January 28, 1978

"Phil?" his father said to him one cold Saturday morning. "Grandma and Grandpa need help shoveling their driveway."

Phil didn't respond. He was focused on watching Scooby Doo with Holly by his side, and the snowfall outside didn't matter to him at all. Who cared about the weather when he could spend Saturday morning in front of TV watching Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne solve mysteries?

"Phil, are you listening to me?" Dad asked.

"I'm listening," Phil said.

"I want you to go help Grandma and Grandpa shovel," Dad said.

"But Dad!" Phil complained, gesturing toward the TV.

Phil's father, however, didn't seem to care that Phil hadn't seen this episode yet. "Go get dressed," he said. "We're leaving in ten minutes."

Phil pouted, but he did get off of the sofa, go back to his bedroom, and change out of his Star Wars pajamas and into a Star Wars T-shirt and jeans. He then threw on a winter jacket over the T-shirt, and put on a pair of boots, gloves, and a hat. Once Phil had changed, Dad drove him around the lake and to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

"Why didn't you make Holly do this?" Phil complained, but Dad didn't give him a good answer. Phil was beginning to suspect that Dad just wanted to torture him. While Dad drove, Phil stared out the window and counted the houses as they passed by just to kill time.

When they got to Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood, Dad parked two houses away due to the sheer amount of snow in Grandma and Grandpa's driveway. Phil hopped out of the car and ran through the snow to get to the door, and Dad hobbled after him. Phil pounded on the door, and Grandpa opened it.

"My goodness, Phil, do you have to be that loud?" Grandpa said. He then smiled and gave Phil a hug. "It's good to see you, Phil."

"It's good to see you too, Grandpa," Phil said.

"We came over to help you shovel your driveway," Dad said.

"That's nice of you," Grandpa said. "Opal, could you make some hot chocolate for Phil and Edward?"

"Phil and Edward are here?" Grandma said as she walked into the room. "Of course I'll make hot cocoa for you!" She ran into the kitchen and immediately got started.

"That's really not necessary," Dad argued.

"Don't be silly, Edward," Grandpa said. "It's cold out there, and you're here, so we're making hot chocolate for you."

Dad looked at Phil and said, "Once you're done drinking your hot chocolate, you're going to shovel for Grandma and Grandpa, right?"

"Right," Phil grumbled.

A few minutes later, Grandma handed Phil a cup of hot chocolate, and Phil eagerly drank it. However, once he was done, Phil realized that this meant that he had to shovel. He put the mug down and went into Grandma and Grandpa's garage, where he found a shovel. Then, he started shoveling the snow out of the driveway.

It wasn't long before Phil got bored. He wished that he was still in his pajamas, watching Scooby Doo with Holly, but instead, he was stuck shoveling Grandma and Grandpa's absurdly long driveway. His arms were starting to ache, his boots were getting wet, and Phil decided he would be happy if he never had to see another lump of snow again.

When he was about halfway done, Phil looked up and tried to identify the other houses in the neighborhood. He knew that the house next door belonged to the Reinharts - he had been there for a few yacht club parties, but he suspected that Dad didn't like the family all that much. He recognized the house across the street too, but he didn't know who it belonged to.

Phil looked back at the driveway and realized just how much work he had ahead of him. Why do Grandma and Grandpa have such a long driveway? Phil wondered. They only have two cars, and they're both in the garage. It was just more for Phil to shovel. Phil got back to work, but in a desperate attempt to entertain himself, he started whistling the Scooby Doo theme.

"Hey, is that the Scooby Doo theme?" Phil suddenly heard someone shout. He looked around and saw a boy around his age leaning over the fence that separated his grandparents' house from the Reinharts'. He had seen him at the yacht club parties, and he knew that he was in the Junior Sailing League with him, but he couldn't quite remember his name.

"Yeah," Phil said as he went back to shoveling.

"I love Scooby Doo," the boy said.

"Me too!" Phil exclaimed. "Shaggy is my favorite character."

"I like Scooby better," Theo said.

"What's your name again?" the boy asked.

"Phil Morrison," Phil said. "What's yours?"

"Theo Reinhart," the boy said. "Do you want me to help you shovel? I can go get my shovel from inside my house."

"I don't think I need help," Phil lied. "There's not that much left."

"It kind of looks like a lot to me," Theo said. "I'm going to help you." Theo ran into his house, leaving Phil alone to shovel. However, Theo was back only a few minutes later with a shovel.

The two boys shoveled together, excitedly chatting about their favorite cartoons. Before they knew it, Phil and Theo had finished shoveling Phil's grandparents' driveway. They must have been out there for at least an hour, but it felt as if no time had passed at all. Once they finished, Phil said, "Thanks for helping me shovel."

"No problem," Theo said. "Why don't we build a snowman while we're out here?"

"My dad will get mad at me," Phil said.

"He won't care," Theo said, even though he didn't know Phil's dad.

"I don't think he wants to be here longer than he has to be," Phil said.

"It won't take that long," Theo insisted.

