It was near Christmas and I was glad to see the snow as it hit the sidewalk before me on my way home. We had not had snow on Christmas day in three years. So, my hope was it would last that long. By the looks of it I could get my wish. Big flakes fell to the ground and didn't melt. They instead gathered together and started pilling up in drifts. I expected to see the snow plow trucks out soon as the thin layer was quickly becoming thick.
I stepped around a few puddles that had formed before the temperature dropped to hold in the moisture. Frozen snow was truly just ice, I reasoned as I walked. Who couldn't love a good snow fall?
I walked across the street and stepped up on the curb. My boot drug across the slushy snow and hit on something laying on the sidewalk. I almost fell before I righted myself.
I looked around. "What was that?"
I started pushing the slushy snow around on the sidewalk until my boot hit something rather big and white. I reached down and picked it up.
It looked like a frozen snowflake. I mean, real ice shaped like a snowflake.
"That's impossible," I told myself. "Snowflakes aren't this big."
"They could be!" A voice said to me. I jumped when I heard the voice. I had been totally alone on the sidewalk and now there was before me a nice looking young fellow all dressed up in yellow and green.
"Where did you come from?" I inquired.
He smiled at me and pointed at the snowflake. "I am a snowflake fairy."
"What?" I found myself asking. I looked at the snowflake and back at him.
"Yep," he replied. "I am a snowflake fairy."
"What is a snowflake fairy?" I inquired. My mind was starting to fill up with questions.
"Well," he replied as he moved away from the edge of the curb and found seating on a bench under a bus stop rest area.
"A snowflake fairy can be many things." He smiled up at me and I had the feeling I really didn't wanna know the answer.
"Me," he pointed to himself. "I'm a rather bad snowflake fairy."
"Hows that?"I found myself inquiring then wishing immediately I had not asked.
"Make a wish," he told me and smiled this evil kinda smile you often see on clown's faces and mistake it for a happy joyful one.
"A wish?" I asked. "Like what?"
"Your heats desire," he suggested.
"and?" I waited.
"I'll grant it to you if you do as I say."
He just smiled. The evil in his eyes showed through like a donut without a cream filling when you think it has a cream filling and you're disappointed to find out that it's not there.
"And if I fail?" I asked. Truly not wanting the answer but unable to resist the asking of it.
He just smiled and walked closer to me. By this time the snowfall had increased and it had gone from a dryer feel to a wetter feel.
"Well," I inquired, thinking it was time to go. I started backing up and was about ready to turn and walk away when he appeared just at my side.
"You become a reaper," he explained to me. "Just like me."
"But, you're a snowflake fairy," I stated. "You said so yourself."
"That's just my term for it," he promised me. "You can call yourself anything you like. But in the end you will always be a reaper."
"I'm not interested," I informed him. With that statement I started walking away.
I only got in about twenty five steps before he caught up with me, or rather appeared before me. All dazzlingly in the falling snow. His yellow and green clothing along with his reddish hair all gleaming brightly in the wetness of it.
"Did I say you had a choice?" he asked me. "Because you don't."
The snow continued to fall; however, I no longer considered it lovely. It felt threatening.
He pointed down the street. "The boy you like will be walking this way shortly."
