Saturday

Lincoln woke up in his hotel room. He had it all to himself, just like at home. We pulled the covers off and stepped onto the carpeted floor. He looked out of the sliding door to the snow dusted balcony and landscape beyond. He changed into his usual attire before stepping out into the hallway. He walked to the elevator bank and descended to the first floor.

He stepped off and walked to the dinner. A few of his siblings were already there, eating at a group of tables pushed together. He walked over to the counter which looked into the kitchen. Dad was putting pancakes on a plate with scrambled eggs on the side.

"Good morning Lincoln," he said.

"Good morning Dad. How are you doing?"

"Good, good," he answered as he slid the plate over to Lincoln. "I'll be decorating the hotel and showing Mom the perfect spot for her to write."

"Well, have fun," Lincoln said as he took the plate. He walked over to the table and sat down. The family was discussing what they would be doing today. Lola and Leni would be helping Dad set up the Christmas decorations on the ground floor and the floor they were staying on, Luna would be practicing her piano skills, Lynn would be out on the frozen pond with her various sports equipment and Lana and Lisa would be out in the woods outlining the roundabout.

They finished their meal before wandering off to spend their day doing their respective activities.


Lynn Sr. led Rita up to one of the conference rooms. He held the door open for her as she passed by. "I thought this would be the perfect spot to write."

The room had a long table with leather roller seats set around it. On the other side of the room was a whiteboard with dry erase markers. The entirety of the left wall was made out of glass that gave a view of the front of the hotel to the tree line where the road disappeared behind. She set her laptop and notebook on the table before looking out of the window, where she could make out Lynn Jr. on the ice.

"This is lovely honey, thank you."

"There's a coffee maker on the table if you want some. I'll be on the ground floor with Leni and Lola decorating if you need me. Have fun writing." He turned and left the room. He stepped onto the elevator and descended to the ground floor.

He stepped out of the elevator and walked over to the stack of Christmas decorations where Lola and Leni were waiting.

"Are you girls ready to decorate?"

"Yeah!" they both said. He opened the boxes up and they grabbed the decorations. Lynn Sr. hung the garland on the hallway arches, Leni tied up red ribbons in the corners and Lola covered up the walls with gingerbread men, candy canes and ornaments to the sound of Happy Christmas from the piano.

They came back together once they had finished fully decorating the floor. They took what was left of the decorations and headed back to their floor. They used up the last of the decorations making the hallway look as jolly as possible.

Lynn Sr. stepped back to admire their handiwork. He noticed that the line of stockings on the wall was missing one. He looked around for it and saw that Lily's was missing. He picked it up and saw that Lily had crawled inside.

"Well hey there," he said. "What are you doing in there?" He scooped out Lily from the stocking and set her down as she giggled. She got back on her tricycle and rode off as Lynn Sr. hung up her stocking. He began stacking up the empty boxes and placed them in his room. Now with the decorations out of the way he could go outside to see if any of the snow needed to be shoveled.


Lincoln and Lynn were skating around the frozen pond playing catch with a baseball. They had been doing this for some time now and he was growing bored.

"Hey Lynn, do you have any other games to play?"

"What, is this one not good?"

"No, it's not that. But a change of pace would be nice."

"I have a case full of other stuff but I'm saving it for other days. There's only so much you can fit in after all."

"Oh. Alright then."

They continued playing catch for a while. He sent the ball to her but she didn't send it back. "Hold on, I've got an idea." She got off the ice and headed inside. He sat down on the edge of the ice waiting for her to come back.

When she got back she was carrying a broom and Lily, puffed up in her little lavender parka.

"What's this?"

"Have you ever heard of curling?"

"That Canadian sport right?"

"Right. We'll use Lily as the ball and this broom as the sweeper thing. Whoever gets closest to the center of the pond wins." She set Lily on her back with her head facing away from them. She pushed her away and ran ahead of her scrubbing the ice with the broom.

Lily came to a stop at the end of the pond. Lynn looked down at the broom in her hands. "Heh. I guess I got carried away." She picked up Lily and handed her and the broom off to Lincoln who walked back to the starting point.

He pushed off Lily and scrubbed the ice ahead of her for a few seconds before watching her slide away. She slowed down and came to a stop dead center of the pond. He got to Lily and picked her up. "That was fun, wasn't it Lily?". Lynn walked over. "Good game."

"Good game. I'm going to take Lily back inside and get my sled." He turned and headed off the ice and back into the hotel.


Lucy stepped up to the vent cover on the wall. She pulled out a quarter from her pocket and used it to unscrew the covering. She slowly pulled it off and set it down, careful to make sure that none of the dust would land on her bed.

She lifted herself up and began crawling through the air ducts looking for the perfect place to sit down and write. She made a few turns before coming to a grate that led to the elevator shaft. She decided that this was the place. She leaned against the wall with her legs scrunched up in front of her to rest her poem book on.

She began thinking of an inspiration for her poem. Winter themed of course, but for what? She felt a draft blow strands of her raven hair against the side of her face. She began writing.

Some, too fragile for winds,

The thoughtful grave encloses,-

Tenderly tucking them in from frost

Before their feet are cold.

Never the treasures in her nest

The cautious grave-

She stopped writing. What rhymes with 'encloses'? She wished Lincoln was here. He always knew what to write.

"Try 'exposes'."

Lucy jumped, hitting her head on the top of the vent and sprinkling down dust until her hair was speckled with gray. She looked around for the one who spoke. She was all alone. No sign whatsoever of the child's voice. She rubbed her aching head as she sat back up. She looked around before she continued to write.

