After breakfast Saturday morning, Anna put on her coat and hood and followed her parents outside to the car. She saw her breath coming out in little white puffs every time she exhaled.
Anton drove to the shoe store downtown and parallel parked in front of it. It was between a drug store and a barber shop.
The door made a tinkling sound as they entered the store. Anna saw boxes of shoes lining the walls, and seats down the middle for customers to sit in. She felt a blast of hot air from the space heater in the corner. A young salesman with curly brown hair and glasses came to meet them.
"Hello, and welcome to Lucky Shoes! May I help you?"
"My daughter needs new shoes for school," Patty told him.
The man smiled at Anna. "Sit right down there, young lady. What kind of shoes do you want? Saddle shoes like you have on?"
"Yes, sir."
"You're such a polite little girl! Let's see what we have here."
The man walked behind the counter and returned with his Brannock device. He slipped one of Anna's shoes off and put her foot on the device.
"Let's see - looks like you're ready for a size one." He perused the row of shoe boxes and selected one. "Let's try this." He slipped the shoe onto Anna's foot and told her to stand up. When she did, he felt the tip end of the shoe.
"Plenty of room at the toes. Let's see you walk around." Anna walked up and down the aisle.
"Is it comfortable?"
Anna nodded.
"Doesn't seem to slip up and down on the heel. Looks like we have a winner, then."
Anton paid for the new shoes, and Anna put the other one on and then put both her old shoes into the box.
"What are we gonna do with my old shoes?" she asked as they left the store.
"We will give them to a little girl who needs shoes but cannot afford them," said Anton.
"Like Marlene?" asked Anna. "She mostly wears hand-me-downs from Mary Lou."
"That is an excellent idea," said Anton. "I will ask her parents if they would like to have them for when she is bigger, and if she also gets a pair from Mary Lou, she will have an extra pair. Since we are right here at the barber shop, I may as well get that haircut I have been needing."
They went next door to the barber shop. In contrast to the shoe store, it was noisy, with several lively conversations going on at the same time. A couple of young men gave up their seats for Patty and Anna. Patty thanked them, and they sat down.
After about half an hour, it was finally Anton's turn. After that, everyone was hungry, so they walked across the street to the restaurant on the other side.
One day, the class was having a math lesson when white flakes began to land on the windows. Several children noticed and shouted out with excitement. Miss Barlow laughed.
"Well, I suppose there's no point in continuing the lesson. You're all excused. Hurry home before it gets any worse."
Anna and Mary Lou put on their coats and headed home in a wonderland of white. They stuck out their tongues to catch the falling flakes.
"I've never seen snow before!" said Anna.
"Me neither!" said Mary Lou. "Maybe there will soon be enough to make a snowman!"
"I hope so!" said Anna. She tried to make a snowball, but wasn't able to gather up enough snow before it melted.
She came home to find Simon sitting on the floor, playing with his toys, while Patty cleaned up in the kitchen. Marshmallow came running to greet her, his tail wagging enthusiastically. She petted his soft, silky fur.
"Miss Barlow said we could go home early because of the snow," she told her mother.
"Have you had lunch yet?" asked Patty.
"No."
Patty fixed chicken noodle soup for her daughter. After lunch, Anna went outside to find that there still wasn't enough snow to make a snow ball without it all melting first. Disappointed, she went back inside to watch TV.
Patty cooked a delicious cheddar cheese soup with biscuits for dinner, and after the family had eaten, Anton told them a story from his childhood.
"It had snowed all night, and a beautiful blanket of white covered a nearby hill," he began. "I was going sledding with my friends. Your Aunt Hannah heard me talking about it and begged to go along. Over my protests, my mother insisted I let her come along with me."
Anna looked across the table at her little brother, who was eating a biscuit.
"I don't always like it when Simon follows me around."
Anton chuckled. "I can relate. I remember how I hurried ahead so she could not keep up. After I had sledded down the hill several times, I began to worry about her and retraced my steps. I found she had fallen into a hole in the yard and could not get out. She was crying very hard. I pulled her out of the hole, and then I did not feel like sledding anymore, so I walked back into the house with Hannah, leaving my sled behind."
"Did you ever get it back?" asked Anna.
Anton nodded. "My friends brought it back to me the next morning, but I felt so bad about what had happened to my little sister that I did not go sledding again for a long time after that."
"What would have happened if you hadn't gone back and found her?" asked Anna.
"She might have frozen to death. I could not have forgiven myself if that had happened."
Anna's eyes grew wide. "I'm awfully glad you did go back and find her!"
"So am I," said Anton.