"Come on guys, hurry up" Chris urged to
his friend and younger sister as they pulled on their winter clothing,
looking eagerly out the window at the yard covered in a fresh
blanket of snow. Sara Johnson, their mother, looked on with a
slight smile on her face, watching them wriggling into their snow
pants and boots. They'd been up early enough, as it was the weekend,
and with Chris having had John sleep over the night before, they
had been wide awake and needed no second calling to breakfast.
In fact all three of them were all excited over the
new snowfall, the first substantial one of the season, and had
been hurrying through breakfast when the neighbors arrived. Beth
had been the first to see them coming up the walk, and her excited
little giggle had them all looking out the window to greet their
guests, even before they rang the doorbell.
When Yenda and Keethar had showed up, breakfast was
pretty much finished. The kids had wolfed down the remainder of
the food, eager to get outside and romp in the fresh snow. While
they were throwing on their winter clothes, the two rrakith cubs
watched expectantly, quietly munching the blueberry muffins Sara
had given them.
"Well, are you two all set to try out the snow?"
Sara asked them, a cheerful tone to her voice, seeing the adorable
expressions on their fuzzy feline faces.
"Yes Mrs. Sara," Yenda, the older of the
two answered. "It was so great when we got up this morning
and saw it everywhere... We played some on the way over here and
it's neat!" The cubs had never seen snow before in their
lives, and it was easy to see their excitement, as they stood
their with their eyes sparkling, their ears perked up and tails
twitching eagerly behind them.
They'd been here for about seven months, so they'd
just missed last year's winter, and from what they'd probably
been hearing from the other children, it was easy to see why they
were so eager about it.
How much the world had changed in these past few
years, Sara thought. Ever since humanity had met the Rrakith,
things had changed so fast. Now there were some rrakith working
at the university, and they even had a family of the newcomers
living next door. Things had been strange, and even a little awkward
at first, remembering meeting the three parents and their two
cubs for the first time, but over the last few months, it had
been nice getting to know them.
The kids had been very happy with their neighbors,
as both the rrakith cubs were about the same age as her children,
Yenda being maybe a year older than Chris, and Keethar matching
up with Beth almost perfectly. They all got along splendidly,
and that had helped the parents bridge the gap too.
Now watching the two familiar aliens, dressed in
their warm winter clothes, her smile widened a little. Their outfits
did look just slightly out of place on their feline form, most
notably their boots, which were specially designed for digitigrade
feet; the gleams in their eyes and the small smirks pursed on
their muzzles was very cute indeed. No matter how different the
two races were, seeing the excited look of a child on the cubs'
faces reminded her that they weren't so different after all.
When the three human children had finished donning
their snow gear, quickly zipping up their jackets, they rushed
out the door almost as fast. "Come on Keethar," Beth
called, "I'll show you how to make snow angels."
Standing behind in the kitchen, Sara watched them
running and playing in the snow, smiling at their youthful abandon,
and the vigor with which the rrakith cubs explored the new marvel
of the weather. She stifled a giggle as Yenda practically dove
into the snow, rolling around in it, coming up her mane and face
dusted with the powder, then tossing handfuls of it up in the
air to gently fall back down on her. John caught her off guard
with a loosely-packed snowball, she was quick to catch on and
retaliate, the five of them breaking out in a free for all, their
laughter audible even inside the house.
She had watched them for a few minutes, then gone
back to her own things, looking out and checking on them from
time to time. A little over an hour had passed when her attention
was drawn toward the window by the yelling outside. Throwing on
her jacket and walking out on to the stoop, it was pretty easy
for her to see what all the ruckus was about.
The last time she'd looked out at the kids, Chris
had been showing Yenda how to make a snowman, while John, Beth
and Keethar had been working on a fort, perhaps in expectation
of another snowball fight. Now it appeared as if the snowman was
finished, but not to Chris' satisfaction. Apparently while he'd
been briefly distracted, maybe helping work on the fort, or stocking
up on his own supply of snowballs, Yenda had taken it upon herself
to add the remaining touches to their creation, but instead of
the traditional smooth face, she'd added a muzzle shaped out of
a small snowball to it, as well as two slightly-pointed ears on
top of its head.
The scene was almost comical, if not for all the
yelling, even so Sara felt a brief twinge of humor. Chris wasn't
too happy with Yenda's modifications, and was arguing loudly with
her, while she stood her ground and gave him a defiant look.
"You did it all wrong. It's not supposed to
look like that," Chris accused her loudly.
"No I didn't. How's it supposed to look?"
Acting quickly to break up the situation, Sara walked
up between them, just as the other children were becoming interested
in the showdown.
"Mom, look at what she did to the snowman. She
ruined it," Chris had just the slightest hint of a whine
to his voice.
"No I didn't Mrs. Sara. It looks good doesn't
it?" was Yenda's rebuttal.
Stifling a nervous giggle, Sara took a couple of
moments to formulate the correct reply. "Yes Yenda it does
look good... it's different, but you did a good job with it."
Pausing she added, "I just think it wasn't exactly what Chris
had in mind... neither did I."
Then turning to her son, "Chris, of course she'd
make a snowman that looks like her. Come on now, you and Beth
have been friends with Yenda and Keethar since this summer, you
shouldn't be fighting now." Thinking quickly she finally
added "why don't you make another snowman, a more traditional
one, so the two of them can be friends, just like the two of you
are, okay?"
His disposition changing quickly, he smiled at the
idea. "Okay, that'd be great!"
"Now say you're sorry to Yenda."
"Awww Mom."
"Chris..." the tone of her voice just dropping
slightly.
"Alright, I'm sorry Yenda. You made a good snow-rrakith,
now let's make a snow-human."
Yenda was just as quick to forgive and forget as
she smiled at him, her ears flicking with delight. The two of
them set to work rolling up another giant snowball. Paul joined
in to help them as Beth and Keethar went off to entertain themselves
with something new.
Seeing the situation back in control, Sara surveyed
the scene for a few moments more before returning to the warmth
of the house. Thinking about it, she let a couple of giggles escape
her, pondering the unexpected situation which had just confronted
her. Very different indeed she thought to herself, and then she
realized the truth to that idea. Just how different were the rrakith,
and what other situations were bound to come up as the two races
became more familiar neighbors?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening,
with Beth and Keethar coming in, both looking like they'd had
enough of the weather and decided that the warmth of the house
was more inviting.
"You guys cold?" Sara asked, noticing Keethar
shivering just slightly, still not used to the cooler weather,
even with her body's light covering of fur.
"Yeah," the rrakith cub nodded, pulling
off her coat.
"Okay, how about some hot chocolate then?"
Keethar tilted her head to the side enthusiastically
in affirmation as Beth gave a delighted nod, then surprising their
hostess, the cub bounded over to give her an impromptu hug. Smiling
down at her in pleasant surprise, Sara returned the hug, reaching
out for her daughter, who joined her friend in their warm embrace,
sharing the quiet little moment between them.
Copyright 1996, Will A. Sanborn - was1@shore.net
The Rrakith copyright 1996, Will A. Sanborn and Bernard Doove