The final part of last week's story - if you missed the beginning, you can find it here. I watched the sky earnestly, waiting to see other snowmen. I didn’t know where Spring slumbered, so I had to rely on the others to guide me. The clock struck eleven times before I saw them again and I took to the air to follow them. A different direction this time – I could feel both my garden and the old meeting place getting farther and farther away.
As we flew, I looked through the skies and saw that hundreds of us had joined this flight. Of course, none of the others would have spoken to their children as I had. None of the others would understand why the spring must come, all of those wonderful things that Bethany had told me about. I would be truly alone amongst them all. As I saw the others start to descend, I did the same and we walked into a cave. Descending into the ground, we came to a cavern and there, lying on a bed of leaves, with a blanket of moss, was a young girl. She was warmed by a fire in a heath, which the snowmen kept their distance from. Except for Gloves. He led this group, and he went immediately to that fire, and tore a handful of snow from his chest, dropping it onto the flames and creating steam. A few others, seeing his example, did the same, and soon the fire was gone. The cavern became notably cooler with the lack of the fire, but not enough for Gloves. He and another snowman moved her mossy blanket, and I was struck by how much this young girl reminded me of Bethany. The other snowmen, at Gloves’s direction, started to scoop handfuls of snow from themselves and bury her in them, but I couldn’t join them. I couldn’t break my promise to Bethany. But I also couldn’t see how to stop them. Gloves noticed me and my lack of engagement with the activity. He walked over. “What’s wrong, Scarf?” he asked. Suddenly, the scarf that I had been so proud of seemed a very little thing when he used it to name me. The previous night, when other snowmen had done the same, it had been a thing to take pride in – that I had one when other did not. But now I had a name. “Rudy,” I said quietly. “What?” said Gloves. “My name is Rudy,” I replied. “Not Scarf. Not Seven-Fingers. Rudy.” When I told him my own name, I had the same feeling as when Bethany had first given it to me. I liked my name and what it meant to me. It was me. “Fine,” Gloves responded. “Rudy, whatever. Is there a problem?” “No,” I said, shaking my head. “No problem.” “So, why aren’t you giving of yourself? Everybody else is. You are being selfish, Rudy.” I supposed that, from his perspective, I was. I approached Spring as she slept, now shivering from the mass of snow upon her. I scooped out some of myself and placed it on her as well. Gloves gave a nod and when everybody had done so, he gathered us all together again. “It is done,” he said, triumphantly with his arms raised. “Spring will now sleep forever. The thaw will not come, and we will be eternal.” There was a cheer from the other snowmen. I raised my arms to blend in but couldn’t bring myself to join the chorus. “Let us return, and report to our fellows what we have done.” And, with those words, Gloves took to the air, and I could feel that he was heading to the meeting place. I had no desire to go with them and hoped that I would be unnoticed. Once I was alone, I returned to the cave and pushed the snow from Spring. It was a long job – she was heavily covered – and then I returned her blanket, but it did not help. I carefully removed my scarf and wrapped it around her, but it did not help. She still shivered; the cold having seeped into her. It would take more than I could do to warm her again. I needed to restart the fire, but I didn’t know how. And there was only one person that I could ask. I left the cave again, hoping that Spring would be alright without her fire. Gloves had said that she would only sleep in the cold, but I had little faith that Gloves cared either way as long as he could continue to be. I took to the air and flew to my garden and approached the house. I didn’t know which window was Bethany’s bedroom. I tried the back door, where I had seen her emerge from and disappear to. It opened, and I was met with the warmth of inside. It was deeply uncomfortable, and I felt wet. I looked down and saw that I was dripping onto the floor. Was this what it felt like to melt? I moved quickly through the kitchen, leaving puddles behind me. I checked each room I came to, moving quietly, but leaving tracks that any would see. I moved up the stairs and continued to try rooms. Finally, I found the one where Bethany lay asleep and I moved over to her and, being careful not to lean over her and to drip on her, I reached out with one wooden hand and pushed her awake. Her eyes opened. She rubbed them. She looked at me. They widened. Before she could say anything, I spoke: “Bethany – I need your help.” She nodded and pushed back her blankets, quickly awake. “What do you need?” she whispered. “I need to make a fire.” She didn’t ask why. She pulled on slippers and a dressing gown and crept downstairs with me. When she saw the puddles that I had left behind me, she pushed me outdoors again, where it was refreshingly cool. However, I felt… diminished. I packed up snow from the ground, trying to add to myself, but it simply fell away, refusing to become a part of me. Soon, Bethany joined me with a bag of things. I didn’t ask, and she didn’t show me – I trusted that she had what would be needed. She’d added a big coat over her dressing gown and had swapped her slippers for wellington boots. “Alright, Rudy,” she said, smiling at me. “Where do you need the fire?” “Hold my hand,” I told her, and she did. I lifted into the air and, somehow, she came with me. I flew us back to Spring’s cave and led Bethany in. She didn’t seem at all surprised by the flight, but she did have a large grin on her face. “This is Spring,” I said to her when we reached the cavern. The young girl was still shivering, in spite of what I’d tried to do. “She has your scarf,” said Bethany as she came in and looked at the girl. “I was trying to warm her up,” I said. “Can you make the fire here?” I pointed to the damp hearth. Bethany nodded. “My dad says that this will light anything.” She pulled a bottle out of her bag and poured some of the contents over the wet wood in the fire. She followed this with bits of paper and some white blocks of… something. “Step back,” she said to me. “I