Snowed OutWith a gentle breeze the snowflakes fell, becoming one with the sea of white that had made up the forest floor. Surrounded by the mighty cedars as she watched the powder dance and sway, Jac was reminded of a scene from a Christmas movie. A far cry from the storms that had whipped through the town the night before. Jac let out a foggy sigh. Long after the holidays have come and gone, the frosty weather had more than overstayed its welcome. In particular, Jac was left stranded outside after the previous night's blizzard, which had only validated her frustrations further. With this part of the Beanstalk Society largely buried underneath this icy menace, and her workplace being closed for the day, the young woman was left with nothing but to kill time. As she added the finishing touches to her snowman, Jac paused for a bit to admire her work. A standard effort, not too shabby. The doldrums were about to set in however, her eyelids drooping on occasion as she continued to be on the look out. If she was going to do nothing all day, then she might as well rope her best friend into this so they can spend the day doing nothing together. After all, she did happen to be staying over at his house when the blizzard passed through. For a giant like him, this was nothing that a couple of hours of shoveling couldn't fix. But any knee high snow pile for these gargantuan folk would be enough to completely engulf any dwelling within the human district, with Jac's apartment being no exception. Despite repeated reassurances from the townsfolk themselves, Jac could not help but let her mind wander. How were her neighbors doing? And what would she be doing at this very moment if she was trapped along with them? At that moment Jac had snapped back to focus as she heard a rumbling sound, a low growl that echoed in the winter air. Luckily for her, it came from a familiar voice. Sure enough there was Richard, who was making an effort to roll a massive snow ball nearly half his height up the hill. With every shove, extra clumps of snow added more to its size and weight, yet it somehow managed to maintain a perfectly rounded shape throughout. Jac couldn't help but be struck with internal laughter, for to her it appeared as though the Wile giant was pushing a mountainous boulder by the way he was panting. After what seemed like a tremendous amount of time (for the Wile giant at least) Richard brought the snow orb to a designated spot on flat, stable ground. As soon was taken care of, he immediately flopped down on his back red in the face as he huffed entire blimps worth of air in and out of his lungs. Jac clicked her tongue and shook her head, having to fight back from expressing her amusement further. "Who are you trying to impress?" Richard opened a single eye to side glance the woman as she made her way towards his head. His look held a playful glint. "I have no one to please but myself." He said in a fox-like tone. Jac was near his cheek at this time. "But why go through the trouble? You're not competing for some award or making something that could land on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens." "I'll have you know, I have good reason to make a perfectly round snowman bottom. Just... give me a minute..." Richard had to stop for a moment, for he was still recovering from exhaustion. He soon continued. "At least the hard part is over with." "If you aren't having fun, then what's the point? I made mine without using much elbow grease." Richard turned his head to the side to get a better look at Jac's creation. He watched it in silence for a good minute. "What is that?" "What do you mean what is that?" "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" "Tell me the truth, Richard. What do you think?" "The truth...?" "Yeah! Doncha think it looks pretty good?" "It's decent." "Of course!...Wait, huh?" "Pfft" "Rich!" "I didn't say it was bad. I said it was decent." Said the giant as he perked his lips. "Ohh, go finish your own dang snowman. Let's see what you got, Biggs." With that, Richard steadily pulled himself up and back on his feet with renewed vigor. In less than a minute, his entire frame towered over the human, taller than any of the buildings in her local district. This same titan of a man gently lowers his hand with his palm face up on the snow. "Since you're not busy, do you want to tag along?" Without hesitation nor a reply, Jac climbed onto Richard's hand, and bolted for his shoulder as soon as he lifted her gingerly onto that spot. She dove straight into the loose opening between his neck and scarf, and quickly settled into the giant's warmth. With a small smirk, Richard waited for Jac to eventually poke her head out. They then began to play a little game of hers that she always does whenever she's tucked away like this. "Onwards!" Jac commanded, pointing out to the great beyond. "Aye aye, captain!" Richard replied. And off they went. . . . . . . . It didn't be long before Richard returned with the second snow clump in his hands. He stacked it atop the first, then went to work fine tuning the spherical shape as he made it appear like a shining bald head. After a while however, Jac noticed her giant had stopped moving for a few minutes. She peeked out of the shelter of Richard's scarf to investigate. As suspected, the Wile giant had already moved on to decorating the second piece with