The Snow of Autumn

Two people were crossing through a park on a paved path, wearing coats for this chilly day it seemed to be. The leaves on trees has already started to turn, making a mess on the floor beneath where they fall to. Red, orange, brown, and a bit of green all into collective piles all across the park. The cloudy skies has persisted, but there has yet to be any rainfall at all. The autumn breeze brings in a refreshing chill, blowing leaves out of their piles in the process.

One of them looked at the piles all around the park and became reminiscent about them. She sighed, making the other person with her look at her with a raised eyebrow. She got the hint. “I would love to jump in a pile of leaves right now.”

The facial expression on the man’s face never lifted. “Why?”

She stopped and looked at him straight into his eyes. “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve never jumped into one before?”

She was staring at him, and what he was able to see was pity. He rolled his eyes. “I’m not from here, remember? My autumn consists of ‘palm trees and beach sand,’ or so you like to say.”

She placed her hands on her waist and pursed her lips thoughtfully. An idea came to her mind, and she lit up. “Let’s do it.”

He gave her a questioning look. “What do you…? You mean now? Aren’t we a bit too old to be jumping into piles of leaves?”

“Oh, come on!” She took one of his hands and led him onto the grass. “It was fun when I younger.”

“And what do you think that it’ll be fun as an adult?” he refuted, trying to find an excuse to not have to jump into one.

“Of course!” She piped up as they came to a pile. Once they stood in front of a pile, the both of them looked at it with interest. She smiled. “Now, all you have to do is body slam into the pile!” He was still eyeing the pile while she went behind him. She placed her hands on his back and pushed. “Why are you so heavy?” Her actions were in vain.

He just shook his head. “Will you have preferred if you were the heavy one?” She had stopped pushing so he turned around to look at her, but as he was in the motions of turning around, he was shoved backwards. He saw her smiling face and on instinct he grabbed onto her arm and brought her down with him.

Leaves erupted upwards as the force went into the pile. The rustling of the dry leaves could be heard as they fall down from their descent. Laughter could be heard from the girl who was giggling before, during and after the fall.

It took a second for the guy to recover, and when he looked at her, she became quiet. Their eyes never left each other until a leaf drifted in between them then they noticed at how dirty they had gotten from the flaking vegetation. The scrunchy pieces stuck onto their coats, and some even invaded into their hair. They look ridiculous in that pile of leaves, but the both of them simultaneously laughed together. Joy was evident.

It took the both of them a few minutes before they were able to calm down. They both stared at each for a few seconds the man started to talk again. “That was pretty fun actually,” he admitted.

Hearing that made her gleam. “You know what else would be fun?” She didn’t wait for a reply, instead she threw some of the leaves at his face and ran off before he knew what had hit him.

When he recovered from the attack, she was already a few yards away from him looking at him with a devilish innocence. He smile and shook his head. “This would be fun,” he said while he grabbed a fistful of ammo before running after her.

She saw what he grabbed and started running towards the next pile of leaves. Once she got there, he was right behind her, so she got some of her own ammo and threw it at him.

The two of them played from pile to pile until the both of them called a truce. They rested on a bench with her leaning onto him. “That was fun,” she said to him while looking at the mess they had made.

“It really was,” he spoke as he put an arm around her. They sat there for a minute until a thought came to her mind.

“What do you think they’ll say when we show up late to the party?” she asked him.

“I don’t think they started the party yet. It is for you.” He gently squeezed her shoulder, knowing she would be feeling guilty about it.

“We should hurry then.” She stood up and patted her coat down for the debris of leaves to fall off. “I don’t want to keep them waiting for too long.”

“Okay,” was all he said when he got up to take her hand, leading her. She smiled at the gesture and hurried up next to him then held onto his arm while leaning her head against him.

The groundskeeper looked at the mess all around the park. He sighed. He had to do everything again, but there was a smile on his face. He’s just glad that the leaves were put to good use.

~*~

Originally Published: September 23, 2015