One parent stood at the base of the run, one parent, the mother named Julie who typically drove the kids here and there...took them ice skating, took them shopping, cheered for them, comforted them, was the main support block in the foundation of their being.

This was her future somehow...hours, moments, days that were sure to follow. I could sense her current frustration with life, her disillusionment with the partner she had promised "forever" to in a simple ceremony at the center of a gazebo before twenty or so guests.

The father who was always invited to go along with his family, the father who seldom had the energy nor the desire to accompany them. Somehow television seemed to be of more importance and he spent hours upon hours of resting from a busy workweek. His highest priority was to be left to himself to do absolutely nothing. A remote control was typically clutched within his grip, channels flickering through the array of mindless programming.

"You know you could come along." Julie suggested.

Dale placed his hand to his forehead.

"I've got this headache." He responded making eye contact. There was something in his expression, an indication that she was wasting her time, wasting her breath.

The wife gazed up at the mirrored wall and her eyes narrowed with curiosity. I wondered if she was privy to my existence behind the glass circle or was she actually gazing at her own reflection? Somehow I catapulted forward, a single pinhead of energy landing within her soul by the point of her blue flecked eyes. I entered her through the retina, slid along the greatest of slides, and halted within her thoughts. Instead of sky surrounding me, I saw various happenings played out. "We're going for a bike ride around the neighborhood, would you care to join us?" She asked.

"No. I'd rather not." His voice responded in a harsh echo.

"We're going swimming down at the lake, care to come along?" Julie asked with hope.

"It's too hot outside. I think I'll stay home where it's cool."

"I'm taking the kids to the park, want to come with?"

"Maybe next time." He said as he clicked the remote and all his attention focused on the program at hand. Year after year, it all played out the same. Even when it was a special occasion she was accompanying the children to, his response never swayed, it was always "No."

In many ways Julie was married, in many ways she couldn't have been more alone. I fell away from her thoughts and landed back into the mirror as she hurried from the family room. There was chaos in the adjoining basement partition. Doors slamming, nylon jackets being zipped closed, children complaining of becoming too hot.

The wife and two children entered the family room all bundled up for their excursion to the park. The youngest, a petite girl, no older than five, hurried in and gave her father a quick smooch on the cheek. "We'll see ya daddy." She announced in a squeaky burst.

The father's smile faded as the commercial ended on the box before him. "We'll see you later Dale." Julie said. Within a moment their footsteps trailed away.

There was nothing remarkable about the program on the television, nothing remarkable about the room in which Dale had chosen to waste his precious time. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. Did he realize how uncertain life was, how at any minute those around him that he took for granted could be stolen away?

I knew first hand, I understood how every second should be appreciated how every instant of time needed to be lived. I knew because I experienced it with Elizabeth Fenmore. I had just discovered my love and in an instant, along a mud-covered road, that human connection was over...over as quick as the push of a button. I remembered...power out, program canceled permanently.

What I would give to trade opportunities with this father. I would've loved to have been a father...Elizabeth at my side, living happily ever after with beautiful, intelligent children. I bet they would have inherited her wonderful green eyes.

"You need a wish mister!" I announced focusing back on the husband. "You need a wish, more than any human that I've ever helped before."

Dale gazed about the room with surprise. The television fell silent as he clicked the mute button. "Those darn stations are bleeding through again... that cable company, we pay good money and for what?"

How can I help someone so content at doing nothing? I wondered to myself.

From within the greatest of realms I reached through the painted backing of the glass mirror. There were several odd contortions lurking behind. Textured sandpaper, a chunk of fur, bone-like shapes, syrupy pancakes, sharp glass, and miniature pellets of some sort. The pellets were cool and metallic, reminding me of ammunition for a rifle.

I grasped a sharp wedge and pulled it into the dimension I was physically confined to. From within, I gazed at a broken slice of a hand mirror.

With a bit of mental imaginings I did something I never had attempted before. Closing my eyes I envisioned possibilities. I did everything within my power, did everything that I could muster to project a future for this man, diagram various scenarios without cushion. He needed to be slapped awake, to see the possibility of what may be waiting on the road just ahead.

The image of the comedy before Dale faded away. "What the heck?" He questioned with frustration. He clicked the channels over and over again as a flat line rolled across the screen. The same image lay frozen, channel after channel as if an important news event were breaking into normal programming. In a sudden surge of energy, an image appeared.

The day was crisp. A wonderful blue sky surrounded a snow-covered hill. There was a sound, a sound of wind as if a microphone were used to capture the scene.

"A nature show." Dale whined with a hint of annoyance to his voice.

The camera panned in just as his wife Julie drove up in the family car. The kids, Loren 4, Alice 8, jumped from the auto and waited near the trunk. The wife hurried along, fumbling with her key through her thick gloves and somehow managed to unlock the enclosure.

The kids lugged the plastic coils that did not resemble the old fashioned wooden sleds from my time. The sleds were similar to oversized rolls of paper except the material was of thick plastic. I was curious about how the large curls would be used as sleds.

The mother and her two kids rushed from the car. The hill was nothing magnificent, but a decent enough run for a mid winter thrill.

They were the only people at the hill. There were indications that others had been there hours or maybe even days previous. Objects mixed in with the snow.... Drink containers, a receipt, bottle caps, a library card… relics of other families that had passed their time with fun and adventure.

The girls shared one of the two curled up sleds. It unraveled and they positioned themselves, pushing off, then sliding down the hill at surprising speed. Both children released an uninhibited "wee!" The mother clapped and commented on how amazingly far the children had traveled.