The cautious grave exposes,

Building where schoolboys dare not look

And sportsman is not bold.

This covet have all the children,

Early aged and often cold,-

Sparrows unnoticed by the Father;

Lambs for whom time had not a fold.

She put her pen down watching her last stroke of ink dry on the page. She closed the book and began crawling back to her room. She felt as if she was being watched, as if she was a rat trying to run a maze. She followed the trail of disturbed dust back to her room. She got back down and dusted herself off. She placed the grate back on the vent and screwed it in tight.

She left the room and headed down, taking the stairs, to look for a new place to write. She felt that she wasn't going to use the elevator for a while.


"How would Santa get in?"

"Could you please rephrase that question?"

"I mean, how would he get into the hotel? He comes down the chimney but the hotel doesn't have one. So he would either have to come down the stairs or come in from the front. So which one is it?"

"Why would you like to have said information?"

"To catch one of his reindeer. To keep as a pet!"

"I assume you haven't thought it through about supporting such a creature. Though that would be interesting to study."

Lisa and Lana had been carrying equipment through the woods. They talked a bit about things but they had spent most of the time listening to nature. They heard the running of a creek and Lisa gestured for Lana to follow her.

They came up to the gravel edge of the river bank. Lana watched a chunk of ice go silently by.

"I believe this river feeds into one of the Great Lakes. This will be perfect to observe fish migration patterns."

"Cool. Where do you want me to put your doohickeys?"

"Put the things you have by the tree. I'll be back for it. You can go play in the snow or something."

Lana went back into the treeline and placed the items as the base of a tree before wandering off. She passed by trees coated in glimmering snow. She came to a stop at one of them and for fun kicked the base and ran back to watch the snow fall out.

She continued on her walk. It sure was nice out here today. She came across a tree with a large clump of snow on top of the roots. She walked over to get a closer look. She squatted in front of it. There was a hole at the top of it. She leaned in for a closer look.

A furry little head popped out. She stepped back a bit to not scare it away. Small, white, probably a rabbit. "Hello there," she said. It looked at her. "Is there anyone else in your little warren?"

"Lana, we're done here!"

"Hey Lisa, come and check this out!"

Lisa walked up next to Lana. "May I be an assistance sibling?"

"I found this rabbit."

Lisa squinted at it. "Yes, it appears to be a snowshoe hare. What about it?"

"I think I made myself some new friends. How many do you think there are?"

"There can be at most thirty rabbits in one warren."

"Cool. Do you think they're hungry?"

"Unlikely."

"Oh. Well, should we be heading back?"

"Our objective has been completed, so yes." She turned around to head back to the hotel.

"I'll be back with some treats for you," Lana whispered to the rabbit before standing up and following Lisa.


The family joined together for Lynn Sr. 's spagh-Leni and meatballs, each recounting their day. It had been a great start to their vacation and they had another fourteen such days to enjoy together. The maintenance work was quick and easy to do, leaving the rest of the time to be with his family.

The kids finished their dinners one by one before hurrying off to enjoy what little time remained of the day until it was just him, Rita and Lily. He took a sip of water before speaking.

"How is your writing going?"

"I began planning a new chapter to write. I've made more progress today than I have in a month!"

"That's wonderful. Not much work to be done outside, I think I'll be able to take a day off to be with you tomorrow."

"That'd be nice. We can have the kids play in the pool while we have the room to ourselves."

"I'll get the pool heated up. But let me get Lily out of her chair first." He stood up, picked up Lily from her high chair and set her down. She got onto her tricycle and drove away singing her little song. "Ahh, isn't that adorable. I'll be back." He walked out of the diner heading for the basement.


Lily peddled her tricycle through the halls of the hotel singing her tricycle tune.

I like my trike

My itty-bitty bike

Watch me ride through the grass

Try to follow me

All around the tree

I hope I don't go too fast

She turned a corner and came to a stop. At the other end of the hallway were five kids, none of them her siblings. One girl and four boys sitting in a circle playing cards. They all looked up from their cards at her. Lily shifted the pedal back slightly.

"Don't be scared," the girl said. For a second she changed, all of them did, then they reverted back to normal. Lily began to back up.

"Don't leave," the boy wearing the white shirt said. "We've been here for so long. It'd be nice to have a new friend." They changed again, all laying on the ground for the blink of an eye. Lily began to whimper.

They all stood up and began walking towards her. "Don't leave." They would change in flashes, each one closing the distance between her and them. Lily backed up the tricycle into the wall.

They changed again and she saw them all laying on the ground in front of her, waxen skin and unblinking eyes. The boy in the red shirt grabbed her by the arm and Lily shut her eyes, not daring to see what would happen next.

Nothing came. She slowly opened her eyes. They were gone. All of them. She noticed how cold she felt and looked down at the arm she was grabbed by. Frost had accumulated on her sleeve that was beginning to melt off. She turned back down the wall she came and speeded away looking for someone to be with.

She ran into the back of Mom's leg. She turned around and looked down at Lily. "Sweetie, you have to look out when you're driving. It's bedtime anyways, just pedal into the elevator." She began walking to the elevator when Lily jumped off her tricycle and pulled at her jeans.

"What's wrong Lily?"

"Uppies!"

"You want me to carry you?" She nodded. "Okay." She picked up Lily and cradled her. "Lily, you're so cold! I'll see if we have any extra blankets we can give you." She turned to send the elevator to their floor facing Lily in the direction of the lobby. She saw the five kids wave goodbye to her as the doors shut.