Footloose in the Snow

1) One snowy evening, after having eaten dinner, Ricky the Lion left his shoes and socks at his own house and went to Cindy Wolf’s house for a visit. He was wearing a dark green snow coat, dark green snow pants, a red scarf, and blue gloves over his ordinary outfit. With shivering feet, he walked up to the doorbell and rang it.
Guess who came to the door? This time, it was Tom Wolf, Cindy’s brother.
“Hi, Tom,” said Ricky. “Is your mom home?”
“Yeah, I’ll come get her,” Tom replied. “Hey, ma! Ricky the Lion would like to see you!”
“Let him in, Tom!” Clara called. “But please make sure he takes that there footwear off his paws!”
Tom looked at Ricky’s bare feet.
“He don’t got no footwear on, ma!” Tom called.
“Then he’s good! I’ll be here as soon as I can!” Clara called back.
This should be warming, Ricky thought, relieved. I regret leaving my shoes and socks.
“Do come in, Ricky,” Tom said. “Make yourself comfortable.”
“Thank you, Tom,” he said and removed his scarf, gloves, coat, and snow pants, and then he sat on the chair, resting his feet on the footstool and wiggling his toes.

2) Much later, Clara came out to see Ricky with his feet on the footstool. This time, she wasn’t wearing one of her green dresses with a pink belt. This time, she was wearing a green sweater and blue pants.
“Hi, Ricky!” she called. “So y’all left them footwear behind, eh? Good choice.”
“I figured I could get a chance to take you on a walk with me in the snow, just for a sample,” he said. “This is to see how good I am at it.”
“Not a bad idea,” Clara said and briefly tickled Ricky’s toes, making him laugh. “Anyway, I was usin’ the bathroom.”
"I understand, Clara," he said. "How would you like to join me for a walk in the snow and leave animal tracks?"
“I’d love that!” she said.
It wasn’t that Ricky actually enjoyed feeling the snow in his bare feet, but he figured it would be a good experience for him.
So Clara put on her dark pink scarf around her neck and Ricky, feeling uneasy, put his winter clothes back on.

3) Out in the snow, Clara really enjoyed feeling the snow on her feet, and she picked up a little snow between the pads on the balls of her feet and her toes. She then happily lifted up one of her feet, unclenched her toes, and shook the snow off.
Ricky, on the other hand, was slow at walking, for his feet were getting cold.
“Clara, my feet are freezing cold!”  he cried. “I shouldn’t have even tried this!”
Not even on the way, he continued in his head.
“My foot paws ain’t freezin’,” Clara said.
“Well, I’m not used to feeling snow,” he complained. “Can I go home and get my socks, foil, and boots, please?”
Normally, in the snow, Ricky wore aluminum foil wrapped around his socks inside his black boots.
“No, y’all don’t need them footwear,” Clara answered. “Our family never wore nothin' on our paws and we're dang proud of it. Do like I’m doin’. Think of somethin’ warm. That always helps.”
“Even if you were right about that taking my mind off the chill,” Ricky said. “… that wouldn’t prevent me from eventually catching a cold. Don’t you ever catch colds by the time you get back in the house?”
Said Clara, “Nope, we done never catch colds.”
“I’ll try anyway,” he said without enthusiasm.

