• I rode with my stepmother to the doctor’s office
    My throat had been sore for a few days and this afternoon I saw a white spot
    When we arrived the doctor confirmed it was strep throat,
    Before we got home we stopped to get the antibiotics.
    I fell asleep on the ride there and while she was in the drug store I napped
    The heat radiating from the heater moved its way from my feet up to my already beard warmed cheeks
    The warmth flowed through my body as if it were the ocean, lulling me to a gently napping state.
    I’m not sure how long she was in there; it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes
    But in my daze it felt like a couple of hours
    Then she opened the driver’s door and the sudden rush of cold air jolted me awake
    She handed me the bag of meds and we passed small talk on my being sick;
    I watched out the window as we made our way home through the oddly heavy traffic
    The lights from vehicles and traffic lights seemed more vibrant than usual to me.
    The snow seemed the same,
    If flew through the air and wafted to the ground were it quickly melted from the previously fallen rain.
    We arrived home and I rushed inside to the warmth and made my way down to my room
    Still drowsy I laid down on my bed, under the covers and with my stuffed penguin, and napped
    I held the penguin the same as every night, imagining my sweet, sweet angel.
    I awoke again an hour or so later and went upstairs to look out the window and then I saw it;
    The freshly fallen bed of snow that laid outspread on our yard
    The grass and the walk, and the street and the houses
    They were all covered, but in their stead was a new beauty
    A cold beauty, the winter’s first snowfall