The Very Heart of Winter❄️

 

*

 
            The wind came to Ralph one day, blowing long and cold and low. The sky closed down, tight, white, and dense.
            “Winter is coming, Forest Lord,” said the wind.
            “It feels early,” said Ralph.
            “Aye, you’ll see!” said the wind, hurrying away to the west.
            Standing there, among the firs, Ralph raised his hands to the sky, and sang a wordless song, a song low and slow. It was a song of his fathers. A song to welcome winter.
            Then he listened. As if in answer the remaining leaves sighed and relinquished their hold with a dry papery sound. Then the Forest was silent.
            “So, fall is over,” said Ralph, and headed on down to the fire to talk to Ramona.
            It was getting colder quickly. By the time he got to the fire, tiny flakes of snow were falling, and his breath went before him in clouds.
            “Mona, the wind tells me that winter is coming,” he smiled.
            “Winter changes things, Baby,” she said. The tiny flakes fell in her hair giving her a festive look. “I love winter,” she said.
            “I think I’ll go check in on Rick. I’ll tell him what the wind tells me,” said Ralph.
            Well, as you know, winter is different outside the Home Clearing. The snow really piles up outside. By the time Ralph got to the parking lot it was up to his ankles, covering up the dirty refrozen stuff with stunning white.
            The campground was empty. But Rick’s rig was parked in its normal place. Snow was gathering on the hood, so he’d been there for a while. Dexter’s Honda wasn’t there. Leaving giant footprints, Ralph crossed over to the office door. He knew the snow would cover his tracks soon enough.
            He knocked, and slipped into the office.
            “Hey,” said Rick, yawning and closing his laptop.
            “Yep,” said Ralph, taking a seat. “I bet you wonder why I’m here.”
            “Figure you’ll tell me.”
            “The wind came through a while ago, Rick, and told me that fall is over and winter is here. It’s going to snow a lot,” said Ralph.
            Rick looked at him and didn’t speak. He got up and went out to the kitchen, coming back with two mugs of coffee. He set them down, and went back for a box of Safeway doughnuts to go with the Safeway coffee. It was a Safeway kind of day.
            “I believe you. Why wouldn’t I. The wind might hint to me, but it doesn’t give me the weather report,” said Rick after he had sat back down. “The campground is closed. Dexter and Hannah and Honey Bear have moved into Arlington for a while.”
            “Looks deserted,” said Ralph.
            “I have to stick around,” said Rick.
            “A funny thing happened a couple of days ago. It was getting dark. I was heading out to my truck to go home. And I saw something. This is hard to explain.
            “I glanced up into the campground because I caught something in the corner of my eye. It was a light. There’s no reason for a light to be there. Well, I had to go up there and see what it was, if I could. It was hard to say exactly where it was, so it was hard to say how big it was. It didn’t look like a flashlight, or a lantern. It was still.
            “When I got up there, I could see that it was right up over my head. I could see that it was about the size of a basketball. It was a very very light pinkish color.
            “’Who are you?’ popped out of my mouth before I could think what I was saying,” said Rick.
            “What then?” said Ralph.
            “I can’t tell anybody but you. This pink light thing, seeming to be hollow almost, like a bubble, sank down to my eye level and just a few feet ahead of me. And I began to hear music, and it became brighter, and then brighter!
            “I panicked. I started hauling off backwards, tripped and fell and when I looked up, sitting there on the asphalt, it was gone.
            “What was that, Ralph? Do you know what that was?” said Rick.
            “It’s more a case of who that was. A person,” said Ralph.
            “A person?” repeated Rick.
            “They’ve been around so long that they don’t have the kind of bodies that you and I do. They’re alive. You started the conversation when you asked who it was!” said Ralph. “It won’t hurt you. Probably thought you were ready to talk!”
            “That was kind of sudden!” burst out of Rick.
            “You’re a lucky man. You’ve had a taste of the music of the spheres! If you see it again, try asking it something. See what happens. But if you see a blue one, don’t touch!” said Ralph. “There must be a reason it came to you.”
            Outside, the snow was falling heavily. Ralph’s tracks were barely visible.
            “I sure don’t know why that would be,” said Rick. “What’s wrong with the blue ones?”
            “They aren’t evil, but they don’t mix well with flesh and blood. It might be OK to talk to one of those, just don’t touch.” Ralph said as he chose a chocolate doughnut with white icing.
            “Things are sure different from how I thought they were. What’s next?” said Rick.
            “I can’t tell you what’s next. I don’t know. But I know who to trust, and so do you,” Ralph smiled.
            “That’s true. Can’t go wrong that way,” said Rick, smiling at last.
            “No fear!” said Ralph. He had a pumpkin spice doughnut next.
            “I think I’ll skedaddle back to the fire!” said Ralph.
            “Say hi to Ramona, Ralph!” Rick called as Ralph slipped out into the snowstorm.

❄️💙❄️

* Probably shot by my Navigator.