Chapter Five

Tom stepped out onto the step and blinked his eyes in the sunlight. He looked at the snow angel that Annie had made yesterday morning….Was it just yesterday? It was then that his jaw dropped. He blinked his eyes and rubbed them with his fists, but still he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Mom, Dad, please come here, NOW!” Tom cried to his parents.

 

His parents came to the doorway, holding on to one another.

 

“What’s wrong, Tom?” his dad asked.

 

“L-look…”

Annie’s parents looked outside, trying to figure out what had frightened their son. Their faces showed their disbelief and their confusion. There, in front of them, all across the front yard were snow angels! Why, there had to be fifty of them! They looked at one another not understanding what their eyes were telling them.

“B-but, how could this happen?” Annie’s mother stuttered.

 

“I don’t know,” said Annie’s dad, “I don’t know.”

The three of them walked outside, holding on to each other, and looked at all the snow angels. They weren’t just in the front yard, they were all behind the house, too. They were everywhere the family could see. It looked like hundreds and hundreds of them!
“Mom…?” said Tom.

“What, hon?”

 

“Mom, where are the footprints?”

Both Annie’s father and mother looked at the snow angels closely. Tom was right. There weren’t any footprints leading away from the snow angels. That was the only thing that differentiated Annie’s snow angel from the hundreds around it. Hers showed little footprints leading towards the sidewalk. All the other snow angels were perfect replicas of hers, but there were no foot prints leading away from the imprints.

“How can that be, Mom?” Tom’s curiosity could be heard in his voice.

 

“Why, this doesn’t make any sense at all,” said Annie’s dad.

 

The family tiptoed around the house, counting the angels, and searching for any sign of a foot print. At final count there were 150 snow angels in their yard, and only one set of foot prints…Annie’s.

They all walked back to the house and went in through the front door that they had left open. They walked over to the dining room table, and they all sat down without saying a word. For the longest time, no one said anything. What could they say? What could possibly explain what they had just seen?

Their silence filled the house. It was almost as if no one dared to speak. A word would ruin the magic of what they had just seen. Meanwhile, Annie’s angel hovered overhead.

Will they understand? Annie’s angel was worried. She had thought her idea was the perfect answer. She was convinced that if they could see the snow angels everywhere they looked, they would know that somehow, Annie was all right. If every angel looked exactly as Annie’s angel had looked that morning, then surely, they would understand. She floated back and forth between Annie’s family, looking into their faces, praying that she would see hope in their eyes. That’s what she was looking for…hope. She wanted to know that beneath their grief lay a security that made them know that Annie was OK. She wanted them to believe that they would all see Annie again. But most importantly, they needed to believe that there was something beyond their understanding that protected their children, siblings, parents, relatives, and friends when they died. This was so important. This was so needed. Annie’s angel hated to see the people who were left behind suffer so much, and she hadn’t wanted that for Annie’s family. No child ever dies alone…no one ever dies alone. There were always angels around.