Winter's Warming Walk

It was a minus 16 degrees Celsius morning in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. I was perched snugly between the branches of three pine trees with my eyes closed.

Suddenly, the branches bristled against my feathers. I opened my eyes to see a squirrel standing on a branch adjacent to me. "Who is this squirrel disturbing my daily sleep?" I thought.

I flapped my wings and opened my beak as if I was going to eat the squirrel. Frightened by my movements, it quickly scurried away, running for its dear life.

I couldn't actually eat it. It was just a tad too big for me. I began dozing off thinking about food as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Andrew! Don't make me angry!" a shrieking voice filled the air. My eyes flashed open, startled by the loud sound. I looked down from the trees and saw four people standing around a mini-van.

Humans... this early? There were three males and one female. Two of the males were of average height. One of the males was about half a head taller, and the female was about one head shorter than the two males.

All the people were dressed in thick layers from head to toe. Each person had a face-mask on, making it difficult for me to see their faces.

The woman had been yelling at one of the men. It appears as if the male named Andrew was complaining excessively about the hiking trip and sat in the van throwing a tantrum.

Eventually, Andrew finally put on his jackets, gloves, and snow pants. He got out of the van, and all four people started walking towards the hiking trail.

But something wasn't quite right. Andrew lagged behind the other three people, slowly trudging through the snow. His gloves had weird proportions, too. It looked like there were no fingers in Andrew's gloves' finger compartments.

The other male of average height kept glancing back, motioning Andrew to move faster. But Andrew didn't walk any quicker. Instead, he actually slowed down and occasionally stopped in place.

The other people began disregarding Andrew's movements. They stopped slowing down for Andrew and began to move at a relatively fast pace. Perhaps, they were cold.

Whatever the reason, their pace annoyed Andrew. He began stopping to pick up large, compact chunks of snow. Then he chucked it at the three people.

The three people turned simultaneously, each of them facing Andrew. Although I couldn't make out the expressions of the three people or what they were saying, this situation reminded me of when all my siblings learned how to fly, and I failed. I remember the disapproving stares and head shaking I got while I was stuck on the ground.

When the three people turned back forward, Andrew dropped the rest of his snow chunks, caught up to the other three, and began matching their pace.

I began dozing off again as the four people disappeared into the forest out of my sight range.

It was a bit past midday when I woke up to the sound of multiple cars entering a parking lot. The sun was shining bright, and people were all over the place. I decided to move higher up the mountain for a quieter sleeping place.

As I flew along the hiking trail, I noticed the four people from the morning walking back. I could see their faces clearly now. They had taken off their face-masks, revealing flushed faces, each with a wide smile.

Andrew and the other average height male were at the forefront of the hike. They walked with great strides, laughing and talking to each other. I smiled, thinking about the beautiful change brought by a simple hike in the snow.