stones. "Oh? So tired that you're resorting to putting the face on his torso?" Jac teased. "No, I wanted to create a Snow Daruma instead of the standard one." "A Da..? What is that?" "A snowman based off of a Japanese wishing doll. My dad used to make them with me when I was a small kid. Ah! Wait... I need to explain that concept to you, too." "As you can see, I have time." Jac said plainly. Richard then went on in textbook dialogue about daruma facts. All this talk of a sitting Buddhist monk that the snowmen resemble and the history behind the curious paper machete dolls that also took to the monk's likeness was enough to make Jac's eyelids heavy. At least until he came to the part where he spoke of their ability to grant wishes. "-- their eyes are blank, see? So if you make a wish or set a goal in mind, you draw an eyeball on one of the daruma's eyes and place it on the shelf for the household to see." "And then the daruma helps you grant your wish?" "Yeah.. according to tradition anyway. After the wish comes true, you draw the other eye in. And send it off to a shrine to show thanks for its support." "I see. So it's like a genie." Richard's tone of voice grew disheartened somewhat. "It's not that foolproof." He reached for his pocket to pull out his phone, but stopped short after recalling his battery was nearly dead. "I could show you, but..." At this very time, something lit up like a fire in Jac's mind, a remnant of a small memory that has clicked into place. "Didn't you have a white, rounded face object on your shelf in your living room? It had a bunch of facial markings and it only had one eye!" "That's the one!" Pausing for another moment, Richard then replied with a softer expression. "I'm surprised you remembered it at all." "Of course! I can't forget that gigantic face that scared me half to death! I was nearly startled off on your shoulder that time." "For someone your size who isn't used it, I'm not surprised. I was afraid of it too before I knew what it was. When I was like, five.” Richard chuckled under his breath. "By the way, whatever happened to it?" Richard had expected this. He continued to pat down his snow daruma, as he seemingly tried his best to not let Jac's question get under his skin. "Is something wrong?" That got Richard out of his trance. "Oh? Oh. No, you see..." He hesitated a bit, as he struggled to come up with the best course of action; eventually he settled on being blunt without spilling all of the details. "I wasn't able to get my wish granted... so after a while, I gave it up." Jac gasped. That lit flame ignited into a blazing passion. "They still only had one eye, right? Why didn't you let them do their job? I'm sure that doll was working hard for you!" Those last words stung a little. If only she knew that Richard's daruma could never grant his wish. It was impossible, so it was better for him to not be reminded of it. He spent the next few minutes without saying a single word, as he covered his emotions under the illusion that he was engrossed in crafting his snow creation. Jac didn't question it, but she did finally speak when the silence became unbearable for her. "Are you okay?" She asked meekly. A half-startled Richard replied. "Huh? Yeah! I'm fine. And I'm just about to wrap this up." He knew if he changed the subject, Jac would likely forget about it, and sure enough this was the case. With a final pat, Richard backed up to give Jac a full view of his work. The girl gave the snow daruma her honest review: she had to admit, this snow person was picture perfect with two clean spheres that made up the head and body. The face was simple, yet effective with a cute emoticon-like smile. It definitely fits the bill as something you would see on a holiday postcard. And yet, Jac felt as though something was missing. "Hm?" Richard knew that look in her eyes. After a tidal wave of brainstorming, a spark coursed through the human's mind. And upon processing it, she couldn't help but give out a smile that shined brighter than any of her surroundings. She whispered into Richard's ear; since they were alone, there was no point in doing this except to get a silent reaction. And there it was, that smile was contagious. Richard spontaneously perked up the side of his lips, slightly showing his sharp canine teeth. "That's perfect." He whispered back. He made his way towards Jac's snowman and carefully lifted it up onto his palm. With precise and delicate accuracy, Richard slowly sets it down on the left shoulder of his snow daruma, adding just a tad more snow to the base of the miniature to keep the latter stabilized. The giant then backed up to let his friend marvel at this sight. The result was a perfect giant and tiny person snowmen pair. “I call it Beanstalk and Beansprout united!” "Eh, that works. Mine does compliment yours perfectly I must say." "So, Rich. Think my snowman is only decent now?" "No. Truth is, I thought my efforts were pretty decent as well. The standard round body, round head approach. Nothing fancy. I just got carried away with the first piece. But together? I think they increased both of their marks by at least a hundred percent." "You think?" "Am I wrong?" Richard turned his head to look at the young woman on his right shoulder with a smile as wide as she was tall. Noticing the giant's willingness to express his glee (something that isn't too common for the Wile