"Fine," Phil said. The two of them started creating a gigantic ball of snow, and once the ball was big enough, they rolled it to a spot next to the fence, where Phil could see it from his grandparents' house and Theo could see it from his home.

"I want to be able to see it from my house," Theo said. Theo then started making another snowball, and Phil helped him. Once they were done with the second snowball, Phil and Theo made a third snowball that would serve as the snowman's head. They stuck two sticks on their snowman for arms, and Theo found a few stones to make eyes and a mouth. Phil took off his hat and jacket and placed them on the snowman.

"You like Star Wars?" Theo said, grinning as he saw Phil's T-shirt.

"Star Wars is the best," Phil said.

"Who's your favorite character?" Theo asked.

"Luke Skywalker," Phil said.

"I like Han Solo better, but we'll agree to disagree," Theo said. "Did you hear that they're making a sequel?"

"No," Phil said. "Where did you hear that?"

"My dad told me," Theo said. "He saw it on TV."

"If they really are making a sequel, then I can't wait!" Phil exclaimed, practically bouncing up and down. "I want more Star Wars!"

"Me too!" Theo exclaimed.

"I bet the Empire is going to build another Death Star, and Luke will have to blow it up all over again," Phil said.

"That's silly," Theo said. "Why would the Empire be stupid enough to build a Death Star again when the first one got blown up?"

Admittedly, Theo had a point. Phil would have to reconsider his theory. "I want R2D2 to come back," he said. "He's my other favorite character."

"Me too," Theo said. "R2D2 and C3PO are so cool."

"Theo!" somebody shouted from the house next door. "What are you doing out there?"

"That's my mom," Theo said. "I'll talk to you later, Phil. Do you go to Grover Cleveland Elementary School?"

"Yes," Phil said. "I'm in third grade."

"Me too!" Theo exclaimed. "Which class are you in?"

"I'm in Mrs. Quinn's class," Phil said.

"I'm in Mr. Goodrich's," Theo said. "Maybe I'll see you during recess on Monday."

"Yeah!" Phil exclaimed. "See you then!"

Theo ran back into his house, and Phil shivered as snow began to fall again, undoing all of his hard work. However, Phil didn't want to ask Theo to come back out and help him shovel again, so he simply took his jacket off of the snowman, put it back on, and went into his grandparents' house. The coat was a bit cold now, but it was better than nothing. Phil walked through the freshly fallen snow and went inside, where his dad was chatting with Grandma and Grandpa.

"I shoveled, but then it started snowing again," Phil said to Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa.

"It's okay," Grandma said. "You tried your best, and none of us can control the weather."

"I wish I could," Phil said. "That would be awesome."

Grandma chuckled and asked, "Phil, would you like another cup of hot chocolate?"

"Yes!" Phil exclaimed. He was still cold from all of that time that he had spent outside, and he wanted nothing more than a hot beverage to warm him up.

Grandma started making Phil some hot chocolate, and Phil sat down next to his father. "Did I do a good job, Dad?" Phil asked.

Dad glanced outside and said, "I can't tell. There's too much snow out there, but some of that might have fallen after you shoveled."

"Edward, don't be so hard on him," Grandpa said. "Phil did a great job."

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Phil exclaimed.

Dad grumbled something that Phil couldn't quite understand, but Phil decided to ignore it. "How's school going, Phil?" Grandpa asked.

Phil didn't want to talk about school, but when Dad gave him a look that told him that he had to answer, Phil said, "It's going fine."

"What are you learning?" Grandpa asked.

"We're learning about multiplication," Phil said.

"Edward, have you been quizzing him on his times tables?" Grandpa asked.

"Of course," Dad said. "Math is a very important subject for my son to learn. I use it all the time."

Phil disagreed, but clearly, nobody was asking for his opinion. He hated Dad's daily multiplication quizzes, but every complaint was met with a lecture about how multiplication was the key to understanding more complex topics, which Dad found fascinating and was certain that Phil would too. Phil couldn't care less - he just hated times tables.

"Let's see how well he's doing," Grandpa said. "Phil, what's six times one?"

"Six," Phil said. That one was easy.

"How about six times two?" Grandpa said.

"Twelve," Phil said.

"Six times three?"

"Twenty one," Phil said.

"No, that's seven times three," Dad said. "You should know better."

Phil pouted, wishing that he did know better. He wanted to please his father, but sometimes, that seemed impossible. "Don't be so harsh on him!" Grandpa said.

Dad was about to say something, but thankfully, Grandma arrived with a mug of hot chocolate, interrupting the argument. Phil immediately started drinking the hot cocoa, allowing the drink to warm him up. As he drank, he thought of Theo and wondered what he was doing. For all he knew, Theo was drinking hot chocolate too, looking out the window at their snowman just like Phil was.

Phil dreamed of Monday, when he would get to see his new friend again. Despite all of the troubles that he had faced today, Phil was glad that he had made a new friend. They had only really gotten to know each other in the last few hours, but Phil could already tell that Theo was going to be a good friend.