#campus-freak

It was the first day of December. And Ryan was obviously uncontrollably excited about the fluffy white snowflakes drifting down outside. He spent the whole morning kneeling but his window, looking out, until it was time to go to daycare.

The instant he arrived, he ran to Otis and Britton, who were sitting in their usual corner, and more or less dragged his two friends (well as much as he could drag Otis given how much bigger the fox was than him) up over to the window seat. He promptly plonked down, pressing his small nose to the window. 

"You like the snow?" Otis asked sitting down next to him on one side while Britton scrambled up to sit on the other. 

"Uh huh," Ryan replied without moving. His breath fogged up his view and he squeaked, leaning back until the window was clear again so he could go back to staring at the whitening world outside. 

"You can write in the fog," Britton said in his customary soft voice, blowing gently on the window to create a nice patch of mist, and then, careful not to scrape the window with his claws, wrote in blocky writing B-r-i-t-t-o-n. "See?"

Ryan glanced over him for a second before trying it himself. His letters were significantly worse than Britton's: his motions shaky and a little unsure. "R. Y. A. N." He spelled out quietly, then sat back proudly.

Otis looked up from his own name, to which he'd added a few little decorations--stars and such, "You're getting better."

Ryan just beamed, but then went back to just watching, "Do...do you know any good stories about the snow? Fun ones?" 

"Hmmm..." Otis thought for a second, "Do you guys know the story of Frosty?"

Britton nodded happily but Ryan just looked at him and shook his head.

"Are you okay with hearing it again Britton?"

"Uh huh!"

"Oooh storytime!" Ryan grabbed Britton's paw and dived into Otis' enormously fluffy tail. In a second, you would have thought that Otis had a tri-colored tail with four eager eyes peering out of it--that was all you could see of the two smaller monsterlings.

Otis just chuckled, and began.

"Once upon a time there was a snowman. And he started out just as any other snowman did--he was made by kids who put lots of love into him. They gave him to button eyes, and a smile made of little pieces of coal, and a corncob pipe."

"What's a corncob pipe?" Ryan interrupted.

"I'm not sure? It's like a pipe for smoking but made of corn I guess?"

"Oh, okay--sorry," he snuggled back down, but his ears stayed perked up with interest.

"Anyway, the kids building him thought he needed one more thing. A hat! They tried on lots of different hats--a felt one and a cap and a beanie--but none of them looked right. They were starting to get sad when there was a strong gust of wind and, rolling along the road right by where they were was a top hat! The kids grabbed it, at first hoping to return it to it's rightful owner who they were sure would be right behind it but there was nobody in the street. So they decided to try it on their snowman.

And wouldn't you know--it looked perfect. But, little did they know, it was a magic hat because as soon as they put it on the snowman's head, he started to move!"

"Ohhhh!" Ryan breathed softly.

"Uh huh. He blinked and looked around and then he saw the kids, "My name's Frosty!" he said, "Thank you for waking me up." And the kids were speechless, but then they realized that this was magic and got excited. They played with Frosty all afternoon long--the sledding was better, the snowballs never ran out, the ice forts never fell down when he was there with them.

"But then Frosty mentioned that he'd never been downtown, so they all walked down into the city. Frosty was amazed by all the lights and colors, and they had to stop at almost every shop window to gawk at the sparkling displays inside. Food and clothes and toys.

"They thought it would never end, but then one of the kids saw something cool up ahead, and they all ran to see it. And when they looked back, Frosty wasn't there. His hat was just rolling away down the road, between puddles where the snow had melted.

"All the kids ran to the police officer on the corner, crying and worrying about Frosty. But he knew, and he said, "Don't worry. Every time there's a fresh snow somewhere, Frosty will be back. And it's true--so if you ever see an old top hat rolling down the road, you never know, it might make your snowman come to life."

Ryan's green eyes were absolutely shining, "Ah that's a great story Otis!"

"Mhmm," Britton agreed. 

Ryan wriggled out of Otis' tail and scurried back to the window, "D'you think we could build a snowman? I don't think it'll come to life but...I've never really built one before. The boys do sometimes but I'm not allowed to."

"Yeah!" Otis nodded.

  When 'recess' time came around, most of the little monsters opted to stay inside as they had now for awhile, to avoid the cold outside. But some of them, including Otis, Britton and Ryan, bundled up in their coats and hats and were led out into the small, fenced-in yard behind the building.

The instant he was outside, Ryan bounded through the snowdrifts, face upturned and tongue outstretched to try and catch any snowflakes he could. Britton followed right behind, a little bit better on the snow with his larger paws but quickly disappearing into a drift that was bigger than he thought it was, leaving only his fluffy tail poking out.

Otis was trying to be the mature one, but after a second he couldn't resist either and soon all three of them were jumping around in the snow. 

First, of course, because Ryan had asked, they rolled large balls of snow around the yard until they had one that was taller than both Ryan and Britton, and then Otis lifted Ryan up so he could put the head of the snowman on. It was definitely far from perfect, but Ryan was delighted and he and Britton ran around the yard, digging up small rocks and sticks to use as decorations while Otis added a few last patches and pats to the snow.

"I think his name is...Oatmeal." Ryan said after pondering for a minute.

"Oatmeal?" Otis and Britton chorused, but Ryan looked so pleased with the name that neither of them commented on it any further.

"Heheh works for me," Otis smiled.

"It's a great name, Ryan," Britton agreed, hugging him.

Once their real work of art was finished, they made snow angels, which weren't quite perfect because they could never entirely figure out where their tails should go, and Ryan packed snow into a ball and threw it straight up into the air, where it burst apart into a shimmering snow cloud.

Of course, one of them making any kind of "snowball" had the other two joining in instantly, and within moments they were shrieking, ducking behind drifts to avoid the rather poorly aimed projectiles, although they were careful not to hit Oatmeal.

By the time recess was over, all of them were soaked, exhausted, and cold but glowing with happiness. 

The instant he got inside and hung up his coat to dry, Ryan bounded over to their usual napping spot and curled up, pulling his front paws up into his hoodie and tucking them under himself, waiting for the other two. Britton followed quickly, snuggling up next to him and burrowing his nose under Ryan's chin.

Otis let them get settled while he, true to form, carefully shook out and hung up all of his wet things--including his gloves and scarf. When he finally came over, they both looked asleep, but as he lay down on Ryan's other side, he could feel the Katt's soft purrs.

"Thank you...fer the story...Otis..." he murmured, barely awake, and the fox smiled.