Make It Snow… 

by Michelle 

Note: This story was inspired by one of my favourite films, 'Edward Scissorhands'.
The beauty of especially one scene from it gave me the inspiration for a story "after".
The other inspiration was the magical soundtrack by Danny Elfman:
Edward Scissorhands Soundtrack: "Ice Dance" [1 Hour Loop]

"... I stood forlorn,
knowing my heart's best treasure was no more,
That neither present times nor years unborn
could to my sight that heavenly face restore."

- William Wordsworth -

December had always been her favourite month of the year. Once, it used to be because it was the month of Christmas, a joyful occasion spent with her family, spreading that wondrous atmosphere around, warming people’s hearts - at least some of them. And then, one December, everything changed. She still loved it, but the reason had changed entirely - it was the month he came to the town and into her life, before vanishing from it as quickly as a cloud of breath released on a freezing day.

Kim was sitting in her comfortable, old-fashioned armchair that winter evening, surrounded by the photographs of her numerous family members. Her tired eyes took in each of them, one by one, slowly and carefully, making sure not one would go unappreciated. Her parents, her brother with his family, her husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren… Seemingly endless lines of images creating the canvas of her long life.

Some things had changed since that fateful Christmas many years ago. The evolution of technology and science moved on quickly, but people hadn’t changed that much at their core, as Kim found. They still looked for distraction, sensation, something or someone to stimulate their slightly mundane lives. Mankind might have made a giant leap by walking on the Moon, but it fought the same battles every day as it had been in the past two thousand years.

Her wrinkled hand slowly reached for a heavy, black frame with the black and white photo portrait of her late husband. The earnest, focused look of his dark eyes made the corners of her mouth turn slightly upwards. Those eyes reminded Kim of someone else’s eyes, someone whose image was missing among the many surrounding her at that moment. And yet, they were different as well, missing the melancholy and deep longing reflected in them…

A soft tap on the door frame broke the silence and her reverie.
”I’m sorry, Nanna, I don’t want to disturb you. I just wanted to see if you needed anything.”
“I’ve only ever needed one thing since I was seventeen, but you can’t give me that… no one can,” Kim replied with a tired smile. 

The tall, rather slim and pretty woman in her early thirties, with blonde, short hair, and bright, dark eyes approached her and kneeled at her side.
”Are you all right, Nana?” the woman asked softly, worried when seeing the melancholic expression on her great-grandmother’s pale face.
Kim sighed and chuckled. “I’m tired, Jenny,” she stated.
”Understandably, it’s been a long day of preparations for the big day tomorrow,” the young woman remarked with a smile. “Christmas Day only comes once a year…”
”It’s not the long days that have worn me out,” Kim interrupted her. “It’s my long life, my too-long life.”

Jenny frowned, observing her beloved great-grandmother with sudden anxiety but unable to react.
“It’s all right, my dear. One hundred and one years spent in this wild world are bound to leave their mark on one,” the old woman concluded with a strained voice, smiling at her.

A brief silence befell the antique-furnished bedroom, full of photographs, trinkets and souvenirs of all kinds, collected over decades of Kim’s travelling to all corners of the world. Especially after becoming a widow at quite a young age of not even fifty, her spirit craved even more to spread her wings again and exchange her sleepy hometown for a more stimulating environment.

“I wish there was something I could do,” Jenny shook her head helplessly. “Something more than just---”
“Waiting?” Kim raised her eyebrows. “Don’t worry; it won’t be long now.”
“Nana, please…”

The older woman focused her eyes on her age-marked hands. She slowly moved her fingers as if testing if they worked.
”Hands,” she mused. “We take them so much for granted… never even think about what it must be like not having any…”
Then she noticed her great-granddaughter’s confused look and chuckled.

