Let It Snow!

By Jeff Baker

We’d walked on the artificial wooden boards (and I knew what “wood” was because Team G, which I’m on, had done a report on it for school) and had seen the Solooen where they drank and shot people and the barns where they kept the horses. Then Dad/Mom said he/she had a “surprise” for me.

We walked between two of the old buildings and turned toward the edge of the little street, opposite where we’d paid our admission and came in. The buildings were perfect for the period (1870’s, I’d been studying it!) and Dad/Mom said “So are you ready to do your school report on the Murcan Frontier West?”

“Yes, Sir/Ma’am,” I said.

“Well, you’ll need something to show the class and to prove you were here,” He/She said.

We walked into a little wooden building that had fake faded lettering on its fake glass window.

Team J had done a report on “glass,” but their visual display had dropped and broken. I’d tried not to laugh.

Inside was a shop, a real shop. Not like the places you go on screen to order something. There were actual items on display on shelves and counters and (what I assumed to be) a real person watching both of us.

“You have one of your birthdays coming up,” Dad/Mom said. “How about getting one of these?”

He pointed to a row of clear glass balls, some of them small, a couple as big as my head. All of them with small figures inside. They each had a little base attached so they wouldn’t roll away.

“These are called snow globes,” Dad/Mom said. “They used to make a lot more of them. Watch this.”

He picked one of the medium sized ones up and shook it and held it out to me. The ball was full of liquid and little white flakes I hadn’t noticed. They swirled around like a snowstorm.

“I’ve seen snow!” I said. “When we took the hoverflyer up North, remember?”

“Take a good look inside,” Dad/Mom said.

I stared. The little model inside was a miniature replica of the little street we’d been walking along and exploring. What had been called a “Ghost Town.”

“You want it?” Dad/Mom asked with a warm smile. I nodded, smiling.

“Did you notice? It’s got the name of the place that used to be here on it?” Dad/Mom asked.

I hadn’t noticed. I carefully took the globe and tilted it until the flakes fell away from the words on the base of the little town: “Losvegis.”

“Happy Birthday!” Dad/Mom said.

I held the globe tight as we took off in the hoverflyer.

—end—

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The draws for the November 2024 Flash Fiction Draw Challenge were A Science Fiction Story, involving a Snow Globe set in a Ghost Town. This story uses the characters and setting of “Continental Divide,” a story I posted back in July. —-jeff