Hilda wants to play Exploding Snap It was cold. It was December, so of course it was cold. Heinrich should be inside, where it was warm, but he wasn’t. “Hansel!” he yelled again, his eyes straining to peer through the gloom of the early darkness. From the other side of the house, he could hear Hilda echoing the cry, “Hansel!”
There was no reason to be concerned. During the summer, their brother had been out tending to the snakes well past this hour, and Karl had said he would be in soon enough, but Hilda wanted to play a game before bed, so they were looking for an additional player.
But as Heinrich called out his brother’s name another time, he couldn’t help just a little bit of worry about why they hadn’t found him yet. The property was pretty large, but sound carried very well over the rocky ground and they should have at least gotten a reply by now.
A snake hissed nearby, outside of any of the snake houses, and Heinrich shied back. His eyes searched the dimly lit ground for the one that got out, hoping it wasn’t one of the venomous or aggressive ones. He wasn’t sure if he was more relieved or worried that he didn’t see any at all. They were sneaky creatures who blended into the ground all too well even in good light, so not seeing one only meant you didn't know where it was rather than that it wasn't there.
He did spot Hans, though, a minute or so later, and he did feel relieved by that. “There you are! Why didn’t you answer when we called you?”
Hansel looked confused. “I did. Didn’t you hear me?”
“No,” Heinrich denied, then shrugged. “You need to talk louder sometimes. Anyway, Hilda wants to play Exploding Snap. You in? Or do you need to find the loose snake?”
Hansel looked more confused. “The loose snake? I just checked the snakes. They’re all where they should be. If you saw one, it must be a wild one.”
Heinrich suppressed a small shudder. He was okay with snakes on the other side of glass cages. He was less fine with them when they were out and about, co-habitating the same space he was, and he liked to forget that Karl bought this area in the first place because it was perfect snake habitat. “Let’s go inside.” Then he added, “It’s cold out here,” as if that were the reason he was eager to get back indoors.
“All right,” Hans said cheerfully, apparently completely unconcerned by the presence of a wild snake nearby. “I haven’t played Snap for ages.”