The Cold

There's a Thirdlander I know who's been fairly distant so far this year.  She's a great student and a powerful writer, but she's not one to start the day with exuberant hugs, face breaking smiles and long stories about hilarious escapades. She's more the eye-rolling-indignant-stare-sighs-of-annoyance kind of Thirdlander, which, truth be told, has its good points.

 On Friday, we went out for an extra recess.  It was cold. The feel of snow was in the air. This gal didn't have a heavy coat.  She stood next to me, glowering.  "Usually I play happy games at recess, but right now I'm cold."

"Sorry you're cold," I told her, and I felt it sincerely.  "We're only going to be out here for ten minutes, so maybe you should run around?"

She scowled and stared off into the distance.  I stood with her, perusing the playground, wishing I hadn't lost my gloves last year.

After a prolonged silence, she blurted out, "I'm bored.  Wanna talk?"

Her question caught me off guard, but I quickly recovered.  "Sure.  Wanna walk around while we're talking?"  She did, so we did.  She had a lot to say and was an interesting conversationalist.  Took us 3 months to get here, but we're here.  Talking about our lives and braving the cold together.