A Tiny Slice Of Life.

The sky was clear on an early icy December morning and the moon lounged eerily above the horizon at 7:40 in the morning, a great pale abomination, threatening the sun for celestial superiority.  The air seemed so cold and dry that it might crack and fall to the road if I yelled loudly through it.  Without wind, the air cut at my nostrils and seared by bleary blue eyes as I walked the long uphill block to The Hill.  When the wind blew, it tore easily through My Blue Fleece Jacket, hood up with my mitted hands deep in the pockets and my arms pressed tightly to my small ten year old body.  I was fascinated by how the air could singe my lungs with its crisp chill.  I took a deep breath and coughed immediately.  I reached the intersection of the road I took to school and The Hill, usually criss-crossed with dozens of sledding paths in Winter, it looked patchy and bald, like the face of an old white-haired man that couldn't grow a proper beard.  The snow had come slowly this year and we had had a few late-autumn thaws.  I began the slow ascent of the hill alone, and climbed eagerly, avoiding the great soft drifts, mostly plodding a path through the shallow crunchy crust of snow that was left from the warming days of the previous week.  I reached the summit of The Hill and looked out one way onto the expansive playground, scanning between the swings and The Bug, and found a congregation of kids near The Wall that looked like my friends.  I had time before I had to flow into the flat brick single-story school with a herd of my classmates, sit at My Desk and listen for the bell to start my school day.  I stood and looked, just at the crest of The Hill and peered off down The Hill and beyond.  To my right was Old Jack's Forest, which I had spent the summer learning the mysteries of.  I was no longer afraid to walk through that dense stand of trees, cluttered with odd junk and home to two old eccentric twin brothers.  The Forest climbed up and bordered The Hill on the side closest to my house.  I looked out farther, to the horizon, at the strange ashen moon and wondered why it lingered so long on this crisp calm morning.  As I stared and pondered, I felt the darkly-chilling wind blow over my face and sensed the cold flood deep into my frail chest.  I shivered deeply, and decided to join my friends behind the windbreak of The Wall, the hollow moon's ominous presence lost on me.