Irene came windy
She flooded our town
Destroying houses
Knocking the trees down
Trying our patience
Waiting for the sound
Of the rip ninety
Seven point nine

Rags was the bright star in Rusty's world. They did everything together with Rags in the lead. Rusty loved the life shared with the other clowns but Rags made the good times awesome. Rags loved the peace that Rusty carried inside and the way it calmed everyone around him. Their quiet life was destroyed by a wave of madness; Janus had arrived.

Janus sauntered into the ring, looking at the spectators doing doubletakes at his two faces. He spoke earily from his western mouth" Rusty are you in the front trying to hide in plain sight? " Then his eastern mouth whistled a low, long plaitant why. " Why did you leave? " Rags moved closer to protect his friend but Rusty motioned for him to stay back.

Rags had hoped that Rusty would stay forever. He wished Janus would find another parsec to invade. When Rusty came into his life Rags perceived that he possessed an unreal sense of time. Rusty lived in the present, with no thought of the past or future. This was the source of his endless grace.

Rusty was suddenly flooded with emotions ranging from rage to despair to joy. He chastised Rags for leaving the door open allowing Janus in. In seconds he began to come apart, with pieces of him being torn off by invisible fingers and then tossed into a wave that appeared in the room and swept Rusty out. Rags had nothing left but tears.

Chapter five
Frosty arrived at the town hall and asked to see town attorney Dylan Cuevas. He was shown into the hearing room and told to wait until Mr. Cuevas returned from court. Frosty impatiently stood by the door dripping. Rags wondered how long Frosty would or could wait. " Maybe we should make an appointment so you don't melt. " Frosty vacillated and the puddle grew. Just as he was ready to go Dylan came in with the janitor. Frosty smiled at him and began to speak.

" Maybe I am expecting too much, it seems to me that leaving a person to melt is rude and boneheaded. Suppose I had witnessed a crime; melted snowmen can't give testimony. They can't identify perpetrators or clear the innocent. The point is. . . " With that Frosty's last piece of coal fell to the floor. Stopping his disintigration wasn't possible by that point.

Rags stared at puddle. He said goodbye to Dylan and slowly started home stopping along the way for jimmies and chocolate chocolate chip.

Chapter four

Rags tried all of Frosty's favorite places,the skating rink, the sherbert shop, and the shake shack. He found no clue so he retraced his steps to the jewelery shop where he saw Frosty harassing the owner. " The nugget belongs to me! It is rightfully mine! What have you done with my book? I insist you return it at once! "

Just as the jeweler moved toward the panic alarm Rags came in. Rags knew that the jeweler was someone who could be trusted; he had held his huge ruby for many years when Rags did'nt have a safe. " Frosty stop! Tyson wouldn't steal the nugget, but if you stop screaming he might help you. Tyson is a good man. "

" Who is this snowman? Is he responsible for the snow in front of my store? What is the nugget? Why would I have it? " Frosty realized Tyson was not the person he was looking for. " Do you make frilly scarf pins? " " No. " " Ok, my mistake. " Frosty blew out the door with Rags running to keep up.

Chapter three

The frozen landscape sparkled in the sunlight. Rags wished he was ambling alongside Rusty instead of running behind while Frosty blew on ahead. They arrived in time to see the jeweler close for the night. The sign on the glass door said " Closed for yesterday" which Rags found odd and sent Frosty into a rage.

Frosty filled the evening air with screams of frustrastion. He had howling mostly catagorized by his anger and he was at blizzard level. Rags knew stopping him was impossible so he waited for the storm to subside. While he hid in the doorway, Rags thought of Rusty. Now they would be discussing their plans for the next day, eating their dinner and enjoying their peaceful home. Rusty was thinking how Rags would be reading aloud from the New York Times and making ice cream sundaes with jimmies. Snowmen have no sense of time, and Frosty did not need sleep so the storm went on till the sun rose.

The jeweler arrived to find his sidewalk had six feet of snow and an irate snowman. Rags was buried in the drift by the doorway. The jeweler wrote another note closed the shop till noon and called Drew his friend with a snowplow. Drew arrived an hour later angled the plow so that the storefront would not be damaged and soon the snow was gone revealing Rags. He was sleeping. Rags woke up to his nightmare; Frosty was missing.

Chapter two

When Frosty arrived at the big top the ringmaster was reviewing the liontamer's act. The lions didn't stop Frosty. He blew into the ring with snow flying and screamed " What have you done with my newt? ! " " Your what? " " My newt, " repeated Frosty pointing at the ringmaster. " You have turned my newt into a lion. You see, the orange one. " The ringmaster asked security to escort Frosty from the tent. Rags offerred Frosty some tiramisu in an effort avoid a scene. Frosty couldn't resist. Rusty wished Rags would stop rescuing him, so their life could return to normal , a wish swimming with guilt.

Rags started designing a plan to convince Frosty that the lion was not a newt. Frosty was psychotic but he was logical. Rags first waited until Frosty had taken a few bites. He asked tentatively " How did you recognize Steve after all these years? " “Steve died four years ago,” Frosty replied suspiciously. Rags smiled. “I’m sorry, how could I have forgotten. It never occurred to me that you would replace Steve. Where did you find a newt in the snow?” Frosty often invented pets with quite complex origins. He kindled relationships with them but he couldn’t maintain a friendship, not even with someone imaginary who didn’t speak. Rags knew Frosty would never use the same story twice and dropped the subject.

Frosty got ready to resume his quest.

Chapter one

One night a top hat blew in the window. Rags realized too late that Frosty was back. It was too late to mute the television, lock the doors and windows, and pretend he wasn't home. Instead Rags opened the door and turned off the heat. Rusty turned on his heel and went out for the night. Frosty blew in with luggage and Rags knew trouble had come to stay.

Rags tried having Frosty be a the gnat he couldn't swat. It never worked. Frosty was more of the mosquito that bit him all night while he grasped the air and smacked himself. Rags hardly opened his mouth to say " Come in" when Frosty started his attack.

" Best train in North America if you like it cold like I do. I caught the train from Snowy, rode in the ice cream car. Trains trump all other forms of public transportation, which you wouldn't know since you never leave this one horse town. You really should get out more. " Rags thought of his life with Rusty and didn't bite.

Rags said, " What a surprise to see you Frosty. Do you plan to stay long? " Rags hoped Frosty would say no but he knew that wasn't likely. Frosty replied, "As long as it takes, " knowing he stayed well beyond his welcome. Rags fretted knowing he would be stuck with Rusty's absence and Frosty's rudeness until the spring or the nugget's discovery, whatever came first.

The nugget was a gold storybook that had the origins of the winter myths. Santa, Rudolf, and Frosty all sprang from its pages but only Frosty remained obsessed with posessing it. He traveled the continent from New years to St. Patrick's Day in search of his grail. Rags took him in every few years much to Rusty's dismay.

Frosty had received an email from an anonomous source twisting his lopsided view of the world into a trail to the nugget. He planned to follow the emailed instructions starting with the ringmaster, Rags' boss. Frosty left his ice cream wrappers on the floor and blew out the door. Rags followed him happy to have a chance to see Rusty.