Winter
Billy watched Teddy stomp around their front yard in his giant boots, bag of rock salt balanced in the crook of his arm. To Billy’s disappointment, the snow did not immediately dissolve beneath the salt. Billy sighed noisily, his breath condensing in the air. “The first house we buy is going to be secluded from all neighbors. It’s taking every ounce of my willpower not to wave my hand and go, snow-be-gone, ” he informed.
Teddy’s smile was unnaturally warm for the weather. “We’ll have the money soon enough. Besides, living here is not so bad. We’re close to Katie’s private teacher. That’s important.”
At her name, Billy looked to their house. Predictably, Katie’s green face was smooshed against the window, scaly fingers splayed against the glass. Billy crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. Katie hopped giddily before hooking her fingers into her cheeks and making a funny face back.
“She’s getting bored,” Billy observed. “Don’t know why she won’t just watch TV. There’s no way we’re more entertaining than Kevin McCallister. That kid is legendary.”
Teddy glanced at their daughter. “It’s probably a commercial break. That, or she’s lonely.”
Billy nodded and dug his shovel into, possibly, his driveway. The latest snowfall had their street looking like Pompeii after Mount Vesuvius. “You’re right. We should get a dog,” he agreed, dumping a pile of snow onto, possibly, his lawn.
Teddy chuckled and shook his head. “I’m afraid you’ll be facing that battle with the landlord alone.”
“It’ll keep her company!”
“And get us kicked out,” Teddy reminded him.
“Where’s your sense of adventure? You are not the man I married,” Billy admonished. His ears were starting to ache from the cold, so he yanked down on the brim of his winter hat.
“‘Not the man you married’? I wonder how common shapeshifters hear that from their spouses,” Teddy mused.
Billy stuck his shovel into the snow and hit ice. He lost balance and one of his legs sunk deeper into the snow than comfortable. “Maybe there’s a poll online somewhere,” he grunted, retrieving his knee with a slight stumble backwards.
“Need some help over there?” offered Teddy, laughter adding a lilt to his voice.
Katie remained at the window. Billy spotted her laughing at him. When they locked gazes, however, she ducked out of sight. “Okay,” he said, “I can kind of see how we entertain her.”
“You are a walking slapstick routine, it seems,” Teddy conceded.
Before Billy could reply, the front door opened and out came Katie. Her cropped blonde hair now fell to her shoulders, black and wavy. Her green scales had been swapped out for Billy’s complexion. She was dressed in a thin sweater and jeans.
Teddy quickly set his bag on the ground. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he tutted, dashing toward her. She had barely made it to the second porch step when Teddy picked her up beneath her arms and walked her back inside the house. Katie protested as the door closed behind them.
Billy dutifully resumed shoveling. Twenty minutes had dragged on, Billy’s arms getting sore with his progress. He distracted himself from the nagging chill nipping his exposed skin with a spectrum of thoughts, like if Tommy enjoyed sledding or found it too slow, how America and Eli’s mission together two days ago ago went, and did David ever figure out what exactly those pictures Noh sent were of? The Snapchat filter had added reindeer horns to it, and the GPS feature specified he was on Mars, but —
The door opened again. Teddy emerged alongside a waddling child. Billy could barely make out his kid’s face. The puffiness of her winter coat made her arms stick out awkwardly. Her hands were bundled in mittens, the bunched legs suggested she wore several layers of pants, and her snow boots lit up when she walked. A thick scarf covered her neck and nose, and she wore earmuffs beneath her pom-pom hat. Her hood was pulled up and over.
She stepped somewhat uncertainly onto the pavement, Teddy’s arms steadying her. “There’s no ice, right?” she asked.
“Not over here, no,” Teddy assured.
“Good.” With that, Katie surged forward. “Dad, I wanna help,” she announced, her hands grabbing for Billy’s shovel like fuzzy pinchers.
“I don’t think this shovel is your size,” Billy said apologetically.
“It’s fine, it’s not that big — please?” Katie wrapped her arms around Billy’s waist and stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. She stared up at him with the full force of sad puppy eyes.
Teddy passed them, lifting his bag of salt and returning to work.