4) Much later, Ricky and Clara saw Ricky’s wolf girlfriend Katie Wolf, skating on the frozen pond with only the pads on her feet. Ricky gasped in both amazement and shock. She didn’t have any ice skates on, not even the blades, for she was a digitigrade, and therefore, could only walk on the balls of her feet and her toes. She was twirling on her toes on one foot with the ankle of that foot being touched with the sole of her other foot. She was even writing on the ice with her feet. Ricky and Clara clapped.
“You don’t look very happy, Ricky,” Katie said and kissed my forehead.
“I’m amazed that you can skate so well, especially without even blades,” he said. “But you’ll catch a death of cold not only because you’re barefoot, but also because you have so little clothing.”
“It’s a tunic,” Katie said. “And I’m really used to the feel of the cold under my feet, so I won’t catch a cold.”
Perhaps it’s because you’re unable to wear shoes or socks, Ricky thought as if he were saying it to Katie, but she didn’t hear him because it wasn’t verbal.
“How did you learn how to ice-skate so well?” Ricky asked her.
“Cindy taught me,” Katie said. “And I’d like someone to ice-skate with, which is why I’ve been looking forward to you trying it.”
“I can’t, Katie,” he said. “The blades on ice-skates are dangerous.”
“Y’all don’t need ice-skates, or even blades,” Clara said with a smile.
“She’s right. You can just try it with the soles of your bare feet,” Katie said.
“I don’t think I can do that. My feet are still freezing and getting numb by now,” he carped.
“Just think about somethin’ warm,” Clara said.
“Please try, for me,” Katie said, giving him puppy eyes.
Although he didn’t say this out loud, he accepted, as he loved Katie so much.
“Remember, Ricky,” Clara said. “Just think about somethin’ warm.”
Ricky began to make himself think of the ice as another sliding substance, one that was warm, as he learned from Katie how to ice-skate. He even learned how to get up when he fell. He continued to learn how to ice-skate. To his surprise, he forgot his feet were cold.
After the ice-skating lesson was over, Ricky gave Katie a thank-you hug and kisses on the ears and lips and got off the ice.
“Thanks for the lesson, Katie,” Ricky said. “I love you, my pretty peppermint puppy!”
“I love you too, my lovely lollipop lion!” Katie called. “Come again for more lessons!”
“I will when I’m ready!”
“Y’all done had a lot of fun, didn’t ya?” Clara asked Ricky. “Admit it, or I’ll give those there paws a big coochie coo.”
“Well, yeah, I did, Aunt Clara,” Ricky said, hugging Clara.
“Please just call me Clara,” she said.
“This feels like warm sand on a beach in Brazil!” Ricky cried excitedly, forgetting about the chill in it.
“See how easy it was,” Clara said.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “It wasn’t.”
“Admit it, or I’ll give them paws a cootchie-coo,” Clara said.
“Go ahead, Clara,” he said. “… but I wouldn’t admit it if it were true.”

5) Back inside the house, Ricky and Clara, with their scarves, and Ricky’s snow suit and gloves off, sat in front of the fireplace and placed their bare feet in front of the fire.
“This really feels warm,” Ricky said.
Cindy brought her mother and Ricky each a cup of hot cocoa.
“Thanks, Cindy, darlin’,” Clara said.
“Yeah, thank you, cousin,” he said.
“Cousin?” she asked.
“Yeah, I look up to your mother as an aunt figure,” he said.
Clara blushed.
“Why don’t you have a cup yourself?” Ricky asked Cindy.
“She don’t like hot cocoa,” Clara told him.
They slowly drank their cocoa and jiggled their feet by the fire.
“I was surprised, Clara,” Ricky said to her. “I was barefoot in the snow, and I never sneezed a bit.”
“I told ya that was easy,” she said.
“I really love going in bare feet, but I don’t think I’ll do that in the snow anymore,” he said.
“That’s fine with me,” Clara said. “But I think your foot paws look better without nothin’ on them.”
“Yes, that is true,” he said. He was going to add a contrast to that, saying that he feels better with them in the snow, but he didn’t want to argue.
Ricky, feeling like doing this, gave Clara a big hug.

6) That night, Clara had set up a bed with the sofa cushions after removing them from the sofa and put one of the pillows on the bed.
“This here’s your bed,” Clara said.
Ricky got onto the cushions and Clara put a blanket over him. Even his feet were covered.
“Thank you, Clara,” he said.
“Ain’t no problem,” she said.
Ricky sat up and hugged Clara.
“‘Night, y’all,” Clara said, hugging him back.
“Good night,” he said, and went back to bed and fell asleep, feeling happy to have had fun.

THE END