Snowman

	A chill breeze blew through the air, as an icicle fell to the ground, buried in deep snow. Two men sat, unfazed by the chill, at a table, nearly completely buried in snow. The men, also, sad in several feet of snow, piled up after a recent blizzard. Around the town, these two men were the only ones outside, everyone else in the comfort of their homes.

	“I think I’ve caught something,” one of the men said, as he descended into a coughing fit, “I pray it’s not what everyone else’s got. Look what’s happened, they’re all curled up at home, not a soul braving the weather but us. The ones who aren’t sick are too afraid of getting sick to come out. If I do have it, you’ll be the only one left brave enough to come outside.”

	“Darn it, not now,” the other man replied, “This can’t he happening now, not after everything we’ve done to get them out. You can’t just go inside and join them, you just can’t. We’ve done so much, and now it’s all for naught. If you go in, it’s all over for courage, done for bravery. They’ll lose the little hope they’ve got left.”

	“That’s why I’m not going back. I’m gonna keep coming out every day if it’s the last thing I do.”

	“No, you can’t. If you don’t stay inside, you’ll die!”

	“That’s a chance I’ll have to take, then. Death’s the only thing that’ll stop me now, after what happened yesterday. Do you think I’d do something like that, and let a ltitle cold stop me?”

	“I--There’s nothing I can say to that. You’re a great man, much greater than I can ever be. I respect you in every way possible.” The man bowed his head. Nearby, a roar came from a heap of snowy bushes. The two men fled, pushing through the snow toward a cluster of houses, and began banging on doorways.

	“Let you in, and get sick? No way!”

	“Go away, and take your germs with you!”

	“Hey, aren’t you the psychos who go outside? Leave us alone!”

	“I can’t associate with you idiots! Go away!”

	Negative responses came to every house, as the men hurried from house to house, banging on doorways, until there wasn’t an untried house left. “Let us in, darn it,” one of the men shouted, as the other tunneled to his right, “Hey, where’re you going?”

	“To the church. They’ll let us in, right?”
	“I hope so.” And so, the men tunneled forth, snow continued to rain down upon the desolate town of Snowman, home of fear and cowardice.