A flash story originally published in A Long Story Short web zine
It’s
the same every year. After months of no word from him, he’ll come
creeping back to her. Just when she’s at her best – her most flamboyant,
splendid self – she abandons everything to him.
He’ll swirl in, showering her with glittering diamonds, literally raining them down on her until she sparkles.
But
he’s cold – frosty cold! He cares nothing for anyone else’s plans. He
can wipe them out like an avalanche with no thought. Yet people love
him. He inspires cozy warmth, snuggling.
She
can’t resist him. At his best, he’s breathtakingly beautiful. At his
worst, he’s ugly and destructive, but she understands that – she has
that side to her as well.
They’re
not always compatible, but something about them makes them a very
complementary couple. He’s nothing, really, without her. She has that
power over many of us.
When
they’re good together, it’s like magic, and even sometimes when they’re
awful – he can turn her to sheer ice, and still, it’s awesome.
Their
relationship is not constant, it’s a seasonal affair. Not everyone
approves, of course – there are those who can’t stand the combination of
the two – they simply move away, where it no longer bothers them, it’s
just one of those distant things they can t’sk about.
Their
relationship can be so intense – maybe they just need a break, after
saturating themselves with one other. Some speculate it’s fatherhood he
can’t deal with – just as soon as she’s bulging with new life, he takes
off for parts unknown – travels north, they say.
She
doesn’t seem to mind, though. She keeps busy, always something new on
her horizon. Or maybe it’s all a front – she can get pretty stormy. But
she goes through her phases, and then, she’ll just be at her most
glorious, and he’ll send his calling card – a tinge of frost on an amber
leaf. He ruins her best work – fades her burnished oranges, her ember
reds into ash, her sun-tinged golds into grey, filling the entire world
with his sepia tones. The air turns crisp, and as a hint of what’s to
come, the stars glimmer like diamonds in the sky, until the sky seems to
fill up, gets heavy with them, then they crystallize and come showering
down on her by the millions.
If you listen very closely, you can almost hear her sigh as Mother Nature opens her arms to Old Man Winter yet again.