Jimmy woke up suddenly and felt a cold breeze. His blanket was on the floor as usual. He got out of bed, folded the blanket and put it back in its place. His dad’s bed was empty. Everything in the room felt cold.

He saw his mom’s picture on the wall. He did that every morning when he woke up. He remembered his mom waking up in the middle of the night to pick up his blanket from the floor and put it back on him. He always did that with his blanket. But now, she’s not there any more.

Jimmy’s mom died in an avalanche two years ago. She was taking him to school that day. It was the worst day of his life. They both went together but she never came back. She was under a blanket of snow forever.  

Jimmy was running late. He put his mother’s memories away and got ready for school all by himself. His dad made scrambled eggs and tea. Jimmy ate breakfast and watched TV with his dad.

His dad was an okay cook but he was still learning. He had to learn all the housework after Jimmy’s mom died. Jimmy was in a hurry to be with his school friends. He finished his food and grabbed his things for school.

“It’s bad weather out there today son,” said Jimmy’s dad. “I heard it on the news It’s -11C today.”

Jimmy said nothing.

He just wore his warm jacket, his beanie, two layers of socks, his warmest pants and shoes. Jimmy packed the left over eggs and some bread to eat in school. His mom always packed for him his favourite things every morning. Again, Jimmy was having a flashback of his mother taking care of everything and smiling. But he was late he had to go.

Before Jimmy left for school Jimmy’s dad said,

“Please don’t go it’s dangerous out there. There’s going to be a snowstorm.”

Jimmy knew that his dad couldn’t lose someone else in his life but he didn’t want to stay home all day. Jimmy went cautiously outside and shut the door.

It usually took Jimmy one hour of walking to get to school because he lived in a valley surrounded by mountains and the school came after crossing a big mountain called Shangrilla. All the kids of the village always went to school together and two grown ups from the neighborhood went with them. It was like this because the way to school was dangerous and steep.

When Jimmy stepped outside it was white as paint and 3 feet of snow was covering everything. His friends Sunny and Clark were waiting for him. They were his best friends. They were happy to see him. Jimmy loved going to school and always wanted to be with his friends. Everything was covered in snow and he and the rest of the kids didn’t have snowshoes. Jimmy’s bag was really heavy but still he didn’t mind going to school. He loved to learn new things and he had the best teacher in the world.