Before the Snow

It took off into dead tree limbs, its wings cracking in the cold air. I hadn’t been that close to a hawk in awhile, and this one had clearly been spooked. By me. Its lunch was left in a heap on the ground in the form of squirrel, which he abandoned to me in his hurry to flee. I guess in olden days this would have been considered some kind of omen.

When I walked back into the Big House, I got Yali ready to leave. It was already about two o’clock in the afternoon and snow was coming from western Missouri. Maybe that’s why Francis had purchased a set of snow skis in advance for all his upcoming Hidden Valley excursions. He set Yali inside the boots, which were so heavy, Yali couldn’t get out of them; he didn’t seem to mind.

Meanwhile everyone was busy and getting things done, including our little Irish, who is now no longer the shortest kid in the family – I believe that crown has now been passed on to me. College classes in the form of Astronomy, College Algebra, and Arabic were waiting for her in this first week.

It was after three o’clock. Puck called from Oxbear’s phone on the drive back from school – Oxbear wasn’t fooling around with the snow either, and had left work early.

“HI, YALI!” came the crackle over the speakerphone.

Yali came running into the kitchen and did a two bear claw salute and roar for his big brother.

“Hi, Yali!”

Yali pointed to himself and said his own name, which sort of sounds like something a manatee would say, under water.

“Bye, Yali!”

Yali gave him a big thumbs up.

Earlier, at breakfast, I caught the two of them involved in an intense speech therapy session.

“No, Yali! No! Say – MOOOOOO!”

Puck held Yali’s jaw with one hand, his head in the other, and tried to make him drop the jaw. Yali just laughed and laughed.

“NO, YALI! MOOOOOO!”