Chatterbox: In This Month's Issue

Hey guys! I wrote a short story for the mag, and just wanted to see what y'all thought of it! I finished it later than I could have wished and sent it by priority mail, and am really, really hoping it makes it by the deadline. If not, well, at least it's on here! I'll post the unedited one. I had to trim it down by about 100 words, which was excruciatingly painful, but I think I made it work. Enjoy!  

Southern Snowflakes

Snow.

That was all she was asking for. Just a sprinkling, a dusting, a square foot……. even a flake would have satisfied her.

Ever since the leafs had begun to fall from their respective trees, Elsie had stepped outside and stared stubbornly up at the broad expanse of the Georgia sky, willing it to snow. Every day she would beg, plead, and cajole the silent clouds to release their icy treasures.

The sky just stared back.

Time passed, as time tends to do, and soon fall break was over. Elsie was swept up in a tidal wave of homework assignments and school activities. She hardly had enough time to sleep, let alone dream about snow.

Finally, Christmas break arrived, and Elsie ran home from school feeling free. She spent her holiday drinking hot chocolate with her family, singing christmas carols with her friends, and accumulating a stash of gifts for her loved ones under her bed.

Christmas morning came and went, and as Elsie approached New Years, she suddenly remembered her wish for snow. She sighed dejectedly. This winter had been wonderful, with or without it, but something inside her still wished to see it, to run through it, to experience it.

This time, the sky heard her wish.

On New Year's Eve, Elsie sat up alone with her thoughts and a quickly cooling mug of hot cocoa. The stifling silence that filled the room made the ticking grandfather clock and the thumping dance music that vibrated from her neighbor’s house even louder. Elsie abruptly stood up, pulled on her christmas sweater, and left the suffocating quiet of the house for the crisp winter’s air of outside.

The sky appeared as if someone had dropped a heavy blanket over the earth, smothering all of the stars. Only the moon was left shining, bathing the surrounding neighborhood in its pale light. Elsie plopped down on the dry, prickly grass, and felt it dig into her like thousands of tiny needles.

Then, something cold pricked her on the arm.

Elsie froze and looked up. A small, white flake was suspended in the air above her, held in midair by a small gust of wind. Then, it dropped out of the sky and landed on Elsie’s nose.

Snow! It was finally snowing!

Elsie leaped up, and as the flakes began to fall faster and faster she leaped, twirled, and danced, joy surging through her as quickly as the snowflakes hit the ground.

Somewhere inside the house, the grandfather clock struck twelve, announcing the new year.

And the sky smiled.