Story Hour
Danny and Nicker Visit Michigan
Written by Gene B. Williams
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Do you know what snow is? Well, of course you do. Probably you do. But if you will remember, Nicker grew up in the sea. He’d seen an iceberg. (Have you?) He’d even seen an iceberg from the bottom. (Have you?) But he didn’t know much of anything about snow on a hillside.
Neither did Danny. Danny grew up in the Arizona desert. He’d seen it on TV, and a couple of times even got to touch it when they went to the mountains. He didn’t really know it, though.
There came a time when the writer of these stories (hey, that’s ME!, isn’t it?) was going to meet with the artist, Marci. She lives in Michigan. Most of the year it’s pretty nice there (or so she tells me). It was coming on Christmas. There was cold in the air and snow on the ground. Even so, I decided to take Danny with me.
You know Nicker. He knew something new was going on, so Nicker decided to take Nicker. (I sure didn’t bring him, and neither did Danny, so ….) How in the world he squeezed himself in, I don’t know. To be honest, I’m not sure if he squeezed in or where he squeezed in. Sea dragons are so very good at hiding. He might have been in a suitcase. He might have been under the seat in the airplane.
Here’s a hint. Next time you go on an airplane, look under the seat.
In Michigan, he was also good at hiding. He sure had lots of places to hide. Under a tree, in a tree, in the wood pile, more. But it wasn’t so easy as you might think. Outside it was very cold, and Nicker didn’t have even a sweater. There were also lots of strange animals. At least they were strange to Nicker.
The birds were okay. He’d been around birds. He’d never had a squirrel sit high in a tree to chatter and scold him. A large bear came along, but it just ignored Nicker. Some deer looked at him but went right on with browing the branches and digging in the snow for frozen apples. A curious raccoon, though, came right over and sniffed at Nicker right on his head!
It looked him right in the eye, sea dragon to bandit-eyed raccoon, and dared to sniff him! Can you imagine?
He’d race inside, both to hide and to get warm. It wasn’t much better there. You see, Marci has two cats – Bubbie and Squeaky. They tried to behave, but that’s very hard for a cat to do.
It happened a little like this.
Nicker would sneak in. Then he’d zoom through the room to find a warm place where no one (except Danny) could find him. His favorite spot was in the basement near the wood burning furnace. On his way, the cats would see him. Cats have such very sharp eyes. Sharp claws, too, but those can’t bother a sea dragon. Still, they would chase, and Nicker would run. Sometimes that would cause things to fall down.
Of course by then Nicker was long gone, and the cats got blamed for the mess. And “mrroww” didn’t explain the real situation very well to Marci. A louder, complaining “MRROWW” as she put them outside for making the mess didn’t help, either. They still ended up outside.
I don’t know if the raccoon sniffed them or not.
It was getting near the end of the visit. It was almost time to come back to Arizona. Everyone was asleep. Danny and Nicker were nice and warm beneath the blankets, and under a big quilt that Marci herself had made. If you’ve never warmed yourself under a homemade quilt, let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like it. Nicker and Danny thought so, too.
Nicker heard something. He poked his head out from under the quilt. It was a sound most humans have never heard.
You can hear rain falling. That’s easy. When snow falls, with no wind, it makes almost no sound at all. In fact, it seems to make everything else more quiet. Sea dragons can hear things we can’t, and Nicker heard this.
The house was still dark. Nicker looked to be sure that everyone was asleep and crept to the window. He’d never seen anything quite like this. Big white flakes were falling from the sky so silently that only a sea dragon could hear the sound. He was at the window for a long time, watching. The snow fell on all those Christmas trees outside. It decorated them in a way only nature can decorate.
Bubbie and Squeaky had heard Nicker moving around. They came, too. Nicker didn’t mind at all. They didn’t try to chase him – maybe because he didn’t try to run away. They’d seen snow before, but they’d never seen a sea dragon see snow for the first time. All three were interested. Nicker also got another new experience.
Squeaky, with her soft fur that felt so good, rubbed against Nicker. So, as he watched snow for the first time, he heard and felt a cat purr for the first time. It made his eyes sleepy. He didn’t even care that he’d been sniffed by a raccoon.
They watched and watched. All three jumped a little when a voice from behind said, “What are you doing?”
It was Danny, of course.
“That’s snow?” Nicker asked.
Danny, who had never seen it, either, answered, “Yes, that’s snow.”
The cats didn’t say anything.
As the sun came up, Danny put on some warm clothes that Marci had for him and went outside. He tromped in the snow. Now he could hear it. The snow made a sound as he crunched it under his feet. He even plopped down on his back to wave his arms and legs and made a snow angel. Then he made a small snowman with sticks for arms.
Danny sat down at the top of a hill. A familiar shape squeezed under his arm. It was Nicker.
Nicker stretched the way sea dragons can. He whispered to Danny, “I have an idea. Get on my back.” Danny did and they were off down the hill like a shot. Nicker became a sea dragon toboggan, with Danny’s arms around his neck.
They went to the bottom of the hill, back to the top, down to the bottom, back to the top, over and over.
Voices and noises came from behind. Nicker scooted off to hide. (Isn’t it strange that he would hide from the artist who was drawing him all this time?) Marci saw all the sliding marks down the hill. They were different from anything she’d ever seen, but they still gave her an idea.
She said, “You’ve never been in the snow before, Danny. I wish I had a sled or toboggan for you.”
He gave Marci a hug and said, “I just did. I had my own.”
Marci looked at the skid marks, then looked all around. There was no sled, there was no toboggan. There wasn’t even a piece of cardboard – just the marks in the snow and a happy boy.
She was just about to ask. Then there were noises and crashes from the house. Bubbie and Squeaky were up to their tricks again.
“Those darned CATS are at it again!” she said. As she stomped toward the house she said, “What in the world do they think they are chasing this time?”
Bubbie and Squeaky got blamed for that. They also got blamed for streaks of melting snow that went all the way to the furnace in the basement.
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