll. Suddenly he found himself on his back, his prey now pinning him in the white powder.

Before he could fully recover, I snatched a handful of snow and rubbed it in his hair, my grin turning wicked. He laughed.

"I'm glad I could cheer you up," he said. "If you'd been in any darker a mood there would have been thunderclouds roiling over your head."

It was my turn to laugh. "I don't doubt it. I was busy cursing every teacher who was interfering with my ability to frolick like a little kid. Speaking of, we're going to be late to Psych if we don't hurry."

He shrugged, not moving. I was still sitting atop him, not really wanting to move either.

"Welllll..." he dragged out the word, "it's not like we're taking or reviewing for the midterm yet. We could be a little late."

With that, he flipped me off him and stood carefully. I started to rise and found his offered hand in front of my nose. Grabbing it, I hauled myself up while scooping up snow in my other hand. I knew better than to fully trust him. We loosed our snowballs at the same time and, laughing, began to circle each other. The snowball fight only lasted about three minutes - it was that cold out - and with one last firing by each of us, we linked arms and started down the path. He looked over and I cringed as his arm came up. He laughed again.

"You thought I had another snowball, duck?"

I made a face at the term and shrugged. "I know better than to trust you dearie." He chuckled again and finished what he'd brought his hand up to do: tweak my nose. I stuck my tongue out at him, ruffled his hair, and grinned.

"Race ya."

I took off towards the building, darting across the snow quickly but carefully. I turned the corner, hearing him closing the gap my head start had given me, and found myself checked into and momentarily pinned against the wall next to the door as I began to slide to a stop on the icy path. We both doubled over, laughing and trying to catch our breath so we could enter the classroom with some dignity. I ruined it though, once we got to a row with empty seats. I hip-checked him out of the way so I could enter first. We both luckily managed to crack up silently as we got out our notes and belatedly prepared to absorb more of what our Professor had to tell us about the human psyche.

Yay writing. I should be writing other things instead, but oh well. The first is from the beginning of the semester, the second is from just before class this morning.