Out of the Snow
By the Fire
As the storm howls outside
snow falling
and piling up
and blowing about in the big angry gusts
of wind.
I lay by the stove
with a dog at my feet
and another curled at my side
and a cat,
purring on my stomach.
When I am here
I can forget about the cold outside
because I am warmed
by their bodies
and the stove.
Snowday
It has snowed all afternoon.
There is more than a foot
of heavy, white , beautiful snow.
Tomorrow, surely there will be a snow day.
A snow day would be
wonderful
then I can sled,
and read,
and sleep late,
and ski,
and just take a break
so I can finish my homework
and have some fun.
My mother is
grumbling
about going outside
to do the chores.
It is too cold.
But the animals have to be fed,
and watered,
and closed in
because they get cold too,
and they don’t have a fire
to keep them warm.
Morning
When I wake up
there is even more snow.
It snowed all night
and now it is piled
in drifts, on the road
and on the trees.
It sparkles
in the sun.
And the road is a carpet of white
with no tracks.
That means we cannot go to school.
A snow day!
I go downstairs
and prepare myself
some breakfast.
As I eat,
my brother comes in
from outside.
There is snow
falling off his big boots
as he stomps into
the kitchen.
“Abby” he says.
”Pandora is sick again”
“Pandora is always sick”.
I say.
“This time she’s really sick”
He replies.
“She’s in the basement with the heating blanket”
“She’s hypothermic”
I hurry down
to the basement.
She’s there
just a small,
six month old
alpaca,
who has never had
much life in her.
Little hope
It is nearly
It is nearly
noon
and we have not
been plowed.
My brother and I go out
to do the chores.
There is so much
snow
that we have to shovel
a hole
to get the door to the goat barn open.
As we shovel
we hear the plow
and look down to see it slide off the road
into a ditch.
My brother
runs
to tell my father
and I go in to see my mom
and Pandora.
She is under the heating blanket,
shivering
with her eyes closed
every once in a while
kicking
as her body tries to warm her.
My mother’s face
is grim
“I called the vet” she says
“and when we get plowed I will take her there”
“It doesn’t look good though”
I nodded
It wasn’t the first time
we had had something die.
On a farm
it happens.
In my bathtub
By mid afternoon
another plow comes
to pull the other one out.
It hooks the towrope
and drives in the other direction.
For a moment it seems
that it has been pulled from the ditch
but then, with a scurry of snow
both trucks are back,
in the ditch.
My dad goes to help
and I wonder
why does this storm
have to happen when Pandora
is dying.
The trucks cannot get out
and my mom decides to soak Pandora
in hot water
in my bathtub.
We take her upstairs
and fill the tub
with hot water.
When we place her in
her body is so limp
I would think her dead
if I had not seen her blink.
After a while
she starts kicking again.
A moment later
she stops
and we know
that she has died.
She doesn’t look different
there is just a feeling
an empty feeling.
And we know
that we just lost that fight
but in some ways
we won.
Pandora has ended a life
where she had never been healthy.
Since the night we saved her from dying,
the night she was born.
My mother takes her
to the garage
where we will put her
until this storm has stopped
and we can bury her.
As I leave
I think of my bathtub
that will now
be haunted by Pandora’s spirit.
I go to the window
and look out
at the snow and wish
we had never had
this storm.
If we could have gotten out,
maybe,
Pandora wouldn’t have died.
I want to get out.
Out of the snow.
Out of the snow
By morning
we have been plowed
and the trucks have been
removed from the ditch.
I run downstairs
happy to be free
of the snow.
My dad says
he will take us skiing.
We gather our equipment
and load up the car.
As I get into the car
I look
one last time
at Pandora
wrapped in a blanket in the corner.
Then we drive down the road.
Out of the snow.
