Eerie, Indiana fanfiction: Setting the Scene

[froodle]

The temperature had dropped during the night, and in the morning the frost came. Against the blue-pink sky of the breaking dawn, the bare and icy branches looked like black lace filigree gleaming silver-edged on the boundaries between earth and air. The pavements glittered silver-white and the frozen blades of grass crunched underfoot, quieter and more fragile than the drifts of dead autumn leaves had been earlier in the year, but still oddly satisfying. Cars and mailboxes and street signs were blurred at the edges, their once-familiar shapes rendered new and mysterious under the layers of sparkling white and gleaming transparency, their colours muted, the words emblazoned on them distorted or obscured altogether.

Weatherman Wally stood on his back porch, blowing gently on his cupped hands as he surveyed the subtly-altered landscape, and feeling an immense surge of job satisfaction. It had taken a lot of work, a string of late nights in his studio, but it was worth it. Tonight, in Eerie's town square, the Mayor would switch on the Christmas lights and the holiday season would start in earnest. The frost would linger 'til tomorrow's dawn melted it, providing the perfect backdrop for the festive merriment.

Howard appeared at the back door, fleece-lined trapper hat jammed firmly on his head, glasses slightly askew.

"Do you smell oranges?" he asked.

"And cinnamon," said Wally. "I sprinkled some on the map before I left yesterday. I think it makes it more Christmassy." He braced himself for another explosion of "that's not science"-type ranting.

"Huh," said Howard. "It's nice. Sets the scene."

It wasn't quite a Christmas miracle, Wally thought, but it would do.