“I told you a story a long time ago, just like I told it to your mother once,” she said. “You were only a child then, so you probably don’t remember, but I do… and I can never forget…”
Jenny’s look softened as a small, compassionate smile appeared on her face. “Edward?” she asked.
“Yes, Edward…,” Kim replied, whispering the name that she hadn’t spoken for many years. Then she looked at Jenny with sudden determination in her eyes.
“I think there is something you could do for me…”

※※※

The car slowly climbed up the hill road and stopped at a stony gate, overlooked by a selection of obscure animal statues, dusted with a fine layer of snow, twinkling in the moonlight. The tall towers of the long-standing mansion were keeping guard on that unusually cold night.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Jenny asked, slightly nervous, as she helped her great-grandmother carefully climb out of her car. Considering her age, Kim was still quite steady on her feet.
”Of course. I won’t be alone,” she answered with slight hesitation.

Will he truly still be there? She didn’t know. What she did know was that she had to try and see for herself. For years, she tried to persuade herself there was no point in visiting him because there was no way they could have been together. Years turned into decades, and when the age caught up with her, Kim persuaded herself that Edward wouldn’t even recognise her, that she would rather him remember her as a young girl, and she stopped dreaming about seeing him again. And yet, in the final stage of her life, there was only one wish she had remaining…

“I’ll take you at least to the mansion’s front door,” Jenny remarked, reluctant to leave her great-grandparent all alone. “And don’t even try to tell me otherwise,” she added, seeing Kim opening her mouth to protest.

Her words must have worked, for the old woman chuckled and nodded, so they slowly made their way through the gate that Jenny had pushed open. As so many years ago, it wasn’t locked. They walked toward the mansion, passing the old trees lining the road. The soft cushion of snow crunched beneath their feet, glittering in the moonlight.

Of course, he’s here, Kim thought. How else would there be snow in this place?
Suddenly, she felt a new lease of life spreading in her veins, reviving her spirits as well.

When they finally entered the gardens in front of the mansion, a dark shadow moved past the immaculately carved ice statue of a swan.
“Was that…?” Jenny inquired, but her senses told her she didn’t need to ask. No one has lived in the mansion since its former owner passed away many decades ago. No one apart from him… 

Just as Kim was about to reply, the shadow of the figure appeared again, this time closer to them, behind another ice statue - it was one of a young woman, dancing…
“Edward?” Kim whispered. Her eyes struggled but her heart felt she couldn’t be wrong. There was an air of mystery and magic surrounding them.

And then the figure stepped out from behind the statue, standing still next to the dancing woman.

That is how it should have been... Kim thought, gazing at the surreal image of her joyful younger self in the company of the unique man who changed her life. She hadn’t seen Edward as anything else but a man in her mind since the moment she fell for him, despite his unorthodox origin. He was more human in her eyes than any other man she had ever known.

“You can leave us, Jenny.” Kim turned to her great-grandchild, patting her hand. “I will be in good hands.”

Jenny wanted to say something, but the glow of excitement in the older woman’s eyes silenced her. She glanced at the dark figure of the man watching them intently without a word, and for the first time she noticed his hands casting a long shadow on the snow-covered grass - they were long scissors.

“I’ll be safe with him,” Kim reassured her, “I always was.”
“I know,” Jenny replied without hesitation, smiling. The legend was engraved in her memory, and she believed every word her great-grandmother told her about this strange man. She remembered what his heart was made of.
“I’ll come to pick you up later,” she said and hugged Kim, kissing her cool cheek.

When she pulled back, she noticed a strange melancholic look in the older woman’s eyes. It reflected happiness and sadness at the same time and something much deeper.

”Thankyou… Goodbye,” Kim whispered, smiling, squeezing her great-granddaughter’s hand.
”See you soon,” Jenny replied quietly, with hesitation. Something was telling her this was more than just a brief parting. “I love you, Nana,” she said before silently bowing her head towards the man still watching them and smiled shyly, fascinated by his appearance. Then she walked away, leaving behind the woman she adored since her childhood with the artificial man who had stolen her heart many winters ago.

