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August 16th
“So, Caddy, now that you live in the great state of Illinois, what are you most excited about?” Janis asked as they made their way to the lunch table.
“Well I’ve never seen snow before,” she replied.
Damian made a tiny gasp. “I can’t imagine living my life without ever seeing snow!”
“Temperatures in Kenya never went below 20 degrees...” Cady stabbed the meatloaf on her plate only for her fork to snap in half. “...20 degrees Celsius.”
“You’ll have to wait until November or December for it to snow,” Janis said.
“Ugh, I can’t wait that long!”
“I’ll get you a new fork,” Damian said and got up.
“Thanks!”
“Trust me, the weeks will fly by and before you know it, there’s gonna be at least 6 inches of snow on the ground,” Janis said.
“That gives me something to look forward to then!”
Once Damian came back with Cady’s fork, the three of them began eating their lunch.
After a few minutes, Janis placed her fork down deliberately. “So, let’s get serious. Caddy, what’s the first thing you’re doing when it snows?”
Cady grinned. “Do you want to listen to me ramble for 20 minutes?”
December 4th
Today felt different. Even through her sleepy haze, Cady knew something was different this Saturday. She slowly got out of bed, looked out her window, and immediately lost balance.
Holy shit it’s snowing!
She got back on her feet and texted Janis and Damian about the wonderful news.
“We’ll be there in 10 minutes,” Janis texted back.
Cady ran downstairs and sat by the front door eagerly waiting for Janis and Damian to arrive. She peeked at the snow outside and willed herself to stay in the house, as she was still in pajamas. Then the doorbell rang.
“Okay, so we figured you didn’t have any snow gear,” Janis said with a huge pile of clothes in her arms and ignoring Cady who was bouncing up and down like a kid. “Here’s everything we thought you needed.”
Cady couldn’t contain her excitement anymore. Before Janis could even put the snow gear down, she charged out the front door and dived headfirst into the snow.
Then the cold hit her.
“FUCK IT’S COLD FUCK FU-“
“CADY WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?” Damian yelled as he immediately went to scoop Cady out of the snow.
Janis watched the whole situation with amusement. “Imagine seeing your friend dive headfirst into snow with their pajamas still on. I’m getting some real fox vibes.”
Damian carried her back to the house bridal style.
“I d-didn’t know it was going to be that c-cold,” Cady said shivering.
Damian sighed. “That’s why we brought winter gear for you.”
Janis pointed to the mountain on the floor. “Yep. Snow pants, snow boots, dummy THICC jacket—“
Damian glared at Janis.
“—sorry. Snow gloves, earmuffs, and hand warmers. We’ll wait in the kitchen while you go change.”
Cady tripped on the first step as she made her way upstairs.
“This child, I swear to God,” Damian said, shaking his head.
“That’s why you also have me to look out for her. She’s too chaotic for just one person to handle,” Janis replied which made him laugh.
Cady’s bedroom door seemed to open the moment it closed. “Okay, let’s go!” she yelled and sped out the front door without waiting for them. They looked at each other and followed Cady to the park just a block down.
When they got to the park, they found Cady sitting on the ground intensely observing snow fall between her fingers. Suddenly her brain decided to find out what snow tasted like.
“Cady, no!” Damian cried.
“What? It’s just frozen water!”
“You never know what nasty things are in that.”
“Damian, it can’t hurt one time to eat the snow. Everyone’s done it before. I mean, I have,” Janis said.
“Don’t encourage her,” Damian said.
“And if you pour snow cone flavor on it then—“
“This discussion is over!”
It was too late to stop Cady at this point since she already ate a handful of snow.
Janis stuck her tongue out at Damian. “Whatever. Anyways, Caddy, what do you want to...”
Cady launched a snowball at Janis’s face before she could finish her sentence. The atmosphere suddenly got tense. Time seemed to slow down. Janis slowly turned towards Cady and gave her a crazy grin. Cady had made a grave mistake.
“Oh god,” Damian whispered.
“What’s this?” Janis brushed the snow off her face. “You dare challenge ME to a snowball fight?” She started walking to the nearest hill.
“Watch out Cady, Janis goes crazy with snowball fights,” Damian warned.
Janis climbed to the top of the snow mound. “I, the undefeated champion of snowballing, shall accept your challenge!” she shouted. “Prepare to get fucking destroyed.”
“I guess I’m letting this homicide happen,” Damian said and went to sit on a bench. “Good luck Cady!”
Cady suddenly feared Janis more than anything else, but she couldn’t let her win. The law of the jungle was merciless after all.
Janis fired a dozen snowballs at her in a matter of seconds. Cady dodged most of them but felt a snowball graze her left cheek. She quickly ran for cover behind a tree and racked her brain for strategies.
“Come on! Is that all you got, Caddy?”
Janis goes all out. If I can find a way to surprise her...
In the midst of her concentration, Cady heard the crunch of snow. She whipped her head around to barely escape Janis’s sneak attack and fell on her back. In a panic, she blindly kicked in front of her in hopes of tripping Janis, which surprisingly worked. Cady sprinted away without looking back, her legs, lungs, and throat all burning from the labor. She narrowed her field of vision and headed for what appeared to be several hills slightly spread apart. It would be good cover for now.
