Missy Malory's Red, Red Valentine's Day

I know it's two weeks past Valentine's Day, but here is a story I wrote for Katie a few years ago. I hope you like it:

This story is about a little girl who lived once upon a time. Her name was Malory and she lived up north, really far north. In her part of the world there were two lands. There was Southland and Northland. Northland was divided into South Northland and North Northland. North Northland was, as you can probably guess, really cold. In fact it was mostly cold all the time. Up in North Northland was a little town called Blizzard. The people who lived in Blizzard (and there weren’t many) had to bundle up in piles and piles of clothes just to go anywhere. Well, Malory and her family lived north of Blizzard. Not much farther north, mind you, but north nevertheless, not south or even east or west. In the south, at least, it didn’t snow every day, and the east actually had sunshine once in a while.

Perhaps you’re wondering: why would anyone want to live in such a cold, cold, snowy place? That’s because Malory’s father was a snow technician. He knew all about snow. He read about snow, he thought about snow and he even dreamed about snow some nights. (Who wouldn’t?) Well, if you’re going to be a snow technician, you kind of have to live where the snow is. And that is how Malory came to live north of Blizzard in North Northland; Malory and her family that is. You already know Malory’s father, the snow technician. She also had a mother and a brother Mickey, who was 7. Malory was 4.

One day in early February Mickey came running in the back door. As usual it took him five full minutes to get his hat and coat and boots and gloves and sweater and scarf off and into a pile on the kitchen floor. Malory was sitting at the kitchen table and Mommy was at the sink. Mickey was upset.

“Mom” Mickey yelled “I’m quitting school. I’m quitting school and never going back.”

Looking right at Mickey’s face, Mom asked, “Why is that?”

“Valentime’s Day” was all he said.

“Don’t you mean Valentine’s Day, Mickey?”

“That’s what I said, Mom!” Mickey wailed as he crumpled to the floor in a heap.

“So, what’s wrong with that?” she asked.

“Well, it’s horrible, that’s what. I have to get a shoe box and decorate it and put a hole in the top, and take it to school.”

“Really!” Mom said.

“It’s worse than that, Mom. I have to make my own Valentime cards for everybody in my class and put them in their boxes that they made.”

“Why is that so bad?”

“Mom! There are girls in my class.”

“I think I knew that,” she said.

“Yeah, and especially Rosie.”

“Rosie?”

“She’s that girl that won’t leave me alone. She keeps smiling at me when I’m trying to do stuff.”

“Well, all the same, Mickey, you need to make a Valentine card for everyone.”

“Mom!”

“Go pick your clothes up. We can talk about it later, and if you are nice, I’ll help you make your Valentines.”

“Even the one for Rosie?”

“Especially the one for Rosie.”

“Thanks, Mom. Can I have a cookie?”

“After the clothes, Mickey.”

“Okay.” And with that Mickey left the kitchen with his pile of clothes.

Malory was worried.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Malory?”

“What’s a Val-a…what’s a Valatime’s Day?”

“It’s called Valentine’s Day, Malory.” Mom answered. “It’s a day we celebrate once a year to say ‘I love you’ to the people closest to us.”

“Oh, well is Rosie closest to Mickey?”

“What? Oh, no, that’s just for school. Mickey’s teacher, Miss Emurian, just wants the children in her class to have a little fun and learn about the holiday.”

“What’s a holiday, Mom?” Malory asked.

“That’s a special day like Christmas or Easter.”

“Can I have a holiday?”

“What do you mean?”

“Can I make a box and get cards from my closest people?”

“Yes, Malory, of course you can. Why don’t we make a Valentine’s box after dinner? We can help Mickey make his box at the same time.”

“Thank you mommy.”

So, Malory began to look forward to making that box. By the time her daddy got home from the snow she was bursting with excitement.

“Daddy, mommy and I are going to make a Valatime’s box, and I get to cut out hearts and glue them on and all my closest people can say I love you inside!”

“Wow!” her father said. “Can I put something inside?”

“A course, Daddy. You and Mommy are my closest-closest people in the whole world.”

That evening after dinner (baked chicken, rice and salad), just like she promised, Malory’s Mom found two shoe boxes and some red paper and pink paper and white paper and scissors and glue and tape and markers and a bunch of other stuff and they spread it out on the table in the kitchen. Mickey didn’t like all the red and pink paper so he just glued some old baseball cards to his box and went upstairs. Malory loved the pink and red paper. Red was her favorite color. She put everything on her box very carefully. Pretty soon they had the best looking Valentine box anyone had ever seen. Malory was so proud of her Valentine box she took it in to show her father who was reading an article in Snow Digest magazine about snow maintenance in the urban environment.

“Daddy, look!” she exclaimed as she held out the box. Dad put the magazine down. He took the box in his hands and examined it, turning it slowly so he could see each side. Then he held it up like the Holy Grail. “This” he said solemnly, “is the paragon of Valentine boxes. This box shall set the standard for Valentine boxes for decades to come. Grandmothers will be telling their granddaughters about this box. In fact, I predict this box will be on the cover of Valentine Quarterly, before this year has passed. The reds, the pinks, the whites, are a wonder to behold, but especially the reds. The reds inspire me. In fact, I predict that on Valentine’s morn there will be red snow, lots and lots of red snow in honor of this great Valentine’s box. Mark my words Missy Malory,” he said with finality, “red snow.”