※

For a few moments, they stood silently, observing each other, a myriad of thoughts crossing both their minds. Kim wasn’t sure if he could even guess who she was, but deep inside her heart, she felt he knew. It was difficult to tell though, for his face (unchanged by the long time) showed no emotions.

“Edward…” she said his name for the second time, hoping for a response.

Hearing his name, the man with the scissor hands finally moved again, walking slowly towards her. The slightly jerky, sharper movement of his limbs, typical for his android origin, was still present although less than before. The more fluid moves of his limbs, seemingly unnoticeable to anyone else apart from Kim, accentuated his unusual humanity. He looked exactly as she remembered him, down to his messy black hair resembling a porcupine. As he approached her, she saw his large, dark eyes clearly at last - and the unspoken, deep emotion in them, so uncharacteristic for artificial intelligence, yet so typical for Edward.

He didn’t hesitate a second, and unlike decades ago, his arms slowly opened up and very carefully managed to embrace the slightly hunched woman in front of him. As he lay his cheek against her untied, soft, snow-white hair, he closed his eyes, savouring the moment he had longed for every day and sleepless night for eighty-four years.

“Kim…” he whispered, feeling her shiver at the sound of her name.

How? How come you recognise me? she thought, and her long-hidden feelings ran away with her as her bony arms embraced his waist as tight as possible. He felt cold to touch, just as she remembered it from back then, but it didn’t matter to her. He was alive, and once more, for one last time, he was hers. 

After a while, she pulled back to look into his eyes. If she had ever spoken to any scientist in the world, they would have told her it was impossible, and yet, she saw it - the love in Edward’s eyes. This humanoid was far more human than he was probably supposed to be. His facial expression was mostly the same, without as much as a twitch, but his eyes spoke an entirely different language, the one of sadness, love and yearning, common to every human being.

“How is it possible you still have feelings for me, Edward? An old, withered woman…” Kim asked, bewildered.
“Time doesn’t hold power over those who love, for the heart remains unchanged,” he replied softly, his eyes gently bearing into hers.

Those words rendered her speechless. She was indescribably happy, finally feeling that the void in her heart was filled again.
”You are as sweet as your cookie heart,” she remarked, smiling.
His slightly curled full lips finally briefly changed the melancholic expression on his pale face.
Kim carefully entwined her arm with his, avoiding the scissor hand.
”Walk with me?” she asked hopefully.

He didn’t answer but slowly started walking, measuring each step according to her smaller steps. Kim admired every ice statue they passed by with the wonder of a child, once again dazzled by Edward’s marvellous carving skills. A swan, two turtledoves in flight, a wide-branched tree in full bloom, several angels, a horse with such delicately detailed muscles that it would put even Rodin or Michelangelo to shame…

Kim commented with a few words on several of them, appreciating Edward’s less verbal side, aware of his full attention on her, though.
”Where do you actually get the ice blocks from? I thought the town thinks you’ve been dead for decades…” she asked, suddenly realising that she had never asked herself that question in the years before.

Edward briefly smiled again. “The man who created me was very clever. He built a large freezing box. You fill it with water, which freezes into a block. As much as he was a scientist and inventor, my creator was very much interested in the arts as well. That’s why he showed me what I could do with ice.”
”How do you get water?” Kim wondered more.
“There is a well in the mansion,” Edward replied. “It's connected with the freezing box by pipes. All it takes to fill it is a push of a button."
”And electricity for powering the freezing box?”
“No need. The Infinity Apparatus is a never-ending source of power needed to make it work.”

When he saw the question in her eyes, he added with a flash of a smile, “I have to charge the box every few days. It’s a combination of physical work, the sun and wind. It’s quite a complex process, weather-dependent as well.”
Inadvertently, she glanced at his hands. Edward smiled a little, knowing what she thought.
”There are other ways,” he said without elaborating more.

Kim was amazed. She always knew the inventor must have been a genius to create someone as incredible as Edward, but what she had just learned surpassed her imagination.

