Fun in the Snow

Fun in the Snow

Postby Treadwell » Sun Nov 29, 2015 4:06 pm

Evening of the twenty-ninth of the eleventh month.

Treadwell's house--specifically, the front yard.


Five children, all round-bodied and all bundled up in their warmest clothing, scurry about in the snow recently fallen all over Myrkentown. They range from the eldest ones outside--Nicholas and Arella, aged eleven--to the pair in the middle--Egbert and Gwendolyn, aged seven--down to the youngest one outside--Frederick Augustine, aged four. They are busily working on a massive snowman with what snow has fallen nearest the house, a snowman nearing the proportions of their Uncle Langley, who stands equally warmly wrapped next to his heavier, younger, baby brother, Aloisius.

Behind them, inside the opened doorway, in her gown and slippers and cap, is Alice.

"Aloisius! Langley! The two of you are much too old to be out there playing in the snow. Come inside, lest you grow ill."

"Love, mmph mmph, Doctor Jacobson is down the hall, hrm, should either of us show as much a sniffle. I think we will be fine, mmph, standing here watching the children."

"Quite right, Allie. Alice, we will be fine. If he starts showing any signs of illness--or I!--then we shall be promptly inside the house." Langley turns halfway toward Mrs. Treadwell and offers one more note. "Is Elizia already off to bed?"

"Hardly, Langley. She is in her room upstairs, but a few moments ago, at least, she had a lamp burning, and she was looking out her window at the children."

Aloisius chuckles. "She never really has been fond of children very much, mmph. Are you sure we speak of the same woman, Lovey?"

This comment, however, earns him a suitable jab of a tickling finger into his back. This jiggliness sets him stumbling forward with his cane, boots crunching into snow. "By Tubbius's rippling gut, Alice! Why did you do that?"

Children pause in their building and layering--even little Frederick. A moment later, a snowball gets smushed into the snowman's chest, patted into place and smoothed down just a little, and the work resumes. If they are going to make this look like their dear Uncle Langley, he needs a more prominent bosom than their copy shows!

"Why ought I not? Elizia cares more for children than she lets on, Aloisius. Remember that she is a mother, too, and a wife at one time."

"Well, you didn't have to tickle the old man, Alice. What if he had slipped in the snow?" is asked as Aloisius comes plodding back into the doorway, shuddering.

"Oh, Langley, if he stays out there a few minutes, he will be a snowman himself. The children do not even need to work, when one of you two could just layer up in snow and look the part."

This prompts giggles from both Tubbians. Only the Lord Steward is bold enough--or foolish enough?--to add, "And you as well, Dearest!"

"Aloisius!" comes out a snort, and as children continue scurrying about and giggling outside, their mother huffs her way down the front hall, past the portraits of the family members. In moments, Langley and Aloisius Treadwell join the children in uproarious, belly-shaking mirth.
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium
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