Zena's Christmas

The young wolf girl looked outside the window at the mountain. She could see white powder falling from the sky.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s called snow,” she heard an older woman say.

She turned her head to look at her mother, a grey wolf hybrid. The woman’s sapphire-blue eyes had a soft twinkle as she gave a smile.

“Well, it’s about time the rain changed,” said a man’s voice. “Any more and the road would of washed out.”

The young girl turned her head to look at her father, a gray fox hybrid, who was reading the newspaper.

“Can it really get that bad?” she asked.

“It has happened before my dear,” the man said. “I remember when I was about your older sisters’ age; the whole road was flooded out. Thankfully there was a few Wild Beasts stationed in the area. The one must have been an engineer before he joined the force, because the three of them took charge of repairs, and we got the road fixed up.”

“Why would we need the road fixed up daddy?”

“Because that road is what connects Snow City to the world outside of the mountains. Now put your coat on, go outside, and play with your sisters.”

Moments later, the young girl was outside playing in the snow, along with two older, yet shorter, fox girls. As she threw the white stuff, her face stretched in a smile. It was the greatest moment of her eight year life.

Then she heard something that caused her to turn her head. Snow was falling off of the mountain, but this wasn’t the powdery snow she was playing in. This snow seemed to be falling in a huge wave. She then saw her parents coming out the door.

“Run!” they shouted. “It’s an avalanche!”

The girl watched as the snow came closer, and closer, until it swallowed up her sisters like a great hungry beast, their screams drowned by the roar of the snow. She turned, and started running. Then, she felt a sharp pain in her back, and blacked out.

“Zena.”

The pain came.

“Zena!”

The pain came again.

“ZENA!”

The pain came yet again.

“Open your eyes, you old fogey of a wolf.”

She opened her eyes, and found herself looking at a young human woman, who had a smile on her face.

“Did you have a good sleep Zena?” she asked.

“It started out that way Julia,” Zena said as she carefully started to get out of bed, trying not to step on any of the others who were in it, an eye on a couple of figures hiding just outside of the room. “But then someone just had to jump on my back and break it, the little rats.”

“Oh but they wanted to show you something.”

“What? More rain?” Zena asked with a chuckle.

Julia shook her head. “No. It’s snow.”

Zena’s eyes bulged out. “Snow? Here in Grass City?”

“Take a look out the window,” Julia said with a smile. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen snow.”

Zena turned her head to look out the window. Sure enough, the white stuff was falling from the sky to the ground.

“I’ve never seen it fall here in Grass City,” she said. “It hasn’t been cold enough for it to fall in the over forty years I’ve lived here.”

“It was quite cold last night,” Julia said. “Colder than normal. There’s enough out there to cover the average person’s legs.”

“That’s not normal,” Zena muttered. “It takes days to accumulate that much on the ground.”

“The snowstorm we had was unusual,” Julia said as she touched Zena’s shoulders, causing the large wolf to turn her head and look at her. “Besides, I think it’s appropriate considering what day it is.”

“And just what day is that?” Zena asked with a chuckle. “Judging by the snow, we won’t be getting to work for a while.”

“Actually, if my calculations are correct, today is an old Earth holiday.”

“And which one would that be? I just love holidays.”

“It’s Christmas,” Julia said as she handed Zena a small wrapped box.

“Christmas? Are you sure?” Zena asked in puzzlement as she looked at the box. “I thought that was next week.”

Julia shook her head with a smile on her face. “For someone who is over four hundred years old, you certainly don’t know your days. Today is Christmas, I’m sure of it.”

Zena just put an arm around Julia and held the woman to her chest. “I don’t care what day it is,” she whispered. “If you say it’s Christmas my love, then that makes it Christmas to me.”

“Merry Christmas Zena.”

Zena thought about the dream she had. She remembered the real pain and loss she had suffered. She then looked at the wrapped box and thought about what she had, which caused her to smile.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “Merry Christmas, my love.”