As they walked to the back garden, she suddenly stopped at the sight of five larger-than-life-sized statues of the same, dancing young woman - of her. They formed a half-circle, each presenting a different pose, mimicking dancing. Kim felt as if she was looking at a cut-out piece of a film strip. Memories immediately brought her back to the past, to the night when she first danced in the snow…

She looked up to see Edward’s face (he seemed even taller to her now that she was so much older and her back didn’t allow her to stand upright as she used to). Her eyes glistened as she saw herself mirrored in his eyes, as black as the deepest night.
“You were… are the most beautiful thing I have seen in my existence,” Edward stated quietly, savouring her moved expression.

His boldness was a little surprising but even more so welcome. Long decades of solitude didn’t make him forget that although time may have been infinite for him, it was definitely not infinite for human beings. There was no point in wasting it by holding back.

The confession took Kim’s breath away. He had never been a man of many words, but when he spoke, it was always from his heart. The heart he supposedly didn’t have - not a real one, at least.

“I never wanted you to see me like this…” She chuckled sadly. “I wanted you to remember me like that.” She glanced at the statues, then turned back to him, her eyes pinned to the ground.
“You are still Kim Boggs, are you not?” he asked, not requesting an answer. “There is no shame in getting older. I only wish I could…”

The pained expression in his eyes was unbearable. She leaned her head against his arm, lingering her cheek on the spot for a moment.
”No one can turn back or stop time, Edward,” she said knowingly. “That’s why every moment of our lives is so precious.” She stopped, focusing on his face again.
 “You have been the most precious memory in my life.”

His unchanging facial expression wouldn’t betray anything were it not for his eyes. They spoke more than it was scientifically possible or humanely achievable.
Kim suddenly felt dizzy. ”Do you think we could rest on a bench for a little while?” she asked with a weak voice.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he led her to one of the benches overlooking the main part of the garden and mansion. As if by providence, it was the only one mostly uncovered by snow that lay all around. They sat down, and with the utmost care, heightened by Kim’s fragile state, he slowly wrapped his arms around her, reminding them of many winters ago. When he was sure she was comfortable, he laid his head on top of her snow-white one.

The fingers on her bony hands clung tightly to his waist, the long years of their separation making themselves known. Although he felt cold to touch, Kim suddenly felt much warmer, and she closed her eyes, with a smile. Some people would say she was not supposed to feel things that strongly anymore, being so old, but only those who don’t know the real depth of a human’s heart could think so. The heart doesn’t know the age or social conventions.

”In all those years,” Kim started. “I’ve been around the world, did many things… had my own family…” She sighed and opened her eyes, admiring one of the ice statues with her likeness. “I had seemingly everything, and yet… I never forgot… I couldn’t.”

Edward closed his eyes, feeling something sharp stabbing his cookie heart. A single tear ran down his ash-coloured cheek, dropping into her hair. It was the first tear he had shed in his existence.
“And I have been waiting…,” he whispered.

She smiled and let herself be lulled by his nearness and the peaceful silence of the Christmas Eve night surrounding them. Time stood still, and yet, it moved too fast.
”Could you do something for me, Edward?” Kim asked after a while.
”Anything,” he replied softly.
She lifted her head from his chest to look into his eyes. A warm smile appeared on her face, brightening her fading eyes and bringing back something youthful to them.
”Make it snow… I would like to dance…”

Edward felt it; it landed over him like a veil of morning dew, soft, yet chilling - her last wish.
After a long look into her warm eyes, he pressed a lingering, cool kiss on her forehead and reluctantly let go of her to stand up, leaving her alone on the bench.

Kim exhaled into the cold air, releasing a white cloud of steam. She was contented, at the place where she was meant and wanted to be. She was happy.

Edward’s long strides led him to the only raw, untouched block of ice on the grass nearby. He looked over his shoulder to glance at Kim, and her smiling face encouraged him to go ahead. He turned his eyes back to the block in front of him and let his magic work.