these days), Jac returned with a large grin of her own. "Nope. Not at all. And I couldn't have made such a perfect work of art without ya, of course." "Likewise." So with that, the two friends continued to look at their accomplishments for some time. As the snow, while still light, was increasing by the hour, Jac watched as her thoughts began to drift away once more. Being lost in her own ponderings, she remembered something she forgot to ask Richard before. "Do Yu...um. Snow darumas? Do they grant wishes, too?" "I've never heard of it." "It wouldn't hurt to try I guess." Jac asked the giant to hold her in front of the snow daruma's face. She then clapped her hands together, before she broke the momentum and asked Richard. "Aren't you going to make a wish?" "I don't bother with these types of things anymore. Besides, I don't really have anything to wish for right now." "Ok then!" With that, Jac closed her eyes and thought about what she wanted the most at this very moment. She then reached and with a bit of trouble she pulled out one of the stones that made up the snow daruma's eye. She then handed the heavy rock to Richard, who placed it in his coat pocket without effort. The Wile giant was puzzled by this. "Aww. The snowmen look less than stellar now.." "Don't worry. I'm sure the Da-roo ma–” "Daruma." "Right. I'm sure they'll get it back soon. Sometime today, hopefully." "What exactly is this wish now?" "It's a secret." "You can tell me..." "Well...hmmmm... nah. Wanna make sure I get my wish, so I don't want to ruin it by saying it aloud.” "Suit yourself." Richard shrugged, with Jac teetering slightly on his shoulder. This got her to respond with a cheeky laugh that the Wile wasn't sure what to make of. But he chose to refrain from any further questioning about it. As the quiet snowfall continued to coat the landscape in a sea of white, the two friends continued to take advantage of this free time. Hopefully Jac will be able to return to her apartment by day's end. If not however, she would have Richard to give her a home away from home.Complex FmailyComplex FamilyBy Lucky O. Cicilia and May had anxiously awaited this letter. May had applied to many of the theater agencies in Minneapolis and was waiting to see which one she would be working for. At the same time Cicilia had applied to accounting firms because she didn’t want to live miles away from her best friend and main support system. Cicilia held her breath and opened the letter. “I GOT IT!” she squealed with joy. May and Cicilia celebrated with excited hugging, jumping and squealing. “Oh Cici, this will be great! Not only will you be able to keep being neighbors but this firm will pay you loads more than this one! How long till you start?” May inquired. Cicilia looked over the letter again. “Next Saturday… Wait, did I read that right? You’ve gotta be kidding me! They’re only giving us 2 weeks to move 500 miles?!” May patted Cicilia on the back. “Better get packing, and break the news to your kids.”The year was 1994, and Cicilia was a single mother of 2 kids she adopted. Adoption was unusual for a single mother in the mid 1990s. Chelsea was her 7 year old and Anna (Annabel) was her youngest at 4 years. She got her and her kids packed up, on the train, and off to the big city in one week. The next step would involve making their new apartment feel like a home, and part of that was getting to know their neighbors. Cicilia made a dozen cookies for each door on their floor, and it was time for her to introduce herself and her family. She gave a few baskets of cookies to Chelsea and they went out.“Stay close to Chelsea” Cicilia instructed Anna. Cicilia knocked on the first door, number 53. It opened to a relatively fit middle aged man with a cigarette in his mouth. He had an annoyed expression on his face. Cicilia thought to herself, “Oh great… No, be open minded…” She exhaled, “Hello I’m Cicilia and these are my children. We just moved in three days ago and thought we would introduce ourselves. We have cookies for you!” Cicilia smiled nervously. “Oh awesome! I love cookies, man! I’m Reggie, feel free to come knockin’ if you ever have mechanical issues. I’m really good at that stuff.” The man exclaimed. Cicilia was pleasantly surprised by how nice he was.She moved on to the next door, 54. This time there were 2 people at the door, a married couple. She introduced herself once again. “Hello! I’m Cicilia, and these are my children Chelsea and Anna. We just moved in across the hall and thought it would be nice to meet the neighbors. We brought some cookies!” A little boy peeked out from behind the woman in the doorway. The woman said “Oh my! This is lovely!” The man chimed in, “It’s nice to meet you Cicilia, I’m Elijah! This is my wife Amelia, and our son Karter.” He stuck his hand out for a handshake.After a few doors they came to door 58. A nervous young man opened this door. “Uh.. Hello?” he inquired. “Sorry to bother you. I’m Cicilia and this is my family. We just moved in and thought we would introduce ourselves. We brought cookies.” Cicilia felt a little awkward at this door. “Oh, well then hello! I’m Mathew, well Matt, I recently moved here too! A- About a month ago. I just got done with college and… Well yeah, that's it.” He uttered nervously. “Well it's nice to not be the only new ones around.” Cicilia said, a little and awkwardly.They visited all