intermingling of forms should have been restful.
'Why do you have the sound turned down?'
'Don't.' She squatted next to him, picked up the remote control from
the carpet, and depressed the volume button.
The only sound was the faint static hiss of the speakers. She scanned
just one channel farther up on the dial, and the booming voice of an
excited sportscaster and the cheering of a crowd at a football game
exploded through the living room.
She quickly decreased the volume. When she scanned back to the
previous channel, the Technicolor Lava lamp was gone. A Daffy Duck
cartoon filled the screen instead and, judging by the frenetic pace of
the action, was drawing toward a pyrotechnic conclusion.
'That was odd,' she said. 'I liked it,' Toby said. She scanned
farther down the dial, then farther up than before, but she could not
find the strange display.
She hit the Off button, and the screen went dark.
'Well, anyway,' she said, 'time to grab breakfast, so we can get on
with the day. Lots to do in town. Don't want to run out of time to
buy those sleds.'
'Buy what?' the boy asked as he got to his feet. 'Didn't you hear me
before?'
'I guess.'
'About snow?' His small face brightened. 'It's gonna snow?'
'You must have enough wax built up in your ears to make the world's
biggest candle,' she said, heading for the kitchen. Following her,
Toby said, 'When? When's it gonna snow, Mom? Huh? Today?'
'We could stick a wick in each of your ears, put a match to them, and
have candlelight dinners for the rest of the decade.'
'How much snow?'
'Probably dead snails in there too.'
'Just flurries or a big storm?'
'Maybe a dead mouse or three.'
'Mom?' he said exasperatedly, entering the kitchen behind her. She
spun around, crouched in front of him, and held her hand above his
knee. 'Up to here, maybe higher.'
'Really?'
'We'll go sledding.'
'Wow.'
'Build a snowman.'
'Snowball fight!' he challenged. 'Okay, me and Dad against you.'
'No fair!' He ran to the window and pressed his face to the glass.
'The sky's blue.'
'Won't be in a little while. Guarantee,' she said, going to the
pantry. 'You want shredded wheat for breakfast or cornflakes?'
'Doughnuts and chocolate milk.'
'Fat chance.'
'Worth a try. Shredded wheat.'
'Good boy.'
'Whoa!' he said in surprise, taking a step back from the window.
'Mom, look at this.'
