farron's snowflake
Farron looked out her window at the snow-covered world. Her eyes followed a large
snowflake as it swayed and circled
down
down
down
and disappeared into the icing sugar lawn.
"Where do snowflakes come from?" she asked her mother.
"Well,” Mommy began, "they come from the clouds. The clouds gather moisture and . . . "
Farron wondered what was on top of the cloud. Mommy's voice went on "... and when it gets
cold rain turns to snow..."
Maybe someone lives up there, Farron thought. She closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into her pillow as Mommy's voice faded.
Farron opened her eyes and sat up. Where was she? Everything was white. In front of her, beside her, above her. Everywhere. A face peeked out from behind a white tree: "Hello Farron. My name is Serena. I hear you want to learn how we make snowflakes."
Farron nodded her head -- yes.
"Well, come on!" Serena led the way through the cloud. Faces appeared in the mist.
"Hello everyone. I’ve brought Farron to see how we make snow."
Out from the clouds popped workers covered in snowflakes. They had snowflakes on their
clothes, snowflakes on their heads, and even their boots were covered in snowflakes.
“Farron,” said Serena, “everyone is busy today making snow, but you can watch them work
and ask questions."
Farron went to every part of the snow cloud. She watched as raindrops burst into snowflakes. Each one was different. There were double-diamonds and pointed stars, small clusters and large lacy snowflakes. Buckets of snowflakes were stacked at the edge of the cloud ready to be tipped and scattered. Farron watched the buckets tip and snowflakes fall over the side of the cloud.
Farron peeked over the edge. "Mommy, I'm up here," she called out.
"I don't think she can hear you," Serena said to Farron, "but you could send a note to tell her
where you are."
Farron reached into a bucket and picked a snowflake. She wrote her name on a piece of paper and tied it to the snowflake with gold thread. She threw it over the edge andwatched as it fluttered and swirled
down
down
down
to the ground.
Feeling tired, Farron sat down and rested against the white cloud bank. It reminded her of her big white pillow at home. Her eyes closed. She felt like she was floating
down
down
down
just like a snowflake.
Her eyes opened. She sat up. There was Mommy, right beside her. "Where's Serena?" she asked.
"Who's Serena?" asked Mommy.
“From up on the cloud. That's where they make the snow. Serena took me there. I saw it.” Farron jumped off the couch and peered out the window.
"Mommy, where's the snowflake I sent you?"
"Snowflake?" Mommy asked.
"The one with the note," Farron frowned. "Oh, it must still be outside,” she jumped up. "Let's go get it."
"Farron, you must have had a dream when you fell asleep. A snowflake can't have a note on it!"
"Yes there is! I wrote it. I saw how they make snow!"
Farron pulled on her boots as her mother got their coats. They went out onto the front lawn. They looked all over.
"Where is it?" worried Farron.
"Well, Farron, I really don't think we're going to find a note."
"No, no, it IS here. I wrote it. I threw it down."
Mommy started walking towards the house. Farron plunked down in the snow. She rolled on her back and looked up. On the sagging branch of a cedar tree weighted with snow, a sparkle caught her eye.
"Mommy, come here." She reached her hand out towards the glint. It sparkled again.
Farron pointed, "Mommy -- LOOK!"
It was tiny and hard to see, but there
... tied with a glint of gold thread to a snowflake was a note:
...............................................................................................................................© Colleen MacDonald 2006
