A Winter's Tale

     He stretched and jumped out of bed, running over to his window. He threw back the curtains and gave a loud cry of yes while jumping a few feet into the air with joy. He ran quickly down the stairs and he had just started to open the front door when he heard his mother's stern voice.

     "Bain, just you wait a minute before you go running off. Come here."

     He gave a little sigh and grudgingly closed the door, walking into the living room to talk to his mum. She was sitting on the sofa with a mug of warm tea. She turned to face her son. She had one of those looks on her face that Bain knew meant it was lecture time.

     "I want you to eat a good warm breakfast before you go anywhere…"

     "But mum!"

     "No 'but mum' anything! You will eat your breakfast and then you will put your coat, scarf and gloves on. It's very cold today and I don't want you catching a cold or getting ill when you have perfectly good clothes to wear. I want you home before it gets dark, and here is a few Neopoints for you to buy some lunch with. Oh, and no going to the Lost City of Geraptiku!"

     "Yes, mum," Bain said and solemnly walked to the kitchen. He very quickly ate a bowl of Crunchy Kacheek Cereal and ran back to the front door. His mum was there to help him put his bright red coat, scarf and gloves on and then he bolted out of the house without saying goodbye. His mum gave a little sigh and shook her head as she watched her son fly down the street to meet his friends. When his house was no longer in sight Bain stopped flying and landed in a very tall tree. He took off his coat, scarf and gloves and hung them over the topmost tree branch. He didn't want to meet his friends wearing them; they were so uncool and would ruin his image. He wasn't cold anyway so he decided he wouldn't need them. He flew off again, heading for the beach where he was meeting his friends.

     The Xweetok triplets, Fred, Ted and Ned ran and skipped along the sand, jumping over the volleyball nets and laughing. They were just as excited as Bain to see all the snow. Fred, being the oldest by two seconds, ran in front. His red ruff standing out from the pure white snow that littered the landscape. Ted came next, being the middle brother. He had a beautiful blue ruff that matched his eyes. Last not least came Ned, trying with all his might to catch up with his brothers, his green ruff damp with sweat from running so hard. They arrived at their meeting place but were very surprised, Bain was nowhere to be found. They were not late; in fact, they were early. Where could he be? They searched up and down that stretch of beach, calling his name loudly. They looked under rocks and high up trees but he was nowhere to be found. With their ears cast down, and with less of a spring in their step, they started to walk away. They guessed that he had forgotten he promised to play with them, and they would have to do all the fun things they had planned without him. They didn't hear him call to them as they walked away.

     "Fred! Ted! Ned! I'm under here! I'm stuck, please help me!" Bain pleaded. He was stuck under a big pile of snow. He had arrived early to meet them and thought it would be funny to play a trick on them. He dug a small hole in the snow, climbed inside and then covered himself with snow. He wanted to jump out and scare his friends. He didn't know that the snow would be heavy, and so tightly packed on top of him. He struggled and wriggled and tried with all his might to dislodge himself when he saw his friends but the snow wouldn't budge. He only managed to get one of his hands out of the hole, which he waved frantically around trying to get their attention. They walked over to where he was, only a few feet in front of hi yet they didn't try to help him. He called out until he was hoarse but his voice was lost in the strong wind. He watched sadly as his friends started to leave; why didn't they help him? All he could do now was wait a while until the snow melted enough for him to get free. He wished he had his coat and scarf now. He was freezing, buried under the snow.

     Two hours had passed before the snow melted enough for Bain to escape his self-made hole. He shot into the air and stretched his wings. They had been curled up for so long he worried they might never work again. He shook all the snow off himself and flew towards the mainland with only one thing on his mind: finding his friends. It wasn't long before he found them, all having a snowball fight near the Island Market. A big smile lit up his face and he swooped down to join them. But he pulled up before landing next to them and the smile disappeared from his face. He could hear them laughing. He could see how much fun they were having without him. They didn't even care that he wasn't there. He was devastated. His friends weren't really his friends at all. He flew up a nearby tree to watch them as silent tears fell down his face. He decided to follow them for the rest of the day; he needed to see how much fun they could have without him there. He followed them to the Island Mystic where they had their fortune told and were given some sound advice:

      You will eventually realise you have to play Dice-A-Roo.

     He watched them ice skate over water by the frozen harbour, he saw them make snow angels, make a snowman and even build a snow fort, their laughter ringing in his ears the entire time. He had finally seen enough and went home. He completely forgot to collect his clothes he had left in the tree top. He didn't care if his mum was angry at him; what did it matter if she punished him or grounded him? He had no friends to play with anyway. He hadn't eaten all day but he only picked at his dinner. He felt too sad to eat. He went to bed very early that night but he couldn't sleep. If only he could have heard the Xweetok triplets as they lay in their own beds.

     "Snow is so awesome!" Fred exclaimed.

     "Let's do the same thing tomorrow!" Ted yelled.

     "It would have been a lot more fun if Bain had come today," Ned said quietly "It's always a lot more fun with four of us. We can have proper snowball fights and that way and we can pair off together in teams"

     Fred and Ted agreed. They had fun but it had felt as though one of them was missing. Bain was such a good friend it was almost as though he was the fourth Xweetok brother. They hoped they would find him out on the island tomorrow, happy and ready to play.

     Bain didn't wake up so early the next day. Instead he got out of bed slowly and wearing a gloomy expression. He knew if he stayed in the house his mum would ask him to help her do chores. He definitely didn't want to do them. He was lucky that his mum hadn't noticed the absence of his coat yesterday, but he knew two days in a row and she would notice. He flew off to collect them. It was an even colder day then Saturday had been, cold enough even for Bain to forget his image and looking cool. He put his coat, scarf and gloves on, all of which were bright red. He stood out greatly from the white snow all around him. He was walking past the Tombola stall when he saw Fred, Ted and Ned. He stopped walking suddenly and wished he could disappear. He tried to sneak away, hoping maybe that they wouldn't see him. But they came running over to him.

     "Where were you yesterday!" Fred asked.

     "We had such a good time!" Ted said.

     "We missed you," Ned said suddenly.

     Bain was shocked. They had pretended not to have seen him and now they were lying to him! Well he wasn't going to stand for that.

     "You are all liars! I saw you yesterday having fun without me. I was waiting on the beach for you yesterday and I saw you all arrive! I waved and yelled at you but you all just ignored me. I hate you!"

     The Xweetok triplets stood there in shocked silence. They had searched for him for a long time, calling his name and even looking for his footprints. But he sounded angry and hurt by their actions.

     "We didn't see you, Bain. We looked all over the beach for you, but you weren't there. You really would have stood out in that red coat of yours," Ned said.

     Bain opened his mouth to yell but then realised something. He wasn't wearing his coat yesterday, he had taken it off. He must have blended in with the snow! His colouring was exactly the same pure white colour as the snow and he'd never really realised before. He started to laugh and his friends all gave him a strange look. He laughed so hard tears glistened in his eyes. His friends hadn't abandoned him after all, they couldn't see him in all the snow. He told them his story, about how he wanted to surprise them and how they had been so close to him but had not seen him. They all laughed so hard that their tummies hurt by the end of the story. They all hugged Bain, reassuring him they were his friends.

     "Come on," Fred yelled. "Let's get to our snow fort before it all melts!"

     And they spent the entire day playing. They had snow fights, made snowmen, and even made their own snow cones (though they didn't really taste of anything). Bain had never had such a good time in all his life, even when his mum told him off for being late home. After that day he vowed to never go outside in winter without a coat on again. Just in case they had snow.

The End