CHAPTER 5:
The lady named winter, frigid but dazzling, swept her way into Mineral Town. I sat in front of the fire, warming my cold hands, and eating some mushroom rice. The lake had finally frozen today, and I carefully traversed the icy path, to enter the Winter Mine. I worked hard, and filled my basket with agates, emeralds, peridots, and amethysts. I did this a number of times, until my hands were numb, my nose was blue, and I felt like the blood was going to freeze inside my veins! It was so cold, despite the big overcoat I wore, lined with fleece.
Bessie was expecting any day now, and I was forced to check frequently on her condition, just in case she caught cold. I should have gone and checked on her, but I was far too comfortable, after a day of hard work. Snow had started drifting down past my window, and I suddenly grew lonely. Looking around, I found Roscoe, and pulled him toward me. Something was still missing, though. Gray's face came to my mind. What was the use fighting it? Something seemed wrong I stood up, stretched, pulled on my coat, and walked out the door, and turned to go to town.
The snow was coming down still harder, as I trudged up the street, towards the Inn. At the moment, it seemed like a paradise, and I realized that I missed people, and more importantly, Gray, however hard I tried to deny it. I missed Gray!
I didn't realize that I was in front of the Inn, and walked stupidly into the door. "Ow!" I grumbled, rubbing my head. I opened it, and walked inside, letting the warmth hit me. Doug waved, with his hands full of bread dough. I waved back, threading my way through the tables. I clunked up the stairs, and walked past Ann's closed door, to the room where Cliff and Gray stayed. I knocked on the door, and Gray answered it.
"Hello? Oh, Claire, it's you! What's the matter? You don't look too well." He looked down at me, flatteringly concerned. I walked in and sat down.
"I was just….just lonely, I guess. I felt like coming to visit you. I hope you don't mind." Gray looked like nothing would please him more, and was a bit touched.
He turned away, and said, "I don't mind. I……like it when you visit." I ducked so he wouldn't see my happy face, and my heart jumped. Trying to steer the subject to a more stable place, I asked him, "Where's Cliff?"
Gray frowned slightly. "Oh, him. Ann found him some job at the Winery, so he went off to thank her. He's been gone for a while now, I'm sure he'll be sorry he missed you." His gray eyes narrowed, and he mumbled softly, barely audibly, "I'm not." He sat down next to me, and asked how Bessie was doing. We talked for a while, and I noticed that his hand was closer to mine than it was a few minutes ago. Flustered, I heard footsteps, and turned. The door opened, and Cliff strode in, smiling as if he owned the world. Gray quickly stood up, coloring, and asked Cliff, rather crossly, why he was so happy, and why he had just thrown open the door.
Cliff was not bothered. He cheerfully responded that this was his room as well, and that he could "throw open the door" anytime he pleased. Gray was not impressed, and I sensed another argument about to ensue. I stood up and turned to Gray. "Goodnight, Gray. Thanks for talking with me." My mind suddenly weighed the idea of kissing his cheek, but I turned it down, mostly because of Cliff standing watching us.
Gray apparently knew what I had momentarily considered, and his face blamed Cliff for disturbing it. I walked out, and into Ann's room. She was sitting on a stool, staring, which was odd for active Ann, so I went up to her and asked her if she was alright.
She turned to me, her face shining, and replied, "I am better than I have ever been! Cliff just thanked me for the job I found him, I mean he just walked up and, well, I was like, oh my gosh, he just…..yeah…" Her eyes were slightly crossed, so I figured that she was in a slight state of shock. I patted her head, and left, shaking my own.
I stepped out into the swirling snow, and caught sight of Elli, walking towards her grandmother's house. "Hey, Elli! How are you?"
She smiled at me. "Hi Claire, I'm just great. I had to go down to Lillia's. I left the doctor's Winter Thanksgiving present down at her house." Winter Thanksgiving? I had forgotten all about that! Did I even have chocolate?
