Snow

Everybody from anyplace warm says to Mom, "Oh now, you keep warm, it's winter. You have snow... brr," like snow is some kind of disease. Mom likes the snow. She likes the winter. I think Gizzy likes the winter too, that's why he wants to go out in it.

Gizzy says when it's cold outside the air has a kind of a snap to it. He says it smells good. It smells fresh. He says on a bright blue day it's wonderful.

When it snows, if the wind isn't blowing, it's quiet. He says People can talk to each other a few houses away without shouting. He likes to watch it snow at night, because it's really pretty under the streetlights. It lands on the wires, and the tops of fences, and makes the car machines look funny. It outlines the trees.

The next day, after the snowstorm, the sky is usually bright blue and everything seems brighter because the light bounces off the white snow and makes everything really pretty. It never lasts long; the wind blows the snow off things, and they start looking normal again. The snowplows scrape the snow off the roads and dump it on the sidewalks for people to shovel away, and the snow gets dirty.

Sometimes the snowflakes are tiny and light as feathers. This kind of snow blows around easy and makes snowdrifts that look like modern sculpture. Sometimes the snowflakes are big and puffy. This is wet snow. It's heavy. It clings to things. It makes great snowballs.

Gizzy says that the weirdest thing about snow is when it crunches. It gets cold, and dry, and it gets packed down, usually from the wind. You can hear it crunch when people walk on it, and sometimes the car machines make the same crunching sound.

It's funny to watch people on the picture box in the pretend snow. It lands on their clothes and doesn't melt. They don't breathe puffs of cold air. Their cheeks don't get rosy. Their glasses don't fog up. Snow is COLD! Snow is FREEZING! Snow is COOL!