The sharp scissors he had instead of hands made her wish come true – it began snowing. Soft white fluffs descended on Kim’s face the same way they did for the first time many years ago, lighting the sparkles of wonder in her eyes. Slowly, she outstretched her shaky hand, trying to catch some on her palm. In her happiness, she could hear the angels sing and see them dancing in the snowflakes floating in the air. Her smile widened, and her eyes wandered toward Edward again. She watched him skilfully transform the piece of unloving, cold matter into a magical, heart-warming object with its own imaginary heart – she saw herself dancing in the snow once more, this time, at her ripe age.

Her heart was finally full again, beating alongside the sweet heart of the man who made her believe in something that everybody talks about, but only a few really find.

By the time the artificial man finished his work, the whole garden was covered with a fresh layer of the white blanket, making it glisten even more in the moonlight. He turned toward the bench where Kim was sitting. She was leaning backwards, smiling, her eyes closed, her wrinkly face a perfect image of peace…

It took only a few slow steps for him to reach her. His face still unchanging, he kneeled, feeling as if something very heavy was sitting on his chest. He couldn’t put in words what it was, but he knew one thing for sure – his cookie heart broke in two pieces at that moment, one piece forever lost with the soul that had just left the earth.

Edward carefully leaned over, daring to return the gift he was given that Christmas Eve many winters ago – he kissed the woman he had loved for over eight decades. After his cold lips left hers, still warm ones, he laid his head in her lap, resting his scissor hands against the snowy ground underneath him. Without moving a muscle on his face, his eyes as dark as midnight glistened, and something liquid and warm started trickling down his cheeks.

※※※※※

The white snow still covered the grounds of the infamous mansion five days later. The sun had already set; the air was chilly but quiet, without as much as a breeze, as if nature decided it was appropriate to remain calm on that occasion. It was still cold, though, something that might have been strange for people of the small Californian town long decades ago, but not anymore.  A group of people of different ages, all hiding in dark winter coats and jackets, stood quietly around a dug-up space in the ground, their heads down.

“Love is not love when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the start to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom…”(1)

Jenny’s soft voice, echoing one of Kim’s favourite literary pieces, faded as she looked down at the coffin in the ground, where her great-grandmother now rested. Despite the sorrow in her heart, her lips curled into a gentle smile. She found some consolation knowing that her beloved ‘Nana’ spent her last moments on earth happy in the company of her greatest love.

Her mind wandered back to the day after Kim’s passing, as she found a letter on the dressing table in her great-grandmother’s bedroom, addressed to her. It was the saddest Christmas Jenny could ever remember, yet there was so much peace and harmony in the words the letter revealed to her, that she couldn’t be too depressed…

＊

As I sit here, waiting for you to drive me to the mansion, I couldn’t leave without writing these few words for you, since I have a strong feeling they will be among the last ones I’ll ever tell you…

You have always been generous with your love and care for me. I’m not only eternally grateful for it but also know, that you will fulfil my wish and make sure that I rest in the nearness of the man who taught me what real love is. Yes, I’m sure now I will leave tonight, not only this house but all of you.
I don’t want you to be sad. I’ve lived a long and never-boring life, filled with adventures, wonders, happiness and love. Isn’t it ironic that destiny decided to end my life now, at Christmas, the time that brought me the happiest but also the saddest memory of my life, holding but also losing the man I loved first and the longest?

I loved your Great-grandfather, I want you to know that. But a woman’s heart has secrets buried deep within, a treasure trove of beautiful and precious moments and memories that belong only to her. Edward has always been the greatest treasure in my heart, and nothing and no one could ever change that. Please, let me rest in the mansion’s garden, where not only you and all my family can visit me whenever you wish, but also Edward. He’s been alone for most of his life and I don’t want him to spend another day without me by his side. It’s the least I can do for him (and for myself) after what he had given me. I know your Great-grandfather would understand, even though he never knew of Edward, and your mother will, too, eventually.

Don’t be sad that I’m gone. Cherish the memories and the lessons learnt (on both sides); take care of yourself, your parents and the others. Tell them all I’m taking their love with me. And most of all, always keep in mind that respect, kindness and love are the greatest gifts you can give to a human being. To any being...