I bade Elli goodbye, and hurried to the farm. I opened my refrigerator, and to my relief, found a small amount of chocolate. The only problem was, it was sugarless baking chocolate. I remembered back to when Ann and I sat, writing down festival tips, so I wouldn't do something wrong. I dashed to the cabinet, and pulled out the notebook they were written in. "No, no, yes, here it is. Let's see, if a girl likes a guy a little bit, she gives him chocolate. If she likes him a lot, she gives him chocolate cookies. If she loves him, she gives him chocolate cake." Well, I certainly liked him a lot, but he might get upset if I gave him cake, so I assembled the ingredients for chocolate cookies.
The house still smelled of chocolate the next morning, when I wrapped them in plastic wrap, and left the house, early that morning. I ran as fast as I could up to the Inn, so as to hopefully deliver the cookies before the boys woke up. I stepped inside, and immediately spotted Ann, frantically wrapping her own batch of chocolate cookies. I signaled to her, and she joined me, whispering, "Alright, let's go upstairs together, and put them on their nightstands." We carefully tiptoed up the stairs, as if walking on eggshells, cringing at every creak of the wood. She walked to their room, and pressed her ear to it, then gave the thumbs-up sign.
I gingerly walked up to the door, slowly turned the handle, and opened it. I peeked inside. The boys were fast asleep, and we were clear. I jerked my head, and walked noiselessly to Gray's bedside. His messy carrot hair was sticking up at weird angles. I stifled a laugh. He looked funny, when he was asleep like that. I placed the cookies on the bedside table, and then studied his face further. What I found was that, far from being weird looking, he was incredibly cute, especially without his hat! I bent over him, and suddenly had this vision of him waking up, and kicking me out of his room. That put me back down to business. I pulled a square of paper out of my backpack, and wrote:
To Gray,
Happy Winter Thanksgiving!
From Claire
This didn't look right. I looked harder and gulped. Then, with shaking hands, I erased, and wrote, to where it looked something like this:
To Gray,
Happy Winter Thanksgiving!
Love, Claire
That would cook my goose if anything would. I impaled the note upon a pin, and stuck the pin through the plastic. Then I turned to Ann, who led the way out the door, and closed it behind us. We both crossed our fingers, and went our separate ways, I to my farm, and she, to her kitchen.
Gray didn't mention the cookies, but I saw him eating a particularly big cookie, when I dropped by the blacksmiths. Bessie finally had her calf; I named it Belle, and invited Gray to come see it. He pronounced it "The cutest calf I have ever seen". I asked him how many calves he had seen, and he answered, "One".
The talk of the town now, was the Moon Festival, which had been moved to winter, because it had rained on autumn 13th, the supposed date. By now, I had realized that Gray was much, much more than a brother, or friend, and I was tired of being lonely, tired of sitting by the fire by myself. After the cookie incident, I didn't want to just walk up to him and invite him, so I wrote a letter, asking him to meet me up on Mother's Hill, along with all the other couples. He never responded, and I figured that his response must be a yes. On that cold, moonlit night, I dressed warmly, brushed my hair, and cheerfully walked up the path to the Hill.
I saw the shadows of the couples, and looked around for Gray. I caught sight of Ann, who looked at me, and turned white. She was sitting next to Cliff, and he also saw me, and looked down. This confused me. Why were they acting like that? I scanned the couples, and found the familiar carrot top, sitting beside a smug, smiling Mary.
I blanched. Ann closed her eyes, and turned her head, trying not to look happy about her successful date. My face grew hot, and my eyes watered. Gray suddenly turned his head and saw me. Our eyes met. I can only imagine how I looked to him, with my red face and eyes. I turned and ran, ran until the frigid air tore at my lungs. I ran until I reached my house, then slammed and locked the door, and collapsed into a sobbing heap upon the floor. Softly, a pitter started on the roof, and I rose my streaming eyes to find that it was raining; the same reason that the festival had been cancelled last season. I felt a sting of gladness, because Mary's date was being cancelled because of the rain, but no stray couples came down from the mountain. They just waited it out, I guess.
I don't know how long I sat watching the streams of water cascade down my windowpane, but I do remember wishing that I was out there too, getting soaked, with Gray by my side. Tears relieved my heart, crying out my feelings, my confusion, and my heartbreak. Outside, raindrops fell, as if in sympathy. Raindrops fell.
