Chapter 1

- Snow and cookies -

Winter. Kids running around in the park, throwing snowballs at each other. The sun rays were reflected in the pure white snow, creating a perfect winter day.
A little boy was standing on a bench staring mezmerized at the beautiful view. He wished he could play along with the other kids too… but he couldn't. Nobody wanted to play with little Thomas. Was it because he was poor? Was it because of his aggressive step-father? He couldn't answer that… the main idea was that he was the only child who wasn't enjoying himself on such a beautiful day.
He went back home somewhere around eleven. He was never late, not even with a few minutes and his mom, Catherine, was very happy thanks to that. But did she know that he came home in time because he was not needed in the palyground? Probably not. The road home always cheered Thomas up a little bit. And how could it not? The road home meant that he was going pass the bakery and if he was lucky, Mr. Matthews, the shop owner and at the same time the best baker in town, would give him a delicious chocolate cookie.
"Hey, there Tommy!"
"Hello sir!"
"What are you up to, ol champ?" Mr. Matthews was Tom's favorite man in town. Who wouldn't like someone that gives you cookies and would always greet you with a friendly smile?
"I was going home…"
"Are you okay, lad?"
"Yeah…"
"Hmm… come here, Tommy!" he said inviting him in the bakery. It was so warm and pleasant in there. A scent of cinnamon and vanilla was floating in the air. "Sit down and tell this old baker what's troubling you."
"Well… you see… the kids at the playground didn't play with me again…"
"Ah, there there, Tommy…" he said and gave him a big hug. Mr. Matthews liked him very much. That was probably because he never had any children, but he always loved kids. And Thomas was just the perfect replacement. "I'm sorry to hear that; but you can do many others things! Come on, lad, cheer up! Look how beautiful it is outside, look, it's even starting to snow again!"
"I love winter."
"Yeah… so do I… so do I…" during this moment of silence, Tom noticed that it was almost 12 o'clock; he had to be home in one hour.
"I have to get home in an hour."
"Okay, wait up a little." He went to the oven and took some cookies and put them in a bag. "Here you go, a nice desert after your meals!"
"Wow, thank you, Mr. Matthews!"
"My pleasure, mate. Could you do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"Take this to Mrs. Charnel." He gave the boy an envelope that had a little stain of chocolate on it. He took it and waved good-bye.

"Mom, I'm home!"
He took his jacket off, laid his gloves on the table and then went to his room to hide the cookies.
His house wasn't a big one like all the other kids had, but it was home. Long heavy beige curtains were hanging on the living room windows. A fluffy black cat was sitting on the rug in front of the fire place. Somewhere on the wall there was a beautiful painting that represented Thomas's real father, who passed away when he was five. A year later his mother remarried because she couldn't manage with taking care of him and the house at the same time; she was also spending too much money and never had enough for the important things, such as bills and stuff of that kind. Even so, with a new husband, they had to move to smaller house in Ontario, Thomas's current home.
Little Tom never liked his step-dad, but the again, who would? His step-dad's name was John and no matter how hard Tom tried to please him never could, so at one point he gave up on that.
"Lunch everybody!" Catherine said as Tom rushed in the kitchen. "Come, dear, have a seat. Mashed potatoes or rice?"
"Um… potatoes."
Lunch went pretty well if you count out John's useless rambling. There were no fights, no stressing conversations, just a normal meal. And even so, the boy was happy it didn't take more than 30 minutes. Why is that? Simple. Only John's presence displeased him and besides that he had such a grumpy voice.
"Come on Fudge, stop being such a lazy cat!" the kitty got up and followed the boy to his room. Her name was Fudge because she was a gift from Mr. Matthews for Tom's birthday and since her mother's name was Cinnamon, Tom thought that Fudge would be the right name for her.
He shared his cookies with his little kitty and then went for a nap. He dreamt of his dad. He was sitting on the rug and listening to his father playing the piano. The song was called "The winter melody" and was composed by his dad as a gift for him for Christmas.
Fudge woke him up with a "mew". He stared out the window for a few minutes, remembering his dream.
"I miss you dad…" he then recalled that he still has the notes to the song, but he didn't know how to play the piano. This was one of his wishes: to learn to play the piano. Actually, if he knew how to play "The winter melody" it would've been enough.

The rest of the day went fine. No family fights, to his surprise, no bad news, just peace and quiet. It was still snowing outside when he went to bed again, at night. But before he did that, he took Fudge in his arms and looked out the window. He saw a shooting star, so he closed his eyes and made a wish.
"Good night, dad…" he said his prays and went for a good night sleep. The kitty cuddled at his feet as he took hold of his teddy bear.