Disclaimer: All characters, phrases, and objects belong to the BBC, excluding two original characters.
Christmas Memories
A small child bundled in a winter coat runs over smooth, new snow in her garden. Her parents keep a watchful eye from the window as she stops, kneels, and begins to clump snow between her palms.
She slowly builds her snowman, stopping regularly and stepping backwards in order to check her work. After a few minutes, her red mittens are soaked. She ignores it and continues.
By the time she has mined the garden of most of its snow, the snow man is almost as tall as her mother, but quite wide. Once again, she pauses and glances over her creation.
No, something in her says, it should be slimmer. So she makes her adjustments.
When finally she is satisfied, she runs into her house.
"Mummy, where's my step?" she asks, red cheeked and panting.
Her mother, ever indulgent, fetches it from the living room. When she hands it to the little girl, the girl turns to run into the garden.
"Ah - Clara, what do you say?"
The toddler turns, step clutched in both hands.
"Thank you mummy," she choruses before once more turning to leave.
She rushes to her masterpiece and drops her burden at its side. The stool wobbles when she steps onto it, but she keeps her balance.
On tiptoes, she begins to shape the face.
Her father is watching from the window. He frowns as the face takes form.
"Sue," he calls, beckoning to his wife, "Look at the snowman."
She looks, curious about what could make her husband sound so uneasy. When she takes in the face, she grimaces.
The eyes are narrow, mean looking, but what unnerves her is the mouth. It stretches across the face, sharp teeth bared in a cruel parody of a grin. Clara stands back, admiring her perfected creation. It matches, now.
She does not know where that thought comes from, or why it brings with it a image of a man taller than her father, wearing a bow tie. It also brings a new thought that she thinks belongs to her. She can't understand it, though, so she puts it out of her mind.
"Run, you clever boy. And remember..."
