Stickers in the Snow
"Barkie," said Noah, "do you know how many stories you could tell just looking at these stickers in the snow?"
Instead of barking, Sir Barksalot howled a long howl and pawed the air.
"That's right. Not near as many as we could if Daddy Mac was here. You know, he would have been ... well, I don't know how much he would have been, but today's the day he would have been however much he would have been. And I would have said, Daddy Mac, those stickers, once they were the weapons that protected the little people that lived in those woods. The evil razor birds that otherwise would swoop right down and slice them up for appetizers, well, the stickers stuck them through and through and then the little people ate the evil birds instead. That is until the snow that wouldn't stop began to fall. That was the end of everything. The little town was buried till you never knew that there had been a little town."
Sir Barksalot cocked his head to one side and made a series of marks in the snow with his suddenly animated tail.
"I'm sorry, Barkie, I don't know what happened after that. I'm missing Daddy Mac too much and I can't tell you stories any more today."
It was very cold. Even the wind had been frozen in place. Little Noah stayed frozen too until Sir Barksalot grew impatient and jumped up on the boy and licked his iced-up tears away. And then Noah's mother began calling. And then Noah and Sir Barksalot went in. Noah's mother was very understanding when he said he could not swallow a single bite of the special dinner she had made.
"It's all right," she said. "It's just that day again. I know."
26 February 2022
Texas Jim
Prospect, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca