By: Alexandra Christiansen

Slam! Slam! Crash! Sounds and voices trailing away.

He was jolted awake. Whatever had caused the cataclysmic noise also brought with it a rush of frigid air. He shuddered with the cold blast. The sound still echoed in his ears and permeated his dwelling with its intrusion. The fright of the moment was making his heart beat faster than he thought it could. His senses alerted. From his resting place he leapt up and bolted toward the heart of his home. What intrusion had caused such noise? He quickly glanced outside and looked up to the heavens. The dark clouds ominously billowed overhead, their bellies swollen with the snow which they were about to shed over his land, over his people, covering all with their frigid flakes. He slowly moved toward the place of the jarring sound. Gingerly and stealthily he made his progress, his skin taut with nerves, his breathing shallow. He crept around the corner and stopped. He jerked his head back and his senses keened. He could smell its strange and piercing odour. It sat motionless in his abode, in the very heart of his home. It was black. It was foreign. It threatened. What was he to do? Where had it come from? Why was it here? When had it invaded since he had lain to rest his weary body....and why? He tensed. What was it?

The room darkened around him, giant shadows stealing the light. Moving clouds snatched the daylight. His eyes raked the vista outside. Ice covered the small pond, now frozen in the middle of winter, its hoarfrost covered shards banked by snow drifts. The north wind blew streaks of snow streamers across the glazed surface like giant licks from its relentless tongue, reaching out to chill even the heartiest of men. He shivered at the bleakness and wondered from which part of the universe this intruder had come....and why to his sanctuary.

The entity still did not move. Was it watching him, waiting for the moment to strike? He had no choice but to confront it. He had to protect his people at all cost....even his life! Yes, he would settle with that. He owed them much.

Resolved now, he edged forward looking for movement, keening for sound, watching for anything which might identify the entity and its purpose. How had it come to be here?

He was brave and fearless was he not? He thought of only the evening before when he had rid his dwelling of the encroachers who had crept into his home in the stealth of the night and threatened his people’s food supply. The night’s invaders were known to him....this entity was foreign.

It sat there....motionless. Would it awake to strike him....his people? What would it do to them? Slowly he walked around its sphere....and still it did not move, did not acknowledge his existence. It waited. He sensed the imminent danger it presented and realized that somehow he must contain it until his people came to help him with it. This final realization made his muscles tense and his hair stand on end. He sensed the confrontation and readied himself for it.

The din of voices from outside startled him out of his vigilant concentration. They were foreign voices, muffled... angry? They were loud and coming toward him. They must belong to the entity. He had to protect his people. His instinct and resolve took over logic as he reared up and jumped onto the entity. Its hard unrelenting shape pressed into his belly. He closed his eyes and prepared for death. He knew it waited.

Crash! Crash!

Frigid air blasted in with the nerve-grating sounds. He could smell the beings as they drew near. The biting smell of metal punctuated the air. He stared transfixed at the approaching army of invaders. He saw sparks of fire exploding where their steel feet cut across the stone entrance of his home. Massive helmets covered faces and muffled words. They carried enormous wooden weapons... threatening weapons so much larger than him. One blow and he would be disabled or.... dead. His senses reeled! They were not of his world! As their feet, gliding on steel approached him he suddenly understood that they had come for the entity. Inches away from him, one took off his massive hands and bent toward him....his weapon at his side. He sensed that they somehow knew he had the entity. He suddenly realized and hoped with all his being that if he surrendered it to them perhaps they would leave with it and not harm his loved ones....his people. He could feel it underneath him, pressing itself into his belly....waiting to implode him. He had no choice....he had to chance his life to save his people. He sprang to his feet and bounded to the window, not knowing what to expect next.

The hand of the alien went to his helmet and moved the visor upward....slowly revealing his face as he bent down and picked up the invader.

Suddenly his voice boomed "Hey guys, I’ve got the puck! The darn cat was sitting on it!"

The crashing sounds of the small retreating army of boys echoed into the stillness of the house as they walked out, their puck in hand.

Jimmy, his keeper clamored out the door in his hockey equipment to join his friends on the pond.

The cat jumped to the window and gazed out at the battle scene now under way behind the house.

The sun chose to break through in that moment and the newly fallen snow glistened. Sunbeams of light bounced off the metal runners of the players’ blades as they etched patterns of snowy grooves into the gleaming surface of the pond....shiny helmets bobbed with the exhilaration of the hockey game.

He purred his approval as he settled into the warmth of the window sill to watch the ensuing battle. He was content in his role as guardian....after all, had he not protected the entity which belonged to his people with his life....the puck?

Sunbeams danced with the icicles above the window weaving their kaleidoscope of colours over his sun warmed coat. He rested his head on his paws and watched as the puck was propelled back and forth over the mirror of the pond.

Alexandra Christianson grew up in York Region and has lived there all her life. She is married and has two sons. She has a highly successful professional career in the area. Her love of writing started in high school when her English teacher instilled in her not only a confidence in her writing but a love of it. English is her second language which she learned at the age of 6.

© Copyright 2008