The First Snowfall

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Kitty suffered the anguish of agoraphobia. It was not entirely her fault though, because city life had not been very kind to her. One day, while she was still very young, she had been attacked by several dogs as she played outside her house. From that time on, it was a constant battle to get her to even step outside.

Her parents, Tom and Allie, tried continually to help her but nothing seemed to make a difference. Eventually, in desperation, they decided to leave the city and move to a more rural setting. They hoped that a change in the environment would help her to conquer her fear.

Even though they began talking to her about it several weeks in advance, the day they moved was very traumatic for Kitty. She saw danger lurking in every shadow and the few seconds it took to get from the house to the car seemed a lifetime. In fact, during the whole trip she coward in the floorboard and never even looked out the window. Not even once.

But finally they arrived at their new home and the struggle to get her from the car to the house began. It was an exhausting experience for Tom and Allie, as well as Kitty, so all three retired early that evening.

Kitty stayed in her room, with the curtains closed for the next three days, and even after she ventured into the rest of the house, it was another two days before she got up the courage to look out the window. But finally she did.

Everything is so beautiful, she thought. The first thing that she noticed was how much open space surrounded her new home. She went from window to window until she was satisfied that the openness completely surrounded her. That's when she discovered the huge glass patio door that exposed the back yard.

She sat motionless at the patio door, nearly hypnotized by what she saw. She had never imagined that so many trees could exist in such close proximity. On top of that, it was autumn, and all the reds and yellows and oranges and browns, blended together and took on an appearance that could only be matched by a great painter's canvas.

That's when she first noticed the stranger in her yard. He was running and jumping playfully through the yard as if dancing some choreographed ballet. Though she was terribly afraid, there was a rare combination of joy and freedom surrounding his playful dance that glued her gaze on him.

Then he noticed her sitting in the doorway. He sprinted onto the patio and nearly out of breath he blew out, "Hello."

Kitty was terrified and ran to her room, closing the door behind her. She didn't come out for the remainder of the day.

The next morning, Kitty got up and repeated her ritual of examining her yard and ended up reseated at the patio door. Almost like clockwork the stranger reappeared practicing his unusual dance.

This time, as he noticed Kitty, he approached more cautiously in a sort of easy amble that allowed her to be more at ease with his presence. "Hello, my name is Buck," he said. He stood there smiling and waited for a reply.

At first Kitty didn't speak. She just sat there examining his features. He was certainly an odd looking fellow. His hair was a tawny brown color and was groomed very short and close to his skin, and he had large dark brown eyes. But his greatest feature was those overly large ears, nearly the size of his face. As she looked at them, Kitty began to laugh and said, "My name is Kitty."

"Do you live here now? I thought this house was empty."

"We just moved in this week."

"That's great... will you be my friend?"

"I suppose, but I've never had a friend... What do they do?"

"They talk... and play together," Buck said. "Do you want to come out and play?"

"Oh, I can't come outside," Kitty responded.

So, for the next hour, they just sat there and talked separated by the glass patio door. And everyday this ritual repeated, for the next seven weeks. They became very good friends, at least as good as they could separated by a door.

Then one morning Kitty began her ritual, and was amazed at what she saw. As she had slept, they had their first winter snowfall. It was wonderful - the whole world was white and fresh looking. Kitty skipped the rest of her ritual and headed straight for the patio door. Buck was already outside playing and as he noticed her, he ran as quickly as he could to the patio.

"This is so much fun," he said, "You got to come out and see this."

"I can't," she said and just hung her head and stared at the floor.

"Your parents must be very mean not to let you come outside to see this," Buck said.

"That's not true," she retorted. "They want me to go outside and play."

"Well then why don't you?"

"Because... I'm afraid," Kitty replied. "Somebody may try to hurt me."

"But you're my best friend," said Buck. "I would never let anybody hurt you." Then he began to feverously twitch his oversized ears and laughed, "With these big old things we can hear anybody coming... a long time before they get here."

Kitty began to laugh. It wasn't easy for her, but she eventually got her whole body outside as Buck continually coaxed her into the back yard. He began to play and dance, and run and jump. And little by little, Kitty began to join in the celebration of the first snowfall.

She had stored up many days of play and began to have so much fun that she forgot to be afraid. Tom and Allie stood at the upstairs window, watching and smiling. What a wonderful day it was.

WORD COUNT: 992 words