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Steve looked around at the playground, everything covered in white. He was the first one to burst out of the school's double doors, the first of the children to make it out to the clean, freshly powdered slides, swings, monkey bars and teeter towers.
He ran across what should be, the blacktop, making sure to press down hard with each step, leaving his snow boot prints deeply embedded. He then turned around two more times and made another round of prints all across the pavement as close as possible to the first set. The other children, the few that chose to go outside for recess instead of reading in the warm comfort of the classroom beanbags, stared at him in awe as they each arrived outside the school's entrance. Their coats and scarves tied with the warmth from their teacher's own hands.
Except for Steve. He had not brought a jacket or scarf with him, for the sole purpose of not having to wait to put it on before going out. He had dressed himself that morning in warm sweaters and sweatpants under his jeans, knitted gloves and a crocheted winter hat hiding in his pocket. It was very hot in the classroom, but it was worth it to simply bolt outside the moment the bell rang. Boy, was it worth it.
He turned around and smiled, big and with wide gaps on the left side as he had lost two teeth over the weekend, while eating a leftover Snicker's bar he had saved from Halloween. That was definitely not worth it. The cold crept up into the holes in his gums and stayed inside there every time he smiled or yelled or yawned, but he endured it without a grimace as he saw the other children's faces.
"You guys can come over here now, I made us a path!" he yelled and waved over at them, his yellow mittens and hat almost glowing in a halo around him as he waved them back and forth against the white background.
The children ran from the school's steps, one behind each other yelling names, making noises filled with happiness as their scarves and pom-pomed hats bounced around with equal joy.
One by one, straight down his flattened path, the children came barreling towards Steve and started to crowd around him, yelling cheers and jumping around. They were all speaking over each other as their excitement grew and he was looking around at each of them, trying to listen to what they were saying.
"I was scared to come outside, because my boots are leaky." one little girl with dark hair said, as she arrived first.
"Not me, I wanted to come out here and play, but what Steve did was. So. Cool!" a little girl with blonde hair said, holding the gloved hand of the first girl. He saw that they had matching gloves.
"He did all that, and didn't even need a jacket! And I'll bet our Steve could beat Steve Austin* in a race!"
"Yeah, how did he do it so fast?!" "That was a record for sure!" "Can you always do that when it snows?!" "Yeah!!" "He's really smart because no one has ever done that before!" "I wanna be like him!" "Me too!"
He had put on his mittens and hat after they calmed down and pointed towards the playground. It was made of wood chips and stones, and the snow did not settle on it the same way as the pavements and blacktops.
"We can't play on the slide or go up into the fort at the top of it. Not unless someone wants wet pants all day." Steve said as he looked at them, hoping that they wouldn't be disappointed.
"Can we use the monkey bars?" one little boy with curly red hair asked.
Steve looked over at the metal contraption. It had snow on all over it, but it didn't look too bad. If someone went first they could clear out the snow all over the bars but it did look thick enough to need a few passes.
"I have an idea. Does anyone have gloves or a hat with a string on it?" he asked and looked around at everyone's pocketed hands. Even with mittens and gloves, the Indiana wind was cold.
Everyone looked at each other and one little girl raised her mittened hand up slightly, the bright purple knitted string hanging loosely for him to see.
"Why do you need her mittens?" one little boy asked, confused and wrinkling his face.
"I don't. I need the string part." He watched as the little girl took off her mittens, pulling them through and unlacing them from her sleeves. She handed them to him and pulled her bare hands into her coat to keep them warm. He immediately took off his own gloves and handed them to her.
"Put these on. And I promise, your mittens won't get wet, okay?" Steve looked at her with determination. He wasn't sure that it was the truth, but it would only be a lie if it happened, right?
She nodded and they all followed him as he went up the metal ladder. Out of nowhere, he had another idea. He took his hat off and let his wild hair fly about in the wind. He wrapped her mittens in his hat after he ran the string along the first rung, and pulled it across the metal a few times.
It had worked. The snow fell clean off, leaving a mostly dry bar to swing from.
The kids all whispered and looked at each, they wanted to save their excitement for when he finished. The little girl wearing his gloves jumped up and down waving at him as he traveled down the bars, swinging from one to the other and wrapping the mittens around the next bar with one hand.
When he reached the end, he jumped down, and the kids cried out a slew of happy things as they ran towards the monkey bars and started climbing. They yelled and cheered at him, then laughed and played. It felt more special than when they played here last week.
He waved at everyone and cheered along as they fell and climbed right back up.
His hands were cold and his face and hair a little wet and icy now from some of the snow blowing into his face, depending on the wind's direction. The little girl with his gloves handed them to him, warm and dry. Before he put them on, he took her mittens out of his hat and checked if they were okay.
He handed them to her, with a big smile.
"Thanks for letting me use them."
She took the mittens back, but put them in her pocket first and took his cold hands into hers. She held them for a little bit to gauge the temperature and squeezed them a few times.
"My momma says if you put regular skin against ice cold skin, it will be faster to get warm."
He looked down at her face, she was concentrated on getting the blood flow back to his fingers. His eyelashes felt icy and his eyes burned from the wind, but his hands really were starting to feel normal again.
She then looked up at him and put her dry mittens on as she let go of his hands.
"I can still feel your hands even though i'm wearing mittens now." she laughed, slightly giggly because it felt like a weird thing to say.
"Me too." said Steve, as he smiled with his cheeks and eyes more than his mouth.
His promise was kept, and his heart felt warm enough to forget the icy winter air surrounding him.