The Valleys — Winter

Winter.

The short Cyanos summer ended all too soon with the arrival of the season’s first snow. Holidays were over, and Dieter had returned to Aoraki for the new school year. Jaak was looking forward to it; now that he had made friends, he no longer felt quite so much like the new kit.

On the first day of the new school year, Jaak actually managed to be at his gate with a few minutes to spare before the ancient school bus — with its familiar bingity-bang like a thousand tin cans — announced its impending arrival up the valley road.

Jaak flumped into an empty seat and let his thoughts wander as Thar, the mountain goat driver, banged the door shut and the old bus gave another thunderous lurch as it headed back down the hill.

At the bottom of Jaak’s road, the bus turned right. After a few more stops, it began its approach to the small commercial area of the Valleys. When it rumbled to a stop outside Gazza’s Gas and Grease, Jaak rubbed the condensation from the window with his paw to catch a glimpse of his friend.

Sure enough, Tag was waiting by the gas sign and cattle grid, along with a couple of younger local kits heading to the lower grade school.

A familiar grey and white snow leopard boarded the bus and made his way down to Jaak’s seat.

As usual, Tag — who never seemed to feel the cold — wore the bare minimum: bare-pawed in his usual shorts. For school, he had condescended to add a T-shirt.

Jaak, wearing jeans, a sweatshirt, and a puffer jacket, looked at him and — even though he knew the answer — asked anyway.

Jaak gave a knowing smirk. Tag’s mammy was the only person that could actually make Tag wear clothes.

The two friends settled back into the sagging seat, as the bus rumbled on up the fire circle road and then back down again to make the final ridge crossing before reaching the valley high school. The bus and Thar continued to share their innate understanding of each other as they twisted and turned their way together around the serpentine curves of the narrow snowy mountain road. As the bus descended into the next valley, the reminder of why it is not always possible to be friends with everyone swung into view.

Any thought that Ounce and Chewie might have matured even just a little over the summer was soon dashed as they muscled their way as usual onto the bus, bumping any wayward body parts or bags that intruded into the aisle. In fact they both seemed to have grown even bigger since last year, both physically and in attitude.

As they neared the back of the bus, Tag — in the aisle seat and without really thinking about it — moved his elbow pointedly into the aisle.

He might still be small for his age, but he had decided that this year he would not be pushed around by those two morons. Something he could not explain made him feel suddenly emboldened. Ounce and Chewie paused mid stride, gazing down at the offending elbow.

Tag simply turned his head slightly and looked impassively back at them. He then quite unexpectedly felt the stone in his pocket give a little jump, and he felt its warmth — Tag was sure that if he took it out it would be glowing bright blue.

Several moments passed. It was as if Ounce was internalising a really complicated situation in his head. He screwed up his face and his whiskers twitched. Part of him badly wanted to teach the squirt a lesson, but another stronger part wanted to recoil from him. Chewie who was still not generally capable of original thought or action, stood with his best derp-face looking somewhat confused behind Ounce — completely unsure as to what he should do.

Thar, glancing in the rear-view mirror, was just about to tell Ounce and Chewie to “git in yer seats or ye be walking” — when something happened that no one could have predicted.

Ounce suddenly turned side-on, pressing his back against the seat armrest on the opposite side of the aisle. He kept as far away as possible without actually climbing over the rows of seats. He shuffled past awkwardly, eyes fixed firmly on Tag’s elbow — as if touching it would mean certain, sudden, and painful death.

Chewie did the same, a wild, wide-eyed look plastered across his face — watching the elbow as he slunk past, lest it somehow leap out and gruesomely impale him.

Having passed the perilous protuberance with their entrails still intact, Ounce and Chewie quickly reclaimed their usual seats at the back of the bus.

Jaak looked at Tag with a mischievous smile.

The bus lurched off again down the hill towards the school.

Previous: Episode 22: Cyan Stones
Next: Episode 24: Airbus