don’t really know how much of this to use, and it might be too much.” I did as she had advised, and Bethany took a small piece of wood out of a box and moved it quickly against the side of the box. Once, twice, three times. On the third movement, it lit, and a small flame could be seen. Slowly and carefully, Bethany moved the tiny flame to the fire that she had prepared and moved them together. As they touched, there was a loud whoomph sound and fire climbed from the hearth. I felt the heat of it even from where I was standing and felt myself begin to drip again. I looked over to Spring – her shivering had stopped. Fleeing the fire, we moved outside again and sat in the snow. It was good to be in the cool again, and Bethany was smiling too, no doubt enjoying her adventure. We stayed there for some time, though I don’t know how long. We were enjoying each other’s company, and we played properly, without concern for who might see me. We ran, and we laughed, knowing that our time was short. “What have you done, Rudy?” The voice came whilst I was rolling around in the snow with Bethany. I sat up and saw that Gloves was staring at me. I climbed to my feet, trying to keep Bethany behind me. “What have you done, Rudy?” He asked the question again, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. “Not only have you revealed yourself to a child, but you’ve reversed what we did here tonight, didn’t you?” I nodded as he approached. “I suppose that I will have to set it right then,” Gloves said, taking me by the hand and pulling me into the cave again, ignoring Bethany who was sitting in the snow. “This time, I’ll just use your snow to bury her – I’m not asking the others to sacrifice again.” He was stronger than me – perhaps I had lost too much in my melting – and he could easily drag me behind him. “Hey! Let Rudy go!” Bethany’s voice carried from behind us. Gloves laughed at her and turned for a moment, swiping out at her with his gloved hand. He was stronger even than she, and she left her feet, hitting the cavern wall. She slumped to the ground. And with that, I found my strength. I pulled myself out of Gloves’s grip, not caring for how much bigger than me, or how much stronger than me he might be. I ran for Spring’s chamber and felt the oppressive heat again. Spring was starting to move – stirring under had moss blanket. Bethany had overdone it, but now that fact would be our salvation. I picked up a branch from the fire, feeling the heat of it diminish me, even as I moved back towards Gloves who was just entering the chamber. I swung the fire at him and saw that he started to glow in the light of it as well – that tell-tale sheen that showed that he was melting too. He tried to stay back, but there wasn’t room to move in the rocky passageway. I kept coming, not caring for the heat, not caring for what it was doing to me. Bethany was hurt, and I was going to stop him. I pushed him back against the wall and held the burning wood close to us both. He tried to reach for it, tried to smother the fire with his gloved hand. It didn’t work – whatever Bethany had put the wood was keeping it from going out. And, as we stood there, staring at each other, we both melted away. I don’t know how long it was before I was again. I felt that same feeling of being constructed and then, when my eyes were added, of suddenly knowing. A voice spoke to me as soon as I was completed. “Hello again, Rudy.” It was Bethany. And, beside her, stood Spring. I fussed over Bethany, making sure she was ok from the fight. I looked round for Gloves, but the parts of him that weren’t snow were lying on the ground besides the cave entrance, including his signature gloves. I raised my own hands, and found I had my scarf back. Spring didn’t say anything to me, though Bethany told me that the two of them had talked whilst I was melted. Bethany never told me what they had said though – it had to be a secret and, as she had told me, she was the best secret-keeper. I flew her home, waving goodbye to Spring, and knowing that I would melt again when we returned to the garden. When the sun came up in the morning, it would be warmer, and would bring the thaw with it. But I did get her home before dawn came, and she snook back into her bedroom. As she turned away, she simply said, “See you next time, Rudy.” I didn’t understand, but I waved to her. And I watched the sun rise, and I felt it’s warmth. It doesn’t hurt to melt, thankfully. It’s actually kind of a nice feeling. Though I did feel that I was going to miss Bethany. It didn’t feel like any time at all before I was existing again. Being built. Having my eyes added. Those same words. “Hello again, Rudy.” Bethany was bigger then – a year had passed. Spring had been early the previous year, and there hadn’t been another snowfall. I had my same arms and hands, the same seven fingers. I had my hat and, again, my scarf. Most importantly, I had my name. And so, we spent what time together we had, and we both felt that it was special because it so short. And our time came to an end. And the next time there was snow, she would build me again, with the same branches that she saved, and the same hat, and the same scarf, and the same words – “Hello again, Rudy.” And each year, we would meet again – almost for the first time, but with memories of the last times. And she always had so much to tell me. I spent my nights at the snowman meetings and was soon the most knowledgeable there. My memories of previous times were stronger than any those held by any other, and whilst I tried to share the secret of names with them, it never worked as well, as their children lost interest after a few years. I stopped the snowmen from repeating what Gloves had tried, explaining that it was our ethereal nature that made our relationship with the children so joyous. Eventually, we reached the point where Bethany didn’t want to play anymore – and so we just talked. One year she asked if he could share our secret with a special friend – she was in her twenties by then. Of course, I said yes, and the next day she brought Steven to see me. As you’d expect, he was surprised to see me. The true joy though, was a few years after that, when Bethany built me, said my name, and there was a child. A young boy, named Carl, was there with Bethany and Steven. And he wanted to play.
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October 2021
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