My heart is at peace, for I will be where I want and should be – with the one who loved me the most and the longest of all. Of that I am sure...

Thank you for everything. I hope life will treat you all kindly and bring you as much joy as you all have brought to me.

With all my love,
                                  Nana

＊

Thinking about the last favour she did for her Great-grandmother, Jenny watched the rest of the short ceremony in peace, strangely not feeling the urge to cry. That will come later, she thought.

Just as the gathering was about to leave, Jenny glanced toward the mansion, towering over the garden, remembering the strange but magical moment from just a few nights before. As she looked back to the grave, her eyes noticed a familiar shadow not far away, protected by an immaculately symmetrically cut bush. He didn’t move only watched with the same expression on his face she saw that night when seeing him for the first time.

Jenny walked slowly but resolved toward the bush, watched curiously by the rest of the gathered family. When she reached him, a warm smile appeared on her face.
”Hello, Edward,” she said softly, unsure how he would react.
”Hello, Jenny,” the humanoid replied with equal softness, and although his face remained unchanged, she saw deep gratitude in his shy, unusually warm gaze. “Thank you for not minding me being here,” he added quietly and lowered his expressive eyes.
”Thank you for letting us do it here,” Jenny replied, moved by his vulnerability.

Edward looked up and couldn’t suppress a typically small smile. She had the same curiosity and kindness written on her face as Kim used to have. Her next words only confirmed the more than just physical resemblance.
”Would you like to meet the others? I think Nana would have liked it.”

He was expecting anything but an invitation. His eyes wandered toward the group of people standing at Kim’s grave, silently but in awe watching him and Jenny in conversation. A lifetime ago, he tasted the bitterness of society’s resentment, ending up doomed to a lonesome life away from humans. Now, the tide had turned, and all Edward could see and feel coming from those sharing the same space with him was harmless curiosity. Indeed, he would probably never truly understand the human species…

Edward looked back at the young woman by his side and nodded shyly, accepting her invitation. Jenny’s smile widened as she carefully took him by his arm and led him to her family. Even up close, he could see no disgust or anger, only quiet understanding and compassion. Kim’s legendary ‘fairy tale’ suddenly became real in front of their eyes.
”This is Edward,” Jenny introduced him. “The Edward.”

The slowly appearing smiles on their faces, the acknowledging nods and interest in the strange yet so familiar figure were genuine, giving Edward a peculiar tingling in his chest.

Suddenly, something tugged at his forearm, making him look away from the group. He had to lower his eyes to see a little girl, barely four years old, standing next to him. She was snuggly hidden in a long blue winter jacket, had dark curly hair peeking from underneath a sizeable, blue, knitted hat, and large, brown eyes, sparkling with sweet mischief. Spontaneously, she embraced his leg with her small arms and leaning her head backwards to see his face, she beamed.
“Make it snow!” she requested, with the innocence so natural and typical for little human beings.

After the initial surprise, Edward’s lips curled in a tender smile. He nodded, let the girl go of his leg and walked away to a partially carved statue of a cupid he had started working on only the day before.His large eyes observed the unfinished icy artwork for a moment, then, he lifted his scissor hands and set to work.

The little girl beamed with delight, running after him when she saw the first, gentle snowflakes fall to the ground like a waterfall. She lifted her little arms towards the early-evening clear sky full of stars, and started dancing, laughing with joy and childlike enthusiasm. She was watched quietly by her family members, whose heavy hearts had been so unexpectedly lightened by the miracle happening before their eyes.

And so there, on that sad day, on that heartbreaking occasion, Edward Scissorhands got his final gift from Kim Boggs. That Christmas, he became a part of a loving and appreciative family, never to be parted from them again for generations to come.  His words proved right: time, indeed, has no power over those who love, because love keeps on living, and giving.

Even for those who lack hands and have a heart made of the sweetest cookie dough.

__________________________________

(1)    William Shakespeare: Sonnet 116