the doors except the last one, number 60. Cicilia knocked, and waited a minute. No one seemed to be there so she was going to put the cookies by the door with a note. As she bent down to put the cookies on the floor, the door opened. “What are you doing?!” An old lady was standing at the door, and she did not look happy. “Oh! I… Uh… Have cookies!” Cicilia attempted to compose herself. “I’m Cicilia and-” The lady interrupted, “I don’t want whatever you're selling.” Cicilia replied “Oh no, we're not selling! These are a gift. We just moved in, these are my ki-” Cicilia was interrupted again, “Well that's great.” Before Cicilia could say anything else the door was closed. “That lady was rude!” Chelsea said, holding her sleeping sister. “No, she was probably just… tired.” Cicilia didn’t want to make any quick judgments about people. They went back to their apartment.At the end of the week Cicilia gets ready for work, walks her kids to school, and they go about their day. Cilcila at work has a fast paced first day, and feels overwhelmed. Cicilia picks up her kids at the end of the work day and runs into the couple that live on the apartment floor. They walk home together and make lunch plans.The morning before the lunch plans they are getting their mail and the old lady is there too. Anna starts talking to the old lady, and asking her silly questions because she is 4. Cicilia tries to get Anna to come back and stop bothering the lady. When she goes to grab Anna,Cicilia asks the old lady if she wants to join her for lunch. She just grunts, closes her mail box and walks away.Cecilia tells her kids that Elijah will watch them as they have a play date with Karter. Chelsea is wary of this because she saw Karter chewing on legos at school. Cicilia tells her to suck it up and be more open. She goes out to lunch. When she comes back, she takes her kids home, and they talk about their fun day.About a month goes by and she gets a letter from May saying she will be in Minneapolis in a month and half. Cicilia has become well established in her apartment community and wants to have an apartment floor party. She invites all her neighbors including the old lady, hopeful that she will show. When the day comes she does not show, but Matt asks Cicilia to help him and a friend with a project.She meets Matt and his friend Penny. Penny lives on the top floor and wants to start a community roof garden and is asking for help. Cicilia loves the idea and says she will help, but is only available on weekends. Once the garden is going, they invite the neighbors to visit and use the veggies. Cicilia notices this draws the old lady out. Cicilia finally finds out her name, Harper, Ms. Harper.Cicilia takes her kids over to Ms. Harpers and they spend the day making soup. Ms. Harper even cracked a smile a few times while cooking with the children. While there Cicilia sees that while Harper's kitchen seems full, the rest of her apartment is rather empty. She offers to help her decorate, and suggests Amelia as a master at decorating. Ms. Harper is hesitant, but agrees to some small decor.About a week later Amelia and Cicilia start the decorating project. While they decorated, Ms. Harper got to teach more recipes to Chlesea, Anna, and now Karter. When Cicilia and Amelia finished their light decorating, Ms. Harper allowed the kids to take some homemade bread with them.It was time for May to finally move out to Minneapolis. She wasn't able to get an apartment in the same complex as Cicilia, but she got one nearby. Cicilia was glad to have her best friend nearby again, and the kids were happy to see their (basically) aunt. May was able to get Cicilia and her kids discounted tickets to the play she was assisting in, West Side Story.Cicilia invited Ms. Harper to come along, and Matt, as he was surprisingly a theater connoisseur. Cicilia left Anna with Elijah and Amelia, as she would probably not understand most of it. As they were watching the play Ms. Harper began to cry. She got up and left the theater. Cicilia followed after. Cicilia sat outside with her, comforting Ms. Harper. As she wiped her tears, Ms. Harper began to explain how she never got a love story of her own. She always longed for a family, and a grand romance of some kind. As she got older she became bitter and shut the world out. Ms. Harper was convinced she would die alone, with no family to ever call her own.A few nights after the play, Cicilia heard a knock at her door. When she opened it Ms. Harper was standing outside. Her fridge had stopped working, and she wanted some help. Cicilia went right next door to Reggie. He was happy to help. Ms. Harper was starting to have a realization that there may be people out there that would care for her. Maybe she should’ve kept trying to form connections.A week or so goes by and Cicilia notices that Ms. Harper hasn’t been out doing her normal activities. She knocks on her door but there is no answer. Cicilia asks around and finds out Ms. Harper went to the hospital as she was having some medical complications. Cicilia gets everyone on their floor available, calls up May, and takes her kids off to the hospital to go visit. They all arrive and wish her well with flowers and cards. Anna and Chelsea bring her homemade cards. Ms. Harper is shocked that they all care so much. She smiles so bright, and realizes she does have a family of her own.person