The first snowfall Reed had ever witnessed commenced one frigid morning while he was in school. Great, crystal-shaped wet flakes began drifting down, much to his amazement and interest as he gazed from his desk out the window. Yes, he had heard of snow. He had even learned the dictionary definition for it—‘ice in the form of white or transparent crystals or flakes congealed in the air from particles of water, and falling or fallen to the earth.’ And here it was—in the process of falling! A quite strange and beautiful sight, Reed thought, recalling pictures he had seen in news reels of snow-covered country, snow battles and snow slides. There was something cotton-like in the flakes which nestled on the window sill and fluffily covered it. Reed felt a twinge in his throat that he knew to be homesickness.
At recess that day, the two hundred other fellows in Seldon Prep made a mad dash for the out-of-doors, plunging into the thickly falling snow and scooping up handfuls of it to pack into snowballs. Reed, standing timidly in the shelter of the doorway, watched a merry battle being waged, numerous snowballs landing with eye-smacking accuracy. He saw Sam Hartley, who seemed to be the ringleader, single-handedly stand off a concerted attempt to roll him in the snow, tripping up his adversaries, stopping them with whizzing snowballs and dodging back and forth across the campus, laughing the while.
“It looks like real sport,” Reed admitted to himself.
He was not, however, invited to take part. In fact the fellows appeared oblivious that he was even looking on, having relegated him to the sidelines in their activities weeks before. To voluntarily enter into the fun, Reed could never do. Reaching down he caught up a bit of the snow and crushed it beneath his fingers, watching it melt against the warmth of his hand.
“Funny stuff!” he said.
At that moment the boisterously engaged Sam detected him and became suddenly inspired.
“Hey, fellows!” he shouted. “Look at Reed! He’s not used to snow. Let’s initiate him!”
And, before the lad from the South could retreat, the Northern army was upon him. Protesting, Reed was dragged out to the center of the campus where grinning youths grabbed up the wet snow and applied it none too gently to his face.
“That’s the way—give him the old face wash!” laughed Sam. “How’s that snow feel, Reed? Must be pretty dull down South in the winter time, eh?”
Reed’s brown eyes flashed as he renewed his struggles to get free, snow in his hair and nostrils.