A Hard Winter's Night

Chapter Seven: Snowflakes

Linda kissed her daughter on the forehead before running upstairs to the bedroom to get dressed. Once she heard the door slam, Sandy turned her eyes towards Winter who was still shoveling food in his mouth as if it was his last meal on Earth. Sandy giggled, which caught his attention.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I can tell you really like my mom's pancakes." She grinned. "That's okay. Everyone does. Would you like some more? I know how to make them."

Winter swallowed his bite of food and cleared his throat. She wasn't lying. The hot breakfast was by far the highlight of his week. Perhaps he needed to slow down a bit. Though he was indeed raised by wolves, he didn't need to subject them to his uncouth eating manners. "No, thank you."

Sandy, dejected, went back to her food, "Okay." In two beats, her eyes darted back up to him with renewed interest. "Can I ask you a question?"

It's not like it's gonna stop anytime soon he'd imagine. He swallowed. "Sure."

"Is your name really Mr. Winter?"

Almost against his will, he smiled. She made it sound like some character from some epic story. Her big fascination was hard to ignore in such a small voice. "You can just call me Winter. And, yes, that's really my name. Why?"

She wiped her mouth. "Is it because your parents really like the Winter season?"

He sipped some water, trying to fight the urge to churn memories of his parents that would kill any warmth the food put in him. "Not really. It was because I was born during this time of the year."

Her wide eyes locked on him. "Wow! I think it's really cool."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? How come? His genuine interest broke through in his tone. Her perspective may be a refreshing take on something he had to defend to almost every human he interacted with. Apparently, only eccentrics and hippies named their offspring after seasons or something other than Bob or Tiffany. Funny, names like that were very odd for his people. Aristans believed that names meant something and so it had to have some significance. Devin told him that humans usually just chose names that sounded cool.

She grinned. "Because, winter is the coolest time of the year. There's snow on the ground to make snowmen, you get to drink cocoa and eat cookies. There's Christmas!"

He grunted. None of those things excited him. It must've been apparent in his expression because Sandy started to open her mouth then closed it, going back to her food. He sighed. It was just as well. Sooner or later, he would end up saying something to upset her. He always did with humans. The whole reason he was there sitting in their home was because he yelled at her. Well, not the whole reason. He did have that Thesian rogue to sniff out. Someone was nosing around their property and he was ready to find out who. Winter scanned around the home looking for anything out of the ordinary. Instead, he found himself focused on the tree and holiday decorations. They were hard to miss. Especially the homemade chain garland, which adorned the shelf closest to him. She and her mother built it just last night. He watched her downtrodden face as she pushed food around her plate. He wasn't sure what she wanted from him and if understanding humans was Greek, understanding their children might as well be the Greek language backward. Trini was a precocious one like her. Always hungry for interaction.  One thing was sure, her fidgeting and energy reminded him of a soda bottle shook to extreme, ready to pop. As if her little body could barely contain its excitement.

"Yeah, I can tell you and your mom really likes the holidays."

She picked up her head and gave him a glowing smile. "Yeah, it's my favorite time of the year! Mom says it's hers too. We do all the decorations and make all sorts of treats to give as gifts like butter cookies and chocolate chip for Santa."