Snowed In (fiction prompted by P,P, &P)

I was back in the house of my grandmother. She had passed away and now I was back inside the house I remembered from that winter we were snowed in. I sat by the window again, remembering what I had thought back then:

'Snowed in? Dang it! What could I do trapped in this dark house with nobody but my grandmother. She's so boring!' I had wanted to spend these couple weeks with my friends in the neighborhood. My parents were off at a conference and my brother had gone to California to visit Aunt Jemma.

I had looked over the crystallized snow stuck to the window to see the snow-covered trees outside and I'd sighed thinking, 'How long will this last anyway? How long does it take for this much snow to melt away from our doors and windows? We definitely had enough food for the next decade if we needed it.' I rolled my eyes. 'Or for the next century. Grandma collected canned foods like my little brother collected rocks.'

The day was going by so slowly! I was sure my brother was having a blast in California with Aunt Jemma. Why had I thought this would be more fun?

I remembered it so well. It was late afternoon and I still hadn't done anything but read a boring book from off Grandma's shelves.

"Katie? Come here for a minute."

I walked in to Grandma's room to see a bunch of old photo albums open and scattered. Grandma was holding two photographs. She gestured for me to come sit next to her. When I did, I noticed the photos in her hands were of a beautiful young woman dressed up like a model. I asked her who it was and she responded.

"Me."

The rest of the afternoon and following days were filled with more than I could have imagined. Grandma told me stories about modeling in her younger days. She dressed me up in her old vintage costumes for modeling. We had our own little photo shoots. We laughed and talked about her younger times. I never knew what an interesting person my grandmother was.

I will never forget those couple weeks spent with my grandmother in the darkened house covered with snow. Now I gather the albums and costumes that she had left to me. They will also remind me that anything is possible.