Page 41 of Tommy

The snow up against the barn wasn’t as thick, the heat from inside had melted the thickness of most of it. The rest was scraped away to give us access. I did most of the work, I had a larger arm reach for it. Tommy was rolling snow up in balls.

“It’s gonna be a snowman,” he said, scooping snow and smacking it onto the ball.

Pip pawed at the smaller balls he’d already balled up, knocking them around and then acting surprised when they moved. Rusty stayed mostly at my side, getting underfoot with every time I tried to step back and scope out the remaining snow to shovel.

“And you said you didn’t have the upper body strength,” I noted.

“You’re gonna help,” he whispered. “But they’re only small right now. When they’re bigger, they will need help.”

I nodded, unable to control the smile on my face. “You need to help me first. I can hear those chickens already.”

Tommy showed me his gloved hands covered in snow. “I probably shouldn’t milk the goats this time.”

“Are you still annoyed about the teasing yesterday?”

“No, I just think I’ve milked enough in the last twenty four hours,” he giggled. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“I wouldn’t want you making any more messes on the sheets,” I replied with a wink. “You can collect the eggs then.” I tugged on the wooden plank used as doorjamb at the bottom of the barn, used to reinforce and keep the heat inside. “And remember to take those gloves off inside.”

He nodded, dusting his gloves off on each other. “You keep the cats on your side then.”

There was no controlling the cats. They ran that barn, and they’d get used to him eventually. They were a bit like me at first, not welcoming to strangers.

All the animals were lively, screaming in their unique ways. It was a frenzy of sound and sight as all the animals came up to the fence the moment we walked inside, bleating, clucking, and even hissing when Tommy walked through the door.

“They hate me,” he said.

“They don’t—” Midnight’s action cut me off, standing proud on the fence, he went to attack Tommy and failed. I chuckled to myself. “Oh, look, at least Snowflake isn’t mad.” By his feet, Snowflake rubbed herself up against his leg and the snow.

Tommy squealed in surprise seeing the cat appear at his feet out of nowhere. “Has she always been there?”

“Cats are sneaky,” I told him. “You never see cats until they come atcha. Relax around them.”

Snowflake bolted the moment Pip spotted her.

I inspected all corners of the barn. It was still warm, but I didn’t want to see anything compromising the integrity of the wood. This cold could devastate all the animals in here. Tommywas quick to take care of the task he’d been assigned, collecting the chicken eggs, his job made easier since Snowflake followed him around and kept all the chickens away. He was eager to get back out and continue making his snowman. I couldn’t blame him, he was having fun.

“All done?” I asked before I’d even started on the goats.

“Yep,” he said. “Do you ever hatch the chicken eggs?”

“Not sure if you’re aware of how all that works, but chicken eggs need fertilizing,” I said. “If you need, I’ll happily give you the birds and the bees talk. Or I can demonstrate, if you’re a different type of learner.”

“Oo what would a demonstration involve?”

“Me and you in a nice, warm bed,” I started, “and our bodies would be all tangled up together, back and forth until the excitement gets a little too much, and thenpop. An explosion.”

Tommy was putting his gloves back on, laughing. “It makes that sound as well?”

“I don’t know, we’ll have to see.” It had been a while since I was all excited like this.

“Thank you for the invite, but I’ve got a man to build outside,” he said, strutting his walk back out of the barn.

“Well he better not be a Daddy,” I called after him.

“A snow Daddy,” he giggled. “Now that’s an idea.”

I took the time Tommy was outside building the snowballs and rolling them into larger balls, to clean some of the animal mess from the barn. I replaced the hay bedding for the goats and made sure they had enough water and feed accessible. I’d planned for the storm doing more damage, but it must’ve passed right over us, just throwing down an extra thick blanket of snow over us.

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