One Small Wish: Day 5

Word Count: 30,124

Summary of Events:

Vaughan met Chelsea for breakfast and spent most of the time talking about how her father, brother, and grandfather disliked him, and how he felt it was compromising their reputations more than his. Fancy, although exhausted by the work, put together an order of fifty centrepieces before the shop was closed and she was allowed to head home in the snow that had started to fall while she pondered its ethereal quietness . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"In fact, soundlessness seemed to be what snow was all about, as it seemed the more and heavier snow fell, and the more it accumulated, the quieter the world became, as if the snow sucked all the noise out.

Considering that the phrase peace on earth was closely associated with Christmas, Fancy wasn't surprised that someone, long ago, had chosen to put Christmas in the wintertime, because there was no time that the world was quieter than when it was wrapped in a blanket of pure, white snow that softened all the edges and glittered with a luminescence man was hard-pressed to recreate.

Fancy made her way home quietly. Aside from the inescapable sound of vehicles driving by there was really no sound, and as she got closer to home the sound of cars, much less their visible quantity, faded.

It wasn't that St. Johns was devoid of cars, no, there were other people that had the licenses to drive, and the vehicles to use, but it was just that most of the people who lived in St. Johns had only one vehicle to their household.

Even she and Grandma had a car. The only thing was that it hadn't been driven in years because something was wrong in the engine. Now Fancy was sure a lot more was wrong with it, as the tires were flat and every time she peeked in the window the passenger end of the front bench seat was missing a little more stuffing, likely purloined by a mouse to keep her young warm in a nest somewhere else in the car.

Fancy walked in the side door of the house and stomped the snow off her shoes before untying them and carrying them across the kitchen to the closet, where she hung up her coat.

She returned to the kitchen, got out all the ingredients she needed so as to make supper, and set to work.

Hardly had she gotten the onion sautéing when she heard an elated cry and turned just in time to have her legs enveloped in an embrace by Eirenna.

"Mama, it's snowing!" Eirenna exclaimed.

"I know it is," Fancy replied. "I had to walk home in it."

"Can we go downstairs and find my snow pants?" Eirenna asked.

"After supper," Fancy replied. "I need to find my winter boots too."

"I wanna go make snow angels Mama," Eirenna said.

"That would be a lovely thing to do," Fancy said. "Now just let me make supper please."

Eirenna dashed off again and Fancy sighed. She wished such little things could make her happy as easily as they seemed to make her daughter.

She turned her attention back to the meal she was cooking. If her childhood wouldn't have been stripped from her too soon she was sure she would be able to take joy in things as easily as Eirenna did, but it wasn't like she could do anything about what she'd lost."