“Alright,” allowed Billy, tone cautionary. He held his shovel out for her to take; it was a foot taller than her. She hopped and squealed when she got the shovel, but her attitude sobered as she struggled to hold the behemoth in her mittens. Billy helped her adjust the shovel until it teetered in the air, horizontal from her body. “It’s not a weapon, Katie,” he advised.
“I know.”
“Do you? You’re holding it like —” Billy was cut short when Katie whirled around and accidentally rammed the shovel into his gut.
Katie’s expression was wide-eyed. “Sorry! I’m sorry!” Katie sputtered. “Daddy? Daddy, you’re not going to take away my shovel, are you? I’m sorry.”
“You can keep your shovel. Just, I’m going to stand a bit — over here.” Billy backed up sufficiently and gave her a reassuring smile. “Try again,” he encouraged.
Katie’s brow furrowed and she gave a serious, solder-like nod. “Yes!” Inspired, she whirled around a second time and dove her shovel into Billy’s snow pile.
“No, no — not that one!” Billy warned. “That’s where you put the snow, baby.” He pointed toward the driveway. “You want to shovel that stuff.”
Katie looked more confused than anything, but Billy didn’t have much to worry about — her strength gave out prematurely and the scooped snow tipped out less than a foot from the pile. She tried to retrieve the snow, but she stumbled in her boots and dropped the shovel. Billy couldn’t help but giggle.
Katie apparently heard him, because she turned to face him with an offended gasp. “Are you laughing at me?” she demanded, perching her hands on her hips.
“Billy’s being silly,” Teddy chimed in, grinning at the two of them.
“That rhyme is silly,” Billy fired back. He turned back toward Katie, an apology on his lips, when a snowball hit him square in the face. He dusted the snow off and looked at Katie’s wicked smile.
“That’s what you get,” she said.
“Okay, war,” said Billy, nodding, “this means war.”
He bent down to pack a snowball, but Teddy disapproved. “Nope, no war. We need to finish the driveway before the landlord gets here in an hour.”
Teddy ignored Katie’s whines and tossed another fist of salt into the hedge of snow lining their sidewalk. Billy continued rolling his snow until it was sturdy and round. Then he hurled it at the back of Teddy’s head. Katie cheered.
Teddy rubbed his skull, but he was smiling. The dimples Billy fell in love with when they were sixteen flashed in his cheeks. “You really want to play this game?” he asked, mock dangerously.
Billy grabbed another ball of snow. “There’s always time to save the world.”
“From me?”
“Yeah, from you.” Billy deepened his voice to a growl. “You and your evil, anti-snow agenda.”
“He’s trying to get rid of snow everywhere!” Katie cried. She plunged his mittens into the snow, rolling a particularly large ball. “We can’t let him get away with this! Billy, man the fort!”
Billy paused. “What fort?”
Katie dodged Teddy’s lazy snowball, eliciting a mild note of frustration from him. “The one you’re building!” she said.
“Oh. Of course. Silly me,” Billy remarked.
“Silly Billy!” Teddy shouted.
Katie seconded him. “Silly Billy!”
Billy jogged over to the snow pile. “I’m going to get you guys for that. Mark my words,” he griped, lowering onto his knees.
“Quick!” Katie ordered. Teddy’s snowball smacked her stomach and she stomped her boot at him indignantly.
Billy began patting the snow pile in the form of a wall. “Forts take time!”
“Get Uncle Tommy!”
“I can build a fort just fine!” Billy defended himself. Teddy’s snowball hit his ear. “Not cool!”
“Not cool at all,” Teddy agreed. “It’s cold. ” He blew a kiss, which was totally unfair, being cute after making that pun.
Billy took a chunk of his fort and threw it at his husband. Teddy danced merrily out of the way, ducking and laughing as Katie lobbed a snowball at him. “He’s stealing from your fort!” he tattled.
“Daddy!” Katie scolded Billy.
“Sorry, sorry!” Billy said. He started to plead as Teddy and Katie pelted him with snowballs from either side. He pressed himself to the ground, laughing ridiculously and covering his face. His face hurt more from smiling and being buried in the snow, but Billy didn’t mind the happy aches so much.