It was noon, which meant one thing. The enemy was on the rise, one street over the kids were a different breed; they were rougher, and nastier. We ducked into our fort, silently awaiting the enemies approach. As the nasty kids of the neighborhood they took pleasure in destroying anything we created, this included our snowmen. We didn't care though, they were bait, there to draw them in so we didn't fire till we saw the whites of their eyes. There was no strategy in this war, it was a free for all.

We heard whispers, and a faint chattering. The crunch of ice followed by the sound of crushed snow, and a repressed cackle. They were here, but did they know where we were? A ball of pure ice grazed across the top of our fort sending snow flying on all of us... we had been found. "FIRE!" Megan shouted at the top of her lungs as she was the first to her feet. She flew over the top of our fort in a single bound, arms loaded with snow balls she unleashed a fury that hell hath not seen to this day.



The twins split, each running out from another end of the fort to duck behind the snowmen. My sister was only 6, and this was her first battle. I instructed her to hide behind the bushes until the brunt of it was over. We spent 3 hours hurling snowballs back and fourth; our clothes sopping wet with no clear winner or loser. Two of their men had been called in, the twins on our side left as well. My sister had come out from hiding after about an hour to join in. The snow in the yard was becoming sparse. That's when it happened.

I saw it, but I couldn't stop it. It was unclear as to where it came from, but it was big. An ice chunk. It hurled through the air and right towards my unsuspecting sister, where it hit her in the cheek. She cried out in agony as she fell to the ground tears pouring from her eyes. Silence fell upon the yard, as curses could be heard under the breath of the other team. I grabbed up the largest cannon ball we had, and stomped over to their leader who stood his ground on the sidewalk.



"You just lost! Someone on your team hurled an ice chunk! Small pieces only you know the rules! Nothing bigger than the palm of your hand! Now get out of my yard, and stay away from my little sister!" He sneered and cackled, "you just made that up! We win, you're just mad you were losing. You're down a man looks like you forfeit." I reeled back and released the snowball directly into his wide open cackling mouth. I wasn't done though, I charged, pushing him hard I sent him flying back into the pile of slush and mud by the curb. His men stepped back with fear in their eyes. One decided to get smart, he charged at me. He didn't anticipate the force of Megan's fist as she punched him square in the stomach. He doubled over in pain as his leader jumped to his feet. Things were getting heated, we'd gotten in to deep.

"Now who is cheating?! You are! We win!" The leader grabbed up another ice chunk and hurled it at me as I shielded my face. That was his fatal error, amidst the chaos my sister had managed to drag herself to the front door of our home. Where my mother was standing, and watching at that very second.



No one can scare a kid like a mother protecting her young. If their snowsuits weren't already soaking wet I'd swear they'd peed them. My mother dragged the three of us inside, where we thawed out and got the feeling back in our toes. We munched on Ramen and cocoa. To this day no one is quite clear on who won that battle, but the other side refused to ever speak of that day again.

AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks once again for reading and rating everyone! I know I promised long ago to write this article, and I did keep my promise it just took me a while to get to fulfilling it.