SNOW DAY HOLIDAY BREAKFAST
by Don Hinkle
"Goodnight, Wheels," Mom said.
Wheels looked out the dark window. Big white spots dropped slowly past.
"Tomorrow will be a Snow Day. No school!" Wheels said.
"Maybe, but I don't think so." Mom said. She got his school clothes and put them on the chair for the morning.
"Bet you two billion dollars."
"Wheels," Mom said. "I don't bet. And neither do you."
"Well... it WILL be a Snow Day."
"So... pretend. If it is a Snow Day, what will you do?" Mom asked.
"First I'll eat breakfast, then I'll build a snowman, then..."
"Wait! Stop! Say again, please... IF it's a snow day you're going to eat breakfast?"
"A BIG breakfast. So I don't have to stop to eat lunch."
"That's good news, Wheels. Very good,"Mom said. "If it is a snow day, I'll fix you the biggest breakfast you ever saw."
She kissed him. She turned out the light. Wheels looked out the black window. With the light off, he couldn't see the snow. But, when he held his breath he could hear the snow falling.
In the morning, the air smelled clean and cold.
Snow piled on the panes of his window. He rubbed the window and looked through the clear spots his fingers made. Everything was white.
From the kitchen, Mom called to him: "Wheels? Get hungry for the biggest breakfast of your life."
"Awright!" Wheels said.
Wheels threw his school clothes back into the closet. He put on old jeans and a sweatshirt with a hood. He went to the warm kitchen and sat at the table. He smelled hot food and heard sizzling and bubbling sounds.
"I'm hungry," he said.
Mom gave him a mug of hot cocoa and a plate of scrambled eggs with two slices of bacon and a piece of toast. Wheels folded the bacon inside the toast and took a big bite.
After Wheels ate that, she brought a plate with two pancakes. Wheels poured on maple syrup and ate them both.
Mom looked worried: "Are you chewing everything?" she asked.
"What's next?" he asked.
Next he had a bowl of oatmeal with butter melted on it.
Then he had a piece of apple pie with cheddar cheese melted on it.
"What a great breakfast!" Wheels said.
"There's more," Mom said. "Can you eat it?"
He started to say, "You bet!" but he just said "Sure!"
She popped two pieces of toast out of the toaster. One was white, with a suntan. The other was dark like chocolate.
"What's this?" Wheels said, holding up the dark toast.
"Pumpernickel bread."
"I'll put strawberry jam on it," he decided. He put peach preserves on the white bread. First he took a bite of white, then he took a bite of the black. Then he drank some cocoa. He reached for the telephone.
"I'm gonna call Jason," Wheels said.
"Don't go yet," Mom said. "There's more."
"Hey Jason!"
"Wheels! Let's go sledding!"
"I'm eating breakfast." He put the last bite of black toast in his mouth so Jason could hear the crunch.
"You NEVER eat breakfast!"
"You want to come over and eat with me?"
"What're you having?"
"Everything."
Mom put a waffle in front of him.
He ate the waffle with a big scoop of honey. "Jason's coming," he told Mom. "He wants to eat breakfast too."
"He'll have a tough time catching up with you, but there's plenty to eat," Mom said. She set down a dish of strawberries with milk.
Jason came in, stomping snow. Mom gave him strawberries.
"I don't like strawberries," Jason whispered to Wheels.
"I'm eating everything," Wheels said.
Jason ate the strawberries.
Then Mom brought hamburgers and french fried potatoes. Jason said, "I didn't know you could eat hamburger for breakfast."
"What's next?" Wheels asked.
"You want more?" Mom said, wiping her face with a towel.
Jason said, "No thanks." Wheels winked at Jason and said "Sure."
She opened the oven and brought out a roast chicken.
Wheels and Jason ate the drumsticks.
Mom opened the oven again and brought out a pecan pie. She cut two slices and put vanilla ice cream on top.
"Let's go sledding," Jason said.
Mom said, "What about the pudding? And the ham? And the souffle? And the chilidogs?"
"Dad can have the rest," Wheels said. Jason laughed and jumped up from his seat. "Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Wheeler."
Wheels slowly got off his chair. He waddled over to Mom and shook her hand. "Thanks very much, Mrs. Mom."
"You're welcome, Mister Jason and Mister Wheels," Mom said. "It was hot work to cook but lots of fun watching you eat."
Wheels and Jason took the sled to the top of the hill.
Wheels went down the hill much faster than Jason.
the end
