By themselves, two friends stood in a field. One was bent at the waist, patting the snow onto their failure of a snowman. “Kinda looks like a lady,” he said, “on her knees.” He dropped to his own to join her.
The other friend opened his mouth from under the collar of his puffy black winter jacket and made some dirty comment and received no reply from his friend. He made another, when his friend dug the tip of his wool-shrouded thumb into the hardened snow, and carved eyes into the hunched-over lady. He defined her face, with his fingers melting the snow to create the hollow beneath her eyebrows and dip above her upper lip. The boy chattered on, figuring the lack of reply was in some sort of dislike of the statements he’d made, and began his rant on the concept of winter, which did garner him a small, kind chuckle.
“Kinda looks like Mary, in the nativity, you know?” The boy, whom sat on his knees facing the snow queen, digging his fingers in to define the shape of her hood.
“Doesn't she need a baby Jesus? I could give -”
“Shut up, Justin.” Justin raised his hands in defeat, jacket squeaking as his arms rubbed his torso.
“My bad, man. Just saying, Justin, Joseph, same same.” The boy on his knees looked up in disappointment, pulling the scarf back up to the bump between his eyes, so that hugged his jaw and lips, but regularly slid down his nose when he perched it there, “Alright, I’m sorry, Ryan.” Justin got to his knees too, balling up snow. “You’re good at this,” he complimented after a moment's silence, not wanting his friend to be upset with him.
“Thanks,” Ryan replied, sliding off his glove to use the point of a nail to create the more intricate details. Justin leaned forward, leaning his hand against the chest of the personified snow pile, forcing a divot to concave. He padded up the front, trying his best to make the shape of arms.
“There, look, she can hold Jesus, now.” Ryan smiled when Justin said that, and then balled up the head of a baby with the fluffy frost, using the pad of his thumb to create eyes and a little wad of snow to make the nose, and placed it in the corner of the hollowed space. Justin placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder and stared at his profile as the mask slowly slipped down his nose.