Frost - #JustWriteIt #Sports

Breakfast

I ran toward the stairs like I was the Road Runner, my legs running full speed, and my feet slip-slip-slipping along the floor.

With my left arm I grabbed the banister and spun my momentum up the stairs. They came at me and I jumped up them two by two. My toe clipped the edge of the top step, and my other foot clipped my first foot, and I slid, on my stomach, along the kitchen floor.

"Nick!" My mother turned and said in a worried tone.

I lay below her on the floor and we both laughed, "Are you ok?" She asked.

"I'm fine." I said.

"That's good, now come sit down," My mother carried a plate with eggs and toast and placed it on the table.

"How come you didn't tell me we were going last night?" I asked after I had sat down.

"Take your mittens off and eat your breakfast Nick," My mom said, and kissed the top of my head.

"Ok." I said.

Her answer didn't tell me what I needed to know. It was still dark out and my dad and I had never done anything like this before.

"Will it be cold?" I asked.

"It sure will" My mom said.

When my dad came into the kitchen his nose was red and his eyes looked a little blurry. He looked at me and said, "Eat up son, you're going to need lots of energy today."

"Where are we going?"

"To have a day of big mountain skiing."

"Are we going to 7th Heaven?" I asked, referencing the poster that was on the wall in our garage.

"We'll go there too."

"I'm ready, I just need my boots to heat up right dad?"

"Finish eating." He said.

My mother handed him a travel cup filled with coffee and he kissed her on the cheek. I looked around the kitchen. It looked different at this time of day. It was still night, but normally night was at bedtime. This was a kind of morning-night. The lights in the kitchen were dimmed so low it made the room look like it had been dusted with soft gold paint.

Everything seemed to be extra still. The microwave seemed to be frozen in time, sitting alone in the shadowy recesses of the counter with nothing but its green clock blinking.It was like if my kitchen was the set of the movie and this was what it looked like between film shoots.

After taking it all in I stood up and went to the sink to wash my breakfast dishes. My kitchen had been transformed into a movie set and I had become an actor. Washing my dishes instead of just putting them in the sink.

Looking out the window above the sink I could see the stars and they brought back memories of catching crickets in the summer at night with my dad. We had put them in a bucket with holes in the lid so they could breathe and then we used them for bait when we went fishing the next day.

Mother had two paper bags with our lunches inside, which she handed to me to carry out to the car. My dad refilled his coffee cup and the three of us stood in the middle of the kitchen.

"How long are we going for?" I asked my dad.

"We won't stay." He said.

"I'll see you guys for a late dinner." My mom squatted down and gave me a hug.

"That's right," my dad said, "go warm up the car and I'll be right out." 

He handed me his keys. I knew them well, and not just how they looked, but from the way they smelled like my dad and leather. It always made me feel proud, like I had been given a big responsibility, when he asked me to do this. I was seven years old and too young to realize most kids my age had yet to ride in the front seat of a car.  He had taught me when we went to my uncles ranch, but it still made me a bit nervous to do on my own. 

I jumped down the stairs and put my shoes on and went out into the dark morning-night.

#justwriteit #sports