Sarah shook her head and blinked at the world around her. Packages lay scattered on the snow-covered ground where she’d fallen on her knees alongside the bench.
She glanced up. Skaters on the nearby pond struggled to stand once more as they gave one another confused looks. The peddler on the street fought to return his cart upright and regain the few items that had tumbled free. Passersby talked animatedly about what had just happened.
What had happened?
Had it been an earthquake? For whatever reason she had no memory of the last few seconds of her life.
Snow continued to fall heavily as she stood and gathered her neatly wrapped presents back onto the bench on which she waited. With care, she smoothed her dark woolen coat and readjusted the knit cap on her head. Darren was supposed to meet her any minute. Maybe he would have an explanation.
But he did not show soon enough.
The earth rumbled, the ground became sky and everything around her became a mass of chaos.
**
Elenore giggled as she set her new present on the night-stand and jumped into bed. Mama would be angry if she found the four-year-old still awake. Still, in the dim illumination of the night-light, she rolled back over to study her new friends.
The girl with the packages, the skaters that twirled in circles, the people on the street of the miniature village she wished she could join.
She picked up her snow globe one last time and gave it a shake. Then she snuggled in for a good night’s sleep.
©Laura L. Zimmerman 2016
Photo credit Unsplash Pigoff Photography