The Snowman

Outside on the playground, there was already a big pile of snow with heaps of children playing around. Some were throwing snowballs at each other, while others were rolling about in the mounds of white, and some were building snowmen.

One such snowman, a handsome fellow, was watching all the fuss with his two coal-black eyes and a pebble smile on his face. One of his eyes was bigger than the other and it looked as if he were winking at everyone.

All of the children were having fun when a boy and girl entered the playground. Their skin was like silky chocolate, unlike that of the other children. They stood hesitantly for a moment and then mustered their courage to head towards a large group of children nearby.

“Can we be friends with you?” asked the newcomer.

The children stopped playing.

“No, you can’t,” spat out one of the children.

The boy sighed and hung his head. Then he muttered: “Why?”

“Because you’re different.”

“Different how?” asked the boy, still not giving up.

“Just different. Look at you. You can’t even speak properly,” teased the children with disdain.

The newcomer was sad. He turned around and returned to his sister. As he passed the snowman, one of the pebbles fell off from the snowman’s smile. He didn’t look like he was smiling anymore. More like the opposite. He seemed rather sad now.

The boy picked up the pebble and put it back in place. The snowman was smiling once again. And not only that…

“Thank you, you kind boy,” said the snowman, taking the newcomer by surprise.

“You… You can talk?”

“It would seem so,” answered the snowman, smiling fully again. “Could you gather the rest of the kids for me? My voice isn’t…