“For reals, Daddy?”

“For reals.”

It was almost two weeks until Valentine’s Day and Malory could hardly wait. It was almost like Christmas or her birthday. Every day she asked Mom to tell her how many days until Valentine’s Day. Mom would go to the calendar on the wall and mark off another day and tell Malory. Then one morning she asked and Mom said “just one more day, Malory. Tonight is Valentine’s Eve.” She was so excited she could hardly stand it. She went to bed that night with visions of red snow and a box full of love.

The next morning when Malory woke up she opened her eyes but at first she didn’t remember that today was special. Then all of a sudden she did remember. “It’s Valatime’s Day!” she screamed. She ran to the window. There was red snow as far as she could see. And right outside her window was some white snow in the shape of a big, big heart that said “Happy Valentine’s Day Malory.” Malory couldn’t read yet, but she was pretty sure she knew what it said. She put her bathrobe and slippers and ran downstairs. Mom was in the kitchen and there on the table was her Valentine box. It was full of Valentine’s cards, all from her closest people. Mom read them all to her. There were cards from Mom and Dad and their neighbors, David and Susan Needham. There were cards from people at church: the Smiths, the Kleinbecks, old Ben Rothwell, her Sunday School teacher, Mrs. James, and the Jacob twins. There were a bunch of cards that didn’t have a name on them. There was even a card from Mickey. He made a drawing of a monster with big teeth who said “I promise not to eat you for Valentine’s Day.” But her favorite Valentine came from Uncle Eugene who was a baker in North Southland. It was a heart shaped chocolate chip cookie that said: “When the chips are down you are my Valentine.” Malory had to have Mom explain it, but the cookie was really good.

What can I say? That day was just special. After Mickey got on the bus for school Mom let Malory go outside and make a big red snowman. When she came inside Mom had hot cocoa and warm banana bread waiting on the table. Later that day they made a heart cake with red icing (of course!) and put little candy hearts all over the top. When they ate the cake for dessert that night, it made their lips and tongues red and everybody laughed.

Well, you may not have guessed this, but Malory had a red, red Valentine’s Day every year for the next three years. But the following year something bad happened. One Valentine morning right after sunrise and long before she usually got up, Malory was awakened by a noise. She looked out the window and could just make out the figure of Dad in the back yard. She put some clothes on and went downstairs. She went outside. Dad was spraying something on the snow.

“Daddy, what are you doing?” she asked.

“Well, you’ve caught me, Malory. I’m making the snow red.”

Malory was quiet for a moment as she watched Dad spray the snow. Then she said, “I thought God made the snow red.”

“I know you did, but it was me. I invented a nontoxic dye that wouldn’t come off on your clothing. Every year I got up and sprayed the snow before you woke up.”

Malory got big tears in her eyes. “You lied to me, Daddy,” she said and ran up to her room and cried and cried. A few minutes later Mom came into her room.

“Malory?”

”Daddy lied to me,” Malory said, and then she started crying all over again. “There was no red snow! He made it himself.”

“I know, honey.”

“He lied to me!”

“Where is that first Valentine box you made?” Mom asked. Malory got it out of the closet.

“Malory, can I ask you a question?”

“What question?” she cried.

“Why did you make this box?”

“So people could say ‘I love you.’”

“That’s right. Look here is a card from Mrs. James and here is that funny card from Mickey. Here is the one Dad made. Did these make you feel loved?”

“Yeah.”

“What about all these cards with no name on them?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know who wrote these cards?”

“No.”

“I did, Malory. I wanted your first Valentine box to be full to the top because I love you. Do you think I lied to you?”
“Well, I guess not.” Just then Malory looked up and saw Dad standing in the doorway. He looked sad. That made Malory feel sad.

“I’m sorry, Mal, I just wanted to make you happy. I love you.”

“I love you too, Daddy,” Malory said, and she ran over to him and hugged him real hard.

“You know, Malory,” Dad said as she was hugging him real hard, “I worked a long time on that invention. And then every year it took three hours to spray our yard and all the other yards. And I had to get their permission even before I could do that. Do you know why I went to all that work?”

“Because you love me?”

“That’s right. Is that your first Valentine box on the bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you still have the Valentine from ‘the Red, Red, Snow Man’?”

Malory went to the Valentine box and found the card. “Do you mean this one?”

“Yes,” Dad answered. “Do you know who that’s from?”

“No.”

“It’s from me. I’m the Red, Red Snow man. Was that a lie?”

“No.”

“That’s right. It’s not a lie, it’s love. The red, red snow and the Red, Red Snow Man are ways I show my love to you.”

Malory hugged Dad real hard again. “I love you more than ever, Daddy!” She said.

“I know, Mal.”

“Daddy?”

“Yes?”

“Would you make the red, red snow again next year?”

“I make this prediction, Malory. Next year’s snow will be redder than red. Next year’s red snow will be the paragon of red snows. It will set the standard for red snows from now on. Mark my words Missy Malory. Redder snow.”

“For reals, Daddy?”

“For reals.”

The End