And there was enough starlight that each could make out the whites of the other’s eyes.

And they searched one another’s eyes for an explanation of what was going on. Because they didn’t know where else to look.

And then—suddenly and completely—and almost in slow motion—they collapsed again, knees first, with the rest of their bodies following.

And they found themselves facedown in the snow again—twelve feet apart.

And they did not want to be twelve feet apart.

So they got up on their feet again to see if they could get themselves closer to one another—without falling down.

But when they were upright, they looked at each other, and their knees buckled, and they crumpled to the ground again, face-planting in the snow.

Frustrated but not defeated, they slowly lifted their heads up out of the snow.

And they got up again.

And looked at one another again. But crumpled to the ground and splatted in the snow again, face-first, when their eyes met.

Randy and Chad tried several more times to get up onto their feet—but with no success. Until they were too tired—and maybe too discouraged—to try getting up anymore.

Because they were no closer to each other than they had been when they started falling.

And then they flipped over onto their backs, because it’s not particularly comfortable to lie facedown in the snow.

And when they did, they saw the northern lights pulsing and dancing in the sky above them.

They had been hovering up there since the first time Chad had fallen.

But neither of them had seen them, because they were too busy falling.

In love.

But now they were seeing them.

And they were pretty spectacular.

But not as spectacular as what was happening to them.

And, after a while, they wondered if they’d ever be able to get up again. And if they’d ever be able to walk again—so they could get out of there. Because they didn’t want anyone to find them there, lying in the snow behind the church, and wonder what was happening.

Because what would they tell people?

And then they got scared.

Really scared.

And then the northern lights faded.

But what Randy and Chad were feeling for one another didn’t.

And they sat up and still wanted nothing more than to get to one another.

So Randy rolled onto his stomach again and started crawling on his belly toward Chad.

And Chad started crawling on his belly toward Randy.

And when they got to each other, they reached out to grab hands.

And had no idea what was going to happen next.

4

As Ginette passed St. Mary’s, she thought about how glad she was that Pete didn’t like thrash metal music—like whoever was plowing the parking lot did. And she thought about the music that he did like to listen to—old country songs that his dad would play for Ginette and Pete on his record player.

A lot of those songs were story songs that made Ginette feel like she had read a whole book in three minutes.