I drained the last drop of tea as I looked out of the sliding glass doors onto the grassy expanse that ran along the back of the apartment buildings. Only it was grassy no longer. White, fluffy snow caked everything in sight, the cars on the parking lot to the left, the steps leading down from the street onto the open space behind our apartment, the wooden fence on the other side of the evergreens, the evergreens. Icicles hung from the branches, from the bottoms of the cars and they held on for dear life to the balcony railing. From my cozy family room, all was right with the world. It was January of 1993 and my first winter in the US and my very first winter of any consequence.
I just wanted to touch the snow. Was it as I imagined it to be? Smooth, soft, squishy? Would it stay in my hand or would it crumble? Could I make a snowball? Would it make my hands cold and wet?
I grabbed a jacket from the coat closet and ran out to the front steps. Delight! Snow, within reach! Except for one set of footsteps on one side of the steps and in the middle of the footpath, the snow was unblemished. I decided to make my way to the bush to the side of the steps. The snow formed a mound over the bush. It seemed a good place to start as any, a good place to begin my acquaintance with snow. Without thinking or not wanting to disturb the snow, I can't remember now, I put my feet, one after the other, in the exact same spaces as the previous set of feet. I made my down the steps and reached a bit longer to fit my foot into the foot on the sidewalk.
In a flash I found myself on my butt, acquiring a whole new perspective of the underside of a very dirty car. Too embarrassed to even look around to see who might have been witness, I got up hurriedly and went right back in.
Monday, January 12, 2009
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8 comments:
Ah! This is a classic scene of embarassment. I feel it could have been more detailed in the place where you are about to fall. A little more words to build up for that moment when you would have cringed with emnbarassment, and a little more on your feelings when it happened.
Ah ! So much for snow !
:)
first snow does that to you :)
-Kodi's mom
felt that warm tinge redden my ears too. funny and moving at the same time. Must have felt so strange to see a season you've only read/heard/thought about, in person. When did you finally touch snow then?
Ah :) this really sounds like an initiation rite of some kind :). One of my cousins in Toronto went through the same "process" - many times over.
I guess she's mastered the art of walking on snow by now :)
Walking on ice is an art I've yet to master...
Thanks T, will embellish. :)
Nino's Mum, later that day, hand-in-hand with the husband, this time. :)
G, N'ville Mom, Kavi, KM, I've learnt now to unabashedly tread on the snow, and not worry about spoling its beauty, and to stay clear of well-trodden paths. Those are the dangerous ones. Because of repeated treading, they turn icy faster than untrampled-on snow.
sujatha, I've reworked on my second prompt too- would you please have a peek again?
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