Bittersweet

Christmas Eve arrived. Lenny was sitting on the floor in front of a window, her knees hugged to her chest. The house was actually quiet. The party wouldn’t start until later, thought it would last until after New Year’s Eve.

“What are you doing?” Bam asked as he walked by. He’d spent the day rushing around, making sure everything was ready. Lenny had stayed out of his way, and while at first he was relieved she wasn’t underfoot, he found he missed her chatter and smile.

“Looking at the snow.” She said softly. “Let’s go sledding.”

“What?”

“I want to go sledding.” She repeated, standing up. “You don’t have to come. I’ll go on my own.” She went to the closet and began to remove her snow boots, scarf, gloves, and mittens.

“You can’t go out there by yourself, its freezing.”

“Sure I can. Can I have a garbage bag? I don’t have a sled.”

“Helena!” he called after her as she ignored him and went to the kitchen. “Fine! Fine, I’ll go with you. Are you happy?”

Sure enough, he followed her into the kitchen, where she was rummaging in the cupboards for garbage bags. Triumphantly, she held up two of the heavy black ones, the biggest she could find.

“I have sleds.” He told her, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Okay, do you know where?” she was on her knees, resting her hands on her thighs. Some dust from her rummaging had managed to settle on her cheeks, and there was a cobweb clinging to her hair.

“In the basement.” Her eyes were shining with excitement, and for a moment, it took his breath away. He bent down and gingerly wiped the dust from her face and the spider web from her hair.

In a few moments, Bam came upstairs with the plastic sleds. He found her bundling up, putting on her mittens and tying a scarf around her head.

He similarly dressed himself. She snatched a sled and rushed off to find a proper hill. There weren’t many around the Castle, but she was determined enough that she found a big one.

“Race?” she shouted to him. The snow had begun to fall again, light and fluffy, clinging to their eyelashes. He nodded. They settled themselves on the sleds.
“One…Two… Three… GO! HEY!” she shouted. Bam, always determined to win, had started off before she shouted go. Lenny launched herself down the fluffy snow to chase after him.

It had been years since either one of them went sledding. It was not ingrained in every child how to steer a sled. So of course, they collided with one another at the bottom of the hill.

Their bodies went flying through the air, landing and tangling with one another on the snow. Lenny was on top of Bam, and when they finally opened their eyes and found nothing was broken, she began laughing.

“What’s so funny? My poor tailbone.” Bam groaned. Lenny stopped laughing and looked concerned. Her boyfriend took advantage of her feminine concern and rolled, pinning her against the cold softness beneath them.

“Oh! Oh! Cold!” she cried. Bam laughed evilly, but didn’t keep her down long. He stood up, leaving the sleds there in the snow before helping his lover up. They huddled together as they made their way back into the Castle.