Forecasts
There had been much more snow expected.The evening paper had said The Storm of The Season was finally going to hit Bakersfield. All the children had dreamt through the night of a waking to a world wrapped in soft peaceful white; of snowday morning cocoa and snoring with Nana and Spot in front of the TV, of playing imaginary games all day long and Bakersfield silent except for that one meek little plow which could never ever contend with twenty inches of snow! And of school closed tomorrow and the next day and forever!
But unfortunately when the children awoke there was only a half inch of brown frozen sludge.
They had to get themselves together like it was any other Tuesday. The children boarded their usual steaming buses in their overstuffed jackets with their heavy frowning bags and trudged through the mounds of worksheets and the depressive hallways sopping with brown bootprints.
It all seemed absolutely hopeless until a piece of good news began to circulate through the school. Tommy had heard something from his mom as he left that morning. She had said, wisely, that the cold front might just have been delayed a day or so. No need to get all down, maybe the promised snow would still be coming!
By noon word had spread, the children revitalized. Through every boring lesson that whole boring day, smiles beamed across every little face, dreaming of that evening paper with the perfect forecast for tomorrow.