In an instant, she positioned herself on the other sled and took off by shifting her weight forward in several quick scoots. With a burst of laughter, she sped downhill.

The kids hurried from their resting spot and bombarded their mother with kisses and hugs. "That was great mom!" The oldest mentioned with the same tone of encouragement that the mother had expressed towards them.

Within my imaginings, I invented an expensive automobile, shiny, black and sleek. The camera focused on the car as it pulled into the lot. I imagined a jolly man exiting the car with a son the same age as Alice who was 8.

He was whistling a modern tune. I envisioned the father to be good looking and charming. A little competition, I thought to myself.

Father and son appeared at the base of the hill with sleds in hand. "A nice day." The man directed in a polite tone towards Julie.

"Yes it is." Julie responded, as she mounted the sled and followed her children down the hill.

There were several rotations up and down, with every pass on the path up, chunks of conversation began to form.

The father was abandoned by his wife of five years. She ran off with his best friend for a new life.

I gazed towards Dale as he watched with interest. Popcorn was lifted from a bowl finding his lips in a sloppy way. Somehow I sensed he was eating out of nervousness.

I fast-forwarded through the day's events. The man on the hill began to flirt with Julie and it became obvious that she was flattered by his charms. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Dale squirm from his view on the sofa.

"What the heck is this?" He asked himself in a tone of disbelief.

At the end of the scene, the stranger invited Julie and the kids out for hot cocoa. With great reluctance she revealed that she was married to Dale, married to the great lump watching television on the sofa back home.

The disappointed stranger headed away and the scene faded out.

___________

Within the next sequence, once again everyone was enjoying the day on the hill. Another mom and daughter entered the picture, lugging black inner tubes. While the kids enjoyed the hill, the mothers became engrossed in chitchat. They knew each other from PTO at Alice's school and discussed the current projects and the organization's current budget. Because they were so involved with brainstorming fundraising ideas for the next meeting, they did not notice how their children disappeared from view on the other side of the hill. As if a foreshadowing, everything around them fell eerily silent.

In the distance the whistle of a train became audible as quick bursts of warning echoed throughout the park.

"MOM!" Alice's scream of panic interrupted from the distance.

The camera followed as Julie rushed to the side concealed by a second rise at the peak of the mini-mountain.

On the train tracks below, Loren's scarf was somehow tangled around a railroad spike. The older child Alice was working with fever trying to release her sister before the speeding train approached.

In an instant the mother slid down the hill on her backside. The friend's child stood in the ravine screaming with fear at what was unraveling before her.

With Julie now on the tracks, she attempted to unravel the threds that were preventing her precious youngster from escape.

Everything the mother attempted seemed to fail. The scarf was snug around Loren's neck making it impossible to slide it over her face.

Every second brought the train a bit closer. The mother's fingertips worked at a frantic pace. Alice stood paralyzed with fear on the tracks. The fear for her sister seemingly overpowered all sense of the danger. The child was in shock.

The train was twenty yards from their point on the tracks.... The horn was blaring, warning of the impact that was sure to follow. The scene panned in on the engineer in the front car taking notice of the beautiful family trapped before him.

"Dear God in heaven!" He screamed throwing on the break, knowing full well that any attempts to stop at this point was hopeless.

"NO!" Was shouted in unison between the engineer and Dale watching at home. The view on the television shifted to white fuzz otherwise known as snow.

Dale was clearly upset by this prospect. Tears were falling from his eyes, his chest was rising and falling from the emotional upset he was now feeling.

I popped from the mirror and stood before him.

"What the heck?" He wondered with anger.

"I'm Robert, the mirror man. You needed a swift jolt mister! Your wife and your kids need you. Not just as a provider, but to share in their lives as they are actually lived."

"Life was not meant to be wasted in such a way. There's a world happening all around you. Your kids are growing and someday they'll no longer be kids. Would you choose to sit and watch television if you knew today was your last day on this earth together?"

Dale shook his head no.

"You need to start living mister, start appreciating the simple smile of a child having fun...and you know what? You might just find that you're having fun as well."

"I just get so tired..." Dale whined.

"We all suffer from exhaustion... the trick is to get up and move, get that blood circulating and you'll discover you weren't as tired as you thought you were to begin with."

Dale nodded, but reached for the remote.

"What are you doing?" I asked with disbelief.

"I'm seeing what else is on TV."

I shook my head flabbergasted. "Okay." I said reaching into my back pocket for some golden dust. "You asked for it now."

In an instant the particles rose upward resembling the fine specs illuminated near a window on a sunny day.

The dust configured into an organized v formation overhead. The point of which took aim, entering Dale through his scalp. Dale stood in a quick rise as if suddenly recharged.

He grinned sheepishly. "I feel good." Dale began to chuckle. "For the first time in my life, I actually feel hopeful."

Dale rushed from the dark confines of the basement family room and began to scavenge through a downstairs closet. "I can't find my boots." He said in frustration. Soon he was dressed in a black snowsuit, bundled up without any skin showing...hat, gloves, and thick white socks.

"Oh well, I suppose I'll just wear my shoes." He was laughing now as he hurried to the stairway and disappeared from view. Several minutes later, the house fell silent.

Instead of leaping onto the next assignment, I reclined on the sofa and clicked the remote. On the screen before me I viewed a family enjoying a cold winter adventure of sledding at the county park as it was actually happening in present day. Dale, Julie, Loren and Alice shared something of significance, they shared in the fun, but most of all they shared in the simple pleasure of life as a family.