Avoiding Winter

Human nature was born by mother nature. Here's a case in point.

"What the heck? Why are you hiding like that?" Jane righted the coat rack she'd been dancing with and stared at the face poking out from under it, suddenly seized with a laughing fit.

Jerry took the finger from his lips trying to keep Jane quiet and hissed. "I'm hiding from Winter.. She's been giving me the cold shoulder and now I've got cold feet. Winter can freeze you with one glance if she's having a Frosty day."

Jane did her best to quiet her giggles. "You and Winter had a fight? Tell all." She slid down beside Jerry, pulled a coat around her and over her head, and whispered back, "It's okay babe. Let's chill."

Jerry shivered at the thought. "Don't joke around. You know why they call her Winter, don't you?"

Jane snuggled close to Jerry's side to warm up the conversation. "I've heard several rumors. The one I like best is because of that icy glare she gives while sizing you up. You know what I mean? How you weathered her stormy attitude and made you two a thing, I never figured out."

"It was that SnowJob she gave my boss when he was going to fire me. It wasn't flakey like the excuse I was trying to spread.I even ended up with a raise out of it. I told myself she had a heart of gold and I was determined to find it."

"Oh. My. Gosh." Jane had her nose poked out between two buttons. "Quiet. Here she comes."

Jane hid her nose just in time under a shivering overcoat that refused to settle into position without another tug.,

"I know you are in there." A dark shadow hovered in place,

Storm clouds appeared to be forming over Jerry and Jane. "Uh. Hey, Winter. We were searching for one of my contacts that popped out my eye. Give us a minute? Don't want you stepping on it." Jane's hand crawled out on the floor making searching motions before landing on Winter's snow covered boot.

"Gaa." Jane's hand darted back, afraid to get stepped on and smashed flat.

"Jerry? We need to talk." Winter's words didn't thunder like they usually did. It was almost as if they appeared in a deadly silence.

"We do?" Jerry searched inside to find the courage to reveal himself. As if in a trance, he rose and shed his shield of mismatched coats.

"Not here. Outside." Winter's gray eyes turned to point at the winter landscape where no-one else was venturing about. Even the occasional passing car whispered over the snow packed roads. "There."

Jerry ignored Jane's hand tugging at his leg. "Okay. Sure." His thoughts were twirling trying to find a way to escape the situation.

Winter puffed a cold cloud filled kiss at him, and grabbed his arm. "I want to show you something you've never seen before."

That proffered kiss chilled Jerry to the bone. His whole body felt nerveless as Winter led him outside. He'd done his best with every one of his flowery comments wilting before Winter's cold disdainful replies. Their relationship felt like it had always been on thin ice.

"Well you look at that?" Winter stopped tugging. Big snowy flakes embedded in her hair shook free as she pointed.

"Do you know why I was nicknamed Winter?" She kicked at a snowdrift with her boot.

Jerry unfroze long enough to ask a timid, "Why?"

"I grew up in a ski resort. I was a natural ski bum before I almost could walk. I was so good I never wanted winter to end. As a little kid I'd go around sobbing for winter to return when it melted away. I moved to Alaska when I was old enough to live on my own. The name had stuck. I thought people were making fun of me all those years, I even do now. It's the way they treat me, like they never want to see me again."

"Really?" Jerry couldn't believe his ears. Fog stirred in his mind as he struggled to see this vulnerable new side of Winter. The windswept visage where she was pointing blurred his vision.

"You are the only person in my life besides my parents, who ever tried becoming a true friend. I thought you were trying to con me." Winter stopped pointing, grabbed Jerry's arm and jerked him forward.

"When you started avoiding me, I felt so lonely I almost died inside. Look. I did this for you."

Jerry started awestruck at his name scrawled above what had once been known as the ski shack. He'd often passed it by without another glance, in an attempt to flee across the street for a hot cup of coffee at thebright yellow sign of the McDonalds.

"I don't understand." And he didn't. "What's my name doing up there?"

"You know I've been skulking around following you, trying to connect, This is why I've wanted to get back in touch. Let's go inside."

Winter stopped tugging as she handed him a flurry of pieces of paper. "You're the new co-owner. I'll do the work. You just have to get your friends coming in and buying things. I overheard you saying you wanted to be your own boss someday. You were getting so frustrated with all the demands of being a goffer for your boss."

Jerry was so stunned he hardly felt Winter trying to cuddle up against his side. "You did all this? Why?"

"I don't know much about being good friends. I hope you can teach me. You're the best chance I've got.."

"Are you okay?" Jane had popped in, unnoticed before now. "This is so cool, Jerry.. When did you decide you liked Winter so much? I didn't even know you knew how to ski."

"First lesson," Jerry leaned into Winter to get her full attention. "Remember that SnowJob you did on my old boss? Do the same thing when you hear a customer ring that bell at this front door."