Beneath the rugged, blind sky, snow as cold

Beneath the rugged, blind sky, snow as cold as the night's day, falls. Its simple, freezing composure wraps its arms around the inhabitants of this bare land.

The land of the blind Eskimos:They stick out their tongues discerning the snows designs on them. Slipping out on their kayaks which orient like a compasses on the metallic sea of

the arctic, the blind Eskimos use canes made of caribou antler to feel their way past the slumbering polar bears. They sense the warmth of the sun reflecting off the snowcapped

I wrapped my eyes with a kerchief and fumbled with my sleeping bag. If the blizzard stopped soon, I could radio base camp. A howl was on the wind, and something else.

It took me a few minutes to discern the faint tinkle of...jingle bells and...and someone laughing. By now, the snow had drifted against the dark pines, but I thought I saw a...a...

bright flash. "Ahh!" I covered my eyes. Grandpa Klaus was at it again. "I'm moonlighting," he said. Wearing only a red and white hat and a utility belt covered in a bells, he was

enjoying himself thoroughly, with a grin on his face. I knew mom would be mad if she saw him.

Luckily, she hadn't kept her optician's appointment in a while so there was little chance of that. As I was thinking this, my brother's grin stretched even wider and started to

meet at the back of his head. I grabbed my brother firmly by the head. "Jeremy, don't do this! The doctor said that too much smiling would kill you." Now he's always sullen.