Chapter: Snowballs [2002, short story]

I was lost in thought, trying to bring a story to an end that only existed in my head and was never allowed to leave it when it first cracked. I jumped, my heart and mind racing. My head was pounding, I began to speculate wildly as to what might have caused the bang. Perhaps the wooden window frame that groaned from the cold of the past few days. It had snowed outside. Maybe someone had thrown snowballs at the window. In any case, the sound was coming from the same window I had lowered the blind - and the sound didn't seem to be dangerous. Heart and mind calmed down again, the dream world of my story returned.
After being startled for the fourth time by the snowball-creaking-frame-or-whatever-noise, I went out into the street and looked outside at my window. I saw snowball prints, which - even if they were scattered across the window - took up a quarter of the pane.I asked indignantly about the thrower. As if I had been heard, a girl laughed a little further up the street, in the direction of the lower house numbers. It was already dark so I couldn't see who was laughing. Probably neighborhood kids. The B. siblings lived in the direction from which the laughter came. They often did stupid things, ran through gardens, practiced stroking the doorbell. Reassured that I'd found a scapegoat, I went back inside, picked up my headphones, and turned the volume control. I didn't hear about the snowballs for the rest of the evening.
I was very tired and went to bed early.
When I was riding my bike to school that morning, I took a quick look at my window. The children must have continued to rage. The traces of the snowballs already took up half of the window area. I realized I'd forgotten to pull up the blind, but I was in a hurry. When I got back I would pull it up and find that there was less light in the room.In the afternoon I did some shopping. The Christmas holidays and New Years Eve were just over. The sleepy January mood made every pedal step on the way to the supermarket difficult and annoying. I didn't have a driver's license, let alone a car. There was also nobody who could have driven me. My parents went on vacation abroad in search of snow to ski. When I thought about it, I burst out laughing.
When I finally got there, I met a neighbor. The family of father, mother and three daughters lived up the street, towards the higher house numbers. The three girls developed splendidly, as the proud mother told me. Good grades, friend, driving lessons. Everything age-typical and normal. Very comforting for the parents.
Finally, I managed to shake off the neighboring peacock and its three chicks and, annoyed and tired, did my shopping. I drove home in the dark, put everything away and heard it pop again a few hours later.I was too exhausted to look. Instead, I picked up the headphones and fell into my own world.
Again I went to bed early.
When I was riding my bike to school that morning, I took a quick look at my window. The children must have continued to rage. The traces of the snowballs already took up three quarters of the window area. I noticed that I had forgotten to pull up the blind, but I was in an even more hurry than the day before. When I got back I would pull it up and find that there was less light in the room.
On the way home I was in a bad mood. The lessons had been lengthy and tiring, and during the breaks I had argued with my few friends. As I slid down my street on two wheels, new snowflakes fell from the low, gray sky. I somehow passed the time in the afternoon. In the evening it banged again. This time the sound was muffled by the blanket of snow covering my window.I did not clear the snow because it was freezing and it was frozen solid.
In a bad mood as I was, I went to bed early.
I overslept because I forgot to set the alarm. Its bright red numbers showed twelve o'clock in the afternoon, but it felt like it was still night. It was pitch black and freezing in the house. The thermometer in the kitchen showed minus eight degrees Celsius. The heating was down, but I was too tired to do anything about the cold. Actually, I didn't care. I went back to bed.
All the windows and doors were blind and locked by the snow. As I fell asleep, I heard the muffled popping of snowballs and thought to myself that I would never have to set the alarm again.