the girl in the snow

On a day like today, when the snow makes the world look polka dotted, the girl has to don her boots and slip and slide her way to the subway. She hikes up her pants to keep them from getting salty, snowy and slushy (together, "snalshy"). And she really drags her heels at home, knowing that "any latenesses due to weather will be forgiven."

She toys with wearing jeans to work (a complete and total no-no) with the simple excuse that "the snow would have ruined my good pants." Instead, she sucks it up and wears her good pants -- but selects a pair that is machine washable. (The girl is, after all, no dummy.)

While slip sliding away (you know, the nearer your destination, the more you're slip sliding awaaaaaay...), the girl freely hands out Good Neighbor Awards to anyone who has shoveled, salted or sanded (together, "cleaned") the sidewalk in front of his/her house.

She actually passes someone shoveling, and thanks her. The woman looks up at the girl, smoking a cigarette, angry-looking and bedraggled, clearly woken from a deep, warm and peaceful sleep by her good-for-nothing husband telling her it's her turn, since he did it last time (even though the woman knows that "last time" there wasn't even half an inch of snow on the ground).

"Thanks!" says the girl in a voice far too chipper for the morning.

"Como?" scowls the woman, ash falling off the tip of her cigarette, dropping to the ground and mixing in with the snow she has yet to shovel.

But the girl can't hear her, because she's moved on to the ice-strewn sidewalk of a Bad Neighbor. A Bad Neighbor, who gets Bad thoughts and Negative Energy from the girl.But not in excess, because, really, when the snow is swirling in big, fat flakes that stick to your eyelashes and nest in your hair, there's only so much negative energy to go around.