work in progress- start of 2nd short story

It was a drab, grayish cover in the sky sneaking up on the afternoon, as I drove up to the parking lot of the elementary school. It gave off a feeling of being boxed into a plastic container that is just about to have its lid put on. As the car started to slow down and inch along in speed, Christian jumped out of the car as he had come to do lately since watching an old episode of 'Starsky and Hutch' from cable. I tried to catch him with a stern disapproving comment but he was off and nearly out of visibility before I could even stumble through a few noise making words.

There I sat, transfixed on where I was, yes it was a parking lot but it was the prequil to where I had been over the last 6 years. I had made brief encounters to this same parking lot 6 years earlier when Christian had been the one to go to this school by himself, where now it was his brother Patrick who had brought us here...to this point of surreality exposed. It was that moment of vulnerability that creates a dejai vu in ones life.

And in a moment my thoughts were interrupted in the distance by the faint carrying of voices in the cold, and slightly threatening sky. One voice, then two and as a third voice emerged a trio of kids arrived in full view, carrying on in conversation in a playful yet dedicated manner. And soon to follow was the onslaught of more elementary school children. All alert, some with an immediate agenda to possibly get home fast, others atune to their social surroundings and who were locked into the intensity of it all.

In the midst of the group Christian stood out, obviously because he did not look the part of an elementary child and of course lagging not too far behind was Patrick and another boy who appeared to be playfully hopping, then skipping and then too, was conversing with Patrick. As they got closer to the car, perpendicular to all were large mounds of snow piled up high against a new chain-linked fence that separated the grassy play area of the school yard from the small U-shaped parking lot. All at once Christian seemed to be verbally startled by the young boy who had been dilly- dallying along with Patrick. He seemed to take it in stride as just the rantings of a little boy who wanted to make his presence know and was fishing for where the boundaries lay around the "older" kid. Plus the kid probably was the youngest in a family where making himself stand out by taking potshots, was in fact, the only way to be heard.

Christian with easy strides, glidded over to the car door and entered without comment. As I looked at him to make my previously unheard mumblings restated, my mind stopped short and I just thanked him instead for fetching his younger brother for me. As I turned to then acknowledge what I assumed was the approach of Patrick towards our car , my eye caught sight of Patrick and his friend instead fixed and attentively gazing at that long mound of snow before them. Besides being high, round and somewhat packed against the fence, it also ran the length of the fence all the way to the entrance of the parking lot. The boys looked at each other, and Seans friend said a quick word, which drew a smile and a quick kick of his boot through the snow from Sean as the other boy began to climb excitedly up the mound of snow. Sean quickly realized that he too was not going to be left behind and he set off to catch up with his friend.

As I watched through my car window at the scene taking place, I realized that what appeared to me to be a big, plowed mound of slightly dirty snow was in fact something far more revered and adventureous in the eyes of my son and his friend. For them it was an unspoken knowledge, where there was to be no misinterpretations: That snow was there to be conquered! They saw an endless mountain of white and they knew their duty to it and themselves and no one would stand in their way, especially that nagging noise in the background of what was in fact my voice trying to break a small crack into the shut-off left side of my childs brain.