Bed Sheets Of Ice.

My beagle was wagging the tail rapidly when I invited her to come outside with me to shovel the driveway. I looked down towering over her and she looked back up at me waiting for me to open the door to the garage. I let her out and told her to "sit" which for some reason she associates with "stay". I really messed up on the training for this one, I admit. I pushed the garage door opening button and it slowly climbed the metal railings to rest over top. Silence. A cool breeze blew some powdered snow on the floor. My dog trotted out on the driveway with the nose to the ground. She was an eyesore with her brown fur on the white snow. Snow was everywhere. I went to the side of the garage and lift a shovel hanging from a protruding nail and went to the lip of the garage to push away a path from front to back vertically down the slope of the driveway.

My first push ended early and my arms got rattled by the shovel not moving. I guess I need a better shovel. I thought to myself. I put the plastic shovel back on it's nail and took a metal plow-like shovel to do the job. Nearly the same result. Under closer inspection I found that the entire driveway was a sheet of ice with powdered snow on top.

The scenery before me was so serene, like the sound of flicking a crystal glass with the index finger to create different notes. The cold air is rough on my breath but still enjoyable. I put my body weight into the shovel and place my boot on top of it and push it in short intervals to break up the ice and push it to the edge of the driveway. Careful, of course, not to slip on the ice by standing on one leg. I went to work on the sheet of ice using this method. On occasion I would have to call my dog back closer to me if she ventured too close to a neighbour's house or the road on the court. Eventually I was getting too hot doing all this work and put my leather jacket and dog back inside the house.

I zoned out as I methodically pushed the snow/ice to the sides of the driveway. My thoughts were consumed with daydreams and memories. Thinking of working for my University as a snow shoveler back a couple years in my second and third year. My hands would get so cold early in the morning. What a great feeling to see the sunrise after finishing the campus too. I remember walking across the bridge with the shovel on my back shoulders and arms resting on top. Looking out towards the sun creeping through the overcast clouds.

I stopped and looked up to the sky above, I knew full well there was nothing to see, but perhaps to live in the memory I still proceeded to crane my neck. I saw nothing, but the dull gray overcast that has simulated the sky.

A Door/Me/Then December.

I approached the windowed door to the outside. Slowly. My feet dragged along the floor in my slippers; by habit of course. I looked outside in the faintly lit scene that is my backyard. I could see my parent's barbecue, a snow shovel leaning against the yellow brick, a round table with benches surrounding it, pine trees and of course the sole bare cherry tree in the middle of the grassy lawn. I trace it's outline with my eyes and focus on the detail of the branches. A fractal pattern.

Whatever isn't lightly covered with snow - is a shadow - is an absence of the object it's suppose to be. As I stare into this wilderness I shiver and feel a tingling sensation more notable around my arms and shoulders. I love that feeling. I thought to myself. An obscure yet specific nervousness. Perhaps anxiety. Wondering if something will move in the darkness.

I lean up closer to the glassed window and looked around more. I remained still wondering what it would feel like to be outside at that moment. To be a part of the wilderness. My forehead against the glass, faint fog from my breath, I feel the shivers again. I looked to the sky; orange-gray overcast clouds. In the distance a street light.

Every time I turned around to go back upstairs I found myself turning around back to look out again. It's so calm and peaceful. Finally I rotated my head around once more to check every possible vision I could muster, and walked away from the glass windowed door.

music: "Possession" in Acoustic.