“Um yes, especially when it’s a mess,” Karen smiled.

“Well, I got tired of looking at things that looked back at me, so I came outside.” Lillian pointed at the children. “These kids are great—they just let you laugh with them.”

And just then, as they both turned to watch, a boy hit a hump of snow on his way down the hill, lost his balance and tumbled another 20 feet without his sled. Once he stopped, he sat up and felt for his stocking cap. Then he stood and turned to look at his friends on top of the hill. For half a breath, they looked at each other, then he shot his arms into the air and yelled with excitement.  

Lillian and Karen found themselves each giving a little exclamation at his triumph. His friends’ whoots and whistles joined his and he pounded back up the hill, snow shaking off his clothes with each step.

“Oh that was great,” laughed Lillian. “Why does it work that way?”

“What?”

“Those kids and the two of us. It’s like we’re sharing something, but something that doesn’t belong to any of us.”

“What do you mean? What are we sharing?” asked Karen.

“Well, the kids on the hill and the two of us apart from them are all breathing in joy and laughing it out, but no one created it. Their weight took them down and we all laugh. So who deserves the credit for that?”

“I guess there are things that are just gifts. God, it would be horrible to have to deserve everything.”

“Yes, it would,“ Lillian said quietly. She stood with Karen a few more minutes while they finished their cider and then walked with Karen to her house. After they said goodbye, Lillian turned her face to feel the brisk, frozen air and started for home.

All the way there, her steps were full of energy and resolve. She unlocked the door, put the keys on the shelf, kicked her clogs under the bench and hung her coat on the hook. Then she looked into the kitchen at the jumble of papers, turned around and for half a breath the house looked back, unsure what to expect. Then Lillian threw her arms into the air and yelled with excitement, filling the room with new ghosts.