“Hiding won’t get you anywhere!” Janis yelled in the distance, her voice echoing off the shimmering snow hills and disappearing into the clear winter sky.
With all these hills, Janis won’t be able to tell which one I’m behind.
At last, Cady knew her strategy. She dared to peek out from her cover and see where Janis went. Janis knew the general direction she ran off in and seemed to be taking a quick break to make extra snowball ammo. Cady looked at her hands.
Do snowballs always have to be palm-sized? Anything that’s round and made of snow is technically a snowball, right?
Since this was her first ever snowball fight, she didn’t know if there were any unwritten rules to the game. But she took her chance anyways. Janis was not going to win, not with Cady as the challenger.
Cady began rolling the biggest snowball she could possibly make and stopped herself after making one as wide as her shoulders. Janis would be eating snow for days after this type of impact. However, Cady didn’t realize how hard it would be to pick up this snowy monstrosity. At least she had some time since Janis was currently checking every single snow hill for her. She could feel the air tightening as she heard Janis’s footsteps get closer. Cady used all her strength to pick up the snowball until she began seeing stars. Finally she could sense her threat right around the corner.
Now or never!
Like a lion, she let out a roar and hurled the mutant snowball at Janis. Janis recoiled back as if the wintry sky fell on her.
“Fuck!” Janis shouted, her voice muffled by the snow. Her winning streak ended here.
“I win,” Cady said breathlessly. “I win!”
Janis managed to break free from the snow. “No you didn’t!”
Damian got up from the bench. Cady almost forgot he was watching the whole battle. “Janis, it’s pretty obvious who won that, and it wasn’t you. It’s okay, you did great sweetie.”
Janis sighed, walked up to Cady, and stuck out her hand. “Good game, Caddy.”
“Good game.”
“Come on, let’s get back to the house and play Mario Kart,” Damian said. Janis picked up the sleds and headed out of the park. The other two followed a few feet behind.
“Sleds? Were we going to go sledding?” Cady asked Damian.
“Yeah, but I’m not sure Janis can take another loss,” he replied. “I’m known to be a god at sledding.” He glanced at Janis. “Since you have Mario Kart at your house, we can assume how that’ll go.”
“I guess she could use a little cheering up. She’s going to beat us in every cup.”
“She knows that, which is probably why...” Damian paused and squinted. “She’s running full speed straight to your house. Janis, wait up!”
Cady opened the front door and a gust of warm air greeted her. She sighed in relief at the sudden temperature change and began taking off her snow gear.
Damian went right to the kitchen. “You got any hot chocolate?” he asked.
“Top left cabinet,” Cady answered and joined Janis in the living room to set up the Wii.
“Damian makes the best hot chocolate in the world,” Janis said.
“He should be a barista then,” Cady said.
“Make sure to tell him that.”
“Are you not mad anymore?” Cady asked.
“What, about the snowball fight? Nah, I don’t want to be a sore loser. Besides, I’ll get plenty more chances to beat you.”
Cady laughed and handed Janis her controller. “We’ll see about that.”
“Next time you’ll be destroyed!”
Damian came into the room and gave them each a cup of hot chocolate. “Now before we witness Janis wipe the floor with us in Mario Kart, I want you to try the hot chocolate first.”
Cady took a sip, and Janis’s statement was immediately confirmed. This really was the best hot chocolate in the world. The drink melted perfectly in her mouth and had just the right amount of sweetness.
“Holy shit. Damian, you should be a barista,” Cady said.
“I mean, I only know how to make hot chocolate,” he replied.
“It’s really good though. I think you could easily make the best venti chai’s in the world.”
“I’ll think about it,” he said and turned towards the TV.
They all chose their characters. According to Janis, picking the character you “vibed with most” gave you a statistical advantage. Cady couldn’t fact check that, but Damian assured her it was a load of B.S.
After a few rounds, Cady and Damian thought it was boring losing to Janis every time. Janis offered to let them win one.
“I think I’d be more insulted if you purposefully played worse,” Damian said.
“Maybe we can switch characters? We may not win, but it would be different.” Cady suggested.
Janis shook her head. “Not a bad idea, but Toad is my soulmate.”
“Never say that again, Janis,” Damian said.
“I’m done being Yoshi. Wanna switch characters with me, Damian?” Cady asked.
“Sure, I can switch off Rosalina.”
They played into the late evening, taking several breaks, of course.
Janis stretched and glanced out the window. “It’s getting dark out. Me and Damian will have to get going.”
“We should do this again sometime,” Cady said as she got up and turned off the Wii.
“By the way, you can keep the snow gear. They were all extras we found in Janis’s closet,” Damian said.
“Really? Thanks!” Cady went to move the huge pile away from the door.
“You know what else was in the closet?” Janis whispered to Damian.
“What—oh my God, Janis.”
“Anytime.” She grinned. “This was really fun, Caddy! Wanna do this again tomorrow?”
“Of course!” Cady replied with a smile.
Damian opened the front door. “See you later!”
Janis followed him out. “Bye!”
Cady watched them walk down the street with the winter sky shifting into a dreamy orange and magenta sunset above them. She took a quick photo of this unforgettable moment and slowly sank into the couch pillows with a sigh.
She couldn’t wait for tomorrow.